As cruelly as the houndys kan,
Vp-on me echon they ran, [Tib folio 76a]
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And gan assaylle me mortally:
They berke, 1they bytë,1 [[1_1 om. St., they bete Tib.]] ryht felly,
And to me dydë ful gret wrong,
The gretë lemerys wer so strong.
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And haddë nat the floodys be,
That drowh ageyn in-to the See,
And ek Scilla (of whom I tolde,)
With hyr Eyen ffoul and Olde,
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Caste hyr look on me A-non,
And saydë that she mustë gon
Bakward, and hyr-sylff with-drawe
Wyth the flood and wyth the wawe;
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[Scylla or Conspiration.]
'But ffyrst,' quod she, 'ha thys in mynde,
A-nother tyme, yiff I the ffynde,
Trustë fully, I shal be
Bet avengyd vp-on the.'
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[The Pilgrim.]
And whan hyr houndys and she wer gon,
I leffte behynden al allon, [[Blank in MS. for an Illumination, given in Tib., of the Pilgrim lying on his little oval green Island in the sea, his bare knees, chest, and right arm showing thro' rents in his torn white robe.]] [folio 279a]
Al to-torn and rent with wondys
Thorgh bytyng off hyr cruel houndys,
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Wyth gret sorwe and passïoun,
In torment and affliccïoun;
And me remembryng in certeyn, [Tib folio 76b]
That yiff the floodys kome ageyn,
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She sholde, tencressë with my wo.
Kome ageyn hyr-sylff also;
Therfore, to fflen out off hyr syhte,
In the bestë wyse I myghte.
Line 21468
I dyde my labour and my cure,
In hope my syluen to assure,
Yiff I myhte, by hap or grace,
To drawë to som other place.
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