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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Canterbury Tales; The Chanouns Yemannes Tale</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The prologe of the Chanouns yemannes tale.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Whan ended was the lyf of seinte Cecile,<br>Er we hadde riden fully fyve mile,<br>At Boghtoun under Blee us gan atake<br>A man, that clothed was in clothes blake,<br>And undernethe he wered a whyt surplys.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His hakeney, which that was al pomely grys,<br>So swatte, that it wonder was to see,<br>It wemed as he had priked miles thre.<br>The hors eek that his yeman rood upon<br>So swatte, that unnethe myghte it gon.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Aboute the peytrel stood the foom ful hye,<br>He was of fome al flekked as a pye.<br>A male tweyfoold upon his croper lay,<br>It semed that he caried lite array.<br>Al light for somer rood this worthy man,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And in myn herte wondren I bigan<br>What that he was, til that I understood<br>How that his cloke was sowed to his hood;<br>For which, whan I hadde longe avysed me,<br>I demed hym som Chanoun for to be.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His hat heeng at his bak doun by a laas,<br>For he hadde riden moore than trot or paas;<br>He hadde ay priked lik as he were wood.<br>A clote-leef he hadde under his hood<br>For swoot, and for to kepe his heed from heete.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But it was joye for to seen hym swete!<br>His forheed dropped as a stillatorie<br>Were ful of plantayne and of paritorie.<br>And whan that he was come, he gan to crye,<br>'God save,' quod he, 'this joly compaignye!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Faste have I priked,' quod he, 'for youre sake,<br>By cause that I wolde yow atake,<br>To riden in this myrie compaignye.'<br>His Yeman eek was ful of curteisye,<br>And seyde, 'Sires, now in the morwe tyde</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Out of youre hostelrie I saugh yow ryde,<br>And warned heer my lord and my soverayn<br>Which that to ryden with yow is ful fayn<br>For his desport; he loveth daliaunce.'<br>'Freend, for thy warnyng God yeve thee good chaunce,'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Thanne seyde oure Hoost, 'for certein, it wolde seme<br>Thy lord were wys, and so I may wel deme.<br>He is ful jocunde also, dar I leye.<br>Can he oght telle a myrie tale or tweye<br>With which he glade may this compaignye?'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Who, sire, my lord? ye, ye, with-outen lye!<br>He kan of murthe and eek of jolitee<br>Nat but ynough, also, sire, trusteth me.<br>And ye hym knewen as wel as do I,<br>Ye wolde wondre how wel and craftily</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">He koude werke, and that in sondry wise.<br>He hath take on hym many a greet emprise,<br>Which were ful hard for any that is heere<br>To brynge aboute, but they of hym it leere.<br>As hoomly as he rit amonges yow,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">If ye hym knewe, it wolde be for youre prow,<br>Ye wolde nat forgoon his aqueyntaunce<br>For muchel good, I dar leye in balaunce<br>Al that I have in my possessioun.<br>He is a man of heigh discrecioun,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">I warne yow wel, he is a passyng man.'<br>'Wel,' quod oure Hoost, 'I pray thee, tel em than,<br>Is he a clerk, or noon? telle what he is?'<br>'Nay, he is gretter than a clerk, ywis,'<br>Seyde this Yeman, 'and in wordes fewe,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Hoost, of his craft somwhat I wol yow shewe.<br>I seye my lord kan swich subtilitee-<br>But al his craft ye may nat wite for me,<br>And somwhat helpe I yet to his wirkyng-<br>That al this ground on which we been rydyng</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Til that we come to Caunterbury toun,<br>He koude al clene turne it up so doun<br>And pave ti al of silver and of gold.'<br>And whan this Yeman hadde this tale ytold<br>Unto oure Hoost, he seyde, 'Benedicitee,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">This thyng is wonder merveillous to me,<br>Syn that thy lord is of so heigh prudence,<br>By cause of which men sholde hym reverence,<br>That of his worship rekketh he so lite.<br>His overslope nys nat worth a myte</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">As in effect to hym, so moot I go.<br>It is al baudy and to-tore also,<br>Why is thy lord so sluttissh, I the preye,<br>And is of power bettre clooth to beye,<br>If that his dede accorde with thy speche?