Section 4:
THE COOK'S TALE.
THE COOK'S TALE.
| THE PROLOGUE. |
| THE Cook of London, while the Reeve thus spake, |
| For joy he laugh'd and clapp'd him on the back: |
| "Aha!" quoth he, "for Christes passion, |
| This Miller had a sharp conclusion, |
| Upon this argument of herbergage.* *lodging |
| Well saide Solomon in his language, |
| Bring thou not every man into thine house, |
| For harbouring by night is perilous. |
| *Well ought a man avised for to be* *a man should take good heed* |
| Whom that he brought into his privity. |
| I pray to God to give me sorrow and care |
| If ever, since I highte* Hodge of Ware, *was called |
| Heard I a miller better *set a-work*; *handled |
| He had a jape* of malice in the derk. *trick |
| But God forbid that we should stinte* here, *stop |
| And therefore if ye will vouchsafe to hear |
| A tale of me, that am a poore man, |
| I will you tell as well as e'er I can |
| A little jape that fell in our city." |
| Our Host answer'd and said; "I grant it thee. |
| Roger, tell on; and look that it be good, |
| For many a pasty hast thou letten blood, |
| And many a Jack of Dover<1> hast thou sold, |
| That had been twice hot and twice cold. |
| Of many a pilgrim hast thou Christe's curse, |
| For of thy parsley yet fare they the worse. |
| That they have eaten in thy stubble goose: |
| For in thy shop doth many a fly go loose. |
| Now tell on, gentle Roger, by thy name, |
| But yet I pray thee be not *wroth for game*; *angry with my jesting* |
| A man may say full sooth in game and play." |
| "Thou sayst full sooth," quoth Roger, "by my fay; |
| But sooth play quad play,<2> as the Fleming saith, |
| And therefore, Harry Bailly, by thy faith, |
| Be thou not wroth, else we departe* here, *part company |
| Though that my tale be of an hostelere.* *innkeeper |
| But natheless, I will not tell it yet, |
| But ere we part, y-wis* thou shalt be quit."<3> *assuredly |
| And therewithal he laugh'd and made cheer,<4> |
| And told his tale, as ye shall after hear. |
| Notes to the Prologue to the Cook's Tale |
| 1. Jack of Dover: an article of cookery. (Transcriber's note: |
| suggested by some commentators to be a kind of pie, and by |
| others to be a fish) |
| 2. Sooth play quad play: true jest is no jest. |
| 3. It may be remembered that each pilgrim was bound to tell |
| two stories; one on the way to Canterbury, the other returning. |
| 4. Made cheer: French, "fit bonne mine;" put on a pleasant |
| countenance. |
| THE TALE. |
| A prentice whilom dwelt in our city, |
| And of a craft of victuallers was he: |
| Galliard* he was, as goldfinch in the shaw**, *lively **grove |
| Brown as a berry, a proper short fellaw: |
| With lockes black, combed full fetisly.* *daintily |
| And dance he could so well and jollily, |
| That he was called Perkin Revellour. |
| He was as full of love and paramour, |
| As is the honeycomb of honey sweet; |
| Well was the wenche that with him might meet. |
| At every bridal would he sing and hop; |
| He better lov'd the tavern than the shop. |
| For when there any riding was in Cheap,<1> |
| Out of the shoppe thither would he leap, |
| And, till that he had all the sight y-seen, |
| And danced well, he would not come again; |
| And gather'd him a meinie* of his sort, *company of fellows |
| To hop and sing, and make such disport: |
| And there they *sette steven* for to meet *made appointment* |
| To playen at the dice in such a street. |
| For in the towne was there no prentice |
| That fairer coulde cast a pair of dice |
| Than Perkin could; and thereto *he was free *he spent money liberally |
| Of his dispence, in place of privity.* where he would not be seen* |
| That found his master well in his chaffare,* *merchandise |
| For oftentime he found his box full bare. |
| For, soothely, a prentice revellour, |
| That haunteth dice, riot, and paramour, |
| His master shall it in his shop abie*, *suffer for |
| All* have he no part of the minstrelsy. *although |
| For theft and riot they be convertible, |
| All can they play on *gitern or ribible.* *guitar or rebeck* |
| Revel and truth, as in a low degree, |
| They be full wroth* all day, as men may see. *at variance |
| This jolly prentice with his master bode, |
| Till he was nigh out of his prenticehood, |
| All were he snubbed* both early and late, *rebuked |
| And sometimes led with revel to Newgate. |
| But at the last his master him bethought, |
| Upon a day when he his paper<2> sought, |
| Of a proverb, that saith this same word; |
| Better is rotten apple out of hoard, |
| Than that it should rot all the remenant: |
| So fares it by a riotous servant; |
| It is well lesse harm to let him pace*, *pass, go |
| Than he shend* all the servants in the place. *corrupt |
| Therefore his master gave him a quittance, |
| And bade him go, with sorrow and mischance. |
| And thus this jolly prentice had his leve*: *desire |
| Now let him riot all the night, or leave*. *refrain |
| And, for there is no thief without a louke,<3> |
| That helpeth him to wasten and to souk* *spend |
| Of that he bribe* can, or borrow may, *steal |
| Anon he sent his bed and his array |
| Unto a compere* of his owen sort, *comrade |
| That loved dice, and riot, and disport; |
| And had a wife, that held *for countenance* *for appearances* |
| A shop, and swived* for her sustenance. *prostituted herself |
 . . . . . . . <4> |
| Notes to the Cook's Tale |
| 1. Cheapside, where jousts were sometimes held, and which |
| was the great scene of city revels and processions. |
| 2. His paper: his certificate of completion of his apprenticeship. |
| 3. Louke: The precise meaning of the word is unknown, but it |
| is doubtless included in the cant term "pal". |
| 4. The Cook's Tale is unfinished in all the manuscripts; but in |
| some, of minor authority, the Cook is made to break off his |
| tale, because "it is so foul," and to tell the story of Gamelyn, on |
| which Shakespeare's "As You Like It" is founded. The story is |
| not Chaucer's, and is different in metre, and inferior in |
| composition to the Tales. It is supposed that Chaucer expunged |
| the Cook's Tale for the same reason that made him on his death- |
| bed lament that he had written so much "ribaldry." |
