Keep thine honoúr, and eke keep mine estate;”
After that day we never had debate.
God help me so, I was to him as kind
As any wife from Denmark unto Ind,
And also true, and so was he to me:
I pray to God that sits in majesty
So bless his soulë, for his mercy dear.
Now will I say my tale, if ye will hear.—
The Friar laugh’d when he had heard all this:
“Now, Dame,” quoth he, “so have I joy and bliss,
This is a long preamble of a tale.”
And when the Sompnour heard the Friar gale,2010
“Lo,” quoth this Sompnour, “Goddë’s armës two,
A friar will intermete2011 him evermo’:
Lo, goodë men, a fly and eke a frere
Will fall in ev’ry dish and eke mattére.
What speak’st thou of perambulatioún?2012
What? amble or trot; or peace, or go sit down:
Thou lettest2013 our disport in this mattére.”
“Yea, wilt thou so, Sir Sompnour?” quoth the Frere;
“Now by my faith I shall, ere that I go,
Tell of a Sompnour such a tale or two,
That all the folk shall laughen in this place.”
“Now do, else, Friar, I beshrew2014 thy face,”
Quoth this Sompnour; “and I beshrewë me,
But if2015 I tellë talës two or three
Of friars, ere I come to Sittingbourne,
That I shall make thine heartë for to mourn:
For well I wot thy patience is gone.”
Our Hostë criëd, “Peace, and that anon;”
And saidë, “Let the woman tell her tale.
Ye fare2016 as folk that drunken be of ale.
Do, Dame, tell forth your tale, and that is best.”
“All ready, sir,” quoth she, “right as you lest,2017
If I have licence of this worthy Frere.”
“Yes, Dame,” quoth he, “tell forth, and I will hear.”
The Tale2018
In oldë dayës of the king Arthoúr,
Of which that Britons speakë great honoúr,
All was this land full fill’d of faërie;2019
The Elf-queen, with her jolly company,
Danced full oft in many a green mead.
This was the old opinion, as I read;
I speak of many hundred years ago;
But now can no man see none elvës mo’,
For now the great charitý and prayéres
Of limitours,2020 and other holy freres,
That search every land and ev’ry stream,
As thick as motës in the sunnë-beam,
Blessing halls, chambers, kitchenës, and bowers,
Cities and burghës, castles high and towers,
Thorpës2021 and barnës, shepens2022 and dairies,
This makes that there be now no faëries:
For there as2023 wont to walkë was an elf,
There walketh now the limitour himself,
In undermelës2024 and in morrownings,
And saith his matins and his holy things,
As he goes in his limitatioún.2025
Women may now go safely up and down,
In every bush, and under every tree;
There is none other incubus2026 but he;
And he will do to them no dishonoúr.
And so befell it, that this king Arthoúr
Had in his house a lusty bachelér,
That on a day came riding from rivér:2027
And happen’d, that, alone as she was born,
He saw a maiden walking him beforn,
Of which maiden anon, maugré2028 her head,
By very force he reft her maidenhead:
For which oppressión was such clamoúr,
And such pursuit unto the king Arthoúr,
That damned2029 was this knight for to be dead
By course of law, and should have lost his head;
(Paráventure such2030 was the statute tho),2031
But that the queen and other ladies mo’
So long they prayed the king of his grace,
Till he his life him granted in the place,
And gave him to the queen, all at her will
To choose whether she would him save or spill.2032
The queen thanked the king with all her might;
And, after this, thus spake she to the knight,
When that she saw her time upon a day.
“Thou standest yet,” quoth she, “in such array,2033
That of thy life yet hast thou no suretý;
I grant thee life, if thou canst tell to me
What thing is it that women most desiren:
Beware, and keep thy neck-bone from the iron.2034
And if thou canst not tell it me anon,
Yet will I give thee leavë for to gon
A twelvemonth and a day, to seek and lear2035
An answer suffisant2036 in this mattére.
And surety will I have, ere that thou pace,2037
Thy body for to yielden in this place.”
Woe was the knight, and sorrowfully siked;2038
But what? he might not do all as him liked.
And at the last he chose him for to wend,2039
And come again, right at the yearë’s end,
With such answér as God would him purvey:2040
And took his leave, and wended forth his way.
He sought in ev’ry house and ev’ry place,
Where as he hoped for to findë grace,
To learnë what thing women love the most:
But he could not arrive in any coast,
Where as he mightë find in this mattére
Two creatures accordíng in fere.2041
Some said that women loved best richéss,
Some said honoúr, and some said jolliness,
Some rich array, and some said lust2042 a-bed,
And oft time to be widow and be wed.
Some said, that we are in our heart most eased
When that we are y-flatter’d and y-praised.
He went full nigh the sooth,2043 I will not lie;
A man shall win us best with flattery;
And with attendance, and with business
Be we y-liméd,2044 bothë more and less.
And some men said that we do love the best
For to be free, and do right as us lest,2045
And that no man reprove us of our vice,
But say that we are wise, and nothing nice,2046
For truly there is none among us all,
If any wight will claw us on the gall,2047
That will not kick, for that he saith us sooth:
Assay,2048 and he shall find it, that so do’th.
For be we never so vicioús within,
We will be held both wise and clean of sin.
And some
