The Squire's Tale
Folio 121r
12 of 14 folios
Til that myn herte / to pitous and to nyce
Al Innocent of his corouned malice
For ferd of his deeth / as thougħte me
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Vpon hise othes / and his seuretee
Graunted hym loue / vpon this condiciou
That eueremoore / myn honor and renou
Were saued / bothe piuee and apert
This is to seyn / that after his desert
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I yaf hym al myn herte / and my thogħt
God woot and he / þt ootherwise nogħt /
And took his herte / in chaunge for myn for ay
But sooth is seyd / goon sithen many a day
A trewe wigħt and a theef thenken nat oon
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And whan he saugħ / the thyng so fer ygoon
That I hadde graunted hym / fully my loue
In swich a gyse / as I haue seyd aboue
And yeuen hym / my trewe herte as free
As he swoor / he yaf his herte to me
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Anon this Tigre / ful of doublenesse
Fil on hise knees / with so deuout humblesse
With so heigħ reuerence / and as by his cheere
So lyk a gentil louere / of manere
So rauyssħed / as it semed for the Ioye
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That neuere Troilð / ne Parys of Troye
Iasou certes / ne noon oother man
Syn Lameth was / þt alderfirst bigan
To louen two / as writen folk biforn
Ne neuere / syn the firste man was born
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Ne koude man / by twenty thousand part
Countrefete / the Sophymes of his Art
Ne were worthy / vnbokelen his galoche
Ther doublenesse / or feynyng sholde approche
Ne so koude thonke a wigħt / as he dide me
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His manere / was an heuene for to see
Til any wōman / were she neuer so wys
So peynted he / and kembde at point deuys
As wel hise wordes / as his contenaūce
And I loued hym / for his obeisaūce
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And for the trouthe / I demed in his herte
That if so were / that any thyng hym smerte
Al were it neuer so lite / and I it wiste
Me thougħte / I felte deeth myn herte twiste
And shortly / so ferforth / this thyng is went
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That my wyl / was his willes Instrument
This is to seyn / my wyl obeyed his wyl
In alle thyng as fer as resou fil
Kepynge the boundes / of my worshipe euere
Ne neuere hadde I thyng so lief ne leuere
¶ So ferde this Tercelet allas the day
Thougħ he were gentil born / fressħ and gay
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And goodlich for to seen / humble and free
He saugħ vp on a tyme a kyte flee
And sodeynly / he loued this kyte so
That al his loue / is clene fro me ago
And hath his trouthe / falsed in this wyse
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Thus hath the kyte / my loue in hir seruyse
And I am lorn / with outen remedie
And with that word / this Faucou gan to crie
And swowned eft in Canacees barm
¶ Greet was the sorwe / for the haukes harm
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That Canacee / and alle hir wōmen made
They nyste / hou they mygħte the Faucou glade
But Canacee / hom bereth hir in hir lappe
And softely / in plastres gan hir wrappe
Ther as she / with hir beek hadde hurt hir selue
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Now kan nat Canacee / but herbes delue
Out of the ground / and make saues newe
Of herbes perciouse / and fyne of hewe
To heelen with this / fro day to nygħt
She dooth hir bisynesse / and hir fulle mygħt
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And by hir beddes heed / she made a Mewe
And couered it with veluettes blewe
In signe of trouthe / that is in wōmen sene
And al wt oute the Mewe / is peynted grene
In which ther were ypeynted / alle thise false fowles
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As beth thise tidyues / tercelettes and Owles
Rigħt for despit were peynted hem bisyde
And pyes on hem / for to crie and chyde
¶ Thus lete I Canacee / hir hauk kepyng
I wol namoore as now / speke of hir ryng
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Til it come eft to purpos for to seyn
How that this Faucou / gat hir loue ageyn
Repentant as the storie telleth vs
The kynges sone / of which I yow tolde
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But hennes forth / I wol my proces holde
To speken of auentures / and of batailles
That neuere yet was herd / so grete meruailles
¶ First wol I telle yow / of Cambyuskan
That in his tyme / many a Citee wan
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And after wol I speke of Algarsif
How that he wan Theodera to his wif
For whom ful ofte / in greet peril he was
Ne hadde he be holpen / by the Steede of bras
And after wol I speke of Cambalo
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That faught in lystes / wt the bretheren two