Canterbury Tales: Priest of the Nuns

" Oh ! (said the Chevalier,) my good sire, no more of this;
what has said is enough, for sure,
and much more: because a little sadness
3960is good enough for a lot of people, I think.
I say it as for me, there is great misaise,
when a man has been very wealthy and well-off,
to learn of its sudden fall, alas!
and the opposite is joy and drunkenness,
when a man has been in poor condition,
and rises and becomes fortunate,
and abide in prosperity;
such thing is exhilarating, it seems to me,
and such and such a thing would be good to tell. "
3970"Certainly, (says our host,) by the bell of Saint-Paul,
you say very right; this monk is disgusting high;
he said like "fortune covered with a cloud"
I don't really know what, and he also spoke of "Tragedy",
you just heard it, and of course! this is no cure
to lament and complain
of what is done, and then it's painful thing,
as you said, to hear about misfortune.
Sir Monk, more of this, God bless you!
Your tale bores the whole company;
3980such stories are not worth a butterfly;
for there is neither joyfulness nor game in it.
So, Sir Monk, or Dom Pierre of your name,
cordially please, say something else,
for, of course, was it not for the ringing of your bells,
which hang from your bridle on each side,
by the God of heaven, who died for all of us,

long ago would I have fallen down, of sleep,
however deep the quagmire would have been;
then your tale would have been told all in vain;
3990because, for certain, as the clerics say,
"When a man cannot have an audience,
it is of no use to him to say his sentence; "
and I know he must trust me,
the one who wants to tell his story.
Sir, tell us hunting, please. "
“Nay, (said the Monk,) I don't have the heart to be happy:
than another tale now, as I told. "
Then spoke our host, with harsh and bold words,
and addressed himself immediately to the priest of Nonnains:
4000"Approach, Priest, come on, sir Jean,
tell us such and such a thing that makes our hearts happy;
be a fellow, even though you ride a nag.
Don't shoes that your beast is ugly and thin;
if it serves you, only worry about a bean;
watch that your heart is always happy. "
"Yes-da, sir," he said 😉 oui-da, our host, by my faith!
if not gay, for sure i want to be blamed. "
And all of a sudden his tale began
and tells us as follows, to each and every one,
4010this gentle Priest, this good man, Messire Jean.

A poor widow, somewhat advanced in years,
once lived in a narrow cottage,

against a small wood, in a valley.
This widow, whose story I tell you,
since the day she lost her man,
in patience led very simple life,
for meager was his livestock and his income.
By economy, with what God had granted him,
she provided for his needs, and also for his two daughters.
4020Three big sows had she, no more,
three cows, and also a sheep called Mariette;
all black with soot was his room, and also his room,
where she ate many poor meals.
Spicy sauce she hardly needed.
No delicate piece passed through his throat;
his food was in keeping with his hut.
Fullness never made her sick;
a moderate diet was his medicine,
and exercise, and a happy heart.
4030The gout did not prevent her from dancing,
nor apoplexy broke his head;
she drank no wine, neither white nor red;
his table was mainly served in white and black,
milk and brown bread, which never lacked,
grilled bacon, and sometimes an egg or two,
because she was almost a milkman by trade.
She had a yard, fenced all around
stakes and surrounded by a dry ditch,
4040in which she had a rooster named Chanteclair;
in all the land of Coquelicon there was no equal.
Her voice was happier than the happy organs
who, on Mass days, snore in the church;
much more punctual was his song on his perch
than a clock or an abbey chime.
By nature he knew every ascent
of the equinoctial, in this hamlet;
for when the shadow had risen fifteen degrees,
he sang, so well that one could not do better.
Its crest was redder than the fine coral,
4050and crenellated, like a castel wall.

