[6-text p 344]
ffor who so wolde / senge a Cattes skyn
Thanne wolde the Cat wel dwellen in his In
And if the Cattes skyn / be slyk and gay
She wol nat dwelle in house / half a day
Line 352
But forth she wole / er any day be dawed
To shewe hir skyn / and goon a Caterwawed
This is to seye / if I be gay sire shrewe
I wol renne out / my borel for to shewe
Line 356
¶ Sire olde fool / what eyleth thee to spyen
Thogh thou preye Argus / with hise hundred eyen
To be my wardecors / as he kan best/
In feith / he shal nat kepe me but lest
Line 360
Yet koude I make his berd / so moot I thee
¶ Thou seydest eek / that ther been thynges thre [¶ eciam odiosa vxor si habeat virum bonum & cetera]
The whiche thynges / troublen al this erthe
And þat no wight / may endure the ferthe
Line 364
O leeue sire shrewe / Ihesu / shorte thy lyf /
Yet prechestow / and seyst and hateful wyf
Yrekened is / for oon of thise meschances
Been ther none othere resemblances
Line 368
That ye may likne / youre parables to [folio 71a]
But if/ a sely wyf / be oon of tho
¶ Thou liknest wommenes loue to helle [¶ Amor illius inferno & arenti terre & incendio comparata ‖ Vnde illud & cetera]
To bareyne lond / ther water may nat dwelle
Line 372
¶ Thou liknest it also / to wilde fyr [¶ Infernus & amor mulieris & terra que non saciatur aqua & ignis non dicent satis & cetera]
The moore it brenneth / the moore it hath desir
To consumen euery thyng þat brent wole be
Thou seyst . right as wormes shendeth a tree
Line 376
Right so a wyf/ destroyeth hire housbond [¶ Sicut in ligno vermis ita perdet virum suum vxor]
This knowe they / that been to wyues bonde [¶ Nemo melius scire potest / quid sit vxor vel mulier / nisi ille qui passus est/]
LOrdynges / right thus / as ye haue vnderstonde
Baar I stifly / myne olde housbondes on honde
Line 380
That thus they seyden / in hir dronkenesse
And al was fals / but that I took witnesse
On Ianekyn / and on my Nece also
O lord / the peyne I dide hem / and the wo
Line 384
