The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 73r
2 of 11 folios
¶ Now ther ye seye / that I am foul and old
Thanne drede yow noght to been a Cokewold
For filthe and elde / also mote I thee
Been grete wardeyns / vp on chastitee
1190
But nathelees / syn I knowe youre delit /
I shal fulfille / youre worldly appetit
¶ Chees now quod she / oon of thise thynges tweye
To han me foul and old / til that I deye
And be to yow / a trewe humble wyf
1195
And neuere yow displese / in al my lyf
Or ellis / ye wol han me / yong and fair
And take youre auenture / of the repair
That shal be to youre hous / by cause of me
xxxx som oother place / may wel be
1200
Now chees your seluen / wheither þt yow liketh
¶ This knyght auyseth hym / and soore siketh
But atte laste / he seyde in this manere
My lady and my loue / and wyf so deere
I putte me / in youre wise gouernaūce
1205
Cheseth your self which þt may be moost plesaūce
And moost honour to yow / and me also
I do no fors / the wheither of the two
For as yow liketh / it suffiseth me
¶ Thanne haue I gete / of yow maistrye / quod she
1210
Syn I may chese / and gouerne as me lest
¶ Ye certes wyf quod he / I holde it best
¶ Kys me quod she / we be no lenger wrothe
For by my trouthe / I wol be to yow bothe
This is to seyn / ye bothe fair and good
1215
I pray to god / that I mote steruen wood
But I to yow / be also good and trewe
As euere was wyf / syn þt the world was newe
And but I be to morn / as fair to sene
As any lady / Emperice / or Queene
1220
That is bitwix the Est and eek the West
Do with my lyf and deth / right as yow lest
Cast vp the Curtyn / looke how þt it is
And whan the knyght say verraily al this
That she so fair was / and so yong ther to
1225
For ioye he hente hir / in his armes two