© Librarius All rights reserved. |
Ther was in Asye, in a greet citee, | |
Amonges Cristene folk, a Jewerye, | |
Sustened by a lord of that contree | |
For foule usure and lucre of vileynye, | |
40 | Hateful to Crist and to his compaignye, |
And thurgh this strete men myghte ride or wende, | |
For it was free and open at eyther ende. |
A litel scole of cristen folk ther stood | |
Doun at the ferther ende, in which ther were | |
45 | Children an heep, ycomen of Cristen blood, |
That lerned in that scole yeer by yeer | |
Swich manere doctrine as men used there, | |
This is to seyn, to syngen and to rede, | |
As smale children doon in hir childhede. |
50 | Among thise children was a wydwes sone, |
A litel clergeon, seven yeer of age, | |
That day by day to scole was his wone, | |
And eek also, wher as he saugh th' ymage | |
Of Cristes mooder, he hadde in usage | |
55 | As hym was taught, to knele adoun, and seye |
His Ave Marie, as he goth by the weye. |
Thus hath this wydwe hir litel sone ytaught | |
Oure blisful Lady, Cristes mooder deere, | |
To worshipe ay; and he forgate it naught, | |
60 | For sely child wol alday soone leere. |
But ay, whan I remembre on this mateere, | |
Seint Nicholas stant evere in my presence, | |
For he so yong to Crist dide reverence. |
This litel child, his litel book lernynge, | |
65 | As he sat in the scole at his prymer, |
He Alma redemptoris herde synge | |
As children lerned hir anthiphoner; | |
And as he dorste, he drough hym ner and ner, | |
And herkned ay the wordes and the noote, | |
70 | Til he the firste vers koude al by rote. |
Noght wiste he what this Latyn was to seye, | |
For he so yong and tendre was of age, | |
But on a day his felawe gan he preye | |
T'expounden hym this song in his langage, | |
75 | Or telle hym why this song was in usage; |
This preyde he hym to construe and declare | |
Ful often tyme upon hise knowes bare. |
His felawe, which that elder was than he, | |
Answerde hym thus, "This song, I have herd seye, | |
80 | Was maked of oure blisful Lady free, |
Hir to salue, and eek hir for to preye | |
To been our help, and socour whan we deye. | |
I kan namoore expounde in this mateere, | |
I lerne song, I kan but smal grammere." |
85 | "And is this song maked in reverence |
Of Cristes mooder?" seyde this innocent. | |
"Now, certes, I wol do my diligence | |
To konne it al, er Cristemasse is went; | |
Though that I for my prymer shal be shent | |
90 | And shal be beten thries in an houre, |
I wol it konne, oure lady for to honoure." |
His felawe taughte hym homward prively | |
Fro day to day, til he koude it by rote; | |
And thanne he song it wel and boldely | |
95 | Fro word to word acordynge with the note. |
Twies a day it passed thurgh his throte, | |
To scoleward, and homward whan he wente; | |
On Cristes mooder set was his entente. |
As I have seyd, thurghout the Juerie | |
100 | This litel child, as he cam to and fro, |
Ful murily than wolde he synge and crie | |
"O Alma redemptoris" evere-mo. | |
The swetnesse hath his herte perced so | |
Of Cristes mooder, that to hir to preye | |
105 | He kan nat stynte of syngyng by the weye. |
Oure firste foo, the serpent Sathanas, | |
That hath in Jewes herte his waspes nest, | |
Up swal, and seyde, "O Hebrayk peple, allas, | |
Is this to yow a thyng that is honest, | |
110 | That swich a boy shal walken as hym lest |
In youre despit, and synge of swich sentence, | |
Which is agayn oure lawes reverence?" |
Fro thennes forth the Jewes han conspired | |
This innocent out of this world to chace. | |
115 | An homycide therto han they hyred |
That in an aleye hadde a privee place; | |
And as the child gan forby for to pace, | |
This cursed Jew hym hente and heeld hym faste, | |
And kitte his throte, and in a pit hym caste. |
120 | I seye that in a wardrobe they hym threwe, |
Where as this Jewes purgen hire entraille. | |
O cursed folk of Herodes al newe, | |
What may youre yvel entente yow availle? | |
Mordre wol out, certeyn, it wol nat faille, | |
125 | And namely ther thonour of God shal sprede, |
The blood out crieth on youre cursed dede. |
O martir, sowded to virginitee, | |
Now maystow syngen, folwynge evere in oon | |
The white lamb celestial -quod she- | |
130 | Of which the grete evaungelist Seint John |
In Pathmos wroot, which seith that they that goon | |
Biforn this lamb and synge a song al newe, | |
That never, fleshly, wommen they ne knewe. |
This poure wydwe awaiteth al that nyght | |
135 | After hir litel child, but he cam noght; |
For which, as soone as it was dayes light, | |
With face pale of drede and bisy thoght, | |
