The Reeve's Tale
Folio 53v
6 of 12 folios
And he þt bettre / sholde haue knyt the reyne
¶ Allas quod Ioħn / Aleyn for Cristes peyne
165
Lay doun thy swerd / and I wol myn alswa
I is ful wight / god waat as is a ra
By god hert he sal nat scape vs bathe
Why ne had thow / pit the capil in the lathe
Ilhail / by god Alayn / thow is a fonne
170
¶ This sely clerkes / haan ful faste yronne
Toward the fen / bothe Alayn and eek Ioħn
And whan the Millere seigh / þt they were gon
He half a busshel / of hir flour hath take
And bad his wyf / go knede it in a cake
175
He seyde / I trowe / the clerkes were aferd
Yet kan a Millere / maken a clerkes berd
For al his art ye lat hem goon hir weye
Lo wher he gooth / ye lat the children pleye
They gete hym noght so lightly / by my croun
180
¶ Thise sely clerkes / rennen vp and doun
With keep / keep / stand / stand / Iossa warderere
Ga whistle thow / and I sal kepe hym heere
But shortly / til þt it was verray nyght
They koude noght thogh they dide al hir myght
185
Hir capyl cacche / he ran alwey so faste
Til in a dych / they caughte hym at the laste
¶ Wery and weet as beest is in the reyn
Comth sely Ioħn / and with hym comth Aleyn
Allas quod Ioħn / the day þt I was born
190
Now ar we dryuen / til hethyng & til scorn
Oure corn is stole / men wil vs foolis calle .
Bothe the wardeyn / and oure felawes alle
And namely the Millere / weilawey
¶ Thus pleyneth Ioħn / as he gooth by the wey
195
Toward the Mille / and Bayard in his hond
The Millere / sittyng by the fyr he fond
For it was nyght and ferther myghte they noght
But for the loue of god / they hym bisoght
Of herberwe and of ese / as for hir peny
200
¶ The Millere seide agayn / if ther be eny
Swich as it is / yet shal ye haue youre part
Myn hous is streyt but ye han lerned art