The Canterbury Tales
contributor: Eric Lease Morgan (Infomotions, Inc.)
creator: Chaucer, Geoffrey
date: 0000-00-00
extent: 608461
format: text/plain
language: en
publisher: Wiretap Electronic Text Archive
rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/
source: canterbury.txt
subject: hir
subject: hym
subject: nat
subject: file
subject: public
subject: domain
subject: vertu
subject: engendred
subject: flour
subject: chaucer
subject: geoffrey
subject: canterbury
subject: tales
subject: english
subject: literature
type: text
local mirror: chaucer-canterbury-102.txt
concordance: http://infomotions.com/alex/cgi-bin/concordance.pl
plain html: chaucer-canterbury-102.htm
sort title: Canterbury Tales, The
full text: THE CANTERBURY TALES by GEOFFREY CHAUCER. This edition edited and digitized by Ted & Florence Daniel, NEW WAVE PUBLISHERS, 2103 N. LIBERTY ST., PORTLAND, OR 97217. Posted in July 1993. This file is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. THE CANTERBURY TALES by GEOFFREY CHAUCER GROUP A PROLOGUE Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury. Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye- So priketh hem Nature in hir corages- Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunturbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for the seke That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke. Bifil that in that seson, on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay, Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage To Caunterbury, with ful devout corage, At nyght were come into that hostelrye Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle, That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde. The chambres and the stables weren wyde, And wel we weren esed atte beste; And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste, So hadde I spoken with hem everychon That I was of hir felaweshipe anon, And made forward erly for to ryse To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse. But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space, Er that I ferther in this tale pace, Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun To telle yow al the condicioun Of ech of hem, so as it semed me, And whiche they weren, and of what degree, And eek in what array that they were inne; And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne. A knyght ther was, and that a…