THE HOST'S PLAN FOR STORIES. 31

To ride by the weye doumb as the stoon;
And therfore wol I maken yow disport,
As I seyde erst, and doon yow som confort.
And if you liketh alle by oon assent
For to stonden at my juggement,
And for to werken as I shal yow seye,
To morwe, whan ye riden by the weye,
Now by my fader soule that is deed,
But if ye be myrie, I wol geve yow myn
heed!

780

Hoold up youre hond withouten moore speche."
Oure conseil was nat longe for to seche;
Us thought it was noght worth to make it
wys,1

And graunted hym withouten moore avys,
And bad him seye his voirdit2 as hym leste.
"Lordynges," quod he, "now herkneth for
the beste,

But taak it nought, I prey yow, in desdeyn;
This is the poynt, to speken short and pleyn, 790
That ech of yow to shorte with oure weye,
In this viage shal telle tales tweye,
To Caunterburyward I mean it so,
And homward he shal tellen othere two,
Of aventures that whilom han bifalle.

And which of yow that bereth hym best of alle,
That is to seyn, that telleth in this caas
Tales of best sentence and moost solaas,
Shal have a soper at oure aller cost,* (801 T.)

1 To deliberate. 2 Verdict. 3 Sense. 4 At the cost of all of us.

Heere in this place, sittynge by this post, 800 Whan that we come agayn fro Caunterbury. And, for to make yow the moore mury,

I wol my-selfe goodly with yow ryde

Right at myn owene cost, and be youre gyde,
And who so wole my juggement withseye
Shal paye al that we spenden by the weye.
And if ye vouche-sauf that it be so
Tel me anon, with-outen wordes mo,
And I wol erly shape1 me therfore.”

This thyng was graunted, and oure othes

swore

With ful glad herte, and preyden hym also
That he would vouche-sauf for to do so,
And that he wolde been oure governour,
And of our tales juge and reportour,
And sette a soper at a certeyn pris
And we wol reuled been at his devys

In heigh and lough ; and thus by oon assent
We been acorded to his juggement.

2

3

And ther-up-on the wyn was fet 2 anon;
We dronken and to reste wente echon
With-outen any lenger taryynge.

810

820

Amorwe, whan that day gan for to sprynge, Up roos oure Hoost and was oure aller cok,* And gadrede us togidre alle in a flok, And forth we riden, a litel moore than paas,5 Un-to the wateryng of Seint Thomas ;

1 Prepare.

6

2 Fetched. 3 Each one. 4 Cock, or alarm, for us all. 5 At a slow trot. 6 The second milestone on the old road to Canterbury.

"NOW DRAWETH CUT."

33

And there oure Hoost bigan his hors areste
And seyde, "Lordynges, herkneth if yow leste:
Ye woot youre foreward1 and I it yow recorde.
If even-song and morwe-song accorde, 830
Lat se now who shal telle the firste tale.
As evere mote I drynke wyn or ale,
Who so be rebel to my juggement

Shal paye for all that by the wey is spent!
Now draweth cut, er that we ferrer twynne.2
He which that hath the shorteste shal bigynne.
Sire Knyght," quod he, "my mayster and my
lord,

Now draweth cut, for that is myn accord.
Cometh neer," quod he, "my lady Prioresse,
And ye sire Clerk, lat be your shamefast-

nesse,

840

Ne studieth noght; ley hond to, every man."

Anon to drawen every wight bigan And, shortly for to tellen as it was, Were it by aventure, or sort, or cas,

The sothe is this, the cut fil to the knyght,

Of which ful blithe and glad was every wyght:

And telle he moste his tale as was resoun

By foreward and by composicioun,

As

ye han herd; what nedeth wordes mo?

An whan this goode man saugh that it was so, As he that wys was and obedient

To kepe his foreward by his free assent,

1 Promise. 2 Proceed.

851

He seyde, "Syn I shal bigynne the game,
What, welcome be the cut a Goddes name!
Now lat us ryde, and herkneth what I seye."
And with that word we ryden forth oure weye,
And he bigan with right a myrie cheere
His tale anon, and seyde in this manere. (860 T.)

TALES OF THE FIRST DAY.

Heere bigynneth The Knyghtes Tale.1

(861 T.) 860

WHILOM, as olde stories tellen us,
Ther was a duc that highte Theseus ;
Of Atthenes he was lord and governour,
And in his tyme swich a conquerour,
That gretter was ther noon under the sonne.
Ful many a riche contree hadde he wonne ;
That with his wysdom and his chivalrie2
He conquered al the regne of Femenye
That whilom was ycleped Scithia;

3

And weddede the queene Ypolita,

4

And broghte hire hoom with hym in his contree

1 Mr. Furnivall says with regard to the origin of this tale, which has been styled "a translation" of the Teseide of Boccaccio, "Of Chaucer's lines he has translated two hundred and seventy (less than one eighth) from Boccaccio; only three hundred and seventy-four more bear a general likeness to Boccaccio; only one hundred and thirty-two more a slight likeness." A few lines are taken from Boethius, but the entire poem is an adaptation of the Teseide, which, however, comprises over nine thousand lines, the treatment of the details being very dissimilar at many points. 2 Knightly exploits. 9 Kingdom. 4 Amazons.

THESEUS AND HIPPOLYTA.

35

With muchel glorie and greet solempnytee, 870
And eek hir faire suster Emelye.

And thus with victorie and with melodye
Lete I this noble duc to Atthenes ryde
And al his hoost in armes hym bisyde.
And certes, if it nere1 to long to heere,
I wolde have toold yow fully the manere
How wonnen was the regne of Femenye.
By Theseus and by his chivalrye;2
And of the grete bataille for the nones
Bitwixen Atthenes and Amazones;
And how asseged was Ypolita,
The faire, hardy queene of Scithia,

And of the feste that was at hir weddynge,
And of the tempest at hir hoom comynge;
But al that thyng I moot as now forbere.
I have, God woot, a large feeld to ere,*
And wayke been the oxen in my plough.
The remenant of the tale is long ynough,
I wol nat letten 5 eek noon of this route.
Lat every felawe telle his tale aboute,
And lat se now who shal the soper wynne,
And ther I lefte I wol ageyn bigynne.

6

This duc of whom I make mencioun, Whan he was come almost un-to the toun In al his wele, and in his mooste pride, He was war, as he caste his eye aside, Where that ther kneled in the weye

1 Were not. 2 Knights. 3 Besieged. • Opulence.

880

890

(899 T.)

4 Plow. 5 Hinder