The Merchant's Tale
Folio 152r
29 of 30 folios
And say þt Damyan / his wyf had dressed
In swich manere / it may nat ben experssed
But if I wolde speken / vncurteisly
1120
And vp he yaf a roryng and a cry
As dooth the moder / whan the child shal dye
Out help / allas / harrow / he gan to crye
O. stronge lady stoore /. what dostow
¶ And she answerde / sire what eyleth yow
1125
Haue pacience and reson / in youre mynde
I haue yow holpe / on bothe your eyen blynde
Vp peril of my soule / I shal nat lyen
As me was taught to heele with your eyen
Was no thyng bet to make yow to se
1130
Than strugle wt a man / vp on a tree
God woot I dide it in ful good entente
¶ Strugled quod he / ye algate In it wente
God yeue yow bothe / on shames deth to dyen
He swyued thee / I saw it wt myne eyen
1135
And ellis / be I hanged by the hals
¶ Thanne is quod she / my medicyne al fals
For certeinly / if þt ye myghte se
Ye wolde nat seyn / thise wordes vn to me
Ye han som glymsynge / and no parfit sighte
1140
¶ I se quod he / as wel as euere I myghte
Thonked be god / with bothe myne eyen two
And by my trouthe / me thoughte he dide thee so
¶ Ye maze maze / goode sire quod she
This thank haue I / for I haue maad yow se
1145
Allas quod she / þt euere I was so kynde
¶ Now dame quod he / lat al passe out of mynde
Com doun my lief and if I haue myssayd
God help me so / as I am yuele apayd
But by my fadres soule / I wende haue seyn
1150
How þt this Damyan / hadde by thee leyn
And þt thy Smok / hadde leyn vp on his bryst
¶ Ye sire quod she / ye may wene as yow lyst
But sire / a man that waketh out of his sleepe
He may nat sodeynly / wel taken keepe
1155
Vp on a thyng ne seen it parfitly
Til that he be / adawed verraily