Its beak was black, and shone like jet;
as azure were its paws and its spurs;
her nails whiter than the fleur-de-lis,
and like burnished gold, its plumage.
This nice rooster had in its direction
seven hens, to have all their pleasure,
who were his sisters and his loves,
and wonderfully similar to him in color.
The one whose throat shone in the most beautiful colors
4060had name beautiful damoiselle Pertelote.
Courteous was, wise and easygoing
and good company, and so beautifully behaved,
since the day she was a week of age,
that she really had the heart
Chanteclair, bound by all the fibers;
he loved her so much that he was very happy with it.
It was joy to hear them sing,
when the gay sun began to break,
in harmony: My friend in the distance is gone.
4070Because at that time, what I heard said,
birds and animals spoke and sang.
    But it happened that one morning at dawn,
like Chanteclair, among all his women,
stood on his perch (which was in the room),
and near him the beautiful Pertelote,
Chanteclair began to moan in her throat,
like a man who in dreams suffers cruel pain,
and when Pertelote heard him lament thus,
she was astonished and said: "My sweet heart,
4080what are you in pain, to moan this way?
What a sleeper you are doing, fi, what a shame! "
And he answered, and said thus: "Madam,
please don't take it the wrong way;
by God, I dreamed that I was in such bad luck,
just now that my heart is still quite afraid of it.
Now please God, he said, turn my dream well,
and keep my body out of my prison!

I dreamed that I was going from that, from there
in our yard, when I saw a beast
4090who was like a dog and would have liked to run
on my body, and wanted to kill me.
Its color was between yellow and red;
and his tail and both ears had the tip
black, different from the rest of the hair;
his muzzle was slender, with two shining eyes.
From his appearance again I almost die of fear.
This is what probably caused my moan. "
    "Go back," she cried, "disregard you, heartless!"
Alas! she said; for, by the God above,
4100or have you lost my heart and all my love;
I couldn't love a coward, by my faith.
Because, of course, no matter what any women say,
we all want, if we can,
to have a bold, wise, generous husband,
and secret, and not miserable, nor fool,
nor as he is afraid of every tool,
nor boastful either, by the God above!
How were you not ashamed to tell your love
that nothing could have scared you?
4110Have you not a man's heart and a beard?
Alas! and can you be afraid of a dream?
There is, God knows, nothing but vanity in dreams.
Dreams are born of fullness,
and often vapors, and complexions,
when the moods are too abundant in the body.
Certainly, this dream, that you had last night,
comes from the great superfluity
of your red anger, of course,
that scares people, in their dreams,
4120of arrows, and fire with red flames,
great beasts that want to bite them,
of fights, and of ferocious animals large and small;
just like the mood of melancholy
makes many man cry out in his sleep,

for fear of black bears, or black bulls,
or black devils, who want to take them.
Other moods could I also speak
which make many man sorrow in his sleep;
but i want to move as fast as i can.
4130    See Cato, who was such a wise man,
did he not say: don't pay attention to dreams?
Now that, sir, she said, when we fly low on the pole,
for god's sake, please take a laxative;
at the risk of my soul and my life,
I advise you for the best, without lying:
it takes anger and melancholy together
purge you; and so that you do not delay,
although in this hamlet there is no apothecary,
I will teach you the herbs myself
4140which will be for your health and for your good;
and in our yard will I find these herbs
which have property, by nature,
to purge you from below, and also from above.
Remember this, for God's sake:
you are angry with complexions.
Keep that the sun, as it ascends,
don't find yourself full of hot moods;
because if he does, I dare to bet a farthing
that you will have third fever,
4150or hot badly, that can be your death.
For a day or two you have to take digestives
of worms, before taking your laxatives:
of the laurel, of the knapweed, of the earth smoke,
or the hellebore, which grows here,
or purge, or buckthorn berries,
or the ground ivy from our yard, which is so pleasant to see;
peck them just as they grow, and swallow them.
Be good, my husband, by the race of your father!
Do not be afraid of dreams; I cannot tell you more. "
4160    "Madame," he said, "thank you very much for your knowledge.
But nevertheless, touching Dom Cato,

who has such a great reputation for wisdom,
although he advises us not to fear dreams,
by God, we can read the old books
many authors, more authoritative
what Cato never had, by my faith!
who say the opposite of this sentence,
and have found by experience
4170both joys and tribulations
that men endure in this present life.
There is no need to discuss this;
the facts themselves prove it.
    One of the greatest authors let's read
said this: that once two companions left
on a pilgrimage, in very good harmony;
and it happened that they entered a city,
where was such a congregation
of people, and such a shortage of housing,
4180that they did not even find a hut
where they could both stay.
So they last, out of necessity
for this night, to be out of company;
and each of them goes to a hostel
and takes his home as is.
One of them lodged in a stable,
at the end of a courtyard, with plow oxen;
the other stayed well enough
as luck or fortune led,
4190who governs us all by common law.
    Now it happened that long before daybreak
the latter dreamed in his bed, where he was lying,
that his companion began to call him,
and said to him: “Alas! because in an ox stable,
where am I lying, I will be killed tonight.
Now help me, dear brother, before I die;
in all haste, come to me, ”he said.
Our man awoke with a start from fear;
but when he was quite awake from sleep,

