The Franklin's Tale
Folio 133v
3 of 24 folios
That he ne doth or seith som tyme amys
Ire sekenesse or constellacioun
Wyn . wo . or chaungyng of complexioun
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Causeth ful ofte to doon amys or speken
On euery wronge a man may not ben awreken
After the tyme moste be temporaunce
To euery wight that can on gouernaunce
And therfore hath this wise worthi knyght
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To lyue in ese suffrance hir be hight
And she to him ful wisly gan to swere
That neuer sholde ther be defaute in here
¶ Here may men seen an humble wif acorde
Thus hath she take hir seruant and hir lorde
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Seruant in loue and lord in mariage
Than was he bothe in lordship and seruage
Seruage nay but in lordship al aboue
Sith he hath bothe his lady and his loue
His lady certes and his wif also
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To which that lawe of loue accordeth to
And whan he was in this prosperite
Hom wyth his wif he goth to his contre
Naught fer fro Pedmark ther his dwellyng was
Where as he lyueth in blisse and in solas
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¶ Who coude telle but he hed wedded be
The ioy the ese and the prosperite
That is bitwix an husbond and his wif
A yeer and more lasteth this blisful lif
Til that the knyght of which I speke of thus
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That of kairrud was cleped Arueragus
Shoop him to goon and dwelle a yeer or twayne
In Engelond that cleped was eke brytayne
To seke in armes worship and honour
For al his lust he set in suche labour
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And dwelle ther two yer the book seith thus
¶ Now wole I stynten of this Arueragus
And speke I wol of Dorigen his wif
That loueth hir husbond as hir hertes lif .