The Miller's Tale
Folio 38v
9 of 15 folios
Suffiseth thee / but if thy wittes madde
To han as greet a grace / as Noe hadde
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Thy wyf shal I wel sauen / out of doute
Go now thy wey / and speed thee heer aboute
¶ But whan thou hast for hir and thee and me
Ygeten vs / thise knedyng tubbes thre
Thanne shaltow hange hem / in the roof ful hye
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That no man / of oure purueiaunce spye
And whan thou thus hast doon / as I haue seyd
And hast oure vitaille / faire in hem yleyd
And eek an Ax / to smyte the corde atwo
Whan þt the water comth / that we may go
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And broke an hole / anheigħ vp on the gable
Vn to the gardynward / ouer the stable
That we may frely / passen forth oure way
Whan þt the grete shour / is goon away
Thanne shal I swymme / as myrie I vndertake
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As dooth the white doke / after hir drake
Thanne wol I clepe / how Alisou / how Ioħn
Be myrie / for the flood wol passe anon
And thou wolt seyn / hayl maister Nicholay
Good morwe / I se thee wel / for it is day
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And thanne / shul we be / lordes al oure lyf /
Of al the world / as Noe and his wyf /
¶ But of o thyng I warne thee ful rigħt
Be wel auysed / on that ilke nygħt
That we ben entred / in to shippes bord
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That noon of vs / ne speke nat a word
Ne clepe / ne crie / but been in his preyere
For it is / goddes owene heeste deere
¶ Thy wyf and thou / moote hange fer atwynne
For that bitwixe yow / shal be no synne
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Namoore in lookyng / than ther shal in deede
This ordinance is seyd / go god thee speede
Tomorwe at nyght whan folk ben alle aslepe
In to oure knedyng tubbes / wol we crepe
And sitten there / abidyng goddes grace
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Go now thy wey / I haue no lenger space
To make of this / no lenger sermonyng
Men seyn thus / sende the wise / and sey no thyng
Thou art so wys it nedeth thee nat to preche
Go saue oure lyf / and that I the biseche
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¶ This sely Carpenter / goth forth his wey
Ful ofte / he seith allas and weylawey
And to his wyf / he tolde his pryuetee
And she was war / and knew it bet than he
What al this queynte cast was for to seye
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But nathelees / she ferde as she wolde deye