"it had but one thigh"

So the bird was set before Currado and some strangers that he had at table with him, and Currado, observing that it had but one thigh, was surprised, and sent for Chichibio, and demanded of him what was become of the missing thigh. Whereto the mendacious Venetian answered readily: “The crane, Sir, has but one thigh and one leg.

This novella was funny when it was written in the 14th century, and it is still funny today. The whole moral and clue of the novella lies on the shoulders of a roasted crane. As we shall see, the crane is crucial in every scene, marking every moral point that Boccaccio wants to make. At the same time, the crane is the thing that connects the characters in the plot, right through the barriers of social status. This tour will celebrate the role of the crane in this novella.