The Monk's Tale
Folio 172v
8 of 19 folios
Saue o thyng that she wolde neuere assente
By no wey / that he sholde by hir lye
But ones / for it was hir pleyn entente
To haue a child / the world to multiplye
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And also soone / as þt she mygħte espye
That she was nat with childe / wt that dede
Thanne wolde she suffre hym / doon his fantasye
Eft soone / and nat but oones out of drede
And if she were with childe / at thilke cast
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Namoore / sholde he pleyen thilke game
Til fully / fourty dayes / weren past
Thanne wolde she ones / suffre hym do the same
Al were this Onedake / wilde or tame
He gat namoore of hir / for thus she seyde
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It was to wyues / lecherie and shame
In oother caas / if þt men wt hem pleyde
Two sones / by Onedake hadde she
The whiche she kepte / in vertu and lettrure
But now / vn to oure tale / turne we
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I seye / so worshipful a creature
And wys ther with / and large wt mesure
So penyble in the werre / and curteis eke
Nemoore labour / mygħte in werre endure
Was noon / thougħ al this world men wolde seke
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Hir riche array / ne myghte nat be told
As wel in vessel / as in hir clothyng
She was al clad / in perree and in gold
And eek / she lafte nogħt / for noon huntyng
To haue of sondry tonges / ful knowyng
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Whan þt she leyser hadde / and for to entende
To lerne bookes / was al hir likyng
How she in vertu / mygħte hir lyf dispende
And shortly / of this proces for to trete
So doughty was hir housbonde and eek she
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That they conquered / manye regnes grete
In the Orient with many a fair Citee
Apertenaunt vn to the magestee
Of Rome / & wt strong hond held hem ful faste
Ne neuere mygħte / hir foo men doon hem flee
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Ay / whil that Onedakes dayes laste
Hir batailles / who so list hem for to rede
Agayn Sapor the kyng and othere mo
And how al this proces / fil in dede