bellies and harden there, so that these poor maids have to show their posteriors to the doctor. I would grieve shouldst thou come to that, and it shall not be so an thou wilt hear me. I will do something for thee, and I see that 'tis full time to begin, for, by thy colour, I can tell that the eggs are already there."
"Indeed, sir, I am greatly beholden, for truly I am not what I was."
"To-morrow morning I will give thee something for this malady."
When morning came, she went to his chamber and he gave her a spoonsful of white hypocras,[1] telling her to go about her house-work and, anon, to break her fast on a little dry bread. This treatment was continued for two or three days, but one morning, when her mistress was out of the way, he took hold of the maid and, laughing gently, pushed her against the bed as if to look into her mouth.
"Alas! sir! what wouldst do?" she cried.
"I shall do thee no ill; I would break an egg which is fast hardening."
She let him do it, and he did it so well that he put live flesh in live flesh.[2] So he finished as soon as he had begun, and she found the business so much to her liking, although he had cooked her somewhat, that she came back again and again to have the eggs broken; in sooth, she had wished for
- ↑ An infusion of cinnamon bark, soft almonds, and a little musk and amber, in wine sweetened with sugar. The word is probably derived from Hippocrates, the famous Greek doctor.
- ↑ We omit the two interjections to be found here in the original text, not because they are highly flavoured, but simply because they have no bearing on the narrative. Nor do they merit translation in a note.
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