but [he] withhield it and nat havyng any help wold have fled. But
he hield hym bi the hoode and pullid of his Cappe, and than his
hede appiered scalled, for the whiche than he asked thre pens. Than
this courbed man seeyng hymsilf havyng non help nor myght nat
flee bigan to Resiste and withstond with naked armes, in whiche
[he] apperid [a] lepre; for the whiche than he asked the fourth
peny. To whom the defendaunt tooke awey his capp and cast it
to the grounde, and [he] appered than Roughered, for the whiche
than he toke of hym five pens. So it happed for that he wold [nat]
paie oo peny, vnwares paied fyve pens.[1]" A certain philosopher
said to his son: "Son, refrain from passing through the house of
wicked people, for passing results in stopping, and stopping leads
to sitting and sitting ends in a deed. It is related, by way of illustration,
that two priests went forth from the city one evening for
a walk, and they came to a house where some drinkers had met
together.
A Priest in the House of Drinkers[2]
Petrus Alphonsus tellis how on a tyme two clerkis went samen before a place ther thar was many drynkers, and thai callid thaim in. And the tone of thaim went into thaim and the toder wold nott, bod went on hys wais; and it was fer within nyght. So the wachis of the town fande all thies drynkers syttand samen, and the clerk with thaim, and becauce a man of the town was robbid that nyght, thai tuke thaim all and the clerk with thaim, and hanged thaim. And the clerke at bade with, thaim, or he was hanged, sayd on this maner of wyse; "Quisquis inique gentis consorcio fruitur, procul dubio mortis immerite penas lucratur. What- somevur he be at vsis ill company, na dowte of he sall hafe ane ill dead.[3]"
The Latin version of this tale (No. vii, see I, 12, l. 2) is as
follows: Dictum enim est duos clericos de ciuitate quadam vespere
ut exspatiarentur exisse. Venerunt ergo in locum ubi potatores
convenerant. Dixit alter socio suo: Divertamus alia via, quia philosophus
dicit: Non est transeundum per sedem gentis iniquae.
Respondit socius : Transitus non novebit, si aliud non affuerit. Et
transeuntes andierunt in domo catilenam. Substitit alter retentus
- ↑ At this point two short exampla are omitted from our English version; these occur in the Latin (I, 13) as Nos. VII and VIII and have the titles, About a Priest entering the House of Drinkers (Exemplum de Clerico domum potatorum intrante) and The Voice of the Owl (Exemplum de voce bubonis). The English also omits the brief discussion which links VI and VII together in the Latin (I, 12, l. 28).
- ↑ This exemplum in an abbreviated form is found in the Middle English Alphabet of Tales (Ed. Banks, Pt. II, No. 721, p. 483).
- ↑ I have preserved the spelling and punctuation of the EETS edition, only substituting th for the early English thorn and and for &.
