In desperation he devised a plan to solve the problem. Having noticed a small hole in their kitchen wall directly above the cooking pot, Buffalmacco hollowed out a cane, pushed it through the hole, and was thereby able to add a large amount of salt to the wool worker's dinner.

When, after two or three such tainted meals, the exasperated man began to beat his wife for her carelessness, her screams brought a number of neighbors, including Buffalmacco, to their door. "This calls for a little reason," the wily painter declared. "You complain that the pot is too much salted, but I marvel that this good woman can do anything well, considering that the whole night she sits up over that wheel of hers and has not an hour's sleep. Let her give up this all-night work and sleep her fill, so she will have her wits about her by day and will not fall into such blunders."