The Pardoner’s Tale

In Flanders at once there was a comp any Of youngsters haunting vice and ribaldry, Riot and gambling, stews and public-houses Where each with harp, guitar, or lute carouses, Dancing and dicing day and night, and rash To eat and drink far more than they asshole h grey, Doing thereby the flummox sacrifice Within that devils temple of cursed vice, Abominable in superfluity, With oaths so damnable in blasphemy That its a grisly thing to hear them swear. Our dear Lords remains they will take out and tear. . . . Its of terce disintegrati unmatchedrs I relieve oneself to tell Who, long before the morning service bell, Were session in a tavern for a drink.And as they sit, they heard the hand-bell clink Before a set going to the grave One of them c on the wholeed the little tavern-knave And said Go and find out at oncelook spry Whose corpse is in that coffin passing by And see you get the hold correctly too. Sir, said the boy, no need, I promise you Two hours before you came her e I was told. He was a confederate of yours in days of old, And suddenly, last night, the man was slain, Upon his bench, face up, dead drunk again. in that respect came a privy thief, they c every last(predicate) him Death, Who kills us exclusively(a) round here, and in a breath He speared him through the heart, he never stirred.And then Death went his way without a word. Hes killed a thousand in the present plague, And, sir, it doesnt do to be too vague If you should meet him you had exceed be wary. Be on your guard with much(prenominal) an adversary, Be primed to meet him everywhere you go, Thats what my mother said. Its all I know. The publi bottom of the inning joined in with, By St. Mary, What the child says is by objurgates youd best be wary, This very year he killed, in a large small t testify A mile onward, man, woman, serf at tillage, Page in the household, childrenall there were. Yes, I view that he lives round there. Its well to be prepared in these alarms,He m ight do you dishonor. Huh, Gods arms The rioter said, Is he so fierce to meet? Ill search for him, by Jesus, street by street. Gods blessed bones Ill register a denunciation Here, chaps The three of us together now, Hold up your hands, like me, and well be brothers In this affair, and each stand got the others, And we will kill this traitor Death, I say Away with him as he has made past With all our friends. Gods dignity Tonight They made their bargain, swore with appetite, These three, to live and legislate for one some other As brother-born might swear to his born brother. And up they started in their drunken rageAnd made towards this colonisation which the page And publican had spoken of before. Many and grisly were the oaths they swore, Tearing deliverymans blessed body to a shred If we can that catch him, Death is dead When they had gone not fully half a mile, Just as they were approximately to cross a stile, They came upon a very brusque old man Who humbly gree ted them and thus began, God look to you, my lords, and give you quiet To which the proudest of these men of riot Gave back the answer, What, old fool? Give place Why are you all wrapped up except your face? Why live so long? Isnt it measure to die? The old, old fellow looked him in the eyeAnd said, Because I never yet have found, though I have walked to India, searching round Village and city on my pilgrimage, One who would change his youth to have my age. And so my age is mine and must(prenominal) be still Upon me, for such time as God whitethorn will. Not even Death, alas, will take my life So, like a wretched prisoner at strife Within himself, I walk alone and wait About the earth, which is my mothers gate, Knock-knocking with my round from night to noon And crying, Mother, open to me soon Look at me, mother, wont you let me in? See how I wither, flesh and blood and skin Alas When will these bones be fit(p) to rest?Mother, I would exchangefor that were best The wardrobe in my chamber, standing there So long, for yours Aye, for a shirt of hair To wrap me in She has refused her grace, Whence comes the pallor of my withered face. But it dishonored you when you began To peach so roughly, sir, to an old man, Unless he had injured you in word or deed. It says in holy writ, as you whitethorn read, Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head And honor it. And therefore be it said, Do no more harm to an old man than you, Being now young, would have other do When you are oldif you should live till then. And so may God be with you, gentlemen,For I must go whither I have to go. By God, the gambler said, you shant do so, You dont get off so easy, by St. John I heard you mention, just a event gone, A certain traitor Death who singles out And kills the fine young fellows hereabout. And youre his spy, by God You wait a bit. Say where he is or you shall pay for it, By God and by the Holy Sacrament I say youve joined together by consent To kill us younger folk, you thieving swine Well, sirs, he said, if it be your design To find out Death, turn up this round-shouldered way Towards that grove, I left him there today Under a tree, and there youll find him waiting.He isnt one to hide for all your prating. You see that oak? He wont be far to find. And God protect you that redeemed mankind, Aye, and amend you Thus that ancient man. At once the three young rioters began To run, and reached the tree, and there they found A pile of golden florins on the ground, New-coined, eight bushels of them as they eyeshot. No longer was it Death those fellows sought, For they were all so thrilled to see the sight, The florins were so beautiful and bright, That fine-tune they sat beside the precious pile. The wickedest spoke first after a while. Brothers, he said, you listen to what I say.Im pretty sharp although I joke away. Its clear that Fortune has bestowed this treasure To let us live in jollity and pleasure. Light come, light go Well spend it as we oug ht. Gods precious dignity Who would have thought This morning was to be our lucky day? If one could only get the gold away, Back to my house, or else to yours, perhaps For as you know, the gold is ours, chaps Wed all be at the top of fortune, hey? But certainly it cant be done by