No Fear Literature: The Canterbury Tales: The Miller’s Tale Page 21

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Original Text	Modern Text
This carpenter out of his slomber sterte, And herde oon cryen ‘water’ as he were wood, And thoghte, ‘Allas! now comth Nowelis flood!’ He sit him up with-outen wordes mo, And with his ax he smoot the corde a-two, And doun goth al; he fond neither to selle, Ne breed ne ale, til he cam to the celle Upon the floor; and ther aswowne he lay.	This carpenter out of his slomber sterte, And herde oon cryen ‘water’ as he were wood, And thoghte, ‘Allas! now comth Nowelis flood!’ He sit him up with-outen wordes mo, And with his ax he smoot the corde a-two, And doun goth al; he fond neither to selle, Ne breed ne ale, til he cam to the celle Upon the floor; and ther aswowne he lay.
Up sterte hir Alison, and Nicholay, And cryden ‘out’ and ‘harrow’ in the strete. The neighebores, bothe smale and grete, In ronnen, for to gauren on this man, That yet aswowne he lay, bothe pale and wan; For with the fal he brosten hadde his arm; But stonde he moste unto his owne harm. For whan he spak, he was anon bore doun With hende Nicholas and Alisoun. They tolden every man that he was wood, He was agast so of ‘Nowelis flood’ Thurgh fantasye, that of his vanitee He hadde y-boght him kneding-tubbes three, And hadde hem hanged in the roof above; And that he preyed hem, for Goddes love, To sitten in the roof, par companye.	Up sterte hir Alison, and Nicholay, And cryden ‘out’ and ‘harrow’ in the strete. The neighebores, bothe smale and grete, In ronnen, for to gauren on this man, That yet aswowne he lay, bothe pale and wan; For with the fal he brosten hadde his arm; But stonde he moste unto his owne harm. For whan he spak, he was anon bore doun With hende Nicholas and Alisoun. They tolden every man that he was wood, He was agast so of ‘Nowelis flood’ Thurgh fantasye, that of his vanitee He hadde y-boght him kneding-tubbes three, And hadde hem hanged in the roof above; And that he preyed hem, for Goddes love, To sitten in the roof, par companye.

Original Text	Modern Text
This carpenter out of his slomber sterte, And herde oon cryen ‘water’ as he were wood, And thoghte, ‘Allas! now comth Nowelis flood!’ He sit him up with-outen wordes mo, And with his ax he smoot the corde a-two, And doun goth al; he fond neither to selle, Ne breed ne ale, til he cam to the celle Upon the floor; and ther aswowne he lay.	This carpenter out of his slomber sterte, And herde oon cryen ‘water’ as he were wood, And thoghte, ‘Allas! now comth Nowelis flood!’ He sit him up with-outen wordes mo, And with his ax he smoot the corde a-two, And doun goth al; he fond neither to selle, Ne breed ne ale, til he cam to the celle Upon the floor; and ther aswowne he lay.
Up sterte hir Alison, and Nicholay, And cryden ‘out’ and ‘harrow’ in the strete. The neighebores, bothe smale and grete, In ronnen, for to gauren on this man, That yet aswowne he lay, bothe pale and wan; For with the fal he brosten hadde his arm; But stonde he moste unto his owne harm. For whan he spak, he was anon bore doun With hende Nicholas and Alisoun. They tolden every man that he was wood, He was agast so of ‘Nowelis flood’ Thurgh fantasye, that of his vanitee He hadde y-boght him kneding-tubbes three, And hadde hem hanged in the roof above; And that he preyed hem, for Goddes love, To sitten in the roof, par companye.	Up sterte hir Alison, and Nicholay, And cryden ‘out’ and ‘harrow’ in the strete. The neighebores, bothe smale and grete, In ronnen, for to gauren on this man, That yet aswowne he lay, bothe pale and wan; For with the fal he brosten hadde his arm; But stonde he moste unto his owne harm. For whan he spak, he was anon bore doun With hende Nicholas and Alisoun. They tolden every man that he was wood, He was agast so of ‘Nowelis flood’ Thurgh fantasye, that of his vanitee He hadde y-boght him kneding-tubbes three, And hadde hem hanged in the roof above; And that he preyed hem, for Goddes love, To sitten in the roof, par companye.