This worthy Monk took all in patiénce, And said, “I will do all my diligence, As far as souneth unto honesty, 4042 To tellë you a tale, or two or three. And if you list to hearken hitherward, I will you say the life of Saint Edward; Or ellës first tragédies I will tell, Of which I have an hundred in my cell. Tragédy is to say 4043 a certain story, As oldë bookës maken us memóry, Of him that stood in great prosperitý, And is y-fallen out of high degree In misery, and endeth wretchedly. And they be versifiëd commonly Of six feet, which men call hexámetron; In prose eke be indited many a one, And eke in metre, in many a sundry wise. Lo, this declaring ought enough suffice. Now hearken, if ye likë for to hear. But first I you beseech in this mattére, Though I by order tellë not these things,