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Telle me that, and that I thee biseche.'<br>'Why,' quod this Yeman, 'wherto axe ye me?<br>God help me so, for he shal nevere thee!<br>But I wol nat avowe that I seye,<br>And therfore keepe it secree, I yow preye;</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">He is to wys, in feith, as I bileeve!<br>That that is overdoon, it wol nat preeve<br>Aright; as clerkes seyn, it is a vice.<br>Wherfore in that I holde hym lewed and nyce;<br>For whan a man hath over-greet a wit,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Ful oft hym happeth to mysusen it.<br>So dooth my lord, and that me greveth soore.<br>God it amende, I kan sey yow namoore.'<br>'Therof no fors, good Yeman,' quod oure Hoost,<br>'Syn of the konnyng of thy lord thow woost,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Telle how he dooth, I pray thee hertely,<br>Syn that he is so crafty and so sly.<br>Wher dwelle ye, if it to telle be?'<br>'In the suburbes of a toun,' quod he,<br>'Lurkynge in hernes and in lanes blynde,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Where as thise robbours and thise theves by kynde<br>Holden hir pryvee fereful residence,<br>As they that dar nat shewen hir presence.<br>So faren we if I shal seye the sothe.'<br>'Now,' quod oure Hoost, 'yit lat me talke to the,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Why artow so discoloured of thy face?'<br>'Peter,' quod he, 'God yeve it harde grace,<br>I am so used in the fyr to blowe,<br>That it hath chaunged my colour, I trowe.<br>I am nat wont in no mirrour to prie,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But swynke soore, and lerne multiplie.<br>We blondren evere, and pouren in the fir,<br>And, for al that, we faille of oure desir.<br>For evere we lakke of oure conclusioun;<br>To muchel folk we doon illusioun,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And borwe gold, be it a pound or two,<br>Or ten, or twelve, or manye sommes mo,<br>And make hem wenen at the leeste weye<br>That of a pound we koude make tweye.<br>Yet is it fals, but ay we han good hope</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">It for to doon, and after it we grope.<br>But that science is so fer us biforn,<br>We mowen nat, although we hadden sworn,<br>It over-take, it slit awey so faste.<br>It wole us maken beggars atte laste.'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Whil this yeman was thus in his talkyng,<br>This Chanoun drough hym neer, and herde al thyng<br>Which this Yeman spak, for suspecioun<br>Of mennes speche evere hadde this Chanoun.<br>For Catoun seith, that he that gilty is</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Demeth alle thyng be spoke of hym, ywis.<br>That was the cause he gan so ny hym drawe<br>To his yeman, to herknen al his sawe.<br>And thus he seyde unto his yeman tho,<br>'Hoold thou thy pees, and spek no wordes mo,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">For it thou do, thou shalt it deere abye.<br>Thou sclaundrest me heere in this compaignye,<br>And eek discoverest that thou sholdest hyde.'<br>'Ye,' quod oure Hoost, 'telle on, what so bityde,<br>Of al his thretyng rekke nat a myte.'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'In feith,' quod he, 'namoore I do but lyte.'<br>And whan this Chanoun saugh it wolde nat bee,<br>But his Yeman wolde telle his pryvetee,<br>He fledde awey for verray sorwe and shame.<br>'A!' quod the Yeman, 'heere shal arise game.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Al that I kan, anon now wol I telle,<br>Syn he is goon, the foule feend hym quelle!<br>For nevere heer after wol I with hym meete,<br>For peny ne for pound, I yow biheete.<br>He that me broghte first unto that game,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Er that he dye, sorwe have he and shame.<br>For it is ernest to me, by my feith,<br>That feele I wel, what so any man seith.<br>And yet, for al my smert and al my grief,<br>For al my sorwe, labour, and meschief,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">I koude never leve it in no wise.<br>Now wolde God, my wit myghte suffise<br>To tellen al that longeth to that art,<br>And nathelees yow wol I tellen part.<br>Syn that my lord is goon, I wol nat spare,<br>Swich thyng as that I knowe, I wol declare.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Heere endeth the prologe of the Chanouns yemannes tale.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=395625" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">(After a lengthy account of the practice of alchemy by<br>his master, the yeoman tells how a priest is beguiled of<br>his money by a certain canon through trickery of a hollow<br>rod.)</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Geoffrey+Chaucer">Geoffrey Chaucer</a></strong></div>