Update (and fix) the chaucer* sketches (for testing big uploads.)

update progmem usage (const char instead of prog_char)
use pgm_read_byte_far() where needed.
reset counter i in between segments when printing.

optiboot/examples/chaucer112k/chaucer112k.ino

@@ -0,0 +1,2355 @@
+// Text is an extract from The Canterbury Tales
+// Full text at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/cbtls12.txt
+#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
+
+const char knightsTale[] PROGMEM = {
+  "                     THE KNIGHT'S TALE <1>\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\n"
+  "WHILOM*, as olde stories tellen us,                            *formerly\n"
+  "There was a duke that highte* Theseus.                   *was called <2>\n"
+  "Of Athens he was lord and governor,\n"
+  "And in his time such a conqueror\n"
+  "That greater was there none under the sun.\n"
+  "Full many a riche country had he won.\n"
+  "What with his wisdom and his chivalry,\n"
+  "He conquer'd all the regne of Feminie,<3>\n"
+  "That whilom was y-cleped Scythia;\n"
+  "And weddede the Queen Hippolyta\n"
+  "And brought her home with him to his country\n"
+  "With muchel* glory and great solemnity,                           *great\n"
+  "And eke her younge sister Emily,\n"
+  "And thus with vict'ry and with melody\n"
+  "Let I this worthy Duke to Athens ride,\n"
+  "And all his host, in armes him beside.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And certes, if it n'ere* too long to hear,                     *were not\n"
+  "I would have told you fully the mannere,\n"
+  "How wonnen* was the regne of Feminie, <4>                           *won\n"
+  "By Theseus, and by his chivalry;\n"
+  "And of the greate battle for the nonce\n"
+  "Betwixt Athenes and the Amazons;\n"
+  "And how assieged was Hippolyta,\n"
+  "The faire hardy queen of Scythia;\n"
+  "And of the feast that was at her wedding\n"
+  "And of the tempest at her homecoming.\n"
+  "But all these things I must as now forbear.\n"
+  "I have, God wot, a large field to ear*                       *plough<5>;\n"
+  "And weake be the oxen in my plough;\n"
+  "The remnant of my tale is long enow.\n"
+  "I will not *letten eke none of this rout*.                *hinder any of\n"
+  "Let every fellow tell his tale about,                      this company*\n"
+  "And let see now who shall the supper win.\n"
+  "There *as I left*, I will again begin.                *where I left off*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Duke, of whom I make mentioun,\n"
+  "When he was come almost unto the town,\n"
+  "In all his weal, and in his moste pride,\n"
+  "He was ware, as he cast his eye aside,\n"
+  "Where that there kneeled in the highe way\n"
+  "A company of ladies, tway and tway,\n"
+  "Each after other, clad in clothes black:\n"
+  "But such a cry and such a woe they make,\n"
+  "That in this world n'is creature living,\n"
+  "That hearde such another waimenting*                      *lamenting <6>\n"
+  "And of this crying would they never stenten*,                    *desist\n"
+  "Till they the reines of his bridle henten*.                       *seize\n"
+  "\"What folk be ye that at mine homecoming\n"
+  "Perturben so my feaste with crying?\"\n"
+  "Quoth Theseus; \"Have ye so great envy\n"
+  "Of mine honour, that thus complain and cry?\n"
+  "Or who hath you misboden*, or offended?                         *wronged\n"
+  "Do telle me, if it may be amended;\n"
+  "And why that ye be clad thus all in black?\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The oldest lady of them all then spake,\n"
+  "When she had swooned, with a deadly cheer*,                 *countenance\n"
+  "That it was ruthe* for to see or hear.                             *pity\n"
+  "She saide; \"Lord, to whom fortune hath given\n"
+  "Vict'ry, and as a conqueror to liven,\n"
+  "Nought grieveth us your glory and your honour;\n"
+  "But we beseechen mercy and succour.\n"
+  "Have mercy on our woe and our distress;\n"
+  "Some drop of pity, through thy gentleness,\n"
+  "Upon us wretched women let now fall.\n"
+  "For certes, lord, there is none of us all\n"
+  "That hath not been a duchess or a queen;\n"
+  "Now be we caitives*, as it is well seen:                       *captives\n"
+  "Thanked be Fortune, and her false wheel,\n"
+  "That *none estate ensureth to be wele*.       *assures no continuance of\n"
+  "And certes, lord, t'abiden your presence              prosperous estate*\n"
+  "Here in this temple of the goddess Clemence\n"
+  "We have been waiting all this fortenight:\n"
+  "Now help us, lord, since it lies in thy might.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"I, wretched wight, that weep and waile thus,\n"
+  "Was whilom wife to king Capaneus,\n"
+  "That starf* at Thebes, cursed be that day:                     *died <7>\n"
+  "And alle we that be in this array,\n"
+  "And maken all this lamentatioun,\n"
+  "We losten all our husbands at that town,\n"
+  "While that the siege thereabouten lay.\n"
+  "And yet the olde Creon, wellaway!\n"
