The Wife of Bath's Prologue
Folio 73r
5 of 20 folios
The transcription of the Wife of Bath's Prologue was created by Orietta Da Rold and has no relationship to the transcription which appears on the Cambridge University Press CD-ROM.
That thougħ he had / me bete on euery bon
He coude wynne / my loue a geyn a noon
I trowe I loued hī best / for that he
Was of his loue / daungerous vn to me
515
We wommen han / if that I shal nat lye
In this mater / a queynt fantasie
Wayte what thyng / we may nat ligħtly haue
Ther after wyl we crye alday / and craue
¶ Forbede vs thyng
/ and that desiren we
¶ Nota
520
Presse on vs fast / and than wol we flee
Witħ daunger outer we / al oure chaffare
Greet prees at market / maketħ dere ware
And to gret chepe / is holden at litel pris
This knowetħ euery wōman / that is wys
525
¶ My ferthe husbonde / god his soule blisse
Whicħ that I took / for loue & no richesse
He somtyme was / a Clerk of Oxenforde
And had left scole / and went at hom to borde
Witħ my gossype / dwellynge in oure toun
530
God haue hire soule / hire name was Alisou
She knew myn hert / and al my preuytee
Bet than oure parissħ preest / so mot I the
To hire be wreyed I / my counseil al
For had myn husbonde / pissed on a wal
535
Or don a thyng / that shuld han cost his lif
To hire / and to a nother worthy wyf
And to my Nece / whiche that I loued wel
I wold han told / his counseil euerydel
And so I dide ful often / god it woot
540
That mad his face / ful often red and hoot
For verray shame / and blamed hī self for he
Had told to me / so gret a preuytee
And so byfel / that ones in a lente
So often tymes / I to my gossipe wente
545
For euere ȝet / I loued to be gay
And for to walke / in Marcħ Apriƚƚ & May
Fro hous to hous / to here sondry tales
That Iankyn Clerk / & my gossipe Dame Ales
And I my selue / in to the feeldes went
550
Myn husbonde was at londoū / al that lent
I had the betir leiser / for to pleye
And for to se / and eke for to be seye
Of lusty folk / what wyst I / where my grace
Was shapen for to be / or in what place