EXCURSUS TO THE DEVIL IN HELL.
Boccaccio's immortal story of Alibech who "turned hermit and was taught by Rustico, a monk, to put the devil in hell" has been drawn upon or brazenly copied by innumerable raconteurs. La Fontaine has an exactly similar story. "To put the devil in hell" has passed into use as an accepted slang term for the act of copulation. Hell, in English, and Enfer in French, are erotic synonyms for the female pudendum, as are devil and diable for the male organ of generation. (C.f. Farmer: Slang and its Analogues and Vocabula Amatoria; also Landes: Glossaire érotique de la langue française.) "Vainly doth hell her prisoner recall," says La Fontaine; "the devil is dub."
It is a moot point whether "The Devil in Hell" should have been included in this or the subsequent volume, The Way of a Priest. It seems to us, however, that the woman's part transcends the man's throughout, and for that reason we prefer to look upon the story as illustrating a phase of virginity rather than as an example of priestly lust.
Boccaccio's "Nightingale," which is also given in this volume, has provided yet another French slang term for the penis. "To put the nightingale in its cage or nest" is a fanciful but frequent description of the venereal act. (C.t. Pie-
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