Canterbury Tales and Other Poems, Geoffrey Chaucer [good fiction books to read txt] 📗

softe pace he went over the street

Unto a smith, men callen Dan* Gerveis, *master That in his forge smithed plough-harness; He sharped share and culter busily.

This Absolon knocked all easily,

And said; “Undo, Gerveis, and that anon.”

“What, who art thou?” “It is I, Absolon.”

“What? Absolon, what? Christe’s sweete tree, cross Why rise so rath*? hey! Benedicite, *early What aileth you? some gay girl,<37> God it wote, Hath brought you thus upon the viretote:<38>

By Saint Neot, ye wot well what I mean.”

This Absolon he raughte* not a bean *recked, cared Of all his play; no word again he gaf, spoke For he had more tow on his distaff<39>

Than Gerveis knew, and saide; “Friend so dear, That hote culter in the chimney here

Lend it to me, I have therewith to don*: *do I will it bring again to thee full soon.”

Gerveis answered; “Certes, were it gold, Or in a poke* nobles all untold, *purse Thou shouldst it have, as I am a true smith.

Hey! Christe’s foot, what will ye do therewith?”

“Thereof,” quoth Absolon, “be as be may; I shall well tell it thee another day:”

And caught the culter by the colde stele*. *handle Full soft out at the door he gan to steal, And went unto the carpentere’s wall

He coughed first, and knocked therewithal Upon the window, light as he did ere*. *before <40>

This Alison answered; “Who is there

That knocketh so? I warrant him a thief.”

“Nay, nay,” quoth he, “God wot, my sweete lefe, love I am thine Absolon, my own darling.

Of gold,” quoth he, “I have thee brought a ring, My mother gave it me, so God me save!

Full fine it is, and thereto well y-grave*: *engraved This will I give to thee, if thou me kiss.”

Now Nicholas was risen up to piss,

And thought he would *amenden all the jape*; improve the joke

He shoulde kiss his erse ere that he scape: And up the window did he hastily,

And out his erse he put full privily

Over the buttock, to the haunche bone.

And therewith spake this clerk, this Absolon, “Speak, sweete bird, I know not where thou art.”

This Nicholas anon let fly a fart,

As great as it had been a thunder dent*; peal, clap That with the stroke he was well nigh y-blent; *blinded But he was ready with his iron hot,

And Nicholas amid the erse he smote.

Off went the skin an handbreadth all about.

The hote culter burned so his tout, breech That for the smart he weened* he would die; thought As he were wood, for woe he gan to cry, *mad “Help! water, water, help for Godde’s heart!”

 

This carpenter out of his slumber start, And heard one cry “Water,” as he were wood, mad And thought, “Alas! now cometh Noe’s flood.”

He sat him up withoute wordes mo’

And with his axe he smote the cord in two; And down went all; he found neither to sell Nor bread nor ale, till he came to the sell, threshold <41>

Upon the floor, and there in swoon he lay.

Up started Alison and Nicholay,

And cried out an “harow!” <15> in the street.

The neighbours alle, bothe small and great In ranne, for to gauren* on this man, *stare That yet in swoone lay, both pale and wan: For with the fall he broken had his arm.

But stand he must unto his owen harm,

For when he spake, he was anon borne down With Hendy Nicholas and Alisoun.

They told to every man that he was wood*; mad He was aghaste so of Noe’s flood, *afraid Through phantasy, that of his vanity

He had y-bought him kneading-tubbes three, And had them hanged in the roof above; And that he prayed them for Godde’s love To sitten in the roof for company.

The folk gan laughen at his phantasy.

Into the roof they kyken* and they gape, *peep, look.

And turned all his harm into a jape*. *jest For whatsoe’er this carpenter answer’d, It was for nought, no man his reason heard.

With oathes great he was so sworn adown, That he was holden wood in all the town.

For every clerk anon right held with other; They said, “The man was wood, my leve* brother;” *dear And every wight gan laughen at his strife.

Thus swived* was the carpentere’s wife, enjoyed For all his keeping and his jealousy; *care And Absolon hath kiss’d her nether eye; And Nicholas is scalded in the tout.

This tale is done, and God save all the rout*. *company Notes to the Miller’s Tale

 

1. Almagest: The book of Ptolemy the astronomer, which formed the canon of astrological science in the middle ages.

 

2. Astrolabe: “Astrelagour,” “astrelabore”; a mathematical instrument for taking the altitude of the sun or stars.

 

3. “Augrim” is a corruption of algorithm, the Arabian term for numeration; “augrim stones,” therefore were probably marked with numerals, and used as counters.

 

4. Angelus ad virginem: The Angel’s salutation to Mary; Luke i.

28. It was the “Ave Maria” of the Catholic Church service.

 

5. Cato: Though Chaucer may have referred to the famous Censor, more probably the reference is merely to the “Moral Distichs,” which go under his name, though written after his time; and in a supplement to which the quoted passage may be found.

 

6. Barm-cloth: apron; from Anglo-Saxon “barme,” bosom or lap.

 

7. Volupere: Head-gear, kerchief; from French, “envelopper,”

to wrap up.

 

8. Popelet: Puppet; but chiefly; young wench.

 

9. Noble: nobles were gold coins of especial purity and brightness; “Ex auro nobilissimi, unde nobilis vocatus,” (made from the noblest (purest) gold, and therefore called nobles) says Vossius.

