and keep thy neck-bone from the iron. And if thou canst not tell it me anon, Yet will I give thee leavë for to gon A twelvemonth and a day, to seek and lear An answer suffisant in this mattére. And surety will I have, ere that thou pace, Thy body for to yielden in this place.” Woe was the knight, and sorrowfully siked; But what? he might not do all as him liked. And at the last he chose him for to wend, And come again, right at the yearë’s end, With such answér as God would him purvey: And took his leave, and wended forth his way.
He sought in ev’ry house and ev’ry place, Where as he hoped for to findë grace, To learnë what thing women love the most: But he could not arrive in any coast, Where as he mightë find in this mattére Two creatures accordíng in fere. Some said that women loved best richéss, Some said honoúr, and some said jolliness, Some rich array, and some said lust a-bed, And oft time to be widow and be wed. Some said, that we are in our heart most eased When that we are y-flatter’d and y-praised. He went full nigh the sooth, I will not lie; A man shall win us best with flattery; And with attendance, and with business Be we y-liméd, bothë more and less. And some men said that we do love the best For to be free, and do right as us lest, And that no man reprove us of our vice, But say that we are wise, and nothing nice, For truly there is none among us all, If any wight will claw us on the gall, That will not kick, for that he saith us sooth: Assay, and he shall find it, that so do’th. For be we never so vicioús within, We will be held both wise and clean of sin. And some men said, that great delight have we For to be held stable and eke secré, And in one purpose steadfastly to dwell, And not bewray a thing that men us tell. But that tale is not worth a rakë-stele. Pardie, we women cannë nothing hele, Witness on Midas; will ye hear the tale? Ovid, amongës other thingës smale, Saith, Midas had, under his longë hairs, Growing upon his head two ass’s ears; The whichë vice he hid, as best he might, Full subtlely from every man’s sight, That, save his wife, there knew of it no mo’; He lov’d her most, and trusted her also; He prayed her, that to no creature She wouldë tellen of his disfigúre. She swore him, nay, for all the