The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 69r
10 of 11 folios
Par auenture / swich was the Statut tho
But that the queene / and othere ladyes mo
So longe preyden / the kyng of grace
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Til he his lyf / hym graunted in the place
And yaf hym to the queene / al at hir wille
To chese / wheither she wolde / hym saue or spille
And after this / thus spak she to the knyght
Whan that she saw / hir tyme vp on a day
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Thow standest yet quod she / in swich array
That of thy lyf / yet hastow no suretee
I graunte thee lyf / if thow kanst tellen me
What thyng is it þt wommen moost desiren
Be war / and keepe thy nekke boon from Iren
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And if thow kanst nat / tellen me anon
Yet wol I yeue thee leue / for to gon
A twelf monthe and a day / to seche and lere
An answere suffisant in this matere
And seuretee wol I han / er that thow pace
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Thy body / for to yelden / in this place
¶ Wo was this knyght and sorwefully he siketh
But what he may nat doon / al as hym liketh
And atte laste / he chees hym for to wende
And come agayn / right at the yeres ende
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With swich answere / as god wolde hym prueye
And taketh his leue / and wendeth forth his weye
He seketh euery hous / and euery place
Where as he hopeth / for to fynde grace
To lerne / what thyng wommen loue moost
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But he ne koude / arryuen in no coost
Where as he myghte fynde / in this matere
Two creatures / acordyng in feere
¶ Sōme seyden / wommen louen best richesse
Sōme seyde honour / sōme seyde Iolifnesse
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Sōme riche array / sōme lust abedde
And ofte tyme / to be widwe and wedde
Sōme seyde / that oure herte / is moost esed
Whan that we been / yflatered and yplesed
He gooth ful ny the sothe / I wol nat lye
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A man shal wynne vs best / with flaterye