As he were wood, anon he gan

to crye,

"Help, watir, watir, help, for Goddes herte!"
This carpenter out of his slumber sterte,
And herd on crye watir, as he wer wood,
And thought, "Allas, now cometh Noes flood!"
He sit him up withoute wordes mo,

And with his ax he smot the corde a-two;
And doun he goth; he fond nowthir to selle
No breed ne ale, til he com to the selle
Upon the floor, and ther aswoun he lay.
Up styrt hir Alisoun, and Nicholay,

And cryden, "out and harrow!" in the strete.
The neyghebours bothe smal and grete

In ronnen, for to gauren on this man,
That yet aswowne lay, bothe pale and wan:
For with the fal he brosten had his arm.
But stond he muste to his owne harm,
For whan he spak, he was anon born doun
With heende Nicholas and Alisoun.
They tolden every man that he was wood;
He was agast and feerd of Noes flood
Thurgh fantasie, that of his vanité

He hadde i-bought him knedyng tubbes thre,
And hadde hem hanged in the roof above;
And that he preyed hem for Goddes love
To sitten in the roof par compaignye.

3819-to selle.

So in the fabliau of Aloul, in Barbazan, 1. 591,
Qu'ainc tant come il mist à descendre
Ne trova point de pain à vendre.

3820

3830

The folk gan lawhen at his fantasye; Into the roof they kyken, and they gape, And torne al his harm into a jape. For what so ever the carpenter answerde, It was for nought, no man his resoun herde, With othis greet he was so sworn adoun, That he was holden wood in al the toun.

For every clerk anon right heeld with othir;

3840

They seyde, "The man was wood, my leeve brother;" And every man gan lawhen at his stryf.

Thus swyved was the carpenteres wyf, For al his kepyng, and his gelousye; And Absolon hath kist hir nethir ye;

And Nicholas is skaldid in his towte.

This tale is doon, and God save al the route.

3850

THE PROLOGE OF THE REEVE.

WHAN folk hadde lawhen of this nyce caas Of Absolon and heende Nicholas,

Dyverse folk dyversely they seyde,

But for the moste part they lowh and pleyde:
Ne at this tale I sawh no man him greve,
But it were oonly Osewald the Reeve.

Bycause he was of carpentrye craft,

A litel ire in his herte is laft;

He gan to grucche and blamed it a lite.

"So theek," quod he, "ful wel coude I the quyte

With bleryng of a prowd mylleres ye,

3860

If that me luste speke of ribaudye.
But yk am old; me list not pley for age;
Gras tyme is doon, my foddir is now forage.
My whyte top writeth myn olde yeeres;
Myn hert is al so moulyd as myn heeres;
But yit I fare as doth an open-ers;
That ilke fruyt is ever lenger the wers,
Til it be rote in mullok, or in stree.
We olde men, I drede, so fare we,
Til we be roten, can we nat be rype;
We hoppen alway, whil the world wol
For in oure wil ther stiketh ever a nayl,
To have an hoor heed and a greene tayl,
As hath a leek; for though oure might be doon,
Oure wil desireth folye ever in oon:

руре;

For whan we may nat do, than wol we speke,
Yet in oure aisshen old is fyr i-reke.

Foure gledys have we, which I schal devyse,
Avanting, lyyng, angur, coveytise.

This foure sparkys longen unto eelde.

Oure olde lymes mowen be unweelde,

But wil ne schal nat fayle us, that is soth.
And yet I have alwey a coltes toth,

As many a yeer as it is passed henne,

Syn that my tappe of lyf bygan to renne.
For sikirlik, whan I was born, anon

Deth drough the tappe of lyf, and leet it goon:
And now so longe hath the tappe i-ronne,
Til that almost al empty is the tonne.

3870

3880

3890

The streem of lyf now droppeth on the chymbe.
The sely tonge may wel rynge and chimbe
Of wrecchednes, that passed is ful yoore:

With olde folk, sauf dotage, is no more."
Whan that oure Host had herd this sermonyng,
He gan to speke as lordly as a kyng,

And seyde, "What amounteth al this wit?
What? schul we speke al day of holy wryt?
The devyl made a reve for to preche,
Or of a sowter a schipman, or a leche.
Sey forth thi tale and tarye nat the tyme:
Lo heer is Depford, and it is passed prime:
Lo Grenewich, ther many a schrewe is inne;
It were al tyme thi tale to bygynne."

I

"Now, sires," quod this Osewold the Reeve,

pray yow alle, that noon of you him greeve, Though I answere, and somwhat sette his howve, For leeful is with force force to schowve.

3900

3910

3902. Ex sutore nauclerus, and ex sutore medicus, were both popular proverbs, and are found in medieval Latin writers.

3901.-passed prime. Tyrwhitt reads half-way prime, and observes," in the discourse, &c. § xiv, I have supposed that this means half past prime, about half an hour after seven A.M. the half way between Prime and Terce. In the fictitious Modus tenendi parliamentum, a book not much older than Chaucer, Hora media prima seems to be used in the same sense. c. de diebus et horis parliamenti. MS. Cotton. Nero. D. vi. On common days Parliamentum debet inchoari hora mediæ primæ-in diebus festivis hora prima propter divinum servitium. In a contemporary French translation of this treatise, MS. Harl. 305, hora mediæ primæ is rendered à la my heure le prime; in an old English version, MS. Harl. 930, the oure of myd pryme: and in another, MS. Harl. 1309, midde prime time. Our author uses prime large, ver. 10674, to signify that prime was considerably past."

3909.-sette his howve. The same as set his cap. See 1. 588.

This dronken Myllere hath i-tolde us heer,
How that bygiled was a carpenter,
Peraventure in scorn, for I am oon:

And by your leve, I schal him quyte anoon.
Right in his cherles termes wol I speke;
I pray to God his nekke mot to-breke !
He can wel in myn eye see a stalke,
But in his owne he can nought seen a balke."

THE REEVES TALE.

Ar Trompyngtoun, nat fer fro Cantebrigge,
Ther goth a brook, and over that a brigge,
Upon the whiche brook ther stant a melle:
And this is verray sothe that I you telle.
A meller was ther dwellyng many a day,
As eny pecok he was prowd and gay;
Pipen he coude, and fisshe, and nettys beete,
And turne cuppes, wrastle wel, and scheete.
Ay by his belt he bar a long panade,

And of a swerd ful trenchaunt was the blade. A joly popper bar he in his pouche;

Ther was no man for perel durst him touche.
A Scheffeld thwitel bar he in his hose.

3920

3930

The Reeves Tale. This was a very popular story in the middle ages. and is found under several different forms. It occurs frequently in the jest and story books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Boccacio has given it in the Decameron, evidently from a fabliau, which has been printed in Barbazan under the title of De Gombert et des deux clers. Chaucer took the story from another fabliau, which I have printed and first pointed out to notice, in my Anecdota Literaria, p. 15.