The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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affection returned. 
Nino began strumming on the mandolin. Johnny Fontane put his hand on Nino’s 
shoulder. “This is for the bride,” he said, and stamping his foot, chanted the words to an 
obscene Sicilian love song. As he sang, Nino made suggestive motions with his body. 
The bride blushed proudly, the throng of guests roared its approval. Before the song 
ended they were all stamping with their feet and roaring out the sly, double-meaning tag 
line that finished each stanza. At the end they would not stop applauding until Johnny 
cleared his throat to sing another song. 
They were all proud of him. He was of them and he had become a famous singer, a 
movie star who slept with the most desired women in the world. And yet he had shown 
proper respect for his Godfather by traveling three thousand miles to attend this 
wedding. He still loved old friends like Nino Valenti. Many of the people there had seen 
Johnny and Nino singing together when they were just boys, when no one dreamed that 
Johnny Fontane would grow up to hold the hearts of fifty million women in his hands. 
Johnny Fontane reached down and lifted the bride up onto the bandstand so that 
Connie stood between him and Nino. Both men crouched down, facing each other, Nino 
plucking the mandolin for a few harsh chords. It was an old routine of theirs, a mock 
battle and wooing, using their voices like swords, each shouting a chorus in turn. With 
the most delicate courtesy, Johnny let Nino’s voice overwhelm his own, let Nino take the 
bride from his arm, let Nino swing into the last victorious stanza while his own voice died 
away. The whole wedding party broke into shouts of applause, the three of them 
embraced each other at the end. The guests begged for another song. 
Only Don Corleone, standing in the corner entrance of the house, sensed something 
amiss. Cheerily, with bluff good humor, careful not to give offense to his guests, he 
called out, “My godson has come three thousand miles to do us honor and no one thinks 
to wet his throat?” At once a dozen full wineglasses were thrust at Johnny Fontane. He 
took a sip from all and rushed to embrace his Godfather. As he did so he whispered 
something into the older man’s ear. Don Corleone led him into the house. 
Tom Hagen held out his hand when Johnny came into the room. Johnny shook it and 
said, “How are you, Tom?” But without his usual charm that consisted of a genuine 
warmth for people. Hagen was a little hurt by this coolness but shrugged it off. It was 
one of the penalties for being the Don’s hatchet man. 
Johnny Fontane said to the Don, “When I got the wedding invitation I said to myself, ‘My 

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