The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

¶ Incipit tercia pars . [folio 97a]

THer fil / as it bifalleth tymes mo? [¶ Ceperit vt fit interdum walterum cum iam ablactata esset infantula mirabilis quedam quam laudabilis cupi|ditas satis expertam care fidem coniugis experiendi alcius & iterum atque iterum retemptandi. ] Line 449 Whan þat this child / had souked but a throwe This Markys / in his herte longeth so To tempte his wyf hir sadnesse for to knowe Line 452 That he ne myghte / out of his herte throwe This merueillous desir/ his wyf tassaye Nedelees god woot/ he thoghte / hire for taffraye Line 455

He hadde assayed hire / ynogh bifore Line 456 And foond hire euere good / what neded it Hire for to tempte / and alwey / moore and moore Though som men preise it for a subtil wit/ Line 459 But as for me / I seye that yuele it sit To assaye a wyf whan þat it is no nede And putten hire / in angwyssh and in drede Line 462

[6-text p 418] Line 462

ffor which / this Markys / wroghte in this manere Line 463 He cam allone / a nyght / ther as she lay With stierne face / and with ful trouble cheere And seyde thus / Grisilde quod he that day Line 466 That I yow took/ out of youre pouere array And putte yow / in estaat of heigh noblesse Ye haue / nat that forgeten as I gesse Line 469

I seye Grisilde / this present dignitee Line 470 In which that I haue put yow /. as I trowe? Maketh yow nat foryetful for to be That I yow took/ in poure estaat ful lowe Line 473 ffor any wele / ye moot youre seluen knowe Taak heede / of euery word / that y yow seye Ther is no wight that hereth it but we tweye Line 476

Ye woot youre self wel / how þat ye cam heere Line 477 In to this hous / it is nat longe ago And though to me / þat ye be lief and deere Vn-to my gentils / ye be no thyng so Line 480 They seyn / to hem / it is greet shame and wo ffor to be subgetz / and to been in seruage To thee / that born art/ of a smal village Line 483

And namely / sith thy doghter was ybore Line 484 Thise wordes / han they spoken doutelees But I desire / as I haue doon bifore To lyue my lyf with hem / in reste and pees Line 487 I may nat in this caas / be recchelees I moot doon with thy doghter/ for the beste Nat as I wolde / but as my peple leste Line 490

And yet god woot this is ful looth to me [folio 97b] But nathelees / with oute youre wityng I wol nat doon / but this wol I quod he That ye to me assente / as in this thyng Line 494

[6-text p 419] Line 494 Shewe now youre pacience / in youre werkyng That ye me highte / and swore in youre village That day / that maked was oure mariage Line 497

¶ Whan she had herd al this / she noght ameued Line 498 Neither in word / or chiere or countenance [¶ Nee verbo / nec vultu &cetera] ffor as it semed / she was nat agreued She seyde lord / al lyth in youre plesance Line 501 My child and I / with hertely obeisance Been youres al / and ye mowe saue and spille Youre owene thyng werketh after youre wille Line 504

Ther may no thyng / god so my soule saue Line 505 Liken to yow / that may displese me Ne I ne desire / no thyng for to haue Ne drede for to leese / saue oonly thee /. vel yee Line 508 This wyl is in myn herte / and ay shal be No lengthe of tyme / or deeth may this deface Ne chaunge my corage / to another place Line 511

¶ Glad was this Markys / of hire answeryng Line 512 But yet he feyned / as he were nat so Al drery was his cheere / and his lookyng Whan þat he sholde / out/ of the chambre go Line 515 Soone after this / a furlong wey or two He priuely / hath toold al his entente Vn-to a man / and to his wyf hym sente Line 518

A maner sergeant was this priuee man Line 519 The which þat feithful ofte / he founden hadde In thynges grete / and eek swich folk wel kan Doon execucion on thynges badde Line 522 The lord knew wel / that he hym loued and dradde And whan this sergeant wiste the lordes wille In to the chambre / he stalked hym ful stille Line 525