4200he turned round, and was not careful;
it seemed to him that his dream was only vanity.
Twice in his sleep he had the same dream.
And a third time again his friend
came, it seemed to him, and said: “Ores suis slain;
see my bloody wounds, wide and deep!
Get up early tomorrow morning
and at the western city gate, he said,
a chariot full of manure will you see,
in which my body is hidden, very secretly;
4210stop this chariot, boldly.
It was my gold that caused my murder, to be honest. "
And he told her in every way how was bruised,
with a very pitiful face, quite pale in color.
And believe well that he found his dream all true,
for in the morning, as soon as it is daylight,
he took the road to the inn where his friend was,
and when he came to the ox stable,
he began to call his companion.
The hotel keeper answered him immediately,
4220and said: “Sir, your companion is gone;
at daybreak he left the city. ".
Our man began to get suspicious,
remembering the dream he had dreamed,
and goes - no longer wanted to delay -
towards the western city gate, and found
a chariot of manure, as if to smoke the earth,
which was arranged in the same way
what did the dead man describe;
and with a bold heart, begins to cry
4230revenge and justice for this felony: -
"My friend was bruised that very night,
and he lies in this chariot lying open mouth.
I appeal to the ministers, he said,
who have a duty to keep and govern this city.
Haro! alas! here lies my bruised companion! "
What should I add to this tale?
The people rushed out and threw the chariot to the ground,
and emmi the manure they found
the dead man, who had just been killed.

4240    O blessed Lord, who art so true and so just,
how you always reveal the murder!
Murder cannot be hidden, we see it every day.
The murder is so heinous and so abominable
to God, who is so just and reasonable,
that he does not want to leave him unpunished;
Should we wait a year, or two, or three,
murder will break out, that's my conclusion.
And all of a sudden the ministers of this city
took the carter and put him so well in hell,
4250and the hotelier too have so badly bothered
that they have immediately confessed their villainy,
and that they were hanged by the collar.
    Here can we see that dreams are to be feared,
and certainly, in the same book I read,
right in the next chapter after this
(if I lie, God takes away my joy and happiness!)
of two men who would have liked to cross the sea,
for some cause going to distant land,
if the wind hadn't been contrary,
4260and kept them in a city,
which rose very pleasantly near a harbor.
But one day, towards evening,
the wind began to change, and blew as they wished.
Cheerful and happy, they went to bed,
and made plans to leave early in the morning;
but a great wonder happened to one of these men.
This one, as he lay sleeping,
dreamed a strange dream, towards morning;
it seemed to him that a man was standing next to his bed,
4270and ordered him to stay,
and said to him: "If you leave this morning,
you will be drowned; my point is at the end. "
He awoke and told his companion his dream,
and begged him to delay his journey;
for that day, begged him to stay.
His companion, who was lying next to his bed,
laughed, and he laughed loudly.
"No dream," he said, "could frighten my heart so much,
4280that I'm slow to do my business.

I care about your reveries more than a straw,
for dreams are only vanities and nonsense.
We dream every day of owls and monkeys,
and then many more labyrinths;
we dream of things that never have been, and never will be.
But since I see that you want to stay here,
and thus waste your time in laziness,
God knows I regret it; so, hello!
And so he took his leave and went on his way.
But before his ship had sailed halfway,
4290do not know how, or what bad luck happened to him,
but by chance the hull of the nave opened,
and nave and people went to the bottom of the water,
in view of other naves, in their vicinity,
who were sailing with them at the same time.
So, beautiful Pertelote so dear,
from such ancient examples can you learn,
what should we not despise
the dreams ; because I'm telling you, no doubt,
many dreams are badly to be feared.
4300    See, I read in the life of St Kenelm,
who was the son of Kenulph, the noble king
from the land of Mercia, that Kenelm had a dream.
A little before that was bruised, one day,
he saw his murder in a vision.
His nurse explained to him, in every way,
this dream, and told him to be careful
for fear of betrayal; but he was only seven years old,
and so little account could he do
of a dream, so holy was his heart.
4310By God, I would rather rather than have a shirt,
that you had read this legend, as I did.
Dame Pertelote, I tell you really,
Macrobe, who wrote the vision,
in Africa, the famous Scipio,
affirms the dreams, and says that they are
warnings of things men afterwards will see.
    And as well, look, please,

