The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue
Folio 169v
2 of 6 folios
The hors eek þat his ȝyman rood vpon
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So swette þat vnneþes might he goon
Aboute þe peytrel stood þe foom ful hye
He was of foom as flekked as a pye
A male tweyfold on his croper lay
It semed þat he caried litel array
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And light for somer rood þis worþy man
And in myn herte wondren I bigan
What þat he was til þat I vnderstood
How þat his cloke was sowed vnto his hood
For which whan I long had auysed me /
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I demed him som chanoun for to be
His hat heng at his bak doun by a laas
For he had riden more þan trot or paas /
He had I pryked lik as he were wood
A cloote leef he had vnder his hood
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For swoot and for to kepe his heed from hete
But it was ioye for to se him swete
His forhed dropped as a stillatorie /
Were ful of plantayn and of peritorie
And whanne þat he com he gan to crie
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God saue quod he þis ioly compaignye /
Fast haue I priked quod he for ȝour sake /
By cause þat I wolde ȝou atake
To ryden in þis merye companye /
His ȝeman eek was ful of curtesye /
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He seid sires now in þe morwe tyde /
Out of ȝour ostelry I saugh ȝou ryde /
And warned heer my lord and my souerayn
Which þat to ryden with ȝow is ful fayn
For his desport he loueth daliaunce
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Frend for þy warnyng god ȝeue þe good chaunce
Sayde oure host for certes it wolde seme
Thy lord were wys and so I may wel deme
He is ful iocound also dar I leye
Can he ougħt telle a mery tale or tweye
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With which he glade may þis companye
Who sire my lord / ȝe ȝe / wiþoute lye /