The Miller's Tale Folio 40r 1 of 15 folios
The incipit is placed in the header.
Wh ilom th ere was dwellyng / in Oxenford
A riche gnof / that gestes held to bord
And of his craft / he was a Carpentere
W hī þ er e was dwellyng / a poore scolere
5
Had lerned art / but al his fantasye
Was turned / for to lerne / Astrologye
And koude a serteyn / of conclusions
To demen / by interrogacions
If þ t men asked hī / in certeyn houres
10
What þ t men shuld haue / drought or eƚƚ shoures
Or if men asked hī / what shulde by falle
Of euer y thyng / I may nat rekken hem alle
Of derne loue he coude / and of solas
15
And ther to he was sly / and ful preue
And like a Maide / meke for to se
A Chaumbre had he / in that hostelrye
Ful fetisly digħ t / with herbes swote
20
Corrected from: x ndAndndhe hī self / as swete as is the rote
And : The initial A is probably a correction from another letter.
Of licoris / or ony Setuale
His Almageste / and bokes grete and smale
His Astralabie / longyng for his art
His Augryme stones / loyn faire a pert
25
On shelues / kouched / at his beddis hede
His presse couer ed / with a faldyng rede
And al a boue / there lay a gay Sautrye
On whiche he mad / on nygħ tis melodye
So swetely / þ at al the chaumber rong
30
And Angelus ad virginem / he song
And after that / he song the kynges note
Ful often blissed / was his mery throte
And thus this swete Clerk / his tyme spent
After his frendis fyndyng / and his rent
35
Whicħ þ at he loued / more than his lyf
Of xviij ȝere / she was of age
Ielous he was / & held hire narwe in kage
For she was wylde / & ȝong / and he was old
40
And demed hī self / to ben like a Cokewold
He knew nat Catou
That bad men shulde wedde / here simulitude
Men shulde wedden / after here astate
For ȝouthe and age / is often at debate