The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems Part 56

But natheless I took unto our Dame, Your wife at home, the same gold again, Upon your bench; she wot it well, certain, By certain tokens that I can her tell Now, by your leave, I may no longer dwell; Our abbot will out of this town anon, And in his company I muste gon.

Greet well our Dame, mine owen niece sweet, And farewell, deare cousin, till we meet.

This merchant, which that was full ware and wise, *Creanced hath,* and paid eke in Paris *had obtained credit*

To certain Lombards ready in their hond The sum of gold, and got of them his bond, And home he went, merry as a popinjay.* *parrot For well he knew he stood in such array That needes must he win in that voyage A thousand francs, above all his costage.* *expenses His wife full ready met him at the gate, As she was wont of old usage algate* *always And all that night in mirthe they beset;* *spent For he was rich, and clearly out of debt.

When it was day, the merchant gan embrace His wife all new, and kiss'd her in her face, And up he went, and maked it full tough.

"No more," quoth she, "by G.o.d ye have enough;"

And wantonly again with him she play'd, Till at the last this merchant to her said.

"By G.o.d," quoth he, "I am a little wroth With you, my wife, although it be me loth; And wot ye why? by G.o.d, as that I guess, That ye have made a *manner strangeness* *a kind of estrangement*

Betwixte me and my cousin, Dan John.

Ye should have warned me, ere I had gone, That he you had a hundred frankes paid By ready token; he *had him evil apaid* *was displeased*

For that I to him spake of chevisance,* *borrowing (He seemed so as by his countenance); But natheless, by G.o.d of heaven king, I thoughte not to ask of him no thing.

I pray thee, wife, do thou no more so.

Tell me alway, ere that I from thee go, If any debtor hath in mine absence Y-payed thee, lest through thy negligence I might him ask a thing that he hath paid."

This wife was not afeared nor afraid, But boldely she said, and that anon; "Mary! I defy that false monk Dan John, I keep* not of his tokens never a deal:** *care **whit He took me certain gold, I wot it well. -- What? evil thedom* on his monke's snout! -- *thriving For, G.o.d it wot, I ween'd withoute doubt That he had given it me, because of you, To do therewith mine honour and my prow,* *profit For cousinage, and eke for belle cheer That he hath had full often here.

But since I see I stand in such disjoint,* *awkward position I will answer you shortly to the point.

Ye have more slacke debtors than am I; For I will pay you well and readily, From day to day, and if so be I fail, I am your wife, score it upon my tail, And I shall pay as soon as ever I may.

For, by my troth, I have on mine array, And not in waste, bestow'd it every deal.

And, for I have bestowed it so well, For your honour, for G.o.dde's sake I say, As be not wroth, but let us laugh and play.

Ye shall my jolly body have *to wed;* *in pledge*

By G.o.d, I will not pay you but in bed; Forgive it me, mine owen spouse dear; Turn hitherward, and make better cheer."

The merchant saw none other remedy; And for to chide, it were but a folly, Since that the thing might not amended be.

"Now, wife," he said, "and I forgive it thee; But by thy life be no more so large;* *liberal, lavish Keep better my good, this give I thee in charge."

Thus endeth now my tale; and G.o.d us send Taling enough, until our lives' end!

Notes to the s.h.i.+pman's Tale

1. In this Tale Chaucer seems to have followed an old French story, which also formed the groundwork of the first story in the eighth day of the "Decameron."

2. "He must us clothe": So in all the ma.n.u.scripts and from this and the following lines, it must be inferred that Chaucer had intended to put the Tale in the mouth of a female speaker.

3. Dan: a t.i.tle bestowed on priests and scholars; from "Dominus," like the Spanish "Don".

4. Bruges was in Chaucer's time the great emporium of European commerce.

5. The monk had been appointed by his abbot to inspect and manage the rural property of the monastery.

6. Malvesie or Malmesy wine derived its name from Malvasia, a region of the Morea near Cape Malea, where it was made, as it also was on Chios and some other Greek islands. Vernage was "vernaccia", a sweet Italian wine.

7. Contour-house: counting-house; French, "comptoir."

8. Under the yarde: under the rod; in pupillage; a phrase properly used of children, but employed by the Clerk in the prologue to his tale. See note 1 to the Prologue to the Clerk's Tale.

