This text is part of a long tradition of plays from Emilia-Romagna which deal with the adventures of Fagiolino, a young and impertinent man, belligerent and sly, who tries to make a little money despite not wanting to do anything.

Here, characters typical of the region (Fagiolino, Sandrone and his wife Polonia, Bergnocla) converse with characters of the Commedia dell’Arte (Arlecchino, Brighella, Pantalone). For the first group, the lines were all written in the Emilian dialect, whereas for the second group, the author endeavoured to reproduce the Venetian dialect.

Once again, Fagiolino borrows money from Polonia, Sandrone’s wife, and promises to pay her back as soon as he manages to marry Colombina, the niece of the wealthy Pantalone, and to collect her dowry. Meanwhile, Sandrone makes a deal to buy lands so that he won’t have to work for a landlord any longer. When he discovers that Polonia has taken money from his savings in order to lend it to Fagiolino, he beats her and swears to himself that he will do the same to Fagiolino. In the meantime, Bergnocla, a friend of Fagiolino, warns him that Arlecchino and Brighella are plotting against Pantalone: they have abducted Colombina in order to demand a ransom. While she is kept hidden in Brighella’s inn, they make Pantalone believe that it is the fearsome bandit Sebastian who has abducted her. Moreover, Arlecchino secretly wants to marry Colombina to obtain her dowry. Fagiolino, who is in love with Colombina, manages to foil Arlecchino’s plan: he intercepts Pantalone, who was headed to the bandit’s place with the money for the ransom, pretends to be the bandit himself and takes the money, so that it never falls into Arlecchino and Brighella’s hands. Those two are quarrelling because they each think that the other has betrayed them, and nobody suspects Fagiolino. They also think that the true bandit, Sebastian, is now angry with them because they have used his name for their own purposes. They beg Fagiolino to speak to the bandit and to talk some sense into him. Fagiolino accepts, in exchange for payment, and is delighted about the success of his plan. He pretends to have convinced the bandit to free Colombina and to leave Arlecchino and Brighella in peace. He finally goes to meet Pantalone so that he can be given credit for having convinced the bandit to free Colombina. Pantalone believes him and agrees to give him Colombina’s hand in marriage. Fagiolino goes back to Sandrone’s and pays him back the money he owed him.