The Shipman's Tale
Folio 151v
3 of 9 folios
And thus he sit / til it was passed pime
Daun Ioħn was risen / in the morwe also
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And in the Gardyn / walketħ to and froo
And hatħ hise thynges seid / ful curteisly
¶ This goode wyf cam walkyng / preuyly
In to the Gardyn / there he walketħ softe
And hī saluetħ / as she hatħ don ofte
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A maide child / cam in hire compaignye
Whicħ as hire liste / she may gouerne and gye
For ȝet vnder the ȝerde / was the mayde
O deere Cosyn myn / Daun Ioħn she seyde
What eiletħ ȝow / so rathe for to rise
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¶ Nece quod he / it ougħte I now suffise
Fyue houres for to slepe / vp on a nygħt
But it were / for an old / appalled wygħt
As ben theise wedded men / that lye and dare
As in a fourme / syt a wery hare
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Were al forstraugħt witħ houndes grete and smale
But deere nece / why be ȝe so pale
I trowe certes / that oure goode man
Hatħ ȝow laboured / sitħ the nygħt bigan
That ȝow were nede / to resten hastily
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And witħ that word / he low ful merily
And of his owne thougħt / he wex al reed
¶ This faire wyf / gan for to shake hire hed
And seide thus / ȝa god wot al qd she
Nay Cosyn myn / it stant nat so witħ me
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For by that god / that ȝaf me soule and lyf
In al the Reame of Fraunce / is there no wyf
That lasse lust hatħ / to that sory pley
For I may synge allas / and weylawey
That I was borñ / but to no wygħt qd she
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Dar I nat telle / how that it stant witħ me
Wherfore I thynke / out of this lond to wende
Or elles / of my self / to make an ende
So ful am I of drede / and eke of care
¶ This Monk bygan / vp on this wyf to stare
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And seide allas my Nece / god forbede
That ȝe for any sorwe / or any drede
For do ȝoure self / but telle me ȝoure grief
Parauenture / I may in ȝoure myschief
Counseile or helpe / and therfore telletħ me
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Al ȝoure anoye / for it shal ben secree