| |
| ‘NO more of this, for goddes dignitee,’ | |
| Quod oure hoste, ‘for thou makest me | |
| So wery of thy verray lewednesse | |
| That, also wisly god my soule blesse, | |
| Myn eres aken of thy drasty speche; | 5 |
| Now swiche a rym the devel I biteche! | |
| This may wel be rym dogerel,’ quod he. | |
| ‘Why so?’ quod I, ‘why wiltow lette me | |
| More of my tale than another man, | |
| Sin that it is the beste rym I can?’ | 10 |
| ‘By god,’ quod he, ‘for pleynly, at a word, | |
| Thy drasty ryming is nat worth a tord; | |
| Thou doost nought elles but despendest tyme, | |
| Sir, at o word, thou shalt no lenger ryme. | |
| Lat see wher thou canst tellen aught in geste, | 15 |
| Or telle in prose somwhat at the leste | |
| In which ther be som mirthe or som doctryne.’ | |
| ‘Gladly,’ quod I, ‘by goddes swete pyne, | |
| I wol yow telle a litel thing in prose, | |
| That oghte lyken yow, as I suppose, | 20 |
| Or elles, certes, ye been to daungerous. | |
| It is a moral tale vertuous, | |
| Al be it told som-tyme in sondry wyse | |
| Of sondry folk, as I shal yow devyse. | |
| As thus; ye woot that every evangelist, | 25 |
| That telleth us the peyne of Iesu Crist, | |
| Ne saith nat al thing as his felaw dooth, | |
| But natheles, hir sentence is al sooth, | |
| And alle acorden as in hir sentence, | |
| Al be ther in hir telling difference. | 30 |
| For somme of hem seyn more, and somme lesse, | |
| Whan they his pitous passioun expresse; | |
| I mene of Marke, Mathew, Luk and Iohn; | |
| But doutelees hir sentence is al oon. | |
| Therfor, lordinges alle, I yow biseche, | 35 |
| If that ye thinke I varie as in my speche, | |
| As thus, thogh that I telle som-what more | |
| Of proverbes, than ye han herd bifore, | |
| Compréhended in this litel tretis here, | |
| To enforce with the theffect of my matere, | 40 |
| And thogh I nat the same wordes seye | |
| As ye han herd, yet to yow alle I preye, | |
| Blameth me nat; for, as in my sentence, | |
| Ye shul not fynden moche difference | |
| Fro the sentence of this tretis lyte | 45 |
| After the which this mery tale I wryte. | |
| And therfor herkneth what that I shal seye, | |
And lat me tellen al my tale, I preye.’
Explicit. | |
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