+  "That lord is now of Thebes the city,\n"
+  "Fulfilled of ire and of iniquity,\n"
+  "He for despite, and for his tyranny,\n"
+  "To do the deade bodies villainy*,                                *insult\n"
+  "Of all our lorde's, which that been y-slaw,                       *slain\n"
+  "Hath all the bodies on an heap y-draw,\n"
+  "And will not suffer them by none assent\n"
+  "Neither to be y-buried, nor y-brent*,                             *burnt\n"
+  "But maketh houndes eat them in despite.\"\n"
+  "And with that word, withoute more respite\n"
+  "They fallen groff,* and cryden piteously;                    *grovelling\n"
+  "\"Have on us wretched women some mercy,\n"
+  "And let our sorrow sinken in thine heart.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This gentle Duke down from his courser start\n"
+  "With hearte piteous, when he heard them speak.\n"
+  "Him thoughte that his heart would all to-break,\n"
+  "When he saw them so piteous and so mate*                         *abased\n"
+  "That whilom weren of so great estate.\n"
+  "And in his armes he them all up hent*,                     *raised, took\n"
+  "And them comforted in full good intent,\n"
+  "And swore his oath, as he was true knight,\n"
+  "He woulde do *so farforthly his might*        *as far as his power went*\n"
+  "Upon the tyrant Creon them to wreak*,                            *avenge\n"
+  "That all the people of Greece shoulde speak,\n"
+  "How Creon was of Theseus y-served,\n"
+  "As he that had his death full well deserved.\n"
+  "And right anon withoute more abode*                               *delay\n"
+  "His banner he display'd, and forth he rode\n"
+  "To Thebes-ward, and all his, host beside:\n"
+  "No ner* Athenes would he go nor ride,                            *nearer\n"
+  "Nor take his ease fully half a day,\n"
+  "But onward on his way that night he lay:\n"
+  "And sent anon Hippolyta the queen,\n"
+  "And Emily her younge sister sheen*                       *bright, lovely\n"
+  "Unto the town of Athens for to dwell:\n"
+  "And forth he rit*; there is no more to tell.                       *rode\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The red statue of Mars with spear and targe*                     *shield\n"
+  "So shineth in his white banner large\n"
+  "That all the fieldes glitter up and down:\n"
+  "And by his banner borne is his pennon\n"
+  "Of gold full rich, in which there was y-beat*                   *stamped\n"
+  "The Minotaur<8> which that he slew in Crete\n"
+  "Thus rit this Duke, thus rit this conqueror\n"
+  "And in his host of chivalry the flower,\n"
+  "Till that he came to Thebes, and alight\n"
+  "Fair in a field, there as he thought to fight.\n"
+  "But shortly for to speaken of this thing,\n"
+  "With Creon, which that was of Thebes king,\n"
+  "He fought, and slew him manly as a knight\n"
+  "In plain bataille, and put his folk to flight:\n"
+  "And by assault he won the city after,\n"
+  "And rent adown both wall, and spar, and rafter;\n"
+  "And to the ladies he restored again\n"
+  "The bodies of their husbands that were slain,\n"
+  "To do obsequies, as was then the guise*.                         *custom\n"
+  "\n"
+  "But it were all too long for to devise*                        *describe\n"
+  "The greate clamour, and the waimenting*,                      *lamenting\n"
+  "Which that the ladies made at the brenning*                     *burning\n"
+  "Of the bodies, and the great honour\n"
+  "That Theseus the noble conqueror\n"
+  "Did to the ladies, when they from him went:\n"
+  "But shortly for to tell is mine intent.\n"
+  "When that this worthy Duke, this Theseus,\n"
+  "Had Creon slain, and wonnen Thebes thus,\n"
+  "Still in the field he took all night his rest,\n"
+  "And did with all the country as him lest*.                      *pleased\n"
+  "To ransack in the tas* of bodies dead,                             *heap\n"
+  "Them for to strip of *harness and of **weed,           *armour **clothes\n"
+  "The pillers* did their business and cure,                 *pillagers <9>\n"
+  "After the battle and discomfiture.\n"
+  "And so befell, that in the tas they found,\n"
+  "Through girt with many a grievous bloody wound,\n"
+  "Two younge knightes *ligging by and by*             *lying side by side*\n"
+  "Both in *one armes*, wrought full richely:             *the same armour*\n"
+  "Of whiche two, Arcita hight that one,\n"
+  "And he that other highte Palamon.\n"
+  "Not fully quick*, nor fully dead they were,                       *alive\n"
+  "But by their coat-armour, and by their gear,\n"
+  "The heralds knew them well in special,\n"
+  "As those that weren of the blood royal\n"
+  "Of Thebes, and *of sistren two y-born*.            *born of two sisters*\n"
+  "Out of the tas the pillers have them torn,\n"
+  "And have them carried soft unto the tent\n"
+  "Of Theseus, and he full soon them sent\n"
+  "To Athens, for to dwellen in prison\n"
+  "Perpetually, he *n'olde no ranson*.               *would take no ransom*\n"
