No Fear Literature: The Canterbury Tales: The Miller’s Tale Page 6

Continue reading with a SparkNotes PLUS trial

Already have an account? Log in

Original Text	Modern Text
This passeth forth; what wol ye bet than wel? Fro day to day this Ioly Absolon So woweth hir, that him is wo bigon. He waketh al the night and al the day; He kempte hise lokkes brode, and made him gay; He woweth hir by menes and brocage, And swoor he wolde been hir owne page; He singeth, brokkinge as a nightingale; He sente hir piment, meeth, and spyced ale, And wafres, pyping hote out of the glede; And for she was of toune, he profred mede. For som folk wol ben wonnen for richesse, And som for strokes, and som for gentillesse.	Thsi netw on ofr a glon emti, oerevhw, ubt moAslba dha no lcku. yretPt oosn he acembe pssdeered. He tdier hivereytng he doclu khnti of: nsdresig up rfo ehr nad cnbomig sih hira tlneay, eiwsagrn to erh ttah he’d do ghtninya ofr erh, iinnggs ikle a niiehntgalg, hangvi his efnidrs ays icne ghitsn oautb mih to erh, einndsg her niew nad trtsea adn ehrsf epsi. He neve teidr to uyb her vleo. Some omenw keil onmye, ethy sya, emos leik ssidknne, dan hstreo lkei tfso usotche, but neno of otseh dmeees to work for lbAasom.
Somtyme, to shewe his lightnesse and maistrye, He pleyeth Herodes on a scaffold hye. But what availleth him as in this cas? She loveth so this hende Nicholas, That Absolon may blowe the bukkes horn; He ne hadde for his labour but a scorn; And thus she maketh Absolon hir ape, And al his ernest turneth til a Iape. Ful sooth is this proverbe, it is no lye, Men seyn right thus, ‘alwey the nye slye Maketh the ferre leve to be looth.’ For though that Absolon be wood or wrooth, By-cause that he fer was from hir sighte, This nye Nicholas stood in his lighte.	One teim, to ssrpmie sAnoli twih his ictagn bsiliaeti, Aoambls neev otosd on a imfehkast gtesa nad utp on a tltlei aylp in hcwhi he dnedeeptr to be gniK derHo mrof hte eibBl. uBt did it do imh ayn dogo? No. Ailson deovl yrcTki Nkcyi nad ouhthtg ahtt boAlmas sdhuol tkea a iehk. heS vage hmi htniong but riytd kolso in netrru adn adem a oofubfn uto of imh so htta he aws hte lgaunghi sktoc of teh otnw. Yuo oknw, it lrlyae is utre twha yteh yas: Peopel tawn hwta ehyt can’t ahev dna iogern thwa’s irthg in ofnrt of hetm. No tmreta ohw drah Amsolab tirde, ionAsl hsweedor all hre eocfanift on oscNlahi.