The Second Nun's Tale
Folio 173r
16 of 16 folios
¶ Thre strokes in the nekke / he smoot hir tho
The tormentour / but for no maner chaunce
He myghte noght smyte al hir nekke atwo
And for ther was / that tyme an ordinaunce
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That no man / sholde doon man swich penaunce
The ferthe strook to smyten / softe or soore
This tormentour / ne dorste do namoore
¶ But half deed / with hir nekke ycoruen there
He lefte hir lye / and on his wey he went
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The cristen folk whiche þt aboute hir were
With shetes / han the blood ful faire yhent
Thre dayes / lyued she in this torment
And neuere cessed / hem the feith to teche
That she hadde fostred / hem she gan to perche
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¶ And hem she yaf / hir moebles / and hir thyng
And to the Pope byshop Vrban / bitook hem tho
And seyde / I axed þis of heuene kyng
To han respit thre dayes / and namo
To recōmende to yow / er that I go
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Thise soules / lo / and þt I myghte do Werche
Here of myn hous / perpetuelly a cherche
¶ Seint Vrban / with hise deknes pryuely
The body fette / and buryed it by nyghte
Among hise othere Seintes honestly
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Hir hous / the chirche of Seinte Cecilie highte
Seint Vrban halwed it as he wel myghte
In which / in to this day / in noble wyse
Men doon to crist and to his Seinte seruyse .
¶ Here is ended / the Nonnes tale ~