Montresor speaks of "the thousand injuries of Fortunato" in the opening sentence. Since he does not describe any of these injuries, it is to be expected that he will come out with a few exemplary ones in the course of the story. In other words, if Fortunato is always injuring him, then he will probably do so during the time they are together. It would appear that these injuries are jests and disingenuous questions, slurs, snubs--that sort of thing.
Montresor's French name indicates that he is a relative newcomer to Venice, where the story is very obviously set. Although he lives in a palazzo, he is poor. Those old palazzi could be rented cheap by the nineteenth century because they were hundreds of years old, decaying, expensive to maintain, requiring many house servants, and few people wanted such big dwellings. Montresor describes the differences between himself and his intended victim in one paragraph of dialogue.
“Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back; your health is precious.You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible."
All the bones under Montresor's home are not those of his ancestors. When he rented the palazzo he had to take the bones along with it. They belong to former owners, and Fortunato knows it because he regards Montresor as a johnny-come-lately. So when he says, "I drink to the buried that repose around us," he is being hurtfully disingenuous. This is an example of the types of injuries Montresor has had to put up with. When Montresor replies, "And I to your long life," he is showing that he feels the sting of Fortunato's toast and is being equally disingenuous. Fortunato's toast is disingenuous but not ironic, whereas Montresor's toast is ironic because he means just the opposite of what he says. Montresor can tell Fortunato anything because he knows his victim is as good as dead. He will never live to check the fact.
Another example of the types of injuries Fortunato inflicts on Montresor, who must put up with them because he is financially dependent on him, is contained in the following dialogue.
“The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous family.”
“I forget your arms.”
“A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.”
“And the motto?”
“Nemo me impune lacessit.”
“Good!” he said.
Here again Fortunato is being disingenuous. He believes Montresor to be of inferior social status and doubts he has a family coat of arms. He wants to embarrass his host. He enjoys that sort of thing. The bizarre coat of arms Montresor invents on the spur of the moment, featuring a huge golden human foot is a total lie. He can tell Fortunato such things because his intended victim is so drunk. Besides that, Montresor is a little drunk himself. The same is true of the motto. It translates as "No one injures me with impunity," and it foreshadows Fortunato's doom. When Fortunato replies, "Good!" it suggests that he not only doesn't understand the threat but that he probably doesn't even understand Latin.
Fortunato considers himself a funny fellow. That is why he wears a jester's costume for the carnival. He has probably been tossing confetti in people's faces and squirting them with water. He doesn't think of himself as a fool but as a clever jester.But he is wrong about himself. He is a crude and rather brutal man, as so many chronic jokers are. (A good example of another such character is Soldier Bartlett in Ernest Hemingway''s great story "Fifty Grand.") Fortunato's cruel questions not only exemplify the "thousand injuries,' but they will strengthen Montresor's motivation to kill him.
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