in the Old Testament, touching Daniel,
if he held dreams for vanity.
4320Also read the story of Joseph, and you will see
what dreams are sometimes (I'm not saying all)
warnings of things that will happen afterwards.
See the king of Egypt, Dom Pharaoh,
and also his baker and his bottler,
if they haven't felt the effects of dreams.
Who will search in the Acts of various kingdoms,
will read many wonderful things about dreams.
    See Cresus, who was king of lydia,
Did he not dream that he was perched on a tree,
4330which meant he would be hanged?
See Andromache, wife of Hector,
the day Hector was to lose his life,
she dreamed the night before
that Hector's life was going to be lost,
if that day he marched to battle;
she warns him, but no word is valid;
he goes into battle nonetheless,
and by Achilles incontinent is slain.
But this tale takes way too long to tell,
4340and so it is almost daylight, I cannot linger.
Anyway, I say in conclusion,
this vision will happen to me
adversity; and I say more
that do not make any case of laxatives,
because they are poisonous, of course;
I challenge them, I don't like them crumb.
    Now let us speak of joyfulness, and we are silent about all that;
Madame Pertelote, on my happiness!
there is one thing that God has given me generously,
4350because when I see the beauty of your face,
and the scarlet red that surrounds your eyes,
all my fear is quickly gone;
because, as sure as In principio,

Mulier is hominis confusio ;
madam, the meaning of this Latin is:
woman is the joy of man and all his happiness;
because when I feel the night your soft side,
although it cannot protrude on you,
for what our perch is too narrow, alas!
4360I am so full of joy and soula,
that I challenge and visions and dreams. "
And on it flew down from the perch,
for it was day, and also all his hens;
and with a chuckle began to call them,
for had found a grain lying in the yard.
Royal was, and had no more fear;
Twenty times trussed the feathers to Pertelote,
and twenty times the chaucha, before it was prime.
He looked like a fierce lion;
4370and from that, from there went, mounted on its lugs,
because he did not deign to put his feet on the ground.
He chuckles, when he finds a grain,
and then to him run all his women.
So royal, like a prince in his palace,
I left this Chanleclair to its pasture:
then afterwards will tell you his adventure.
    When the month, in which the world began,
which is called Mars, where God first created man,
was over, and that were also passed,
4380since the beginning of March, thirty-two days,
it happened that Chanleclair, in all her pride,
his seven wives walking by his side,
looked up to the shining sun,
who in the sign of Taurus had traveled
twenty-one degrees, and a little more;
and knew, by nature, and by no other science,
that he was prime, and sang in a cheerful voice.
"The sun, he said, has risen in the sky
forty-one degrees, and more, of course.
4390Madame Pertelote, joy of my life,

listen to these happy birds, as they sing,
and see the fresh flowers, as they grow;
my heart is full of joy and soul. "
But suddenly he had a lamentable situation;
for always the other end of joy is pain.
God knows that joy in this world does not last;
and a rhetorician, who knows how to compose,
in a chronicle surely of this could write
as a sovereignly notable fact.
4400Now, every wise man, let him give ear;
this story is also true, I prove it,
what is Lancelot du Lac's book,
that women hold in such great reverence.
So I am going to come back to my point.
    A cunning fox, full of treacherous iniquity,
who had lived in the grove for three years,
having preconceived his move in imagination,
that same night through the hedge entered
in the courtyard, where the beautiful Chanteclair
4410felt like going for a walk with his wives;
and in a square of vegetables he was silent,
until past the middle of the day,
waiting for the moment to fall on Chanteclair,
as all these homicides gladly do
who are on the lookout to hurt people.
O false murderer, who lurks in your hiding t
New Iscariot, new Ganelon!
Fake concealer, oh Greek Otherwise,
who drove Troy to such a complete loss!
4420O Chanteclair, cursed be the morning
where from your perch flew in this yard!
You were well warned by your dream
how perilous this day was for you.
But what God foresaw necessarily happens,
according to the opinion of certain clerics.
He is my witness who is a perfect clerk,
that there is a great altercation in the School
on this matter, and great dispute,
and was, between one hundred thousand men.
4430But I could not pass the thing through the blutoir,

