Hey! Goddë’s precious dignity! who wend3626
To-day that we should have so fair a grace?
But might this gold he carried from this place
Home to my house, or ellës unto yours
(For well I wot that all this gold is ours),
Then werë we in high felicitý.
But truëly by day it may not be;
Men wouldë say that we were thievës strong,
And for our owen treasure do us hong.3627
This treasure mustë carried be by night,
As wisely and as slily as it might.
Wherefore I rede,3628 that cut3629 among us all
We draw, and let see where the cut will fall:
And he that hath the cut, with heartë blithe
Shall run unto the town, and that full swithe,3630
And bring us bread and wine full privily:
And two of us shall keepë subtilly
This treasure well: and if he will not tarry,
When it is night, we will this treasure carry,
By one assent, where as us thinketh best.”
Then one of them the cut brought in his fist,
And bade them draw, and look where it would fall;
And it fell on the youngest of them all;
And forth toward the town he went anon.
And all so soon as that he was y-gone,
The one of them spake thus unto the other;
“Thou knowest well that thou art my sworn brother,
Thy profit3631 will I tell thee right anon.
Thou knowest well that our fellów is gone,
And here is gold, and that full great plentý,
That shall departed3632 he among us three.
But natheless, if I could shape3633 it so
That it departed were among us two,
Had I not done a friendë’s turn to thee?”
Th’ other answér’d, “I n’ot3634 how that may be;
He knows well that the gold is with us tway.
What shall we do? what shall we to him say?”
“Shall it be counsel?”3635 said the firstë shrew;3636
“And I shall tell to thee in wordës few
What we shall do, and bring it well about.”
“I grantë,” quoth the other, “out of doubt,
That by my truth I will thee not bewray.”
“Now,” quoth the first, “thou know’st well we be tway,
And two of us shall stronger be than one.
Look, when that he is set,3637 thou right anon
Arise, as though thou wouldest with him play;
And I shall rive him through the sidës tway,
While that thou strugglest with him as in game;
And with thy dagger look thou do the same.
And then shall all this gold departed be,
My dearë friend, betwixtë thee and me:
Then may we both our lustës3638 all fulfil,
And play at dice right at our owen will.”
And thus accorded3639 be these shrewës3640 tway
To slay the third, as ye have heard me say.
The youngest, which that wentë to the town,
Full oft in heart he rolled up and down
The beauty of these florins new and bright.
“O Lord!” quoth he, “if so were that I might
Have all this treasure to myself alone,
There is no man that lives under the throne
Of God, that shouldë have so merry as I.”
And at the last the fiend our enemy
Put in his thought, that he should poison buy,
With which he mightë slay his fellows twy.3641
For why, the fiend found him in such livíng,3642
That he had leave to sorrow him to bring.
For this was utterly his full intent
To slay them both, and never to repent.
And forth he went, no longer would he tarry,
Into the town to an apothecáry,
And prayed him that he him wouldë sell
Some poison, that he might his rattës quell,3643
And eke there was a polecat in his haw,3644
That, as he said, his capons had y-slaw:3645
And fain he would him wreak,3646 if that he might,
Of vermin that destroyed him by night.
Th’ apothecary answer’d, “Thou shalt have
A thing, as wisly3647 God my soulë save,
In all this world there is no creatúre
That eat or drank hath of this cónfectúre,
Not but the mountance3648 of a corn of wheat,
That he shall not his life anon forlete;3649
Yea, sterve3650 he shall, and that in lessë while
Than thou wilt go apace3651 nought but a mile:
This poison is so strong and violent.”
This cursed man hath in his hand y-hent3652
This poison in a box, and swift he ran
Into the nextë street, unto a man,
And borrow’d of him largë bottles three;
And in the two the poison poured he;
The third he keptë clean for his own drink,
For all the night he shope him3653 for to swink3654
In carrying off the gold out of that place.
And when this riotoúr, with sorry grace,
Had fill’d with wine his greatë bottles three,
To his fellóws again repaired he.
What needeth it thereof to sermon3655 more?
For, right as they had cast3656 his death before,
Right so they have him slain, and that anon.
And when that this was done, thus spake the one;
“Now let us sit and drink, and make us merry,
And afterward we will his body bury.”
And with that word it happen’d him par cas3657
To take the bottle where the poison was,
And drank, and gave his fellow drink also,
For which anon they sterved3658 both the two.
But certes I suppose that Avicen
Wrote never in no canon, nor no fen,3659
More wondrous signës of empoisoníng,
Than had these wretches two ere their endíng.
Thus ended be these homicidës two,
And eke the false empoisoner also.
O cursed sin, full of all cursedness!
O trait’rous homicide! O wickedness!
O glutt’ny, luxury, and hazardry!
Thou blasphemer of Christ with villany,3660
And oathës great, of usage and of pride!
Alas! mankindë, how may it betide,
That to thy Creatór, which that thee wrought,
And with his precious heartë-blood thee bought,
Thou art so false and so unkind,3661 alas!
