Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History BookDiu povre clerc furent jadis.--1. Than were ther yonge povre clerkes two.--A 4002. Né d'une vile et d'un pais.--2. Of o toun were they born.--A 4014. Il a son conpaignon bouté.--190. He poked Iohn.--A 4169. Qant il oït lo coc chanter.--257. Til that the thridde cok bigan to singe.--A 4233. Tantost prant lo clerc par la gole.--288. And by the throte-bolle he caughte Alayn.--A 4273. § 27. THE COOK'S PROLOGUE. The Cook heartily approves of the Reves Tale, and informs the company that his name is Hogge (Hodge) of Ware; at the same time volunteering a story. The Host approves the offer-- 'Now telle on, Roger; loke that it be good'-- but accuses him of cheating his customers. The Cook replies good-humouredly, calling the Host by his name, 'Herry Bailly,' and suggests that he knows a tale not much to the credit of 'an hostileer.' However, he will not tell that tale now. § 28. THE COKES TALE. This Tale, as found in all the MSS., is a mere fragment, extending to only 58 lines; and this portion is insufficient to shew the form which the Tale was meant to take. The portrait of Perkin Revelour, the idle apprentice, is, however, clearly drawn. It would seem as if this fragment was meant to be suppressed; for, in the Manciple's Prologue, the Host calls upon the Cook to tell a tale, even if it be worthless; but the Manciple intercedes, and the Host excuses him, because he is so helplessly drunk (H 13, 29). This seems to presuppose that the Cook had told no tale as yet; for, by this time, Chaucer had arrived at his modified plan, which required only _one_ Tale from each pilgrim on the outward journey (§ 14); and the Manciple is called upon to tell his own Tale instead, as he had hitherto told none. § 29. THE TALE OF GAMELYN. This Tale is, of course, not Chaucer's, and is never found in MSS. of the A-type (see Pref. to vol. iv). Perhaps we may hence infer that MSS. of that type represent the text of the Tales as it stood before Chaucer's death; whereas, after that event, 'Gamelyn' was inserted amongst them by scribes or friends who found it amongst the writings which he had left behind him. We cannot doubt that, if Chaucer had rewritten this Tale, he would have placed it in the mouth of the Yeman. As, however, it happens to have been inserted immediately after the Cook's Tale, a late hand, in the Harl. MS. 7334, has scribbled above it--'The Cokes Tale of Gamelyn'; whence the blunder arose of connecting it with the Cook. As the Tale is found in several of the MSS., I have printed it in the Appendix to vol. iv., pp. 645-667, in smaller type. The text is mainly from MS. Harl. 7334, collated with Harl. Cp., Ln., Pt., Rl., and Sl.; see footnote on p. 645 of vol. iv., and the description of the MSS. in the Introduction to that volume. The Tale is evidently of some antiquity, and may be dated, approximately, about 1340. One line which occurs in it twice over (see ll. 277, 764) is quoted, almost exactly, from l. 475 of a Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II., as printed by Mr. Wright for the Camden Society in 1839, the probable date of which is about 1320. The dialect is more northern than that of the Canterbury Tales, and resembles that of Lincolnshire. The proportion of French words is much smaller: see, e. g., ll. 5-7, 9-13, 16, 20-30, in which no French words occur. The proportion of Scandinavian words is larger; we may notice _serk_ (Lowl. Sc. _sark_) in l. 259, _skeet_, quickly, in l. 187, which do not occur in Chaucer. The very name of Gamelyn is of Scandinavian origin, answering to a form _Gamel-[=i]n_, from the Norse word for 'old,' as seen in Icel. _gamall_, Swed. _gammal_, Dan. _gammel_. It is perhaps the original of _Gandeleyn_, which occurs in a ballad entitled 'Robyn and Gandeleyn,' belonging to the cycle of the Robin Hood ballads (cf. p. 381). The exploits of Gamelyn remind us somewhat of those of Havelok; in particular, the marvellous way in which Gamelyn lays about him, at one time with a 'pestle' (l. 128) and at another with a 'cart-staff' (l. 500), recalls Havelok's feat in killing twenty men with the bar of a door; see the Lay of Havelok the Dane, ed. Skeat, ll. 1794-1859. On the whole, we may fairly connect this Tale with the neighbourhood of Sherwood Forest, to which so many of the Robin Hood ballads belong; and its considerable antiquity gives it a peculiar interest. § 30. The story evidently belongs to that highly popular class in which it is the youngest of three brothers who is the successful hero[101]. I should be inclined to believe that the Tale is not wholly due to the invention of its author, but is derived, like the Lay of Havelok, from some Anglo-French original; whilst there are, at the same time, some traces (as in that poem) of Scandinavian influence. The name Sir Johan of Boundes is French; since _Boundes_ is the pl. of _bound_, from the Old French _bonne_, a limit; the equivalent English phrase for 'of Boundes' would be 'of the Marches.' The name of his second son is Otes (l. 727) or Ote (l. 731), which is the nom. case of the F. Otoun, from the Lat. Othonem, accusative of Otho (cf. G. Otto). Otoun is the name of a French knight who was vanquished by Sir Guy of Warwick. § 31. Some of the rimes in this poem are imperfect, as _wit_, _bet_, 111; whilst _gat-e_, _scap-e_, 575, form a mere assonance. We also find mere repetitions, such as _now_, _now_, 93; _thee_, _thee_, 399; _another_, _other_, 445. The rime _thare_, _yare_, 793, is certainly Northern. So also _ying_, _king_, 887; yet, at l. 169, we find _tonge_, _yonge_, shewing that the author was not very particular. The metre is not easy to follow, being very variable; it resembles that of such popular nursery rimes as 'Sing a song of sixpence,' wherein two _consecutive_ accents, as in 'And snápped óff her nose,' excite no surprise or difficulty. Each verse is divided into two parts by a metrical pause, denoted in this edition by a raised full stop (·). Each part is of variable length, and may be considered separately. In the former part the chief varieties conform to the following types, where 'A' denotes an accented syllable, and 'b' an unaccented one. (1) A b A b A b; as in l. 12:-- Hów his chíldren shóld-e. So also ll. 15, 21, 22, 23, 26, 28, 49. (2) b A b A b A; as in l. 71:-- He toók intó his hónd. So also ll. 88, 93, 105, 143, 200, 287. (3) b A b A b A b; as in l. 2:-- And yé schull' héer' a tálking. So also ll. 9, 17, 19, 27, 29, 32, 42, 61, 64. The above half-lines contain _three_ accents; but _four_ accents occur also, chiefly in the following types. (4) A b A b A b A; as in l. 120:-- Gámelýn was wár anón. So also ll. 123, 135, 139, 252, 280, 282, 306. Also ll. 199, 207, where _Good-e_ marks the vocative case. (5) A b A b A b A b; as in l. 34:-- Bót' of bál-e gód may sénd-e. So also ll. 118, 336. (6) b A b A b A b A; as in l. 6:-- The éldest wás a móche schréw'. So also ll. 55 (_neyh-e-bours_ having three syllables) |