Geoffrey Chaucer - Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales (English Edition)

That ilke* fruit is ever longer werse, *same

Till it be rotten *in mullok or in stre*. *on the ground or in straw*

We olde men, I dread, so fare we;

Till we be rotten, can we not be ripe;

We hop* away, while that the world will pipe; *dance

For in our will there sticketh aye a nail,

To have an hoary head and a green tail,

As hath a leek; for though our might be gone,

Our will desireth folly ever-in-one*: *continually

For when we may not do, then will we speak,

Yet in our ashes cold does fire reek.* *smoke<4>

Four gledes* have we, which I shall devise**, *coals ** describe

Vaunting, and lying, anger, covetise*. *covetousness

These foure sparks belongen unto eld.

Our olde limbes well may be unweld*, *unwieldy

But will shall never fail us, that is sooth.

And yet have I alway a coltes tooth,<5>

As many a year as it is passed and gone

Since that my tap of life began to run;

For sickerly*, when I was born, anon *certainly

Death drew the tap of life, and let it gon:

And ever since hath so the tap y-run,

Till that almost all empty is the tun.

The stream of life now droppeth on the chimb.<6>

The silly tongue well may ring and chime

Of wretchedness, that passed is full yore*: *long

With olde folk, save dotage, is no more. <7>

When that our Host had heard this sermoning,

He gan to speak as lordly as a king,

And said; "To what amounteth all this wit?

What? shall we speak all day of holy writ?

The devil made a Reeve for to preach,

As of a souter* a shipman, or a leach**. *cobbler <8>

Say forth thy tale, and tarry not the time: **surgeon <9>

Lo here is Deptford, and 'tis half past prime:<10>

Lo Greenwich, where many a shrew is in.

It were high time thy tale to begin."

"Now, sirs," quoth then this Osewold the Reeve,

I pray you all that none of you do grieve,

Though I answer, and somewhat set his hove*, *hood <11>

For lawful is *force off with force to shove.* *to repel force

This drunken miller hath y-told us here by force*

How that beguiled was a carpentere,

Paraventure* in scorn, for I am one: *perhaps

And, by your leave, I shall him quite anon.

Right in his churlish termes will I speak,

I pray to God his necke might to-break.

He can well in mine eye see a stalk,

But in his own he cannot see a balk."<12>

Notes to the Prologue to the Reeves Tale.

1. "With blearing of a proude miller's eye": dimming his eye; playing off a joke on him.

2. "Me list not play for age": age takes away my zest for drollery.

3. The medlar, the fruit of the mespilus tree, is only edible when rotten.

4. Yet in our ashes cold does fire reek: "ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires."

5. A colt's tooth; a wanton humour, a relish for pleasure.

6. Chimb: The rim of a barrel where the staves project beyond the head.

7. With olde folk, save dotage, is no more: Dotage is all that is left them; that is, they can only dwell fondly, dote, on the past.

8. Souter: cobbler; Scottice, "sutor;"' from Latin, "suere," to sew.

9. "Ex sutore medicus" (a surgeon from a cobbler) and "ex sutore nauclerus" (a seaman or pilot from a cobbler) were both proverbial expressions in the Middle Ages.

10. Half past prime: half-way between prime and tierce; about half-past seven in the morning.

11. Set his hove; like "set their caps;" as in the description of the Manciple in the Prologue, who "set their aller cap". "Hove" or "houfe," means "hood;" and the phrase signifies to be even with, outwit.

12. The illustration of the mote and the beam, from Matthew.

THE TALE.<1>

At Trompington, not far from Cantebrig,* *Cambridge

There goes a brook, and over that a brig,

Upon the whiche brook there stands a mill:

And this is *very sooth* that I you tell. *complete truth*

A miller was there dwelling many a day,

As any peacock he was proud and gay:

Pipen he could, and fish, and nettes bete*, *prepare

And turne cups, and wrestle well, and shete*. *shoot

Aye by his belt he bare a long pavade*, *poniard

And of his sword full trenchant was the blade.

A jolly popper* bare he in his pouch; *dagger

There was no man for peril durst him touch.

A Sheffield whittle* bare he in his hose. *small knife

Round was his face, and camuse* was his nose. *flat <2>

As pilled* as an ape's was his skull. *peeled, bald.

He was a market-beter* at the full. *brawler

There durste no wight hand upon him legge*, *lay

That he ne swore anon he should abegge*. *suffer the penalty

A thief he was, for sooth, of corn and meal,

And that a sly, and used well to steal.

His name was *hoten deinous Simekin* *called "Disdainful Simkin"*

A wife he hadde, come of noble kin:

The parson of the town her father was.

With her he gave full many a pan of brass,

For that Simkin should in his blood ally.

She was y-foster'd in a nunnery:

For Simkin woulde no wife, as he said,

But she were well y-nourish'd, and a maid,

To saven his estate and yeomanry:

And she was proud, and pert as is a pie*. *magpie

A full fair sight it was to see them two;

On holy days before her would he go

With his tippet* y-bound about his head; *hood

And she came after in a gite* of red, *gown <3>

And Simkin hadde hosen of the same.

There durste no wight call her aught but Dame:

None was so hardy, walking by that way,

That with her either durste *rage or play*, *use freedom*

*But if* he would be slain by Simekin *unless

With pavade, or with knife, or bodekin.

For jealous folk be per'lous evermo':

Algate* they would their wives *wende so*. *unless *so behave*

And eke for she was somewhat smutterlich*, *dirty

She was as dign* as water in a ditch, *nasty

And all so full of hoker*, and bismare**. *ill-nature **abusive speech

Her thoughte that a lady should her spare*, *not judge her hardly

What for her kindred, and her nortelrie* *nurturing, education

That she had learned in the nunnery.

One daughter hadde they betwixt them two

Of twenty year, withouten any mo,

Saving a child that was of half year age,

In cradle it lay, and was a proper page.* *boy

This wenche thick and well y-growen was,

With camuse* nose, and eyen gray as glass; *flat

With buttocks broad, and breastes round and high;

But right fair was her hair, I will not lie.

The parson of the town, for she was fair,

In purpose was to make of her his heir

Both of his chattels and his messuage,

And *strange he made it* of her marriage. *he made it a matter

His purpose was for to bestow her high of difficulty*

Into some worthy blood of ancestry.

For holy Church's good may be dispended* *spent

On holy Church's blood that is descended.

Therefore he would his holy blood honour

Though that he holy Churche should devour.

Great soken* hath this miller, out of doubt, *toll taken for grinding

With wheat and malt, of all the land about;

And namely* there was a great college *especially

Men call the Soler Hall at Cantebrege,<4>

There was their wheat and eke their malt y-ground.

And on a day it happed in a stound*, *suddenly

Sick lay the manciple* of a malady, *steward <5>

Men *weened wisly* that he shoulde die. *thought certainly*

For which this miller stole both meal and corn

An hundred times more than beforn.

For theretofore he stole but courteously,

But now he was a thief outrageously.