The Indiscreet Jewels · Chapter
Tenth Trial of the Ring: The Dogs explained
Mangogul visits Haria, a woman known for her devotion to her four dogs, and uses the ring to make her 'Toy' speak.
What happens
Mangogul visits Haria, a woman known for her devotion to her four dogs, and uses the ring to make her 'Toy' speak. The Toy reveals Haria's past, including her marriage to the young Sindor, her refusal to banish her dogs from the marital bed, and the tragic death of her beloved greyhound Zinzolina at Sindor's hands.
Themes in this chapter
Satire of Court and Society
The chapter mocks the absurdity of a woman prioritizing her dogs over her husband, reflecting courtly decadence.
Gender and Sexual Politics
Explores the inversion of marital power, with Haria controlling the relationship and Sindor reduced to a subordinate role.
Truth vs. Appearance
Haria's public reputation for virtue is contradicted by the ring's revelation of her private life and past indiscretions.
Characters to notice
- Mangogul
Applies the ring to Haria, revealing her secret history with her dogs and husband.
- Mirzoza
Expresses unease about Mangogul's continued trials of the ring.
- Haria
The subject of the trial; her Toy speaks of her love for her dogs and her marriage to Sindor.
- Sindor
Haria's young husband who clashes with her over the dogs and eventually kills her greyhound Zinzolina.
Key passages
“This woman never goes to bed without her four dogs, and either Toys know nothing of those animals, or hers will give me some account of them; for, thank God, ’tis well known that she loves her dogs to admiration.”
Mangogul muses that Haria always sleeps with her four dogs, and he expects the ring will reveal something about them, since her devotion to them is notorious.
Sets up the premise of the trial and Haria's character.
“I advise you, said Haria, in a furious tone, to attack me with such speeches. Truly it well becomes a pitiful younger son from Gascony, whom I have taken from a garret, which was not good enough for my dogs, to give himself airs of nicety!”
Haria angrily reminds Sindor that she rescued him from poverty and that her dogs have prior claim to her bed.
Highlights the power imbalance in their marriage and Haria's fierce attachment to her pets.