The Shipman's Tale
Folio 145r
4 of 10 folios
Nat for no cosynage / ne Alliance
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But verraily / for loue and affiance
Thus been they sworn / and heer vp on they kiste
And ech of hem / tolde oother what hem liste
¶ Cosyn quod she / if þt I hadde a space
As I haue noon / and namely in this place
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Thanne wolde I telle / a legende of my lyf
What I haue suffred / sith I was a wyf
With myn housbonde / al be he of youre kyn
¶ Nay quod this Monk by god / and by Seint Martyn
He is / namoore cosyn vn to me
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Than is this lief þt hangeth on the tree
I clepe hym so / by Seint Denys of Fraūce
To haue / the moore cause of Aqueyntaūce
Of yow / which I haue loued specially
Abouen alle wommen sikerly
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This swere I yow / on my professioū
Telleth youre grief lest þt he come adoun
And hasteth yow / and gooth your wey anon
¶ My deere loue quod she / o my Daun Ioħn
Ful lief were me / this conseil for to hyde
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But out it moot I may namoore abyde
Myn housbonde / is to me the worste man
That euere was / sith þt the world bigan
But sith I am a wyf it sit nat me
To tellen no wigħt / of oure piuetee
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Neither a bedde / ne in noon oother place
God shilde / I sholde it tellen for his gace
A wyf / ne shal nat seyn of hir housbonde
But al honour / as I kan vnderstonde
Saue vn to yow / thus muche I tellen shal
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As helpe me god / he is nogħt worth at al
In no degree / the value of a flye
But yet me greueth moost his nygardye
And wel ye woot þt wōmen naturelly
Desiren thynges sixe / as wel as I
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They wolde / that hir housbondes sholde be
Hardy & wise / and riche & therto free
And buxom vn to his wyf and fressħ abedde
But by that ilke lord / that for vs bledde
For his honour my self for to arraye
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A sonday next I moste nedes paye
An hundred frankes / or ellis I am lorn
Yet were me leuere / that I were vnborn
Than me were doon / a sclaundre or vileynye
And if myn housbonde / eek it myghte espye
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I nere but lost and therfore I yow preye
Lene me this sōme / or ellis moot I deye