I weened2196 ye were a yeoman trulý.
Ye have a mannë’s shape as well as I.
Have ye then a figúre determinate
In hellë, where ye be in your estate?”2197
“Nay, certainly,” quoth he, “there have we none,
But when us liketh we can take us one,
Or ellës make you seem2198 that we be shape
Sometimë like a man, or like an ape;
Or like an angel can I ride or go;
It is no wondrous thing though it be so,
A lousy juggler can deceivë thee,
And pardie, yet can2199 I more craft2200 than he.”
“Why,” quoth the Sompnour, “ride ye then or gon
In sundry shapes and not always in one?”
“For we,” quoth he, “will us in such form make,
As most is able our prey for to take.”
“What maketh you to have all this laboúr?”
“Full many a causë, levë Sir Sompnoúr,”
Saidë this fiend. “But all thing hath a time;
The day is short and it is passed prime,
And yet have I won nothing in this day;
I will intend2201 to winning, if I may,
And not intend our thingës to declare:
For, brother mine, thy wit is all too bare
To understand, although I told them thee.
But for2202 thou askest why laboúrë we:
For sometimes we be Goddë’s instruments
And meanës to do his commandëments,
When that him list, upon his creatures,
In divers acts and in divérs figúres:
Withoutë him we have no might, certain,
If that him list to standë thereagain.2203
And sometimes, at our prayer, have we leave
Only the body, not the soul, to grieve:
Witness on Job, whom that we did full woe,
And sometimes have we might on both the two—
This is to say, on soul and body eke,
And sometimes be we suffer’d for to seek
Upon a man, and do his soul unrest
And not his body, and all is for the best,
When he withstandeth our temptatión,
It is a cause of his salvatión,
Albeit that it was not our intent
He should be safe, but that we would him hent.2204
And sometimes be we servants unto man,
As to the archbishop Saint Dunstan,
And to th’ apostle servant eke was I.”
“Yet tell me,” quoth this Sompnour, “faithfully,
Make ye you newë bodies thus alway
Of th’ elements?” The fiend answered, “Nay:
Sometimes we feign, and sometimes we arise
With deadë bodies, in full sundry wise,
And speak as reas’nably, and fair, and well,
As to the Pythoness2205 did Samuel:
And yet will some men say it was not he.
I do no force of2206 your divinity.
But one thing warn I thee, I will not jape,2207
Thou wilt algatës2208 weet2209 how we be shape:
Thou shalt hereafterward, my brother dear,
Come, where thee needeth not of me to lear.2210
For thou shalt by thine own experience
Conne in a chair to rede of this senténce,2211
Better than Virgil, while he was alive,
Or Dante also.2212 Now let us ride blive,2213
For I will holdë company with thee,
Till it be so that thou forsakë me.”
“Nay,” quoth this Sompnour, “that shall ne’er betide.
I am a yeoman, that is known full wide;
My trothë will I hold, as in this case;
For though thou wert the devil Satanas,
My trothë will I hold to thee, my brother,
As I have sworn, and each of us to other,
For to be truë brethren in this case,
And both we go abouten our purchase.2214
Take thou thy part, what that men will thee give,
And I shall mine, thus may we bothë live.
And if that any of us have more than other,
Let him be true, and part it with his brother.”
“I grantë,” quoth the devil, “by my fay.”
And with that word they rodë forth their way,
And right at th’ ent’ring of the townë’s end,
To which this Sompnour shope2215 him for to wend,2216
They saw a cart, that charged was with hay,
Which that a carter drove forth on his way.
Deep was the way, for which the cartë stood:
The carter smote, and cried as he were wood,2217
“Heit Scot! heit Brok! what, spare ye for the stones?
The fiend (quoth he) you fetch body and bones,
As farforthly2218 as ever ye were foal’d,
So muchë woe as I have with you tholed.2219
The devil have all, horses, and cart, and hay.”
The Sompnour said, “Here shall we have a prey;”
And near the fiend he drew, as nought ne were,2220
Full privily, and rowned2221 in his ear:
“Hearken, my brother, hearken, by thy faith,
Hearest thou not, how that the carter saith?
Hent2222 it anon, for he hath giv’n it thee,
Both hay and cart, and eke his capels2223 three.”
“Nay,” quoth the devil, “God wot, never a deal,2224
It is not his intent, trust thou me well;
Ask him thyself, if thou not trowest2225 me,
Or ellës stint2226 a while and thou shalt see.”
The carter thwack’d his horses on the croup,
And they began to drawen and to stoop.
“Heit now,” quoth he; “there, Jesus Christ you bless,
And all his handiwork, both more and less!
That was well twight,2227 mine owen liart,2228 boy,
I pray God save thy body, and Saint Loy!
Now is my cart out of the slough, pardie.”
“Lo, brother,” quoth the fiend, “what told I thee?
Here may ye see, mine owen dearë brother,
The churl spake one thing, but he thought another.
Let us go forth abouten our voyáge;
Here win I nothing upon this carriáge.”
When that they came somewhat out of the town,
This Sompnour to his brother gan to rown;
“Brother,” quoth he, “here wons2229 an old rebeck,2230
That had almost as lief to lose her neck.
As for to give a penny of her good.
I will have twelvepence, though that she be wood,2231
Or I will summon her to our offíce;
And yet, God wot, of her know I no vice.
But for thou canst not, as in this countrý,
Winnë thy cost, take
