In a city in Lombardy lived a rich and highly respected knight who had a beautiful and well-mannered daughter. She was his only child and was greatly loved by her parents. A poor young man of common background was taken with a strong desire for the young maid, but dared not to approach her.
Suddenly the young girl was taken ill and died. She was entombed in the family crypt. The young man was present at her funeral. The mourners returned home. When night fell, the burning love of the young man would not rest, so he went to the crypt, removed the young woman’s body and took it with him home. He laid the naked body in bed and tried to warm it with his own body, but with no attempt at sexual acts.
Toward morning, life returned to the body; she opened her eyes and asked, “Where am I?” Filled with joy, the young man stood up put his clothes on and went into the town to amuse himself. When it was fully daylight, he returned and found the young maid fresh and healthy. “What should I get for it,” he asked, “that you now have your life back?”
“What do you want?” she replied.
“That you wish to become my wife if your father is agreeable with it”, said the young man.
The young woman agreed, and the young man went to the father. “What reward would you give the man,” he asked, “who could bring back your daughter living and well?”
The knight stuttered and said, “What good is it to talk of such a thing that cannot be?”
“Would you grant her to the man as his wife?” inquired the young man further.
“I make no such promise,” replied the father, “as I know that my child can never live again.”
“Then I must speak with you without a hidden purpose”, said the young man. He then went and brought back the young woman. The father received her with unspeakable happiness and asked how this came to be. The young man explained in detail and said that he had long loved the girl with all his heart. “And I now implore you,” he added, “that you grant me her as my wife.”
The father said that there was he could think of finding no more appropriate man than the youth. The young man was granted the young woman. They loved each other greatly and they were blessed with thriving descendants.