Yet should he fail of his conclusión.
Then would I say, “Now, goodë lefe,1905 take keep1906
How meekly looketh Wilken ourë sheep!
Come near, my spouse, and let me ba1907 thy cheek.
Ye shouldë be all patient and meek,
And have a sweet y-spiced1908 conscience,
Since ye so preach of Jobë’s patience.
Suffer alway, since ye so well can preach,
And but1909 ye do, certáin we shall you teach
That it is fair to have a wife in peace.
One of us two must bowë1910 doubtëless:
And since a man is more reasónable
Than woman is, ye must be suff’rable.
What aileth you to grudgë1911 thus and groan?
Is it for ye would have my [love] alone?
Why, take it all: lo, have it every deal,1912
Peter!1913 shrew1914 you but ye love it well.
For if I wouldë sell my bellë chose,
I couldë walk as fresh as is a rose,
But I will keep it for your owen tooth.
Ye be to blame, by God, I say you sooth.”
Such manner wordës haddë we on hand.
Now will I speaken of my fourth husbánd.
My fourthë husband was a revellour;
This is to say, he had a paramour,
And I was young and full of ragerie,1915
Stubborn and strong, and jolly as a pie.
Then could I dancë to a harpë smale,
And sing, y-wis,1916 as any nightingale,
When I had drunk a draught of sweetë wine.
Metellius, the foulë churl, the swine,
That with a staff bereft his wife of life
For1917 she drank wine, though I had been his wife,
Never should he have daunted me from drink:
And, after wine, of Venus most I think.
For all so sure as cold engenders hail,
A liquorish mouth must have a liquorish tail.
In woman vinolent1918 is no defence,1919
This knowë lechours by experience.
But, lord Christ, when that it rememb’reth me
Upon my youth, and on my jollity,
It tickleth me about mine heartë-root;
Unto this day it doth mine heartë boot,1920
That I have had my world as in my time.
But age, alas! that all will envenime,1921
Hath me bereft my beauty and my pith:1922
Let go; farewell; the devil go therewith.
The flour is gon, there is no more to tell,
The bran, as I best may, now must I sell.
But yet to be right merry will I fand.1923
Now forth to tell you of my fourth husband,
I say, I in my heart had great despite,
That he of any other had delight;
But he was quit,1924 by God and by Saint Joce:1925
I made for him of the same wood a cross;
Not of my body in no foul mannére,
But certainly I madë folk such cheer,
That in his owen grease I made him fry
For anger, and for very jealousý.
By God, in earth I was his purgatory,
For which I hope his soul may be in glory.
For, God it wot, he sat full oft and sung,
When that his shoe full bitterly him wrung.1926
There was no wight, save God and he, that wist
In many wise how sore I did him twist.
He died when I came from Jerusalem,
And lies in grave under the roodë beam:1927
Although his tomb is not so curious
As was the sepulchre of Darius,
Which that Apelles wrought so subtlely.
It is but waste to bury them preciously.
Let him fare well, God give his soulë rest,
He is now in his grave and in his chest.
Now of my fifthë husband will I tell:
God let his soul never come into hell.
And yet was he to me the mostë shrew;1928
That feel I on my ribbës all by rew,1929
And ever shall, until mine ending day.
But in our bed he was so fresh and gay,
And therewithal so well he could me glose,1930
When that he wouldë have my bellë chose,
Though he had beaten me on every bone,
Yet could he win again my love anon.
I trow, I lov’d him better, for that he
Was of his love so dangerous1931 to me.
We women have, if that I shall not lie,
In this mattér a quaintë fantasy.
Whatever thing we may not lightly have,
Thereafter will we cry all day and crave.
Forbid us thing, and that desirë we;
Press on us fast, and thennë will we flee.
With danger1932 utter we all our chaffare;1933
Great press at market maketh dearë ware,
And too great cheap is held at little price;
This knoweth every woman that is wise.
My fifthë husband, God his soulë bless,
Which that I took for love and no richéss,
He some time was a clerk of Oxenford,1934
And had left school, and went at home to board
With my gossip, dwelling in ourë town:
God have her soul, her name was Alisoun.
She knew my heart, and all my privity,
Bet than our parish priest, so may I thé.1935
To her betrayed I my counsel all;
For had my husband pissed on a wall,
Or done a thing that should have cost his life,
To her, and to another worthy wife,
And to my niece, which that I loved well,
I would have told his counsel every deal.1936
And so I did full often, God it wot,
That made his face full often red and hot
For very shame, and blam’d himself, for he
Had told to me so great a privity.1937
And so befell that onës in a Lent
(So oftentimes I to my gossip went,
For ever yet I loved to be gay,
And for to walk in March, April, and May
From house to house, to hearë sundry tales),
That Jenkin clerk, and my gossíp, Dame Ales,
And I myself, into the fieldës went.
Mine husband was at London all that Lent;
I had the better leisure for to play,
And for to see, and eke for to be sey1938
Of lusty folk; what wist I where my grace1939
Was shapen1940 for to