9. Genelon, Ganelon, or Ganilion; one of Charlemagne's officers, whose treachery was the cause of the disastrous defeat of the Christians by the Saracens at Roncevalles; he was torn to pieces by four horses.

10. Elenge: From French, "eloigner," to remove; it may mean either the lonely, cheerless condition of the priest, or the strange behaviour of the merchant in leaving him to himself.

11. Make a chevisance: raise money by means of a borrowing agreement; from French, "achever," to finish; the general meaning of the word is a bargain, an agreement.

THE PRIORESS'S TALE.

THE PROLOGUE.

"WELL said, by *corpus Domini,"* quoth our Host; *the Lord's body*

"Now longe may'st thou saile by the coast, Thou gentle Master, gentle Marinere.

G.o.d give the monk *a thousand last quad year!* *ever so much evil* <1> Aha! fellows, beware of such a j.a.pe.* *trick The monk *put in the manne's hood an ape,* *fooled him*

And in his wife's eke, by Saint Austin.

Drawe no monkes more into your inn.

But now pa.s.s over, and let us seek about, Who shall now telle first of all this rout Another tale;" and with that word he said, As courteously as it had been a maid; "My Lady Prioresse, by your leave, So that I wist I shoulde you not grieve,* *offend I woulde deeme* that ye telle should *judge, decide A tale next, if so were that ye would.

Now will ye vouchesafe, my lady dear?"

"Gladly," quoth she; and said as ye shall hear.

Notes to the Prologue to the Prioress's Tale.

1. A thousand last quad year: ever so much evil. "Last" means a load, "quad," bad; and literally we may read "a thousand weight of bad years." The Italians use "mal anno" in the same sense.

THE TALE. <1>

O Lord our Lord! thy name how marvellous Is in this large world y-spread! <2> (quoth she) For not only thy laude* precious *praise Performed is by men of high degree, But by the mouth of children thy bounte* *goodness Performed is, for on the breast sucking Sometimes showe they thy herying.* <3> *glory

Wherefore in laud, as I best can or may Of thee, and of the white lily flow'r Which that thee bare, and is a maid alway, To tell a story I will do my labour; Not that I may increase her honour, For she herselven is honour and root Of bounte, next her son, and soules' boot.* *help

O mother maid, O maid and mother free!* *bounteous...o...b..sh unburnt, burning in Moses' sight, That ravished'st down from the deity, Through thy humbless, the ghost that in thee light; <4> Of whose virtue, when he thine hearte light,* *lightened, gladdened Conceived was the Father's sapience; Help me to tell it to thy reverence.

Lady! thy bounty, thy magnificence, Thy virtue, and thy great humility, There may no tongue express in no science: For sometimes, Lady! ere men pray to thee, Thou go'st before, of thy benignity, And gettest us the light, through thy prayere, To guiden us unto thy son so dear.

My conning* is so weak, O blissful queen, *skill, ability For to declare thy great worthiness, That I not may the weight of it sustene; But as a child of twelvemonth old, or less, That can unnethes* any word express, *scarcely Right so fare I; and therefore, I you pray, Guide my song that I shall of you say.

There was in Asia, in a great city, Amonges Christian folk, a Jewery,<5> Sustained by a lord of that country, For foul usure, and lucre of villainy, Hateful to Christ, and to his company; And through the street men mighte ride and wend,* *go, walk For it was free, and open at each end.

A little school of Christian folk there stood Down at the farther end, in which there were Children an heap y-come of Christian blood, That learned in that schoole year by year Such manner doctrine as men used there; This is to say, to singen and to read, As smalle children do in their childhead.

Among these children was a widow's son, A little clergion,* seven year of age, *young clerk or scholar That day by day to scholay* was his won,** *study **wont And eke also, whereso he saw th' image Of Christe's mother, had he in usage, As him was taught, to kneel adown, and say Ave Maria as he went by the way.

Thus had this widow her little son y-taught Our blissful Lady, Christe's mother dear, To wors.h.i.+p aye, and he forgot it not; For sely* child will always soone lear.** *innocent **learn But aye when I remember on this mattere, Saint Nicholas <6> stands ever in my presence; For he so young to Christ did reverence.

This little child his little book learning, As he sat in the school at his primere, He Alma redemptoris <7> hearde sing, As children learned their antiphonere; <8> And as he durst, he drew him nere and nere,* *nearer And hearken'd aye the wordes and the note, Till he the firste verse knew all by rote.