Part 32 (1/2)

”The devil,” quoth she, ”so fetch him ere he dey,* *die And pan and all, but* he will him repent.” *unless ”Nay, olde stoat,* that is not mine intent,” *polecat Quoth this Sompnour, ”for to repente me For any thing that I have had of thee; I would I had thy smock and every cloth.”

”Now, brother,” quoth the devil, ”be not wroth; Thy body and this pan be mine by right.

Thou shalt with me to h.e.l.le yet tonight, Where thou shalt knowen of our privity* *secrets More than a master of divinity.”

And with that word the foule fiend him hent.* *seized Body and soul, he with the devil went, Where as the Sompnours have their heritage; And G.o.d, that maked after his image Mankinde, save and guide us all and some, And let this Sompnour a good man become.

Lordings, I could have told you (quoth this Frere), Had I had leisure for this Sompnour here, After the text of Christ, and Paul, and John, And of our other doctors many a one, Such paines, that your heartes might agrise,* *be horrified Albeit so, that no tongue may devise,* -- *relate Though that I might a thousand winters tell, -- The pains of thilke* cursed house of h.e.l.l *that But for to keep us from that cursed place Wake we, and pray we Jesus, of his grace, So keep us from the tempter, Satanas.

Hearken this word, beware as in this case.

The lion sits *in his await* alway *on the watch* <16> To slay the innocent, if that he may.

Disposen aye your heartes to withstond The fiend that would you make thrall and bond; He may not tempte you over your might, For Christ will be your champion and your knight; And pray, that this our Sompnour him repent Of his misdeeds ere that the fiend him hent.* *seize

Notes to the Friar's Tale

1. Small t.i.thers: people who did not pay their full t.i.thes. Mr Wright remarks that ”the sermons of the friars in the fourteenth century were most frequently designed to impress the ahsolute duty of paying full t.i.thes and offerings”.

2. There might astert them no pecunial pain: they got off with no mere pecuniary punishment. (Transcriber's note: ”Astert”

means ”escape”. An alternative reading of this line is ”there might astert him no pecunial pain” i.e. no fine ever escaped him (the archdeacon))

3. A dog for the bow: a dog attending a huntsman with bow and arrow.

4. Ribibe: the name of a musical instrument; applied to an old woman because of the shrillness of her voice.

5. De par dieux: by the G.o.ds.

6. See note 12 to the Knight's Tale.

7. Wariangles: butcher-birds; which are very noisy and ravenous, and tear in pieces the birds on which they prey; the thorn on which they do this was said to become poisonous.

8. Medieval legends located h.e.l.l in the North.

9. The Pythoness: the witch, or woman, possesed with a prophesying spirit; from the Greek, ”Pythia.” Chaucer of course refers to the raising of Samuel's spirit by the witch of Endor.

10. Dante and Virgil were both poets who had in fancy visited h.e.l.l.

11. Tholed: suffered, endured; ”thole” is still used in Scotland in the same sense.

12. Capels: horses. See note 14 to the Reeve's Tale.

13. Liart: grey; elsewhere applied by Chaucer to the hairs of an old man. So Burns, in the ”Cotter's Sat.u.r.day Night,” speaks of the gray temples of ”the sire” -- ”His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare.”

14. Rebeck: a kind of fiddle; used like ”ribibe,” as a nickname for a shrill old scold.

15. Trot; a contemptuous term for an old woman who has trotted about much, or who moves with quick short steps.

16. In his await: on the watch; French, ”aux aguets.”

THE SOMPNOUR'S TALE.

THE PROLOGUE.

The Sompnour in his stirrups high he stood, Upon this Friar his hearte was so wood,* *furious That like an aspen leaf he quoke* for ire: *quaked, trembled ”Lordings,” quoth he, ”but one thing I desire; I you beseech, that of your courtesy, Since ye have heard this false Friar lie, As suffer me I may my tale tell This Friar boasteth that he knoweth h.e.l.l, And, G.o.d it wot, that is but little wonder, Friars and fiends be but little asunder.

For, pardie, ye have often time heard tell, How that a friar ravish'd was to h.e.l.l In spirit ones by a visioun, And, as an angel led him up and down, To shew him all the paines that there were, In all the place saw he not a frere; Of other folk he saw enough in woe.

Unto the angel spake the friar tho;* *then 'Now, Sir,' quoth he, 'have friars such a grace, That none of them shall come into this place?'