The Reeve's Tale
Folio 50r
6 of 10 folios
The wyf cam lepyng inward / with a renne
160
She seide allas / ȝoure hors goth to the fenne
With wylde Mares / as fast as he may go
Vnthank come on his hand / þt bond hī so
And he þt betir / shuld han knyt the reyne
Allas qd Ioħn / Aleyn for cristes peyne
165
Lay doun thy swerd / and I wyl myn alswa
I is ful wygħt / god wayt as is a raa
By goddes hert / he shal nat skape vs bathe
Why ne had thow put / the capul in the lathe
Il hayl / by god Aleyn / thow is a fonne
170
¶ Theise sely Clerkes / han ful fast I ronne
Toward the fen / bothe Aleyn & Ioħñ
And whāne the Millere saw / þt they weren gon
He half a busshel / of here flour hath take
And bad his wyf / go knede it in a kake
175
He seide I trowe / the Clerkes ben a ferd
Ȝet can a Millere / make a Clerkes berd
For al his art / ȝa lat hem gon here wey
Lo where they go / ȝe late the children pley
They get hī nat / so ligħtly / be my croun
180
Theise sely Clerkes / rennen vp and doun
With kepe kepe / stand stand / Iossa warderere
Ga / whistel thow / and I shal kepe hī here
But shortly / til it was verray nygħt
They coude nat / thougħ they dede al here mygħt
185
Here capel cacche / he ran alwey so fast
Til in a diche / they cached hī at the last
Wery and wete / as beest is in the reyn
Cometh sely Ioħn / & witħ hī cometħ Aleyn
¶ Allas qd Ioħn / that day that I was borñ
190
Now ar we dreuyn til hethyng / and to skorn
Oure corn is stole / men wyl vs fonnes calle
Bothe the wardeyn / and oure felawes alle
And namely the Millere / weylawey
Thus pleyneth Ioħn / as he gotħ by the wey
195
Toward the Mille / and bayard in his hond
The Millere sittyng by the fyr / he fond
For it was nygħt / and ferthere mygħt þei nougħt
But for the loue of god / they hī bysougħt
Of herberwe & of ease / as for here peny
200
¶ The Millere seide a geyn / if here be eny
Swicħ as it is / ȝet shuln ȝe han ȝoure part
Myn hous is streyt / but ȝe han lerned art
Ȝe conne by argumentez / maken a place