The Second Nun's Tale
Folio 201v
5 of 14 folios
485
Ministre of detħ / for if thow speke of moo
Thow hest / for thy power is ful naked
Do wey thyn boldenesse / seide Almachius tho
And do sacrifise to oure goddes / er þu go
I recche nat what wrong / þt þow me profre
490
For I can suffre it / as a Philosophre
¶ But thilke wronges / may I nat endure
That þu spekest / of oure goddes heere qd he
Cecile answerde / o nyce creature
Thow seidest no word / syn þu spake to me
495
That I ne knew there witħ / thy nycetee
And that þu were / in euery maner wyse
A lewed officere / a veyn Iustise
¶ There lakketħ no thyng / to thyne vttere eyen
That þu nart blynd / for þing þt we sen alle
500
That is a ston / þat men moun wel espien
That ilke a ston / a god þu wolt it calle
I rede the / lat thyn hond / vp on it falle
And taste it wel / & ston þu shalt it fynde
Syn þt þu seest nat / wt thyne eyen blynde
505
¶ It is a shame / that the peeple shal
So scornen the / and laugħe at thyn folie
For comunly / men woot it wel ouer al
That mygħty god is / in his heuenes hye
And theise ymages / wel þu maist espie
510
To the / ne to hē self / moun nat profite
For in effect / they be nat wortħ a myte
¶ Theise and swicħ othere / seide she
And he wex wrotħ / & bad men shulde hire lede
Hoom til hire hous / and in hire hous qd he
515
Brenne hire / rigħt in a bathe / wt flambes rede
And as he bad / rigħt so was don the dede
For in a bathe / they gonne hire faste shetten
And nygħt and day / gret fyr they vnder betten
¶ The longe nygħt / and eke a day also
520
For al the fyr / and eke the bathes hete
She sat al cold / and feled no woo
It made hire nat / a drope for to swete
But in that batħ / hire lif she muste lete
For he Almachius / wt a ful wykke entente
525
To slen hire in the batħ / his sonde sente
¶ Thre strokes in the nekke / he smot hire tho