The Knight's Tale
Folio 16r
13 of 48 folios
Of euery seruaūt which that serueth here
Wel koude he / hewen wode / and water bere
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For he was yong / and myghty for the nones
And ther to / he was long / and big of bones
To doon / that any wigħt / kan hym deuyse
A yeer or two / he was in this seruyse
Page of the chambre / of Emelye the brigħte
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And Philostrate / he seyde þt he higħte
But half so wel / biloued a man as he
Ne was ther neuere in Court of his degree
He was so gentil of condicioū
That thurghout al the Court was his renoū
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They seyden / that it were a charitee
That Theseus / wolde enhauncen his degree
And putten hym / in worshipful seruyse
Ther as he myghte / his vertu excercise
And thus / with Inne a while / his name is spronge
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Bothe of hise dedes / and his goode tonge
That Theseus / hath taken hym so neer
That of his chambre / he made hym a Squier
And gaf hym gold / to mayntene his degree
And eek men broghte hym / out of his contree
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From yeer to yeer / ful pryuely his rente
But honestly / and slyly he it spente
That no man wondred / how þt he it hadde
And thre yeer in this wise / his lif he ladde
And bar hym so / in pees / and eek in werre
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Ther was no man / þt Theseus hath derre
And in this blisse / lete I now Arcite
And speke I wole / of Palamon alite
IN derknesse and horrible / and strong prisoū
Thise seuen yeer / hath seten Palamon
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Forpyned / what for wo / and for distresse
Who feeleth / double soor and heuynesse
But Palamon / that loue destreyneth so
That wood out of his wit he goth for wo
And eek ther to / he is a prisoner
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Perpetuelly / noght oonly / x for a yer
¶ Who koude ryme / in englyssħ proprely
His martirdom / for sothe it am nat I
Therfore I passe / as lightly as I may
¶ It fel / that in the Seuenthe yer in May
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The thridde nygħt as olde bookes seyn
That al this storie / tellen moore pleyn
Were it by auenture / or destynee
As whan a thyng is shapen / it shal be
That soone after the mydnygħt Palamou
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By helpyng of a freend / brak his prisoū