The Man of Law's Tale
Folio 119v
14 of 31 folios
435
xhis Constable / and dame Hermengyld his wyf
Were payens / and that contree euery where
But hermengyld / loued hir right as hir lyf
And Custaunce / hath so longe soiorned there
In orisons / with many a bitter teere
440
Til Ihū / hath conuerted thurgh his grace
Dame hermengyld / Constablesse of thilke place
¶ In al that land / no cristen dorste route
Alle cristen folk / been fled fro that contree
Thurgh Payens / þt conquereden al aboute
445
The plages of the North / by land and see
To Walys / fledde the cristianytee
Of olde Britons / dwellyng in this Ile
Ther was hir refut for the mene while
¶ But yet nere cristen Britons / so exiled
450
That ther nere sōme / þt in hir pryuetee
Honoured crist and hethen folk bigiled
And neigh the Castel / swiche ther dwelten thre
That oon of hem / was blynd and myghte nat se
But it were / with thilke eyen of his mynde
455
With whiche men seen / after þt they been blynde
¶ Bright was the Sonne / as in that Someres day
For which the Constable / and his wyf also
And Custaunce / han ytake the righte way
Toward the see / a furlong wey / or two
460
To pleyen / and to romen to and fro
And in hir walk this blynde man they mette
Croked and old / with eyen faste yshette
¶ In name of Crist cryde this blynde Britoun
Dame hermengyld / yif me my sighte agayn
465
This lady / weex affrayed of the sown
Lest þt hir housbonde / shortly for to sayn
Wolde hire / for Ihū cristes loue han slayn
Til Custaunce made hir boold / and bad hir wirche
The wyl of Crist as doghter of his chirche