Not that anyone seems to have been in much doubt on the subject of the potency of female sexuality. Take for example the story which one of the men tells on Day Three. A handsome young peasant named Masetto applies for the role of gardener at a convent in the hope that it will provide him with an opportunity to sleep with some of the nuns. In order to get the job, Masetto pretends to be deaf-mute, thinking that no one will object to his presence if they believe that he can’t chat up the young women.

What he finds instead is that, since he is unable to speak, all of the nuns – and even the abbess – begin to proposition him until finally he is exhausted. Forced to break cover, he reveals what has been happening to the abbess,…