The Reeve's Tale
Folio 54v
8 of 12 folios
That as an hors / he fnorteth in his sleepe
Ne of his tayl bihynde / he took no keepe
245
His wyf bar hym / a burdon / a ful strong
Men myghten hir routyng heren a furlong
The wenche / routeth eek par compaignye
¶ Aleyn the clerc that herde this melodye
He poked Ioħn / and seyde slepestow
250
Herd thow euere / slyk a sang er now
Lo swilk a couplyng is ymel hem alle
A wilde fyr / on thair bodyes falle
Wha herkned euere / swilk a ferly thyng
Ye they sal haue / the flour of il endyng
255
This lang nyght ther tydes me na reste
But yet na force / al sal be for the beste
For Ioħn seyde he / als euere moot I thryue
If þt I may / yon wenche wol I swyue
Som esement has lawe shapen vs
260
For Ioħn / ther is a lawe / þt says thus
That gif a man / in a point be agreued
That in another / he sal be releued
Oure corn is stoln / soothly it is na nay
And we han had / an ille fit to day
265
And syn I sal / haue naan amendement
Agayn my los / I wil haue esement
By goddes saule / it sal naan other be
¶ This Ioħn answerde / Aleyn auyse thee
The Millere / is a perilous man he sayde
270
And if þt he / out of his sleep abrayde
He myghte doon vs bathe / a vileynye
¶ Aleyn answerde / I counte hym noght a flye
And vp he rist / and by the wenche he crepte
This wenche lay vp righte / and faste slepte
275
Til he so neigh was / er she myghte espie
That it hadde been / to late for to crie
And shortly for to seyn / they were at oon
Now pley Aleyn / for I wol speke of Ioħn
¶ This Ioħn lith stille / a furlang wey / or two
280
And to hym self he maketh routhe and wo
Allas quod he / this is a wikked Iape
Now may I seyn / þt I is but an ape