Page:The Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer.djvu/100



O! good sir, no more of this," quoth the Knight. "What ye have told us, in sooth, is enough and to spare, for a little of heavy cheer sufficeth for most folk, I ween. As for me, I say it is a great distress to hear of the sudden fall, alas! of them who were wont to be in great wealth and ease. But the contrary is joy and great delight, as when a man, who hath been in poor estate, climbeth up and waxeth prosperous, and there in prosperity abideth. Such a thing, as it seemeth me, is gladsome; and of such a thing it were goodly to speak."

"Yea!" quoth our host, "by Saint Paul's bell, ye say right sooth ; this monk, he clappeth his tongue with a din, and speaketh of how 'fortune covered with a cloud' something—I wot never what; and also ye heard but now of a 'Tragedy,' and pardee, no help is it for to bewail nor lament that which is done ; and eke, as ye have said, it is a pain to hear the heaviness. Sir Monk, no more of this, for the love of God; your tale annoyeth all of us. Such talking is not worth a butterfly, for there is no mirth therein, nor disport. Wherefore, Sir Monk—or whatsoever your name be, Dan Piers—I pray you heartily tell us somewhat else, for verily, if it were not for the clinking of the bells that hang on your bridle all about—by the King of heaven that died for us all!—I should have fallen down ere this for sleep into the slough, however miry it were. Then had your tale been all told in vain, for certainly as these clerks say : 'Where a man hath no audience,