Two jests and the fable of the flea and the dog
A washerwoman's retort, the flea that abandons its dog, and a painter's revenge on a priest
Three short literary pieces in two columns: two facezie (jests) framing a favola (fable). In the first jest a priest, told a washerwoman's red feet come from a fire beneath her, makes a lewd request; the fable tells of a flea that leaves its sleeping dog for a sheep's fleece, cannot reach the skin through the dense wool, and starves after the dog wanders off; the second jest has a painter drench a priest with a bucket of water as the promised hundredfold return for holy water that spoiled his paintings. A brief marginal jotting is visible at the left.
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Jest: the washerwoman and the priest
A washerwoman's feet are red with cold; asked by a passing priest why, she says she has a fire underneath. Taking the hint crudely, the priest draws near and sweetly begs her to kindle his 'candle'.
Fable: the flea, the dog and the fleece
A flea, smelling the greasy wool of the sheepskin its dog sleeps on, judges it a safer, better home and abandons the dog. Unable to reach the skin through the dense hairs, it tries to return, but the dog has gone, and after bitter repentance it starves to death.
Jest: the painter and the holy water
On Holy Saturday a priest sprinkles holy water over a painter's pictures, promising that good deeds are repaid a hundredfold from above. The annoyed painter waits, then empties a great bucket of water on the priest from the window, returning the promised hundredfold.