The Franklin's Tale
Folio 143v
22 of 24 folios
Quyt euery serement and euery bond
That ye han made to me as here biforn
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¶ Sith thikk tyme which that ye were born
Mi trouth I plight I shal yow neuer repreue
Of no bihest and here I take my leue
As of the trewest and the best wif
That euer yit I knew in al my lif
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But euery wif bewar of hir biheste
On doregene remembreth yow atte leste
Thus can a Squier doon a gentil dede
As wel as can a knyght with outen drede
¶ She thanketh him vpon hir knees al bare
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And hom vnto hir housbond is she fare
And tolde him al as ye han herd me saide
And be ye siker he was so wel apayde
That it were impossible me to write
What sholde I lenger of this cas endite
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¶ Arueragus and dorigen his wif
In souereigne blisse ledeth forth hir lif
Neuere eft ne was ther anger hem bitwene
He cherissheth hir right as she were a quene
And she was to him trew for euer more
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Of thise two folk ye gete of me na more
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¶ Aurelius that his cost hath forlorn
Curseth the tyme that euer he was yborn
Allas quod he allas that I bihight
Of pured gold a thousand pound of wight
Vnto this Philosophre how shal I do
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I se na more but I am for do
Myn heritage mot I nedes selle
And ben a begger here may I nat dwelle
And shamen al my kynrede in this place
But I of him may gete bettre gace
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But nathales I wol of him assaye
At certeyn dayes yer bi yer to paye
And thonken him of his gret curtesie
Mi trouth wol I kepe I wol nought lie
¶ Wyth hert sore he goth vn to his cofre