The Shipman's Tale
Folio 205r
3 of 11 folios
And vp / into his Countour hous goth he
To rekene with hym self / wel may be
Of thilke yeer / how þt it with hym stood
80
And how þt he / despended hadde his good
And if that he / encressed were or noon
Hise bokes / and his bagges / many oon
He leyth biforn hym / on his Countyng bord
Ful riche was his tresor / and his hord
85
For which ful faste / his Countour dore he shette
And eek he nolde / þt no man sholde hym lette
Of his acountes / for the mene tyme
And thus he sit / til it was passed pime
¶ Daun Ioħn was risen / in the morwe also
90
And in the gardyns / walketh to and fro
And hath his thynges seyd / ful curteisly
¶ This goode wyf / cam walkyng piuely
In to the gardyn / ther he walketh softe
And hym salueth / as she hath doon ofte
95
A mayde child / cam in hir compaignye
Which as hir list she may gouerne and gye
For yet vnder the yerde was the mayde
¶ O deere cosyn myn / Daun Ioħn she sayde
What eyleth yow / so rathe for to ryse
100
¶ Nece quod he / it oghte ynow suffise
Fyue houres / for to slepe / vp on a nyght
But it were / for an old apalled wight
As been thisx wedded men / þt lye and dare
As in a forme / sit a wery hare
105
Were al forstraught wt houndes grete & smale
But deere Nece / why be ye so pale
I trowe certes / that oure goode man
Hath yow laboured / sith the nyght bigan
That yow were nede / to resten hastily
110
And with that word / he lough ful myrily
And of his owene thoght he weex al reed
¶ This faire wyf / gan for to shake hir heed
And seyde thus / ye god woot al quod she
Nay cosyn myn / it stant nat so with me
115
For by that god / that yaf me soule and lyf
In al the Reawme of France / is ther no wyf