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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