The Monk's Tale
Folio 93r
9 of 20 folios
¶ And if she were with childe / at thilke cast
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Namoore / sholde he pleyen thilke game
Til fully .xl. dayes weren past
Thanne wolde she ones / suffre hym do the same
Al were this Onedake / wilde or tame
He gat namoore of hire / for thus she seyde
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It was to wyues / lecherie and shame
In oother cas / if þt men with hem pleyde
¶ Two sones / by this Onedake hadde she
The whiche she kepte / in vertu and lettrure
But now / vn to oure tale turne we
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I seye / so worshipful a creature
And wys ther with / and large wt mesure
So penyble in the werre / and curteis eke
Ne moore labour / myghte in werre endure
Was noon / thogh al this world men sholde seke
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¶ Hir riche array / ne myghte nat be toold
As wel in vessel / as in hire clothyng
She was al clad / in perree and in gold
And eek she lafte noght for noon huntyng
To haue / of sondry tonges ful knowyng
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Whan þt she leyser hadde / and for to entende
To lerne bookes / was al hir likyng
How she in vertu / myghte hir lyf despende
¶ And shortly / of this storie for to trete
So doughty was hir housbonde / and eek she
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That they conquered / manye regnes grete
In thorient with many a fair Citee
Appertenant vn to the magestee
Of Rome / and wt strong hond / heeld hem ful faste
Ne neuere myghte / hir fomen / doon hem flee
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Ay / whil that Onedakes dayes laste
¶ Hir batailles / who so list hem for to rede
Agayn Sapor the kyng / and othere mo
And how / þt al this proces / fil in dede
Why she conquered / and what title ther to
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And after / of hir meschief and hir wo
How that she was / biseged and ytake
Lat hym / vn to my maister Petrak go
That writ ynow of this / I vndertake