Of Women, Who Not Only Betray Secrets, but Lie Fearfully

Gesta Romanorum

There were two brothers, of whom one was a layman and the other a parson. The former had often heard his brother declare that there never was a woman who could keep a secret. He had a mind to put this maxim to the test in the person of his own wife, and one night he addressed her in the following manner, "My dear wife, I have a secret to communicate to you, if I were certain that you would reveal it to nobody. Should you divulge it, it would cause me the greatest uneasiness and vexation."

"My lord," answered his wife, "fear not; we are one body, and your advantage is mine. In like manner, your injury must deeply affect me."

"Well, then," said he, "know that, my bowels being oppressed to an extraordinary degree, I fell very sick. My dear wife, what will you think? I actually voided a huge black crow, which instantly took wing, and left me in the greatest trepidation and confusion of mind."

"Is it possible?" asked the innocent lady; "but, husband, why should this trouble you? You ought rather to rejoice that you are freed from such a pestilent tenant." Here the conversation closed; in the morning, the wife hurried off to the house of a neighbor. "My best friend," said she, "may I tell you a secret?"

"As safely as to your own soul," answered the fair auditor.

"Why," replied the other, "a marvelous thing has happened to my poor husband. Being last night extremely sick, he voided two prodigious black crows, feathers and all, which immediately flew away. I am much concerned."

The other promised very faithfully -- and immediately told her neighbor that three black crows had taken this most alarming flight. The next edition of the story made it four; and in this way it spread, until it was very credibly reported that sixty black crows had been evacuated by one unfortunate varlet. But the joke had gone further than he dreamt of; he became much disturbed, and assembling his busy neighbors, explained to them that having wished to prove whether or not his wife could keep a secret, he had made such a communication. Soon after this, his wife, dying, he ended his days in a cloister, where he learned three letters; of which one was black; the second, red; and the third, white.

• Source: Gesta Romanorum; or, Entertaining Moral Stories, translated by Charles Swan (London: George Bell and Sons, 1877), no. 125, pp. 226-227.

• Aarne-Thompson type 1381D.

• Edited by D. L. Ashliman. © 2000.

• The Gesta Romanorum or Deeds of the Romans was compiled in Latin in the early fourteenth century by an English cleric. It was first published about 1473. Its title notwithstanding, only a few of the work's some 283 stories deal with the Romans. Instead, the collection presents a mixture of anecdotes, legends, and fables, gleaned from many sources and presented in a context appropriate for incorporation into Christian sermons.

• The spiritual "application" or moral given to this very earthy jest seems, by the secular standards of the twentieth century, to be as strained as the poor man's bowel movement. Swan offers the following explanation of the tale's final sentence: "This seems merely introduced to tell us, in the application, that the black letter is recollection of our sins; the red, Christ's blood; and the white, the desire of heaven."

Related links

• D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.

• The Wife Who Could Not Keep a Secret and other folktales of type 1381. A man finds a treasure, but nearly loses it because of his talkative wife.

Revised November 6, 2000.