The Clerk's Tale
Folio 104r
25 of 27 folios
Be now nomore a gast / ne euele apayd
I haue thy feitħ / and thyn benygnytee
As wel as euere womman / was assayed
1055
In gret a stat / and poorely arrayed
Now knowe I deere wyf / thy stedfastnesse
And hire in armes toke / and gan hire kysse
¶ And she for wonder / toke of it no kepe
She herde nat / what thyng he to hire seyde
1060
She ferd as she had stirt / out of a slepe
Tyl she / out of hire Masednesse / a breyde
Grisilde qd he / by god that for vs deyde
Thow art my wyf / noon other I haue
Ne neuere had / as god my soule saue
1065
¶ This is thy dougħter / whicħ þu hast supposed
To be my wyf / that other feitħfully
Shal be myn Eyr / as I haue ay disposed
Thow bar hī / in thy body trewely
At Boloigne / haue I kept hī preuyly
1070
Take hē a geyn / for now maist þu nat sey
That thow hast lorñ / noone of þine children twey
¶ And folk that other wyse / han seyd on me
I warne hē wele / that I haue don this dede
For no malice / ne for no cruelte
1075
But for to assaye / in the / thy wommanhede
And nat to slen myne children / Corrected from: I<nothing>I god forbede
But for to kepen hē / preuyly and stille
Til I thy purpos knew / and al thy wylle
¶ Whan she this herd / on swouȝne doun she falletħ
1080
For pytous ioye / and aftir hire swownyng
She / bothe hire ȝonge children / vn to hire calletħ
And in hire armes / pytously wepyng
Embracede hem / and tenderly kyssyng
Ful lyke a Moder / witħ hire salte teres
1085
She bathed bothe here visage / and here heres
¶ O whicħ a pytous thyng / it was to se
Hire swownyng / and hire humble voys to heere
Graunt mercy lord / god thanke it ȝow qd she
That ȝe han saued me / myne children dere
1090
Now rekke I neuere / to be ded rigħt heere
Sithe I stonde / in ȝoure loue / and in ȝoure grace
No force of detħ / ne whan my spirit pace
¶ O tendre o dere / o ȝonge children myne
Ȝoure wooful Moder / wend stedfastly
1095
That cruel houndes / or som foule venyme
Had eten ȝow / but god of his mercy