She hath at scole and elleswhere hym soght, | |
Til finally she gan so fer espie, | |
140 | That he last seyn was in the Juerie |
With moodres pitee in hir brest enclosed, | |
She gooth, as she were half out of hir mynde, | |
To every place where she hath supposed | |
By liklihede hir litel child to finde; | |
145 | And evere on Cristes mooder, meeke and kynde |
She cride, and atte laste thus she wroghte, | |
Among the cursed Jewes she hym soghte. |
She frayneth, and she preyeth pitously | |
To every Jew that dwelte in thilke place, | |
150 | To telle hir if hir child wente oght forby. |
They seyde "nay"; but Jhesu, of his grace, | |
Yaf in hir thoght, inwith a litel space, | |
That in that place after hir sone she cryde, | |
Where he was casten in a pit bisyde. |
155 | O grete God, that parfournest thy laude |
By mouth of innocentz, lo, heer thy myght! | |
This gemme of chastite, this emeraude, | |
And eek of martirdom the ruby bright, | |
Ther he with throte ykorven lay upright, | |
160 | He Alma redemptoris gan to synge |
So loude, that al the place gan to rynge. |
The cristene folk that thurgh the strete wente | |
In coomen, for to wondre upon this thyng, | |
And hastily they for the provost sente. | |
165 | He cam anon withouten tariyng, |
And herieth Crist that is of hevene kyng, | |
And eek his mooder, honour of mankynde; | |
And after that, the Jewes leet he bynde. |
This child, with pitous lamentacioun, | |
170 | Uptaken was, syngynge his song alway, |
And with honour of greet processioun | |
They carien hym unto the nexte abbay; | |
His mooder swownynge by his beere lay, | |
Unnethe myghte the peple that was theere | |
175 | This newe Rachel brynge fro his beere. |
With torment and with shameful deeth echon | |
This provost dooth the Jewes for to sterve, | |
That of this mordre wiste, and that anon. | |
He nolde no swich cursednesse observe; | |
180 | "Yvele shal have that yvele wol deserve"; |
Therfore with wilde hors he dide hem drawe, | |
And after that he heng hem, by the lawe. |
Upon this beere ay lith this innocent | |
Biforn the chief auter, whil masse laste, | |
185 | And after that, the abbot with his covent |
Han sped hem for to burien hym ful faste, | |
And whan they hooly water on hym caste, | |
Yet spak this child, whan spreynd was hooly water, | |
And song O Alma redemptoris mater! |
190 | This abbot, which that was an hooly man, |
As monkes been - or elles oghte be - | |
This yonge child,to conjure he bigan, | |
And seyde, "O deere child, I halse thee, | |
In vertu of the hooly Trinitee, | |
195 | Tel me what is thy cause for to synge, |
Sith that thy throte is kut to my semynge?" |
"My throte is kut unto my nekke boon," | |
Seyde this child, "and, as by wey of kynde, | |
I sholde have dyed, ye, longe tyme agon, | |
200 | But Jesu Crist, as ye in bookes fynde, |
Wil that his glorie laste and be in mynde, | |
And for the worship of his mooder deere, | |
Yet may I synge O Alma loude and cleere. |
"This welle of mercy, Cristes mooder swete, | |
205 | I loved alwey as after my konnynge; |
And whan that I my lyf sholde forlete, | |
To me she cam, and bad me for to synge | |
This antheme, verraily, in my deyynge, | |
As ye han herd, and whan that I hadde songe, | |
210 | Me thoughte she leyde a greyn upon my tonge. |
"Wherfore I synge, and synge I moot certeyn | |
In honour of that blisful mayden free, | |
Til fro my tonge of taken is the greyn. | |
And afterward thus seyde she to me, | |
215 | `My litel child, now wol I fecche thee, |
Whan that the greyn is fro thy tonge ytake; | |
Be nat agast, I wol thee nat forsake.'" |
This hooly monk, this abbot, hym meene I, | |
His tonge out-caughte, and took awey the greyn, | |
220 | And he yaf up the goost ful softely; |
And whan this Abbot hadde this wonder seyn, | |
His salte teeris trikled doun as reyn, | |
And gruf he fil al plat upon the grounde, | |
And stille he lay, as he had been ybounde. |
225 | The covent eek lay on the pavement, |
Wepynge, and heryen Cristes mooder deere. | |
And after that they ryse, and forth been went, | |
And tooken awey this martir from his beere, | |
And in a tombe of marbul stones cleere | |
230 | Enclosen they his litel body sweete. |
Ther he is now, God leve us for to meete! |
O yonge Hugh of Lyncoln, slayn also | |
With cursed Jewes, as it is notable, | |
For it nis but a litel while ago, | |
235 | Preye eek for us, we synful folk unstable, |
That of his mercy God so merciable | |
On us his grete mercy multiplie, | |
For reverence of his mooder Marie. Amen. |
Heere is ended the Prioress Tale. | © Librarius All rights reserved. |