The Franklin's Tale
Folio 125r
4 of 20 folios
And finally / she graunted that requeste
For wel she saugħ / that it was for the beste
¶ Now stood hir Castel / fasteby the See
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And often / with hir freendes walketh shee
Hir to disporte / vp on the bank anheigħ
Where / as she / many a shipe and barge seigħ
Seillynge hir cours / wher as hem liste go
But thanne was that a parcel of hir wo
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For to hir self ful ofte allas seith she
Is ther no shipe / of so manye as I se
Wol bryngen hom my lord / thanne were myn herte
Al warisshed / of hise bittre peynes smerte
¶ Another tyme / ther wolde she sitte and thynke
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And caste hir eyen / dounward fro the brynke
But whan she saugħ / the grisly Rokkes blake
For verray feere / so wolde hir herte quake
That on hir feet she mygħte hir nogħt sustene
Thanne wolde she / sitte adoun vp on the grene
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And pitously / in to the See biholde
And seyn rigħt thus / wt sorweful sikes colde
¶ Eterne god / that thurgħ thy prueiaunce
Ledest the world / by certein gouernaūce
In ydel as men seyn / ye no thyng make
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But lord / thise grisly / feendly Rokkes blake
That semen rather / a foul confusiou
Of werk than any fair creaciou
Of swich a parfit wys god and a stable
Why han ye wrogħt this werk vnresonable
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For by this werk / South / North / ne West ne Eest
Ther nys yfostred / man / ne bryd ne beest
It dooth no good to my wit but anoyeth
Se ye nat lord / how mankynde it destroyetħ
An hundred thousand bodyes of mankynde
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Han Rokkes slayn / al be they nat in mynde
Which mankynde / is so fair part of thy werk
That thou it madest lyk to thyn owene merk
¶ Thanne semed it ye hadde a greet chiertee
Toward mankynde / but how thanne may it bee
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That ye swiche meenes make / it to destroyen
Whiche meenes do no good / but euere anoyen
I woot wel / clerkes wol seyn as hem leste
By Argumentz / that al is for the beste
Thougħ I kan / the causes nat yknowe
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But thilke god / that made wynd to blowe
As kepe my lord / this my conclusiou
To clerkes lete I / al this disputisou
But wolde god / that alle thise Rokkes blake
Were sonken in to helle for his sake