The Monk's Tale
Folio 90r
3 of 20 folios
¶ By verray force / at Gazan on a nyght
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Maugree Philistiens / of that Citee
The gates of the toun / he hath vp plight
And on his bak ycaried hem hath he
Hye on an hiƚƚ / wher as men myghte hem se
O noble almyghty Sampsoū / leef and deere
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Had thow nat toold / to wommen thy secree
In al this world / ne hadde been thy peere
¶ This Sampsoū neuere Ciser drank ne wyn
Ne on his heed / cam Rasour noon ne shere
By percept of the Messager deuyn
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For alle his strengthes / in his herys were
And fully .xx. wynter / yeer by yere
He hadde of Israel / the gouernance
But soone / shal he wepe / many a teere
For wommen / shul hym bryngen to meschaunce
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¶ Vn to his lemman Dalida / he tolde
That in his herys / al his strengthe lay
And falsly / to his fomen she hym solde
And slepynge in hir barm / vp on a day
She made to clippe / or shere his heer away
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And made his fomen / al this craft espien
And whan þt they / hym fond in this array
They bounde hym faste / and putten out his eyen
¶ But / er his heer / was clipped or yshaue
Ther was no bond / with which / men myghte hym bynde
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But now is he / in prisone in a Caue
Wher as they made hym / at the querne grynde
O noble Sampsoū / strengest of mankynde
O whilom / Iuge in glorie / and in richesse
Now maystow wepen / wt thyne eyen blynde
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Sith thow fro wele / art falle in wrecchednesse
¶ The ende of this caytif was as I shal seye
His fomen / made a feste vp on a day
And made hym as hir fool / bifore hem pleye
And this was / in a temple of greet array
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But atte laste / he made a foul affray
For he two pilers shook / and made hem falle
And doun fil temple and al / and ther it lay
And slow hym self / and eek his fomen alle