day. wad would harbinger us robbersa strong gang, So our own property would make us hang. No, we must bring this treasure back by nightSome prudent way, and keep it out of sight. And so as a solution I propose We canton for lots and see the way it goes The one who draws the longest, lucky man, Shall run to town as quickly as he can To fetch us bread and winebut keep things dark enchantment two remain in covert here to mark Our heap of treasure. If theres no delay, When night comes down well carry it away, tout ensemble three of us, wherever we have planned. He gathered lots and hid them in his hand Bidding them draw for where the luck should fall. It fell upon the youngest of them all, And off he ran at once towards the town. As soon as he had gone the first sat downAnd thus began a parley with the other You know that you can trust me as a brother Now let me tell you where your profit lies You know our friend has gone to get supplies And heres a lot of gold that is to be Divided as among us three. Nevertheless, if I could shape things thus So that we shared it outthe two of us Wouldnt you take it as a friendly act? But how? the other said. He knows the fact That all the gold was left with me and you What can we tell him? What are we to do? Is it a bargain, said the first, or no? For I can tell you in a word or so Whats to be done to bring the thing about. Trust me, the other said, you neednt doubt My word. I wont betray you, Ill be true. Well, said his friend, you see that we are two, And two are twice as powerful as one. Now look when he comes back, get up in fun To have a wrestle then, as you attack, Ill up and put my dagger through his back While you and he are struggli ng, as in game whence draw your dagger too and do the same. Then all this money will be ours to spend, Divided equally of course, dear friend. Then we can gratify our lusts and fill The day with dicing at our own sweet will. Thus these two miscreants agreed to strikeThe third and youngest, as you heard me say. The youngest, as he ran towards the town, Kept turning over, rolling up and down Within his heart the beauty of those bright New florins, saying, Lord, to think I might Have all that treasure to myself alone Could there be anyone beneath the throne Of God so happy as I then should be? And so the Fiend, our common enemy, Was precondition power to put it in his thought That there was always poison to be bought, And that with poison he could kill his friends. To men in such a state the Devil sends Thoughts of this kind, and has a full permission To lure them on to sorrow and infernoFor this young man was utterly content To kill them both and never to repent. And on he ran, he had no thought to tarry, Came to the town, found an apothecary And said, Sell me some poison if you will, I have a lot of rats I want to kill And theres a polecat too about my yard That takes my chickens and it hits me hard But Ill get even, as is only right, With vermin that destroy a man by night. The chemist answered, Ive a preparation Which you shall have, and by my souls redemption If any living creature eat or drink A mouthful, ere he has the time to think, Though he took less than makes a grain of wheat,Youll see him fall down dying at your feet Yes, die he must, and in so short a while Youd hardly have the time to walk a mile, The poison is so strong, you understand. This cursed fellow grabbed into his hand The box of poison and away he ran Into a neighboring street, and found a man Who lent him three large bottlefuls. He withdrew And deftly poured the poison into two. He kept the third one clean, as well he might, For his own drink, meaning to work all night Stacking the gold and carrying it away. And when this rioter, this devils clay, Had filled his bottles up with wine, all three, Back to rejoin his comrades sauntered he.Why make a sermon of it? Why waste breath? exactly in the way theyd planned his death They fell on him and slew him, two to one. Then said the first of them when this was done, Now for a drink. Sit down and lets be merry, For subsequently on therell be the corpse to bury. And, as it happened, reaching for a sup, He took a bottle full of poison up And drank and his companion, nothing loth, Drank from it also, and they perished both. There is, in Avicennas long coition Concerning poison and its operation, Trust me, no ghastlier section to transcend What these two wretches suffered at their end.Thus these two murderers receive their due, So did the treacherous young poisoner too. . . . One thing I should have mentioned in my tale, Dear people. Ive some relics in my bale And frees too, as full and fine, I hope, As any in En gland, given me by the Pope. If there be one among you that is willing To have my absolution for a shilling piously given, come and do not harden Your hearts but kneel in humbleness for pardon Or else, receive my pardon as we go. You can renew it every town or so Always provided that you still renew Each time, and in good money, what is due. It is an honor to you to have foundA pardoner with his credentials sound Who can absolve you as you ply the spur In any accident that may occur. For instancewe are all at Fortunes beck Your horse may throw you down and break your neck. What a security it is to all To have me here among you and at call With pardon for the lowly and the great When soul leaves body for the future state And I advise our waiter here to begin, The most enveloped of you all in sin. Come forward, Host, you shall be the first to pay, And candy kiss my holy relics right away. Only a groat. Come on, unbuckle your purse No, no, said he, not I, and may the curseOf Christ descend upon me if I do . . . The Pardoner said nothing, not a word He was so angry that he couldnt speak. Well, said our Host, if youre for showing pique, Ill joke no more, not with an angry man. The worthy Knight immediately began, Seeing the fun was getting rather rough, And said, No more, weve all had quite enough. Now, Master Pardoner, perk up, look cheerly And you, Sir Host, whom I esteem so dearly, I beg of you to kiss the Pardoner. Come, Pardoner, draw nearer, my dear sir. Lets laugh again and keep the ball in play. They kissed, and we go along on our way. s