The Summoner's Tale
Folio 91v
4 of 13 folios
But I on other wyse / may be wreke
I shal deffame hī / ouer al where I speke
505
The fals blasfemour / that charged me
To parte / that wyl nat / departed be
To euery man I liche / witħ meschaunce
The lord sat stille / as he were in a traunce
And in his herte / he rolletħ vp and doun
510
How that this cherl had / ymaginaciou
To shewe swicħ a probleme / to the frere
Neuere erst er now / ne herd I swicħ matere
I trowe the deuele / put it in his mynde
In ars metryk / shal there noman fynde
515
Byforñ this day / of swicħ a questiou
Who shulde make / a demonstraciou
That euery man / shuld han lyke his part
As of a soun / or of a sauour of a fart
O nyce proud cherl / I shrewe his face
520
Lo sires qd the lord / witħ harde grace
Who eu
ere herde
/ of swic
ħ a thyng or now
The scribe has marked an a by 522 and a b next to 521 to indicate reversal, and written in a dark , almos black, shade of ink.ODR
To euery man I lyke / telletħ me how
It is an impossible / it may nat be
Ey nyce cherl / god late hī neuere the
525
The rumblynge of a fart / and euery soune
Nis but of eyre / reuerberacione
And there it wastetħ / litel and litel a wey
There nys noman / can deme be my fey
If that it were / departed equally
530
What lo my cherl / lo ȝet how shrewedly
Vn to my confessour / to day he spak
I holde hī certeyn / a demonyak
Now ete ȝoure mete / and late the cherl go pleye
Lat hī go hange hī self / a deuel weye
535
¶ Now stod the lordes squyer / at his bord
That carf his mete / and herd word by word
Of al this thyng / of whicħ I haue ȝow seyde
My lord qd he / be Corrected from: <nothing> ȝeȝe nat euele a paide
I coude telle / for a gowne clotħ
540
To ȝow sire frere / so ȝe be nat wrotħ
How that his fart / shulde euene deled be
A monge ȝoure Couent / if it lyked the me
Telle qd the lord / & thow shalt haue a noon
A govne clotħ / by god and by Seynt Ioħn
545
My lord qd he / whan that the wedir is fayre
Wit
ħ outyn wynd
/ or
pertourbyng
of eyre
This line was added when 521 was added, they are in the same black colour of ink.ODR
Lat brynge a Carte / whel / heere in to this halle
But loke that it haue / his spokes alle
Twelue spokes hatħ a cart / whel / comounly