The Friar's Tale
Folio 79r
6 of 9 folios
Whan he withstandeth oure temptacioū
It is / cause / of his sauacioū
Al be it that it was nat oure entente
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He sholde be sauf but þt we wolde hym hente
And som tyme / be we seruant vn to man
As to the Bissħope / Seint Dunstan
And to the Apostles / seruant eek was .I.
¶ Yet tel me / quod the Somonor feithfully
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Make ye yow newe bodies / thus alway
Of Elementz ; the feend answerde nay ;
Som tyme we feyne / and som tyme we aryse
With dede bodyes / in ful sondry wyse
And speke as renably / and faire and wel
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As to the Phitonissa / dide Samuel
And yet wol som men seye / it was nat he
I do no fors / of youre dyuynytee
But o thyng warne I thee / I wol nat Iape
Thou wolt algates / wite how we been shape
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Thou shalt her afterwardes / my brother deere
Come there thee nedeth nat of me to leere
For thou shalt by thyn owene experience
Konne in a chayer / rede of this sentence
Bet than virgile / while he was on lyue
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Or Dant also / now lat vs ryde blyue
For I wole / holde compaignye with thee
Til it be so / that thou forsake me
¶ Nay quod this Somonour / that shal nat bityde
I am a yeman / knowen is ful wyde
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My trouthe wol I holde / as in this cas
For though thou were / the deuel Sathanas
My trouthe wol I holde / to my brother
As I am sworn / and ech of vs til oother
For to be trewe brother / in this cas
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And bothe we goon / abouten oure prchas
Taak thou thy part what þt men wol thee yeue
And I shal myn / and thus may we bothe lyue
And if þt any of vs / haue moore than oother
Lat hym be trewe / and parte it wt his brother
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¶ I graunte quod the deuel / by my fey
And with that word / they ryden forth hir wey
And right at the entryng of the townes ende
To which this Somonour / shoope hym for to wende
They saugħ a Cart that charged was with hey
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Which þt a Carter droof forth in his wey
Deepe was the wey for which the Carte stood
This Carter smoot and cryde / as he were wood
Hayt Brok / hayt Scot what spare ye for the stones
The feend quod he / yow fecche body and bones