Ey! benedicite, then had I foul y-sped.”
And forth she went, till she the cradle fand.
She groped alway farther with her hand,
And found the bed, and thoughtë not but good,1334
Becausë that the cradle by it stood,
And wist not where she was, for it was derk;
But fair and well she crept in by the clerk,
And lay full still, and would have caught a sleep.
Within a while this John the Clerk up leap,
And on this goodë wife laid on full sore;
So merry a fit had she not had full yore.1335
He pricked hard and deep, as he were mad.
This jolly life have these two clerkës lad,
Till that the thirdë cock began to sing.
Alein wax’d weary in the morrowing,
For he had swonken1336 all the longë night,
And saidë; “Farewell, Malkin, my sweet wight.
The day is come, I may no longer bide,
But evermore, where so I go or ride,
I is thine owen clerk, so have I hele.”1337
“Now, dearë leman,”1338 quoth she, “go, farewele:
But ere thou go, one thing I will thee tell.
When that thou wendest homeward by the mill,
Right at the entry of the door behind
Thou shalt a cake of half a bushel find,
That was y-maked of thine owen meal,
Which that I help’d my father for to steal.
And goodë leman, God thee save and keep.”
And with that word she gan almost to weep.
Alein uprose and thought, “Ere the day daw
I will go creepen in by my felláw:”
And found the cradle with his hand anon.
“By God!” thought he, “all wrong I have misgone:
My head is totty of my swink1339 tonight,
That maketh me that I go not aright.
I wot well by the cradle I have misgo’;
Here lie the miller and his wife also.”
And forth he went a twenty devil way
Unto the bed, there as the miller lay.
He ween’d1340 t’ have creeped by his fellow John,
And by the miller in he crept anon,
And caught him by the neck, and gan him shake,
And said; “Thou John, thou swinë’s-head, awake
For Christë’s soul, and hear a noble game!
For by that lord that called is Saint Jame,
As I have thriës in this shortë night
Swived the miller’s daughter bolt-upright,
While thou hast as a coward lain aghast.”1341
“Thou falsë harlot,” quoth the miller, “hast?
Ah, falsë traitor, falsë clerk,” quoth he,
“Thou shalt be dead, by Goddë’s dignity,
Who durstë be so bold to disparáge1342
My daughter, that is come of such lineáge?”
And by the throatë-ball1343 he caught Alein,
And he him hent1344 dispiteously1345 again,
And on the nose he smote him with his fist;
Down ran the bloody stream upon his breast:
And in the floor with nose and mouth all broke
They wallow, as do two pigs in a poke.
And up they go, and down again anon,
Till that the miller spurned1346 on a stone,
And down he backward fell upon his wife,
That wistë nothing of this nicë strife:
For she was fall’n asleep a little wight1347
With John the clerk, that waked had all night:
And with the fall out of her sleep she braid.1348
“Help, holy cross of Bromëholm,”1349 she said;
“In manus tuas! Lord, to thee I call.
Awake, Simón, the fiend is on me fall;
Mine heart is broken; help; I am but dead:
There li’th one on my womb and on mine head.
Help, Simkin, for these falsë clerks do fight”
This John start up as fast as e’er he might,
And groped by the wallës to and fro
To find a staff; and she start up also,
And knew the estres1350 better than this John,
And by the wall she took a staff anon:
And saw a little shimmering of a light,
For at an hole in shone the moonë bright,
And by that light she saw them both the two,
But sickerly1351 she wist not who was who,
But as she saw a white thing in her eye.
And when she gan this whitë thing espy,
She ween’d1352 the clerk had wear’d a volupere;1353
And with the staff she drew aye nere and nere,1354
And ween’d to have hit this Alein at the full,
And smote the miller on the pilled1355 skull,
That down he went, and cried, “Harow! I die.”
These clerkës beat him well, and let him lie,
And greithen1356 them, and take their horse anon,
And eke their meal, and on their way they gon:
And at the mill door eke they took their cake
Of half a bushel flour, full well y-bake.
Thus is the proudë miller well y-beat,
And hath y-lost the grinding of the wheat,
And payed for the supper every deal1357
Of Alein and of John, that beat him well;
His wife is swived, and his daughter als;1358
Lo, such it is a miller to be false.
And therefore this proverb is said full sooth,
“Him thar1359 not winnen1360 well that evil do’th;
A guiler shall himself beguiled be:”
And God that sitteth high in majesty
Save all this company, both great and smale.
Thus have I quit1361 the Miller in my tale.
The Cook’s Tale
The Prologue
The Cook of London, while the Reeve thus spake,
For joy he laugh’d and clapp’d him on the back:
“Aha!” quoth he, “for Christë’s passión,
This Miller had a sharp conclusión,
Upon this argument of herbergage.1362
Well saidë Solomon in his languáge,
Bring thou not every man into thine house,
For harbouring by night is periloús.
Well ought a man avised for to be1363
Whom that he brought into his privity.
I pray to God to give me sorrow and care
If ever, since I hightë1364 Hodge of Ware,
Heard I a miller better set a-werk;1365
He had a jape1366 of malice in the derk.
But God forbid that we should stintë1367 here,
And therefore if ye will vouchsafe to hear
A tale of me, that
