The joke played on Manetto is much more complex and verbose than the little pranks of the Decameron. It consisted of many steps, many people, and quite a bit of planning and ingenuity. The Decameron's pranks were mostly quickly thought out and more one-dimensional, capable of being carried out on a scale of a few minutes to, at most, a day. Another big difference is the depth of characterization. Over the course of the novella the reader gets to know Manetto much more than he gets to know the characters in Boccaccio's short tricks. The reader also sees the point of view of the deceived Manetto in The Fat Carpenter, something that does not occur in Boccaccio's jokes. You can see how Manetto feels throughout the entire joke and how he reacts and reasons through his predicament at any given moment. This gives the novella a psychological side that is not seen in the Decameron. The last major difference is how the joke affects the one being fooled. In Boccaccio's pranks the victims are either not affected or recover rather quickly. In contrast, in The Fat Carpenter, Manetto is incredibly injured and travels to Hungary to fully heal his wound. It takes time and distance to help him fully come to terms with what he had