[6-text p 420] Line 525

¶ Madame he seyde / ye moote foryeue it me Line 526 Though I do thyng to which I am constreyned Ye been so wys / that ful wel knowe ye That lordes heestes / mowe nat been yfeyned Line 529 They mowe wel been / biwailled and compleyned But men moote nede / vn-to hire lust obeye And so wol I / ther is namoore to seye Line 532

This child / I am comanded for to take [folio 98a] Line 533 And spak namoore / but out the child he hente Despitously / and gan a cheere make As though he wolde / han slayn it er he wente Line 536 Grisildis / moot al suffren and consente And as a lamb / she sitteth meke and stille And leet this crueel sergeant doon his wille Line 539

¶ Suspecious / was the diffame of this man [¶ suspecta viri fama] Suspect his face / suspect his word also [¶ suspecta facie] [¶ suspecta hora] Suspect the tyme / in which he this bigan [¶ suspecta erat oratio] Allas hir doghter/ that she loued so Line 543 She wende / he wolde han slawen it right tho But nathelees / she neither weepe ne syked Consentynge hire / to that the Markys lyked Line 546

But atte laste / to speken she bigan Line 547 And mekely / she to the sergeant preyde So as he was / a worthy gentil man That she moste kisse hire child / er þat it deyde Line 550 And in hir barm / this litel child she leyde With ful sad face / and gan the child to kisse And lulled it and after gan it blisse Line 553

And thus she seyde / in hire benigne voys Line 554 ffare weel my child / I shal thee neuere see But sith / I thee / haue marked with the croys Of thilke fader/ blessed moote he be Line 557

[6-text p 421] Line 557 That for vs deyde / vp on a croys of tree Thy soule litel child / I hym bitake ffor this nyght shaltow dyen for my sake Line 560

¶ I trowe / that to a norice in this cas Line 561 It had been hard / this reuthe for to se Wel myghte a mooder / thanne han cryd allas But nathelees / so sad and stidefast was she Line 564 That she endured / al aduersitee And to the sergeant mekely she sayde Haue heer agayn / youre litel yonge mayde Line 567

Gooth now quod she / and dooth my lordes heeste Line 568 And o thyng/ wol I prey yow of youre grace That but my lord / forbad yow atte leeste Burieth this litel body / in som place Line 571 That beestes ne no briddes / it to-race But he no word / wol to that purpos seye But took the child / and wente vpon his weye Line 574

¶ This sergeant cam vn-to his lord ageyn [folio 98b] And of Grisildis wordes / and hire cheere He tolde hym point for point in short and pleyn And hym presenteth / with his doghter deere Line 578 Somwhat this lord / hath routhe in his manere But nathelees / his purpos heeld he stille As lordes doon / whan they wol han hir wille Line 581

And bad his sergeant that he pryuely Line 582 Sholde this child / softe wynde and wrappe With alle circumstances / tendrely And carie it in a cofre / or in a lappe Line 585 But vp-on peyne / his heed of for to swappe That no man sholde knowe / of his entente [vnde] Ne whenne / ne whider that he wente Line 588

[6-text p 422] Line 588

But at Boloigne / to his suster deere Line 589 That thilke tyme / of Pavik was Countesse He sholde it take / and shewe hire this mateere Bisekynge hire / to doon hire bisynesse Line 592 This child to fostre / in alle gentillesse And whos child that it was / he bad hym hyde ffrom euery wight/ for oght þat may bityde Line 595

¶ The sergeant gooth / and hath fulfild this thyng Line 596 But to this Markys / now retourne we ffor now gooth he / ful faste ymaginyng If by his wyues cheere / he myghte se Line 599 Or by hire word aperceyue / that she? Were chaunged / but he neuere hire koude fynde But euere in oon / ylike sad and kynde Line 602

As glad / as humble / as bisy in seruyse [¶ par alacritas atque sedalitas solitum obs[e]|quium / idem amor nulla filie mencio. ] Line 603 And eek in loue / as she was wont to be Was she to hym / in euery maner wyse Ne of hir doghter/ noght a word spak she Line 606 Noon accident for noon aduersitee Was seyn in hire / ne neuere hir doghter name Ne nempned she / in ernest / nor in game Line 609

¶ Explicit tercia pars .