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.	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.
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.	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.

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.	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.
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.	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.