like Saint Doctor Augustine,
or Boethius, or Bishop Bradwardin,
to know if of God the august prescience
force me to do one thing
(necessarily, of simple necessity, I mean);
or on the contrary, if free choice is granted to me
to do the same thing, or not to do it,
although God intended it before it was made;
or if his foreknowledge does not oblige me,
4440unless there is a conditional need.
But I don't want to deal with such a matter;
my tale is of a rooster, as you can hear it,
who unfortunately took advice from his wife,
to go out in the yard, in the morning
one had had this dream, that has told you;
advice from women is often fatal;
first woman's advice hurt us,
and sent Adam out of Paradise,
where was so cheerful, and very comfortable. -
4450But, not knowing who it might displease
if a woman's advice I blamed,
I ignore it, because this I said in play.
Read the authors, where they deal with such matter,
and what they say about women will learn.
These are the words of the rooster, not mine;
I cannot think badly of any woman.
In a beautiful place in the sand, bathing there happily,
lies Pertelote, and all her sisters near her,
against the sun; and the noble Chanteclair
4460sang more happily than a siren in the sea;
because Physiologus said, without a doubt,
that they sing beautifully and joyfully.
Now it happened that, as he cast his eyes,
among the grass, on a butterfly,
he discovered this fox lying on the ground.
When did not want to sing,
but shouted incontinently, "cok cok", and flinched,

like a frightened man in his heart.
Because naturally stupid wants to flee
4470far from her enemy, if she finds out,
although his eyes had never seen it.
    Chanteclair, when he saw her,
would have liked to flee, but the fox incontinent
said to him: "Nice sire, alas!" Where do you want to go ?
Are you afraid of me who am your friend?
Now, of course, I would be worse than the devil
if you wanted bad or meanness.
I have not come to listen to your advice;
but really, the cause of my coming
4480is only to hear you sing,
because you really have such a pretty voice
than an angel who is in heaven;
with that you have more feeling in music
than Boethius had, or anyone who could sing.
Lord your father (God have his soul!)
and also your mother, in their courtesy,
came to my house, to my great ease;
and certainly, sir, I would like to please you.
As for singing, I wanna tell you
4490(God deprive me of both my eyes, if I'm lying!)
that, for you, oncques did I yes man sing
as your father used to do in the morning;
certainly it was with all his heart that he sang
and, to make her voice louder,
worked so well that his two eyes
was closing, he was screaming so loudly,
and still stood on the tip of the spurs,
and craned her long, slender neck.
And also was such caution,
4500that there was no man in any country,
who passed it in song or in wisdom.
I read in Dom Brunel l'Ane,
among other worms, how a rooster,
for what the son of a priest had struck him
on the paw, when he was young and nicet,

caused the priest to lose his profit.
But, for certain, there is no comparison
between wisdom and prudence
of your father, and the subtlety of this rooster.
4510Now sing, sir, out of holy charity!
Show if you can match your father. "
Lightning song began to flap its wings,
like a man who could not suspect treachery,
so delighted was he at this flattery.
    Alas! princes, many false flatterers
is in your classes, and many praise,
which you like much more, by my faith,
than the one who tells you the truth.
Read Ecclesiastes on flattery;
4520beware, princes, against their treason!
    Chanteclair rose to her feet,
craning my neck, and keeping my eyes closed,
and began to sing loudly, this time.
Dom Roussel the fox was startled immediately,
and by the gargamelle seizes Chanteclair,
and on his back to the wood carried him,
for then there was no man who saw him.
O destiny, what cannot be avoided!
Alas! May Chanteclair have flown from her perch!
4530Alas! that his wife did not care about dreams!
And it was on a Friday that all this bad luck happened.
O Venus, who art goddess,
since your servant was this Chanteclair,
and that to serve you he put all his power,
more for deduced than for multiplying the world,
why did you suffer for him to die on your day ?
O Geoffroy, dear sovereign master,
who when your noble king Richard was slain
with an arrow, made his death so grievous,
4540why don't I have your words and your knowledge,
to eat on Friday, as you knew how to do?

