And hath y-lost the gryndynge of the whete,
And payed for the soper everideel
Of Aleyn and of John, that bette hym weel;
His wyf is swyvéd, and his doghter als.
Lo! swich it is a millere to be fals;
And therfore this proverbe is seyd ful sooth,
"Hym thar nat wené wel that yvele dooth,"
A gylour shal hym self bigylėd be,—
And God, that sitteth heighe in Trinitee,
Save al this compaignyė, grete and smale.
Thus have I quyt the Millere in my tale.
The prologe of the Cokes Tale
The Cook of Londoun, whil the Reve spak, For joye him thoughte he clawed him on the bak ; "Ha, ha!" quod he, "for Cristės passioun
This millere hadde a sharpe conclusioun
Upon his argument of herbergage;
Wel seyde Salomon, in his langage,
'Ne brynge nat every man into thyn hous,' For herberwynge by nyghte is perilous.
Wel oghte a man avysed for to be
Whom that he broghte into his pryvėtee.
4320. Hym thar nat, he must
not think to have good
that doth ill.
4322. Trinitee, H6 Magestee.
4325. whil, E whil that. 4329. herbergage, lodging.
I pray to God, so geve me sorwe and care,
If evere, sitthe I hightė Hogge of Ware,
Herde I a millere bettre y-set a werk.
He hadde a jape of malice in the derk ;
But God forbede that we styntė heere,
And therfore if ye vouché-sauf to heere
A tale of me, that am a pourė man,
I wol yow telle, as wel as evere I kan,
A litel jape that fil in oure citee.”
Oure Hoost answérde and seide, "I graunte it
Now telle on, Roger, looke that it be good;
For many a pastee hastow laten blood,
And many a jakke of Dovere hastow soold,
That hath been twies hoot and twies coold;
Of many a pilgrym hastow Cristės curs,
For of thy percely yet they fare the wors,
That they han eten with thy stubbel goos,
For in thy shoppe is many a flyė loos.
Now telle on, gentil Roger by thy name,
But yet I pray thee be nat wroth for game,
A man may seye ful sooth in game and pley.” 4355
"Thou seist ful sooth," quod Roger, "by my fey!
4335. so geve me sorwe, H so gyf my body.
4339. heere, glossed hic in E2, in next line glossed audire.
4346. laten, H lete. The line
may mean that the cook
stole the gravy. 4347. a jakke of Dovere, said
to be "a sea-fish," but more probably a pudding.
4350. percely, parsley. 4355-4358. H omits the first
and last of these lines, and reads feyth for fey in line 4356 to make a rhyme.
But 'sooth pley quaad pley,' as the Flemyng seith;
And therfore, Herry Bailly, by thy feith,
Be thou nat wrooth, er we departen heer
Though that my tale be of an hostileer :
But nathėlees I wol nat telle it yit;
But er we parte, y-wis, thou shalt be quit ;'
And therwithal he lough and made cheere,
And seyde his tale as ye shul after heere.
Heere bigynneth The Cookes Tale
A prentys whilom dwelled in oure citee,
And of a craft of vitailliers was hee.
Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the shawe;
Broun as a berye, a propre short felawe,
With lokkės blake, y-kempd ful fetisly.
Dauncen he koude so wel and jolily,
That he was cleped Perkyn Revelour.
He was as ful of love and paramour
As is the hyvė ful of hony sweete.
Wel was the wenché with hym myghtė meete ;
At every bridale wolde he synge and hoppe,
He loved bet the taverne than the shoppe.
For whan ther any ridyng was in Chepe,
Out of the shoppė thider wolde he lepe;
4357. sooth pley quaad pley, true
jest, bad jest. Cp." soth bourd is no bourd." 4362. er we parte, y-wis, thou shalt, H or we departe
4367. Gaillard, gay.
shawe, grove.
4369. y-kempd ful fetisly, full neatly combed.
4370. so wel and jolily, H wel and prately.
4373. hyve ful, H hony-combe. 4374-4376. om. H.
4377. ridyng, jousting or procession,
Til that he hadde al the sighte y-seyn,
And daunced wel, he wolde nat come ageyn; 4380
And gadered hym a meynee of his sort,
To hoppe and synge and maken swich disport;
And ther they setten stevene for to meete,
To pleyen at the dys in swich a streete;
For in the toun ne was ther no prentys
That fairer koudé caste a paire of dys
Than Perkyn koude, and therto he was free
Of his dispense, in place of pryvėtee.
That fond his maister wel in his chaffare,
For often tyme he foond his box ful bare;
For sikerly a prentys revelour,
That haunteth dys, riot, or paramour,
His maister shal it in his shoppe abye,
Al have he no part of the mynstralcye ;
For thefte and riot they been convertible,
Al konne he pleye on gyterne or ribíble.
Revel and trouthe, as in a lowe degree,
They been ful wrothe al day, as men may see.
This joly prentys with his maister bood,
Til he were ny out of his prentishood;
Al were he snybbed bothe erly and late,
And somtyme lad with revel to Newėgate ;
4383. setten stevene, made ap-
pointment.
4385. ne was, E6 nas.
4389. chaffare, business.
4391. sikerly a, H such a joly.
4392. riot, H revel.
4393. abye, pay for.
4396. The meaning seems to
be: " Though Riot can
play guitar or fiddle, he is still no better than a thief." H Al can they.
4397. as in a lowe degree, in
common folk.
4398. ful wrothe, bad friends.
men, H ye.
4401. snybbed, rebuked.
4402. to, H into.
But atté laste his maister hym bithoghte,
Upon a day whan he his papir soghte,
Of a proverbe that seith this same word,
"Wel bet is roten appul out of hoord,
Than that it rotie al the remenaunt."
So fareth it by a riotous servaunt,
It is wel lasse harm to lete hym pace
Than he shende alle the servauntz in the place. 4410 Therfore his maister gaf hym acquitance,
And bad hym go with sorwe and with meschance ;
And thus this joly prentys hadde his leve.
Now lat him riote al the nyght or leve;
And for ther is no theef withoute a lowke,
That helpeth hym to wasten and to sowke,
Of that he brybė kane or borwe may,
Anon he sente his bed and his array
Unto a compier of his owene sort,
That lovede dys, and revel and disport,
And hadde a wyf that heeld for contenance
A shoppe, and swyvėd for hir sustenance .
Of this Cokes tale maked Chaucer na more
4404. he his papir, the apprentice his acquittance.
4410. shende, harm.
4415-4422. omitted in H.
4415. lowke, fellow-rascal.
Of this Cokes tale, etc.
from Hengwrt MS. In
many MSS. here follows
the Tale of Gamelyn,
which Chaucer probably meant to rewrite and assign to the Yeoman; but the tale, as it stands, is none of Chaucer's, and is therefore not printed here. The rest of the tales supposed to be told on the first day of the Pilgrimage are lacking, and, almost certainly, were never written.
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