 

10. Yern: Shrill, lively; German, “gern,” willingly, cheerfully.

 

11. Braket: bragget, a sweet drink made of honey, spices, &c.

In some parts of the country, a drink made from honeycomb, after the honey is extracted, is still called “bragwort.”

 

12. Piggesnie: a fond term, like “my duck;” from Anglo-Saxon, “piga,” a young maid; but Tyrwhitt associates it with the Latin, “ocellus,” little eye, a fondling term, and suggests that the “pigs-eye,” which is very small, was applied in the same sense.

Davenport and Butler both use the word pigsnie, the first for “darling,” the second literally for “eye;” and Bishop Gardner, “On True Obedience,” in his address to the reader, says: “How softly she was wont to chirpe him under the chin, and kiss him; how prettily she could talk to him (how doth my sweet heart, what saith now pig’s-eye).”

 

13. Oseney: A once well-known abbey near Oxford.

 

14. Trave: travis; a frame in which unruly horses were shod.

 

15. Harow and Alas: Haro! was an old Norman cry for redress or aid. The “Clameur de Haro” was lately raised, under peculiar circumstances, as the prelude to a legal protest, in Jersey.

 

16. His shoes were ornamented like the windows of St. Paul’s, especially like the old rose-window.

 

17. Rise: Twig, bush; German, “Reis,” a twig; “Reisig,” a copse.

 

18. Chaucer satirises the dancing of Oxford as he did the French of Stratford at Bow.

 

19. Shot window: A projecting or bow window, whence it was possible shoot at any one approaching the door.

 

20. Piment: A drink made with wine, honey, and spices.

 

21. Because she was town-bred, he offered wealth, or money reward, for her love.

 

22. Parish-clerks, like Absolon, had leading parts in the mysteries or religious plays; Herod was one of these parts, which may have been an object of competition among the amateurs of the period.

 

23 .“The nighe sly maketh oft time the far lief to be loth”: a proverb; the cunning one near at hand oft makes the loving one afar off to be odious.

 

24. Kyked: Looked; “keek” is still used in some parts in the sense of “peep.”

 

25. Saint Frideswide was the patroness of a considerable priory at Oxford, and held there in high repute.

 

26. Plato, in his “Theatetus,” tells this story of Thales; but it has since appeared in many other forms.

 

27. Crouche: protect by signing the sign of the cross.

 

28. Forlore: lost; german, “verloren.”

 

29. Him that harried Hell: Christ who wasted or subdued hell: in the middle ages, some very active exploits against the prince of darkness and his powers were ascribed by the monkish tale-tellers to the saviour after he had “descended into hell.”

 

30. According to the old mysteries, Noah’s wife refused to come into the ark, and bade her husband row forth and get him a new wife, because he was leaving her gossips in the town to drown. Shem and his brothers got her shipped by main force; and Noah, coming forward to welcome her, was greeted with a box on the ear.

 

31. “Him had been lever, I dare well undertake, At thilke time, than all his wethers black, That she had had a ship herself alone.”

i.e.

“At that time he would have given all his black wethers, if she had had an ark to herself.”

 

32. “Clum,” like “mum,” a note of silence; but otherwise explained as the humming sound made in repeating prayers; from the Anglo-Saxon, “clumian,” to mutter, speak in an under-tone, keep silence.

 

33. Curfew-time: Eight in the evening, when, by the law of William the Conqueror, all people were, on ringing of a bell, to extinguish fire and candle, and go to rest; hence the word curfew, from French, “couvre-feu,” cover-fire.

 

34. Absolon chewed grains: these were grains of Paris, or Paradise; a favourite spice.

 

35. Under his tongue a true love he bare: some sweet herb; another reading, however, is “a true love-knot,” which may have been of the nature of a charm.

 

36. The two lines within brackets are not in most of the editions: they are taken from Urry; whether he supplied them or not, they serve the purpose of a necessary explanation.

 

37. Gay girl: As applied to a young woman of light manners, this euphemistic phrase has enjoyed a wonderful vitality.

 

38. Viretote: Urry reads “meritote,” and explains it from Spelman as a game in which children made themselves giddy by whirling on ropes. In French, “virer” means to turn; and the explanation may, therefore, suit either reading. In modern slang parlance, Gerveis would probably have said, “on the rampage,”

or “on the swing” — not very far from Spelman’s rendering.

 

39. He had more tow on his distaff: a proverbial saying: he was playing a deeper game, had more serious business on hand.

 

40. Ere: before; German, “eher.”

 

41. Sell: sill of the door, threshold; French, “seuil,” Latin, “solum,” the ground.

 

THE REEVE’S TALE.

 

THE PROLOGUE.

 

WHEN folk had laughed all at this nice case Of Absolon and Hendy Nicholas,

Diverse folk diversely they said,

But for the more part they laugh’d and play’d; were diverted And at this tale I saw no man him grieve, But it were only Osewold the Reeve.

Because he was of carpenteres craft,

A little ire is in his hearte laft*; left He gan to grudge and blamed it a lite.* murmur **little.

“So the* I,” quoth he, “full well could I him quite* thrive **match With blearing* of a proude miller’s eye, *dimming <1>

If that me list to speak of ribaldry.

But I am old; me list not play for age; <2>

Grass time is done, my fodder is now forage.

This white top* writeth mine olde years; head Mine heart is also moulded as mine hairs; grown mouldy And I do fare as doth an open-erse; *medlar