Pars + 

Quinta + 

Among all this, after his wick’ uságe, + 

The marquis, yet his wife to temptë more + 

To the uttermost proof of her coráge, + 

Fully to have experience and lore + 

If that she were as steadfast as before, + 

He on a day, in open audience, + 

Full boisterously said her this senténce: + 

“Certes, Griseld’, I had enough pleasánce + 

To have you to my wife, for your goodness, + 

And for your truth, and for your obeisánce, + 

Not for your lineage, nor for your richéss; + 

But now know I, in very soothfastness, + 

That in great lordship, if I well advise, + 

There is great servitude in sundry wise. + 

“I may not do as every ploughman may: + 

My people me constraineth for to take + 

Another wife, and cryeth day by day; + 

And eke the Popë, rancour for to slake, + 

Consenteth it, that dare I undertake: + 

And truëly, thus much I will you say, + 

My newë wife is coming by the way. + 

“Be strong of heart, and void anon her place; + 

And thilkë dower that ye brought to me, + 

Take it again, I grant it of my grace. + 

Returnë to your father’s house,” quoth he; + 

“No man may always have prosperity; + 

With even heart I rede you to endure + 

The stroke of fortune or of áventúre.” + 

And she again answér’d in patience: + 

“My Lord,” quoth she, “I know, and knew alway, + 

How that betwixtë your magnificence + 

And my povert’ no wight nor can nor may + 

Make comparison, it is no nay; + 

I held me never digne in no mannére + 

To be your wife, nor yet your chamberére. + 

“And in this house, where ye me lady made, + 

(The highë God take I for my witness, + 

And all so wisly he my soulë glade), + 

I never held me lady nor mistress, + 

But humble servant to your worthiness, + 

And ever shall, while that my life may dure, + 

Aboven every worldly creatúre. + 

“That ye so long, of your benignity, + 

Have holden me in honour and nobley, + 

Where as I was not worthy for to be, + 

That thank I God and you, to whom I pray + 

Foryield it you; there is no more to say: + 

Unto my father gladly will I wend, + 

And with him dwell, unto my lifë’s end, + 

“Where I was foster’d as a child full small, + 

Till I be dead my life there will I lead, + 

A widow clean in body, heart, and all. + 

For since I gave to you my maidenhead, + 

And am your truë wife, it is no dread, + 

God shieldë such a lordë’s wife to take + 

Another man to husband or to make. + 

“And of your newë wife, God of his grace + 

So grant you weal and all prosperity: + 

For I will gladly yield to her my place, + 

In which that I was blissful wont to be. + 

For since it liketh you, my Lord,” quoth she, + 

“That whilom weren all mine heartë’s rest, + 

That I shall go, I will go when you lest. + 

“But whereas ye me proffer such dowaire + 

As I first brought, it is well in my mind, + 

It was my wretched clothës, nothing fair, + 

The which to me were hard now for to find. + 

O goodë God! how gentle and how kind + 

Ye seemed by your speech and your viságe, + 

The day that maked was our marriáge! + 

“But sooth is said⁠—algate I find it true, + 

For in effect it proved is on me⁠— + 

Love is not old as when that it is new. + 

But certes, Lord, for no adversity, + 

To dien in this case, it shall not be + 

That e’er in word or work I shall repent + 

That I you gave mine heart in whole intent. + 

“My Lord, ye know that in my father’s place + 

Ye did me strip out of my poorë weed, + 

And richëly ye clad me of your grace; + 

To you brought I nought ellës, out of dread, + 

But faith, and nakedness, and maidenhead; + 

And here again your clothing I restore, + 

And eke your wedding ring for evermore. + 

“The remnant of your jewels ready be + 

Within your chamber, I dare safely sayn: + 

Naked out of my father’s house,” quoth she, + 

“I came, and naked I must turn again. + 

All your pleasance would I follow fain: + 

But yet I hope it be not your intent + 

That smockless I out of your palace went. + 

“Ye could not do so dishonést a thing, + 

That thilkë womb, in which your children lay, + 

Shouldë before the people, in my walking, + 

Be seen all bare: and therefore I you pray, + 

Let me not like a worm go by the way: + 

Remember you, mine owen Lord so dear, + 

I was your wife, though I unworthy were. + 

“Wherefore, in guerdon of my maidenhead, + 

Which that I brought and not again I bear, + 

As vouchësafe to give me to my meed + 

But such a smock as I was wont to wear, + 

That I therewith may wrie the womb of her + 

That was your wife: and here I take my leave + 

Of you, mine owen Lord, lest I you grieve.” + 

“The smock,” quoth he, “that thou hast on thy back, + 

Let it be still, and bear it forth with thee.” + 

But well unnethës thilkë word he spake, + 

But went his way for ruth and for pitý. + 

Before the folk herselfë stripped she, + 

And in her smock, with foot and head all bare, + 

Toward her father’s house forth is she fare. + 

The folk her follow’d weeping on her way, + 

And fortune aye they cursed as they gon: + 

But she from weeping kept her eyen drey, + 

Nor in this timë wordë spake she none. + 

Her father, that this tiding heard anon, + 

Cursed the day and timë, that natúre + 

Shope him to be a living creatúre. + 

For, out of doubt, this oldë poorë man + 

Was ever in suspéct of her marriáge: + 

For ever deem’d he, since it first began, + 

That when the lord fulfill’d had his coráge, + 

He wouldë think it were a disparáge + 

To his estate, so low for to alight, + 

And voidë her as soon as e’er he might. + 

Against his daughter hastily went he + 

(For he by noise of folk knew her coming), + 

And with her oldë coat, as it might be, + 

He cover’d her, full sorrowfully weepíng: + 

But on her body might he it not bring, + 

For rudë was the cloth, and more of age + 

By dayës fele than at her marriáge. + 

Thus with her father for a certain space + 

Dwelled this flow’r of wifely patience, + 

That neither by her words nor by her face, + 

Before the folk nor eke in their absence, + 

Ne shewed she that her was done offence, + 

Nor of her high estate no rémembránce + 

Ne haddë she, as by her countenance. + 

No wonder is, for in her great estate + 

Her ghost was ever in plein humility; + 

No tender mouth, no heartë delicate, + 

No pomp, and no semblánt of royalty; + 

But full of patient benignity, + 

Discreet and pridëless, aye honouráble, + 

And to her husband ever meek and stable. + 

Men speak of Job, and most for his humbléss, + 

As clerkës, when them list, can well indite, + 

Namely of men; but, as in soothfastness, + 

Though clerkës praisë women but a lite, + 

There can no man in humbless him acquite + 

As women can, nor can be half so true + 

As women be, but it be fall of new. + 