The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 63r
2 of 12 folios
For ther as wont to walken was an elf
Ther walketh now the limitour him self
In vndermeles and in morwenynges
As he goth in his limitacioun
Wymmen may go now saufely vp and doun
In euery busshe or vnder euery tre
Ther is noon other Incubus but he
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And he ne wil do him but dishonur
¶ And so bifel that this kyng arthour
Hadde in his hous a lusty bachelere
That on a day came rydyng fro ryuere
And happed that allone as he was born
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He say a mayde walkyn him biforn
Of which mayde anon maugre hir hed
By verray force biraft hir maydenhed
For which appressioun was such clamour
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That dampned was the knyght for to be ded
By cours of law and shold han lost his hed
Par auenture swich was the statute tho
But that the quyene and other ladyes mo
So longe preyden the kyng of gace
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Til he his lif him graunted in the place
And yaf him to the quene al at hir wille
To chese whether she wolde him saue or spille
¶ The quyene thanketh the kyng wyth al hir myght
And aftyr this thus spak she to the knyght
Whan that she saw hir tyme vpon a day
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Thow stondest yit quod she in swich array
That of thi lyf yit hastow no surete
I graunte the lif yif thow kanst tellen me
What thing is it that wommen most desyren
Be war and kepe thi nekke bon from yren
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And yif thou kanst not telle it me anon
Yet wol I yeue the leue for to gon
A twelue moneth and a day to seche and lere
An answere sufficiant in this Matere.