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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=395631" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Canterbury Tales; The Reves Tale</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">PROLOGUE TO THE REVES TALE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The prologe of the Reves Tale.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Whan folk hadde laughen at this nyce cas<br>Of Absolon and hende Nicholas,<br>Diverse folk diversely they seyde,<br>But for the moore part they loughe and pleyde,<br>Ne at this tale I saugh no man hym greve,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But it were oonly Osewold the Reve;<br>Bycause he was of carpenteres craft,<br>A litel ire is in his herte ylaft;<br>He gan to grucche, and blamed it a lite.<br>'So theek,' quod he, 'ful wel koude I you quite,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">With bleryng of a proud milleres eye,<br>If that me liste speke of ribaudye.<br>But ik am oold, me list no pley for age,<br>Gras-tyme is doon, my fodder is now forage,<br>This white top writeth myne olde yeris,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Myn herte is also mowled as myne heris,<br>But if I fare as dooth an openers;<br>That ilke fruyt is ever leng the wers,<br>Til it be roten in mullok or in stree.<br>We olde men, I drede, so fare we,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Til we be roten kan we nat be rype.<br>We hoppen ay whil that the world wol pype,<br>For in oure wyl ther stiketh evere a nayl<br>To have an hoor heed and a grene tayl,<br>As hath a leek, for thogh oure myght be goon,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oure wyl desireth folie evere in oon.<br>For whan we may nat doon, than wol we speke,<br>Yet in oure asshen olde is fyr yreke.<br>Foure gleedes han we whiche I shal devyse,<br>Avauntyng, liyng, anger, coveitise;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thise foure sparkles longen unto eelde.<br>Oure olde lemes mowe wel been unweelde,<br>But wyl ne shal nat faillen, that is sooth.<br>And yet ik have alwey a coltes tooth,<br>As many a yeer as it is passed henne</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Syn that my tappe of lif bigan to renne.<br>For sikerly whan I was bore, anon<br>Deeth drough the tappe of lyf, and leet it gon,<br>And ever sithe hath so the tappe yronne,<br>Til that almoost al empty is the tonne.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The streem of lyf now droppeth on the chymbe;<br>The sely tonge may wel rynge and chymbe<br>Of wrecchednesse that passed is ful yoore.<br>With olde folk, save dotage, is namoore.'<br>Whan that oure Hoost hadde herd this sermonyng,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He gan to speke as lordly as a kyng,<br>He seide, 'What amounteth al this wit?<br>What shul we speke alday of hooly writ?<br>The devel made a reve for to preche,<br>And of a soutere, shipman, or a leche.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sey forth thy tale, and tarie nat the tyme.<br>Lo Depeford, and it is half-wey pryme;<br>Lo, Grenewych, ther many a shrewe is inne;<br>It were al tyme thy tale to bigynne.'<br>'Now sires,' quod this Osewold the Reve,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I pray yow alle, that ye nat yow greve,<br>Thogh I answere, and somdeel sette his howve,<br>For leveful is with force force of-showve.<br>This dronke Millere hath ytoold us heer, <br>How that bigyled was a Carpenteer,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Peraventure in scorn, for I am oon;<br>And by youre leve I shal hym quite anoon.<br>Right in his cherles termes wol I speke,<br>I pray to God his nekke mote breke!<br>He kan wel in myn eye seen a stalke,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But in his owene he kan nat seen a balke.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Simkin, a rich thieving miller of Trumpington Mill, near<br>Cambridge, is well served by two Cambridge clerks of the<br>north country, who beguile his wife and daughter, recover<br>the stolen meal which he had hid, and leave him well beaten.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Part 5</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE PROLOGUE TO THE COKES TALE.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The prologe of the Cokes Tale.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Cook of London, whil the Reve spak,<br>For joye him thoughte, he clawed him on the bak.<br>'Ha! ha!' quod he, 'for Criste passioun,<br>This miller hadde a sharp conclusioun<br>Upon his argument of herbergage.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Wel seyde Salomon in his langage,<br>`Ne brynge nat every man into thyn hous,'<br>For herberwynge by nyghte is perilous.<br>Wel oghte a man avysed for to be,<br>Whom that be broghte into his pryvetee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I pray to God so yeve me sorwe and care,<br>If evere sitthe I highte Hogge of Ware,<br>Herde I a millere bettre yset awerk.<br>He hadde a jape of malice in the derk.<br>But God forbede that we stynte heere,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And therfore, if ye vouche-sauf to heere<br>A tale of me that am a povre man,<br>I wol yow telle, as wel as evere I kan,<br>A litel jape that fil in oure citee.'<br>Oure Hoost answerde and seide, 'I graunte it thee,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now telle on, Roger, looke that it be good,<br>For many a pastee hastow laten blood,<br>And many a Jakke of Dovere hastow soold<br>That hath been twies hoot and twies cold.<br>Of many a pilgrim hastow Cristes curs,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For of thy percely yet they fare the wors,<br>That they han eten with thy stubbel-goos,<br>For in thy shoppe is many a flye loos.<br>Now telle on, gentil Roger, by thy name,<br>But yet I pray thee, be nat wroth for game,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A man may seye ful sooth in game and pley.'<br>'Thou seist ful sooth,' quod Roger, 'by my fey;<br>But `sooth pley quaad pley,' as the Flemyng seith.<br>And ther-fore, Herry Bailly, by thy feith,<br>Be thou nat wrooth, er we departen heer,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though that my tale be of an hostileer.<br>But nathelees I wol nat telle it yit,<br>But er we parte, ywis, thou shalt be quit.'<br>And ther-with-al he lough and made cheere,<br>And seyde his tale, as ye shul after heere.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE TALE (Unfinished).</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Perkin, a London apprentice, being dismissed by his<br>master, seeks his companions in dice, revel and disport.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Geoffrey+Chaucer">Geoffrey Chaucer</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=395631" data-title="The Canterbury Tales; The Reves Tale de Geoffrey Chaucer" data-description="PROLOGUE TO THE REVES TALE/The prologe of the Reves Tale./Whan folk hadde laughen at this nyce cas/Of Absolon and hende Nicholas,/Diverse folk diversely they seyde,/But for the moore part they loughe and pleyde,/Ne at this tale I saugh no man hym ..."></div>
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