The Shipman's Tale
Folio 198r
9 of 12 folios
Answerd and sayde . O cosyn daun Ioħn
Now sikerly þis is a smal request
My gold is ȝoures whanne þat ȝow lest
285
And nougħt oonly gold but my chaffare /
Tak what ȝow liste / god schilde ȝe spare
But oon þing is ȝe know it wel ynougħ
Of chapmen þat her money is here plougħ
We may creaunce whils we haue a name
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But goldles for to be it is no game
Pay it agayn whan it liþ in ȝour ese /
After my migħt ful fayn wold I ȝow plese /
This hundred frankes he fet forth anoon
And priuely he took hem to daun Ioħn
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No wight in al þis world wist of þis loone
Sauyng þe marchaund and dan Ioħn alloone
Thay drynke & speke and rome a while and play /
Til þat dan Ioħn rydeþ to his abbay
The morwe cam and forth þe marchaund rideth
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To Flaundres ward his prentis wel him gydeth
Til þat he cam to Brigges merily
Now goth þis marchaund faste and busily
Aboute his neede and bieth and creaunceth
He neither pleyeth atte dys ne daunceþ
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But as a marchaund schortly for to telle
He lad his lyf / and þer I let him duelle
The sonday next þe marchaund is agoon
To seint denys I come is daun Ioħn
With croune and berd al freisch and newe I schaue
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In al þe hous þer nas so litel a knaue
Ne no wight elles þat he nas ful fayn
For þat my lord dan Ioħn was come agayn
And schortly to þe poynte for to gon
This faire wif acordith with dan Ioħn
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That for þese hundred frank he schuld al nigħt
Haue hir in his armes bolt vprigħt
And þis acord parformed was in dede /
In mirth al night a bisy lif þay lede /
Til it was day þat dan Ioħn went his way