The Pardoner's Prologue & Tale
Folio 142r
14 of 14 folios
Whil that thou strogelest with hym / as in game
And with thy dagger / looke thou do the same
And thanne / shal al this gold / departed be
My deere freend / bitwixen me and thee
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Thanne may we / bothe oure lustes aƚƚ fulfille
And pleye at dees / rigħt at oure owene wille
And thus / acorded been thise shrewes tweye
To sleen the thridde / as ye han herd me seye
¶ This yongeste / which þt wente vn to the toun
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Ful ofte in herte / he rolleth vp and doun
The beautee of thise floryns / newe and brigħte
O lord quod he / if so were þt I mygħte
Haue al this tresor / to my self allone
Ther is no man / þt lyueth vnder the trone
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Of god / that sholde lyue so murye as I
And atte laste / the feend oure enemy
Putte in his thougħt þt he sholde poyson beye
With which / he mygħte / sleen hise felawes tweye
For why / the feend foond hym in swich lyuynge
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That he hadde leue / hem to sorwe brynge
For this was outrely / his fulle entente
To sleen hem bothe / and neuere to repente
And forth he gooth / no lenger wolde he tarie
In to the toun / vn to Apothecarie
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And preyde hym / þt he hym wolde selle
Som poysou / þt he mygħte hise rattes quelle
And eek ther was / a polcat in his hawe
That as he seyde / hise capoūs hadde yslawe
And fayn he wolde / wreke hym / if he mygħte
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On vermyn / þt destroyed hym by nygħte
¶ The Pothecarie answerde / and thou shalt haue
A thyng that also god my soule saue
In al this world / ther is no creature
That eten or dronken hath / of this confiture
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Nogħt / but the montance of a corn of whete
That he ne shal / his lif anon forlete
Ye sterue he shal / and that in lasse while
Than thou wolt goon a paas / nat but a Mile
The poysou / is so strong and violent
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¶ This cursed man / hath in his hond yhent
This poysoū in a box / and sith he ran
In to the nexte strete / vn to a man
And borwed hym / large botels thre
And in the two / his poyson poured he
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The thridde he kepte clene / for his owene drynke
For al the nygħt / he shoope hym for to swynke
In cariynge of the gold / out of that place
And whan this Riotour / with sory grace