No Fear Literature: The Canterbury Tales: The Nun's Priest's Tale The Nun’s Priest’s Tale Page 18

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Original Text	Modern Text
Lo, how fortune turneth sodeinly The hope and pryde eek of hir enemy! This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak, In al his drede, unto the fox he spak, And seyde, ‘sire, if that I were as ye, Yet sholde I seyn (as wis God helpe me), Turneth agayn, ye proude cherles alle! A verray pestilence upon yow falle! Now am I come unto this wodes syde, Maugree your heed, the cok shal heer abyde’; I wol him ete in feith, and that anon.’— The fox answerde, ‘in feith, it shal be don,’— And as he spak that word, al sodeinly This cok brak from his mouth deliverly, And heighe upon a tree he fleigh anon.	Lo, how fortune turneth sodeinly The hope and pryde eek of hir enemy! This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak, In al his drede, unto the fox he spak, And seyde, ‘sire, if that I were as ye, Yet sholde I seyn (as wis God helpe me), Turneth agayn, ye proude cherles alle! A verray pestilence upon yow falle! Now am I come unto this wodes syde, Maugree your heed, the cok shal heer abyde’; I wol him ete in feith, and that anon.’— The fox answerde, ‘in feith, it shal be don,’— And as he spak that word, al sodeinly This cok brak from his mouth deliverly, And heighe upon a tree he fleigh anon.
And whan the fox saugh that he was y-gon, ‘Allas!’ quod he, ‘O Chauntecleer, allas! I have to yow,’ quod he, ‘y-doon trespas, In-as-muche as I maked yow aferd, Whan I yow hente, and broghte out of the yerd; But, sire, I dide it in no wikke entente; Com doun, and I shal telle yow what I mente. I shal seye sooth to yow, God help me so.’ ‘Nay than,’ quod he, ‘I shrewe us bothe two, And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones, If thou bigyle me ofter than ones. Thou shalt na-more, thurgh thy flaterye, Do me to singe and winke with myn yë. For he that winketh, whan he sholde see, Al wilfully, God lat him never thee!’ ‘Nay,’ quod the fox, ‘but God yeve him meschaunce, That is so undiscreet of governaunce, That Iangleth whan he sholde holde his pees.’	And whan the fox saugh that he was y-gon, ‘Allas!’ quod he, ‘O Chauntecleer, allas! I have to yow,’ quod he, ‘y-doon trespas, In-as-muche as I maked yow aferd, Whan I yow hente, and broghte out of the yerd; But, sire, I dide it in no wikke entente; Com doun, and I shal telle yow what I mente. I shal seye sooth to yow, God help me so.’ ‘Nay than,’ quod he, ‘I shrewe us bothe two, And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones, If thou bigyle me ofter than ones. Thou shalt na-more, thurgh thy flaterye, Do me to singe and winke with myn yë. For he that winketh, whan he sholde see, Al wilfully, God lat him never thee!’ ‘Nay,’ quod the fox, ‘but God yeve him meschaunce, That is so undiscreet of governaunce, That Iangleth whan he sholde holde his pees.’

Original Text	Modern Text
Lo, how fortune turneth sodeinly The hope and pryde eek of hir enemy! This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak, In al his drede, unto the fox he spak, And seyde, ‘sire, if that I were as ye, Yet sholde I seyn (as wis God helpe me), Turneth agayn, ye proude cherles alle! A verray pestilence upon yow falle! Now am I come unto this wodes syde, Maugree your heed, the cok shal heer abyde’; I wol him ete in feith, and that anon.’— The fox answerde, ‘in feith, it shal be don,’— And as he spak that word, al sodeinly This cok brak from his mouth deliverly, And heighe upon a tree he fleigh anon.	Lo, how fortune turneth sodeinly The hope and pryde eek of hir enemy! This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak, In al his drede, unto the fox he spak, And seyde, ‘sire, if that I were as ye, Yet sholde I seyn (as wis God helpe me), Turneth agayn, ye proude cherles alle! A verray pestilence upon yow falle! Now am I come unto this wodes syde, Maugree your heed, the cok shal heer abyde’; I wol him ete in feith, and that anon.’— The fox answerde, ‘in feith, it shal be don,’— And as he spak that word, al sodeinly This cok brak from his mouth deliverly, And heighe upon a tree he fleigh anon.
And whan the fox saugh that he was y-gon, ‘Allas!’ quod he, ‘O Chauntecleer, allas! I have to yow,’ quod he, ‘y-doon trespas, In-as-muche as I maked yow aferd, Whan I yow hente, and broghte out of the yerd; But, sire, I dide it in no wikke entente; Com doun, and I shal telle yow what I mente. I shal seye sooth to yow, God help me so.’ ‘Nay than,’ quod he, ‘I shrewe us bothe two, And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones, If thou bigyle me ofter than ones. Thou shalt na-more, thurgh thy flaterye, Do me to singe and winke with myn yë. For he that winketh, whan he sholde see, Al wilfully, God lat him never thee!’ ‘Nay,’ quod the fox, ‘but God yeve him meschaunce, That is so undiscreet of governaunce, That Iangleth whan he sholde holde his pees.’	And whan the fox saugh that he was y-gon, ‘Allas!’ quod he, ‘O Chauntecleer, allas! I have to yow,’ quod he, ‘y-doon trespas, In-as-muche as I maked yow aferd, Whan I yow hente, and broghte out of the yerd; But, sire, I dide it in no wikke entente; Com doun, and I shal telle yow what I mente. I shal seye sooth to yow, God help me so.’ ‘Nay than,’ quod he, ‘I shrewe us bothe two, And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones, If thou bigyle me ofter than ones. Thou shalt na-more, thurgh thy flaterye, Do me to singe and winke with myn yë. For he that winketh, whan he sholde see, Al wilfully, God lat him never thee!’ ‘Nay,’ quod the fox, ‘but God yeve him meschaunce, That is so undiscreet of governaunce, That Iangleth whan he sholde holde his pees.’