The Merchant's Tale
Folio 103v
3 of 26 folios
55
Thy good to kepe / than thyn owene wyf
For she wol clayme / half part al hir lyf
And if thou be syk so god me saue
Thy verray freendes / or a trewe knaue
Wol kepe thee bet than she þt waiteth ay
60
After thy good / and hath doon many a day
And if thou take a wyf / vn to thyn hoold
Ful ligħtly / maystow been a Cokewold
This sentence / and an hundred thynges worse
Writeth this man / ther god his bones corse
65
But take no kepe / of al swicħ vanytee
Deffie Theofraste / and herke me
¶ A wyf / is goddes yifte verraily
Alle otherere manere yiftes hardily
As londes / rentes / pasture / or cōmune
70
Or moebles / alle been yiftes of Fortune
That passen / as a shadwe vp on a wal
But dredelees / if pleynly speke I shal
A wyf wol laste / and in thyn hous endure
Wel lenger than thee list per auenture
75
¶ Mariage is / a ful greet sacrement
He / which þt hath no wyf / I holde hym shent /
He lyueth helplees / and al desolat
I speke of folk in seculer estaat
And herke why / I sey nat this for nogħt
80
That wōman is / for mannes helpe ywrogħt
The hye god / whan he hadde Adam maked
And saugh hym al allone / bely naked
God of his grete goodnesse / seyde than
Lat vs now make an helpe vn to this man
85
Lyk to hym self and thanne he made hī Eue
Heer may ye se / and heer by may ye preue
That wyf is mannes helpe / and his confort
His Paradys terrestre / and his disport
So buxom / and so vertuous is she
90
They moste nedes / lyue in vnitee
O flessħ they been / and o flessħ as I gesse
Hath but oon herte / in wele and in distresse
¶ A wyf / ; a seinte marie benedicite
How mygħte a man / han any aduersitee
95
That hath a wyf / certes I kan nat seye
The blisse / which þt is bitwixe hem tweye
Ther may no tonge telle / or herte thynke
If he be poure / she helpeth hym to swynke
She kepeth his good / and wasteth neuer a deel
100
Al that hir housbonde lust hir liketh weel
She seith nat ones nay / whan he seith ye
Do this seith he / al redy sire seith she