The Merchant's Tale
Folio 139v
4 of 30 folios
xx xxxxy so / as wommen wol thee rede
xx xow that Iacob / as thise clerkes rede
xy good conseil / of his moder Rebekke
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Boond the kydes skyn / aboute his nekke
For which / his fadres benyson he wan
¶ Lo Iudith / as the storie eek telle kan
By good conseil / she goddes peple kepte
And slow hym Olofernus / whil he slepte
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¶ Lo Abigayl / by good conseil / how she
Saued hir housbonde Nabal / whan þt he
Sholde han ben slayn / and looke Ester also
By good conseil / delyuered out of wo
The peple of god / and made hym Mardochee
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Of Assuere / enhaunced for to be
¶ Ther nys no thyng in gree superlatyf
As seith Senec / aboue an humble wyf /
¶ Suffre thy wyues tonge / as Caton byt
She shal comaunde / and thow shalt suffren it /
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And yet / she wol obeye of curteisye
¶ A wyf / is keper of thyn housbondrye
Wel may the sike man / biwaille and wepe
Ther as ther is no wyf / the hous to kepe
I warne thee / if wisly thow wolt wirche
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Loue wel thy wyf / as Crist loued his chirche
If thow louest thy self / thow louest thy wif
No man hateth his flessħ / but in his lyf /
He fostreth it and ther fore bidde I thee
Cherisse thy wyf or thow shalt neuere thee
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Housbonde and wyf what so men Iape or pleye
Of worldly folk / holden the siker weye
They been so knyt / ther may noon harm bityde
And namely / vp on the wyues syde
For which this Ianuarie / of whom I tolde
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Considered hath / in with his dayes olde
The lusty lyf / the vertuous quyete
That is in mariage / hony swete
And for his freendes / on a day he sente
To tellen hem / theffect of his entente
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¶ With face sad / this tale he hath hem told
He seyde freendes / I am hoor and old