Eat my shorts, blowhole. The General Prologue
Whan that aprill with his shoures soote 1
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, 2
And bathed every veyne in swich licour 3
Of which vertu engendred is the flour; 4
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth 5
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth 6
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne 7
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne, 8
And smale foweles maken melodye, 9
That slepen al the nyght with open ye 10
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages); 11
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, 12
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, 13
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; 14
And specially from every shires ende 15
Of engelond to caunterbury they wende, 16
The hooly blisful martir for to seke, 17
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. 18
Bifil that in that seson on a day, 19
In southwerk at the tabard as I lay 20
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage 21
To caunterbury with ful devout corage, 22
At nyght was come into that hostelrye 23
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye, 24
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle 25
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle, 26
That toward caunterbury wolden ryde. 27
The chambres and the stables weren wyde, 28
And wel we weren esed atte beste. 29
And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste, 30
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon 31
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon, 32
And made forward erly for to ryse, 33
To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse. 34
But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space, 35
Er that I ferther in this tale pace, 36
Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun 37
To telle yow al the condicioun 38
Of ech of hem, so as it semed me, 39
And whiche they weren, and of what degree, 40
And eek in what array that they were inne; 41
And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne. 42
A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man, 43
That fro the tyme that he first bigan 44
To riden out, he loved chivalrie, 45
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie. 46
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, 47
And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre, 48
As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse, 49
And evere honoured for his worthynesse. 50
At Alisaundre he was whan it was wonne. 51
Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne 52
Aboven alle nacions in pruce; 53
In lettow hadde he reysed and in ruce, 54
No cristen man so ofte of his degree. 55
In gernade at the seege eek hadde he be 56
Of algezir, and riden in belmarye. 57
At lyeys was he and at satalye, 58
Whan they were wonne; and in the grete see 59
At many a noble armee hadde he be. 60
At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene, 61
And foughten for oure feith at tramyssene 62
In lystes thries, and ay slayn his foo. 63
This ilke worthy knyght hadde been also 64
Somtyme with the lord of palatye 65
Agayn another hethen in turkye.