Turn hitherward, and makë better cheer.”
The merchant saw none other remedy;
And for to chide, it were but a follý,
Since that the thing might not amended be.
“Now, wife,” he said, “and I forgive it thee;
But by thy lifë be no more so large;3784
Keep better my good, this give I thee in charge.”
Thus endeth now my tale; and God us send
Taling enough, until our livës’ end!
The Prioress’s Tale
The Prologue
“Well said, by corpus Domini,” quoth our Host;
“Now longë may’st thou sailë by the coast,
Thou gentle Master, gentle Marinére.
God give the monk a thousand last quad year!3785
Aha! fellows, beware of such a jape.3786
The monk put in the mannë’s hood an ape,3787
And in his wifë’s eke, by Saint Austin.
Drawë no monkës more into your inn.
But now pass over, and let us seek about,
Who shall now tellë first of all this rout
Another tale;” and with that word he said,
As courteously as it had been a maid;
“My Lady Prioressë, by your leave,
So that I wist I shouldë you not grieve,3788
I wouldë deemë3789 that ye tellë should
A talë next, if so were that ye would.
Now will ye vouchësafe, my lady dear?”
“Gladly,” quoth she; and said as ye shall hear.
The Tale3790
O Lord our Lord! thy name how marvellous
Is in this largë world y-spread!3791 (quoth she)
For not only thy laudë3792 precious
Performed is by men of high degree,
But by the mouth of children thy bounté
Performed is, for on the breast sucking
Sometimës showë they thy herying.3793
Wherefore in laud, as I best can or may
Of thee, and of the whitë lily flow’r
Which that thee bare, and is a maid alway,
To tell a story I will do my laboúr;
Not that I may increasë her honoúr,
For she herselven is honoúr and root
Of bounté,3794 next her son, and soulës’ boot.3795
O mother maid, O maid and mother free!3796
O bush unburnt, burning in Moses’ sight,
That ravished’st down from the deity,
Through thy humbless, the ghost that in thee light;3797
Of whose virtúe, when he thine heartë light,3798
Conceived was the Father’s sapience;
Help me to tell it to thy reverence.
Lady! thy bounty, thy magnificence,
Thy virtue, and thy great humility,
There may no tongue express in no science:
For sometimes, Lady! ere men pray to thee,
Thou go’st before, of thy benignity,
And gettest us the light, through thy prayére,
To guiden us unto thy son so dear.
My conning3799 is so weak, O blissful queen,
For to declarë thy great worthiness,
That I not may the weight of it sustene;
But as a child of twelvemonth old, or less,
That can unnethës3800 any word express,
Right so fare I; and therefore, I you pray,
Guidë my song that I shall of you say.
There was in Asia, in a great citý,
Amongës Christian folk, a Jewery,3801
Sustained by a lord of that countrý,
For foul usure, and lucre of villainy,
Hateful to Christ, and to his company;
And through the street men mightë ride and wend,3802
For it was free, and open at each end.
A little school of Christian folk there stood
Down at the farther end, in which there were
Children an heap y-come of Christian blood,
That learned in that schoolë year by year
Such manner doctrine as men used there;
This is to say, to singen and to read,
As smallë children do in their childhead.
Among these children was a widow’s son,
A little clergion,3803 seven year of age,
That day by day to scholay was his won,3804
And eke also, whereso he saw th’ image
Of Christë’s mother, had he in uságe,
As him was taught, to kneel adown, and say
Ave Maria, as he went by the way.
Thus had this widow her little son y-taught
Our blissful Lady, Christë’s mother dear,
To worship aye, and he forgot it not;
For sely3805 child will always soonë lear.3806
But aye when I remember on this mattére,
Saint Nicholas3807 stands ever in my presence;
For he so young to Christ did reverence.
This little child his little book learning,
As he sat in the school at his primére,
He Alma redemptoris3808 heardë sing,
As children learned their antiphonere;3809
And as he durst, he drew him nere and nere,3810
And hearken’d aye the wordës and the note,
Till he the firstë verse knew all by rote.
Nought wist he what this Latin was to say,3811
For he so young and tender was of age;
But on a day his fellow gan he pray
To éxpound him this song in his languáge,
Or tell him why this song was in uságe:
This pray’d he him to construe and declare,
Full oftentime upon his kneës bare.
His fellow, which that elder was than he,
Answér’d him thus: “This song, I have heard say,
Was maked of our blissful Lady free,
Her to salute, and ekë her to pray
To be our help and succour when we dey.3812
I can no more expound in this mattére:
I learnë song, I know but small grammére.”
“And is this song y-made in reverence
Of Christë’s mother?” said this innocent;
“Now certes I will do my diligence
To conne3813 it all, ere Christëmas be went;
Though that I for my primer shall be shent,3814
And shall be beaten thriës in an hour,
I will it conne, our Lady to honoúr.”
His fellow taught him homeward3815 privily
From day to day, till he coud3816 it by rote,
And then he sang it well and boldëly
From word to word according with the note;
Twice in a day it passed through his throat;
To schoolë-ward, and homeward when he went;
On Christ’s mother was set all his intent.
As I have said, throughout the Jewery,
This little child, as he came to and fro,
Full merrily then would he sing and cry,
O Alma redemptoris, evermo’;
The sweetness hath his heartë pierced so
Of Christë’s mother, that
