The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 71v
5 of 11 folios
And certes / yet ne dide I yow neuere vnright
Why fare ye thus with me / this firste nyght
Ye faren lyk a man / hadde lost his wit
What is my gilt / for goddes loue tel it
1070
And it shal ben amended / if I may
¶ Amended quod this knyght allas nay / nay
It wol nat ben amended neuere mo
Thow art so loothly / and so old also
And ther to comen / of so lowe a kynde
1075
That litel wonder is / thogh I walwe and wynde
So wolde god / myn herte wolde breste
¶ Is this quod she / the cause of youre vnreste
¶ Ye certeynly quod he / no wonder is
¶ Now sire quod she / I koude amende al this
1080
If that me liste / er it were dayes thre
So wel ye myghte / bere yow vn to me
¶ But for ye speken / of swich gentillesse
As is descended / out of old richesse
That therfore / sholden ye be gentil men
1085
Swich errogaūce / is nat worth an hen
Looke who þt is / moost vertuous alway
Pryuee and apert and moost entendeth ay
To do / the gentil dedes / þt he kan
Taak hym / for the gentileste man
1090
Crist / wol we clayme of hym oure gentilesse
Nat of oure eldres / for hir old richesse
For thogh they yeue vs / al hir heritage
For which we clame / to been of hir parage
Yet may they nat biquethe / for no thyng
1095
To noon of vs / hir vertuous lyuyng
That made hem / gentil men ycalled be
And bad vs / folwen hem in swich degree
¶ Wel kan / the wise poete of Florence
That highte Dant speken in this sentence
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Lo / in swich maner rym / is Dantes tale
Ful selde vp riseth / by his braūches smale
Prowesse of man / for god of his prowesse
Wole /. that of hym / we clayme oure gentilesse
For of oure eldres / may we no thyng clayme
1105
But temporel thyng that man may hurte and mayme