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THE PROLOGUE

 

 Our Host upon his stirrups stood anon,
 

 And saide; "Good men, hearken every one,
 

 This was a thrifty* tale for the nones.       *discreet,
 

 Sir Parish Priest," quoth he, "for Godde's bones,   profitable
 

 Tell us a tale, as was thy *forword yore:*      *promise formerly*
 

 I see well that ye learned men in lore
 

 Can* muche good, by Godde's dignity."         *know
 

 The Parson him answer'd, "Ben'dicite!
 

 What ails the man, so sinfully to swear?"
 

 Our Host answer'd, "O Jankin, be ye there?
 

 Now, good men," quoth our Host, "hearken to me.
 

 I smell a Lollard <2> in the wind," quoth he.
 

 "Abide, for Godde's digne* passion,          *worthy
 

 For we shall have a predication:
 

 This Lollard here will preachen us somewhat."
 

 "Nay, by my father's soul, that shall he not,
 

 Saide the Shipman; "Here shall he not preach,
 

 He shall no gospel glose* here nor teach.      *comment upon
 

 We all believe in the great God," quoth he.
 

 "He woulde sowe some difficulty,
 

 Or springe cockle <3> in our cleane corn.
 

 And therefore, Host, I warne thee beforn,
 

 My jolly body shall a tale tell,
 

 And I shall clinke you so merry a bell,
 

 That I shall waken all this company;
 

 But it shall not be of philosophy,
 

 Nor of physic, nor termes quaint of law;
 

 There is but little Latin in my maw."*        *belly
 

 

Notes to the Prologue to the Shipman’s Tale

1. The Prologue here given was transferred by Tyrwhitt from the place, preceding the Squire’s Tale, which it had formerly occupied; the Shipman’s Tale having no Prologue in the best manuscripts.

2. Lollard: A contemptuous name for the followers of Wyckliffe; presumably derived from the Latin, “lolium,” tares, as if they were the tares among the Lord’s wheat; so, a few lines below, the Shipman intimates his fear lest the Parson should “spring cockle in our clean corn.”

3. Cockle: A weed, the “Agrostemma githago” of Linnaeus; perhaps named from the Anglo-Saxon, “ceocan,” because it chokes the corn.

(Transcriber’s note: It is also possible Chaucer had in mind Matthew 13:25, where in some translations, an enemy sowed “cockle” amongst the wheat. (Other translations have “tares” and “darnel”.))

THE TALE

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A Merchant whilom dwell’d at Saint Denise,
That riche was, for which men held him wise.
A wife he had of excellent beauty,
And *companiable and revellous* was she, *fond of society
Which is a thing that causeth more dispence and merry making*
Than worth is all the cheer and reverence
That men them do at feastes and at dances.
Such salutations and countenances
Passen, as doth the shadow on the wall;
Put woe is him that paye must for all.
The sely* husband algate** he must pay, *innocent **always
He must us <2> clothe and he must us array
All for his owen worship richely:
In which array we dance jollily.
And if that he may not, paraventure,
Or elles list not such dispence endure,
But thinketh it is wasted and y-lost,
Then must another paye for our cost,
Or lend us gold, and that is perilous.