The Second Nun's Tale
Folio 191v
13 of 14 folios
But thou mayst seyn / thy pinces han thee maked
485
Ministre of deeth / for if thou speke of mo
Thou lyest for thy power is ful naked
Do wey thy booldnesse / seyde Almachius tho
And sacrifie to oure goddes er thou go
I recche nat what wrong þt thou me profre
490
For I kan suffre it / as a Philosophre
¶ But thilke wronges / may I nat endure
That thou spekest of oure goddes heere quod he
Cecile answerde / o nyce creature
Thou seydest no word / syn thou spak to me
495
That I ne knew ther with / thy nycetee
And that thou were / in euery maner wise
A lewed Officer / and a veyn Iustise
Ther lakketh no thyng . to thyne outter eyen exterioribus ocuƚ
That thou nart blynd / for thyng þt we seen alle
500
That it is stoon / þt men may wel espyen
That ilke stoon / a god thow wolt it calle
I rede thee / lat thyn hand vp on it falle
And taste it wel / and stoon thou shalt it fynde
Syn that thou seest nat with thyne eyen blynde
505
It is a shame / that the peple shal
So scorne thee / and laughe at thy folye
For cōmunly / men woot it wel oueral
That myghty god / is in hise heuenes hye
And thise ymages / wel thou mayst espye
510
To thee / ne to hem self ne mowen nogħt profite
For in effect they been nat worth a myte
¶ Thise wordes / and swiche othere seyde she
And he weex wrooth / and bad men sholde hir lede
Hom til hir hous / and in hir hous quod he
515
Brenne hir / right in a bath of flambes rede
And as he bad / rigħt so was doon in dede
For in a Bath / they gonne hir faste shetten
And nyght and day / greet fyr they vnder betten
¶ The longe nygħt / and eek a day also
520
For al the fyr and eek the bathes heete
She sat al coold / and feeled no wo
It made hir / nat a drope for to sweete
But in that Bath / hir lyf she moste lete
For he Almachius / wt a ful wikke entente
525
To sleen hir in the Bath his sonde sente