The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 78v
6 of 10 folios
Haue here my trouthe / qd the knygħt I gaaunte
Than qd she / I dar me wel a vaunte
Thy lif is saf / for I wol stonde ther by
Vp on my lif / the Quene wol seye as I
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Lat se / whicħ is the pruddest / of hem alle
That weretħ on / a kerchef or a calle
That dar sey nay / of that I shal the teche
Lat vs go fortħ / witħ outen lengere speche
Tho rovned she / a pistel in his eere
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And bad hī to be glad / & haue no fere
¶ Whan they ben comen / to the court / this knygħt
Seyde / he had hold his day / as he had higħt
And redy was his answere / as he seide
Ful many a noble wyf / & many a mayde
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And many a wydewe / for that they ben wyse
The Quene hire self / sittynge as Iustise
Assembled been / his answere for to here
And afterward / this knygħt was bode appere
To euery wygħt / comaunded was silence
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And that the knygħt / shulde telle in audience
What thyng / that worldly wommen / louen best
This knygħt ne stod nat stille / as dotħ a best
But to this questiou / a noon answerede
W manly voys / that al the courte it herde
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My liege lady / generally qd he
Wommen desiren / to han soueraignete
As wel ouer hire husbonde / as hire loue
And for to ben / in maistrie hī a boue
This is ȝoure most desire / thougħ ȝe me kille
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Dotħ as ȝow list / I am here at ȝoure wylle
¶ In al the courte / ne was there wyf ne mayde
Ne wydewe / that contraried that he sayde
But seiden he was worthy / to haue his lyf
And witħ that word / vp stirt this olde wyf
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Whicħ that the knygħt saw / sittyng on the grene
Mercy qd she / my souereyne lady Quene
Er that ȝoure courte departe / do me rigħt
I taugħt this answere / vn to the knygħt
For whicħ he pligħt me / his trouthe there
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The first thyng / that I wolde hī requere
He wolde it do / if it lay in his mygħt
Byfore this courte / than preye I the Sire Knygħt
Quod she / that þu me take vn to thy wyf
For wel thow wost / that I haue kept thy lif
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If I sey fals / sey nay vp on thy fey
¶ This knygħt answered / allas and weilawey
I wot rigħtwel / þat swicħ was myn byheste