The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - HTML preview

The Merchant's Tale

THE PROLOGUE.<l>

"Weeping and wailing, care and other sorrow,

I have enough, on even and on morrow,"

Quoth the Merchant, "and so have other mo',

That wedded be; I trow* that it be so;                         *believe

For well I wot it fareth so by me.

I have a wife, the worste that may be,

For though the fiend to her y-coupled were,

She would him overmatch, I dare well swear.

Why should I you rehearse in special

Her high malice? she is *a shrew at all.*                *thoroughly, in

There is a long and large difference                everything wicked*

Betwixt Griselda's greate patience,

And of my wife the passing cruelty.

Were I unbounden, all so may I the,*                            *thrive

I woulde never eft* come in the snare.                           *again

We wedded men live in sorrow and care;

Assay it whoso will, and he shall find

That I say sooth, by Saint Thomas of Ind,<2>

As for the more part; I say not all, --

God shielde* that it shoulde so befall.                         *forbid

Ah! good Sir Host, I have y-wedded be

These moneths two, and more not, pardie;

And yet I trow* that he that all his life                      *believe

Wifeless hath been, though that men would him rive*              *wound

Into the hearte, could in no mannere

Telle so much sorrow, as I you here

Could tellen of my wife's cursedness."*                    *wickedness

"Now," quoth our Host, "Merchant, so God you bless,

Since ye so muche knowen of that art,

Full heartily I pray you tell us part."

"Gladly," quoth he; "but of mine owen sore,

For sorry heart, I telle may no more."

THE TALE.<l>

Whilom there was dwelling in Lombardy

A worthy knight, that born was at Pavie,

In which he liv'd in great prosperity;

And forty years a wifeless man was he,

And follow'd aye his bodily delight

On women, where as was his appetite,

As do these fooles that be seculeres.<2>

And, when that he was passed sixty years,

Were it for holiness, or for dotage,

I cannot say, but such a great corage*                    *inclination

Hadde this knight to be a wedded man,

That day and night he did all that he can

To espy where that he might wedded be;

Praying our Lord to grante him, that he

Mighte once knowen of that blissful life

That is betwixt a husband and his wife,

And for to live under that holy bond

With which God firste man and woman bond.

"None other life," said he, "is worth a bean;

For wedlock is so easy, and so clean,

That in this world it is a paradise."

Thus said this olde knight, that was so wise.

And certainly, as sooth* as God is king,                          *true

To take a wife it is a glorious thing,

And namely* when a man is old and hoar,                     *especially

Then is a wife the fruit of his treasor;

Then should he take a young wife and a fair,

On which he might engender him an heir,

And lead his life in joy and in solace;*               *mirth, delight

Whereas these bachelors singen "Alas!"

When that they find any adversity

In love, which is but childish vanity.

And truely it sits* well to be so,                     *becomes, befits

That bachelors have often pain and woe:

On brittle ground they build, and brittleness

They finde when they *weene sickerness:*             *think that there

They live but as a bird or as a beast,                    is security*

In liberty, and under no arrest;*                      *check, control

Whereas a wedded man in his estate

Liveth a life blissful and ordinate, Under the yoke of marriage y-bound;

Well may his heart in joy and bliss abound.

For who can be so buxom* as a wife?                           *obedient

Who is so true, and eke so attentive

To keep* him, sick and whole, as is his make?**       *care for **mate

For weal or woe she will him not forsake:

She is not weary him to love and serve,

Though that he lie bedrid until he sterve.*                        *die

And yet some clerkes say it is not so;

Of which he, Theophrast, is one of tho:*                         *those

*What force* though Theophrast list for to lie?          *what matter*

"Take no wife," quoth he, <3> "for husbandry,*                 *thrift

As for to spare in household thy dispence;

A true servant doth more diligence

Thy good to keep, than doth thine owen wife,

For she will claim a half part all her life.

And if that thou be sick, so God me save,

Thy very friendes, or a true knave,*                          *servant

Will keep thee bet than she, that *waiteth aye        *ahways waits to

After thy good,* and hath done many a day."     inherit your property*

This sentence, and a hundred times worse,

Writeth this man, there God his bones curse.

But take no keep* of all such vanity,                           *notice

Defy* Theophrast, and hearken to me.                          *distrust

A wife is Godde's gifte verily;

All other manner giftes hardily,*                                *truly

As handes, rentes, pasture, or commune,*                  *common land

Or mebles,* all be giftes of fortune,                   *furniture <4>

That passen as a shadow on the wall:

But dread* thou not, if plainly speak I shall,                  *doubt

A wife will last, and in thine house endure,

Well longer than thee list, paraventure.*                     *perhaps

Marriage is a full great sacrament;

He which that hath no wife, I hold him shent;*                 *ruined

He liveth helpless, and all desolate

(I speak of folk *in secular estate*):                    *who are not

And hearken why, I say not this for nought, --           of the clergy*

That woman is for manne's help y-wrought.

The highe God, when he had Adam maked,

And saw him all alone belly naked,

God of his greate goodness saide then,

Let us now make a help unto this man

Like to himself; and then he made him Eve.

Here may ye see, and hereby may ye preve,*                      *prove

That a wife is man s help and his comfort,

His paradise terrestre a