(because a Friday, for sure, was it slain),
then would i all show how i could complain
the fear of Chanteclair, and her torment.
    Certainly, such a complaint or lamentation
were not made by the ladies, - when Ilion
was conquered, and Pyrrhus, sword drawn,
had taken King Priam by the beard,
and had it slain (the Aeneid tells us), -
4550as did all the hens in the enclosure,
when they saw Chanteclair's fate.
But sovereignly proclaimed Dame Pertelote,
much higher than Hasdrubal's wife,
when her husband lost his life,
and that the Romans had burned Carthage ;
she was so full of torment and rage,
that all willingly protrude into the fire,
and burned himself without his heart failing.
O dolentes gelines, all so you cried,
4560like, when Nero burned down the city
of Rome, cried the senators' wives,
for what their husbands had lost their lives;
not guilty, a Nero slain.
Now will I come back to my tale: -
    The poor widow, and also her two daughters,
heard these hens cry out and mourn,
and out of them suddenly protruded,
and saw the fox run into the woods,
carrying the rooster on his back;
4570and shouted: "Here we go! haro! alas!
Ha, ha, the fox! And after him ran,
and also with sticks many other people;
our dog Colle, and Talbot, and Gerland ran,
and Marion, her distaff in hand;
cow and calf ran, and even pigs,
so frightened were they barking dogs
and the cries of men as well as women;
they were running so hard that they thought their hearts were breaking.
They were screaming like demons do in hell;
4580ducks to cry out as if we wanted to kill them;
geese to fly scared to the top of the trees;

out of the hive bees to come out;
so hideous was the noise, ah! blessed !
Certainly Jack Straw and his gang
we did not cry so piercing by half
when they wanted to kill some Flemish,
that were pushed that day after the fox.
They brought trumpets of brass and boxwood,
of horn, of bone, where breathed and giggled,
4590and from which came out clamors and howls;
one would have thought that the sky was going to fall.
Now, good people, please listen to the end.
    See how suddenly fortune returns
the hope and also the pride of his enemy!
This rooster, which was lying on the back of the fox,
despite all his fear, the fox addressed himself
and said: "Sir, if I were that of you,
I would tell them (true as God helps me!):
Get out of here, all you cocky peasants!
4600Male plague falls on you!
Ores have I arrived at the edge of this wood;
in spite of you, the rooster here will remain;
I will eat it, by my faith, immediately. "-
The fox replied, "By my faith, so shall be done." -
And as he said these words, all of a sudden
the rooster escaped from his mouth cheerfully,
and from the top of a tree flew incontinently,
and when the fox saw that he was gone:
“Alas! he said, O Chanteclair, alas!
4610I have caused you a pity, he said,
for what scared you
when you took, and carried away from the court;
but, sir, did not do it with a malicious design;
get off, and tell you what I wanted to do;
I will tell you the truth, true as God helps me! "
“Nay,” he said; I curse us both,
and first I curse myself, blood and bone,
if you cheat on me more than once.
You will no longer make me, by your flattery,

4620sing and close both eyes.
Because who closes his eyelids when he should see,
and this of his own free will, God never gives him prosperity! "
"Yes-da," said the fox, "and God gives this bad luck,
who jargons when should be silent. "
    See what happens to the reckless
and careless, and trusts in flattery.
And you, who take this tale for madness,
like a fox, a rooster and a jelly,
4630learn the moral of it, good people.
Because Saint Paul says, that all that is written
is written for our instruction, of course.
Take the grain, and leave the straw there.
    Now therefore, good God, if it is your will,
as Monsignor says, make us all righteous,
and leads us all to great bliss. Amen.

“Messire Priest of Nonnains,” said our host, immediately,
blessed be your breeches, and what they contain!
Here is a happy tale of Chanteclair.
4640But, by my faith, if you were of the century,
you would be a sturdy pothole.
Because, if you have desire as much as strength,
you would need gélines, I think,
to be sure, more than seven times seventeen.
See what muscles this gentle Priest has,
what a powerful collar, what a broad bosom!
Doesn't it look like he has hawk eyes?
No need to dye its color
Brazilian wood or grain from Portugal.
4650Now, sir, well come to you for your tale. "
    When our host, dear friend,
to another addressed, as you will hear.