The Nun's Priest's Tale
Folio 184r
11 of 14 folios
Han in myn hous ybeen / to my greet ese
And certes sire / ful fayn wolde I yow plese
¶ But for men speke of syngyng I wol yow seye
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So moote I brouke wel / myne eyen tweye
So moot I / brouke wel myne eyen tweye
Saue yow / herde I neuere man yet synge
As dide youre fader / in the morwenynge
Certes / it was of herte / al that he song
And for to make / his voys / the moore strong
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He wolde so peyne hym / that wt bothe hise eyen
He moste wynke / so loude he wolde cryen
And stonden on his tiptoon / therwith al
And strecche forth his nekke / long and smal
And eek he was / of swich discrecioū
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That ther nas / no man in no Regioū
That hym / in song or wisedom mygħte passe
I haue wel rad / in daun Burnel the Asse
Among hise vers / how that ther was a Cok
For that a preestes sone / yaf hym a knok
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Vp on his leg whil he was yong and nyce
He made hym / for to lese his benefice
But certeyn / ther nys no comparisoū
Bitwixe / the wisedom / and discrecioū
Of youre fader / and of his subtiltee
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Now syngeth sire / for seinte charitee
Lat se / konne ye youre fader countrefete
¶ This Chauntecleer / hise wynges gan to bete
As man / þt koude his traysoū nat espie
So was he rauyssħed with his flaterie
505
Allas ye lordes / many a fals flatour
Is in youre Cortes / and many a losengeour
That plesen yow / wel moore by my feith
Than he / that soothfastnesse / vn to yow seith
Redeth Ecclesiaste / of Flaterye
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Beth war ye lordes / of hir trecherye
¶ This Chauntecleer / stood hye vp on his toos
Strecchynge his nekke / and heeld hise eyen cloos
And gan to crowe / loude for the nones
And Daun Russeƚƚ the fox / stirte vp atones
515
And by the gargat hente Chauntecleer
And on his bak / toward the wode hym beer
For yet ne was ther no man / þt hym sewed
¶ O destinee / that mayst nat been eschewed
Allas / þt Chauntecleer / fleigħ fro the bemes
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Allas / his wyf / ne roghte nat of dremes
And on a friday / fil al this meschaunce
¶ O Venus / that art goddesse of plesaunce