+  "And when this worthy Duke had thus y-done,\n"
+  "He took his host, and home he rit anon\n"
+  "With laurel crowned as a conquerour;\n"
+  "And there he lived in joy and in honour\n"
+  "Term of his life; what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
+  "And in a tower, in anguish and in woe,\n"
+  "Dwellen this Palamon, and eke Arcite,\n"
+  "For evermore, there may no gold them quite*                    *set free\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Thus passed year by year, and day by day,\n"
+  "Till it fell ones in a morn of May\n"
+  "That Emily, that fairer was to seen\n"
+  "Than is the lily upon his stalke green,\n"
+  "And fresher than the May with flowers new\n"
+  "(For with the rose colour strove her hue;\n"
+  "I n'ot* which was the finer of them two),                      *know not\n"
+  "Ere it was day, as she was wont to do,\n"
+  "She was arisen, and all ready dight*,                           *dressed\n"
+  "For May will have no sluggardy a-night;\n"
+  "The season pricketh every gentle heart,\n"
+  "And maketh him out of his sleep to start,\n"
+  "And saith, \"Arise, and do thine observance.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This maketh Emily have remembrance\n"
+  "To do honour to May, and for to rise.\n"
+  "Y-clothed was she fresh for to devise;\n"
+  "Her yellow hair was braided in a tress,\n"
+  "Behind her back, a yarde long I guess.\n"
+  "And in the garden at *the sun uprist*                           *sunrise\n"
+  "She walketh up and down where as her list.\n"
+  "She gathereth flowers, party* white and red,                    *mingled\n"
+  "To make a sotel* garland for her head,            *subtle, well-arranged\n"
+  "And as an angel heavenly she sung.\n"
+  "The greate tower, that was so thick and strong,\n"
+  "Which of the castle was the chief dungeon<10>\n"
+  "(Where as these knightes weren in prison,\n"
+  "Of which I tolde you, and telle shall),\n"
+  "Was even joinant* to the garden wall,                         *adjoining\n"
+  "There as this Emily had her playing.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Bright was the sun, and clear that morrowning,\n"
+  "And Palamon, this woful prisoner,\n"
+  "As was his wont, by leave of his gaoler,\n"
+  "Was ris'n, and roamed in a chamber on high,\n"
+  "In which he all the noble city sigh*,                               *saw\n"
+  "And eke the garden, full of branches green,\n"
+  "There as this fresh Emelia the sheen\n"
+  "Was in her walk, and roamed up and down.\n"
+  "This sorrowful prisoner, this Palamon\n"
+  "Went in his chamber roaming to and fro,\n"
+  "And to himself complaining of his woe:\n"
+  "That he was born, full oft he said, Alas!\n"
+  "And so befell, by aventure or cas*,                              *chance\n"
+  "That through a window thick of many a bar\n"
+  "Of iron great, and square as any spar,\n"
+  "He cast his eyes upon Emelia,\n"
+  "And therewithal he blent* and cried, Ah!                  *started aside\n"
+  "As though he stungen were unto the heart.\n"
+  "And with that cry Arcite anon up start,\n"
+  "And saide, \"Cousin mine, what aileth thee,\n"
+  "That art so pale and deadly for to see?\n"
+  "Why cried'st thou? who hath thee done offence?\n"
+  "For Godde's love, take all in patience\n"
+  "Our prison*, for it may none other be.                     *imprisonment\n"
+  "Fortune hath giv'n us this adversity'.\n"
+  "Some wick'* aspect or disposition                                *wicked\n"
+  "Of Saturn<11>, by some constellation,\n"
+  "Hath giv'n us this, although we had it sworn,\n"
+  "So stood the heaven when that we were born,\n"
+  "We must endure; this is the short and plain.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Palamon answer'd, and said again:\n"
+  "\"Cousin, forsooth of this opinion\n"
+  "Thou hast a vain imagination.\n"
+  "This prison caused me not for to cry;\n"
+  "But I was hurt right now thorough mine eye\n"
+  "Into mine heart; that will my bane*  be.                    *destruction\n"
+  "The fairness of the lady that I see\n"
+  "Yond in the garden roaming to and fro,\n"
+  "Is cause of all my crying and my woe.\n"
+  "I *n'ot wher* she be woman or goddess,                *know not whether*\n"
+  "But Venus is it, soothly* as I guess,                             *truly\n"
+  "And therewithal on knees adown he fill,\n"
+  "And saide: \"Venus, if it be your will\n"
+  "You in this garden thus to transfigure\n"
+  "Before me sorrowful wretched creature,\n"
+  "Out of this prison help that we may scape.\n"
+  "And if so be our destiny be shape\n"
+  "By etern word to dien in prison,\n"
+  "Of our lineage have some compassion,\n"
+  "That is so low y-brought by tyranny.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And with that word Arcita *gan espy*               *began to look forth*\n"
+  "Where as this lady roamed to and fro\n"
+  "And with that sight her beauty hurt him so,\n"
+  "That if that Palamon was wounded sore,\n"
+  "Arcite is hurt as much as he, or more.\n"
+  "And with a sigh he saide piteously:\n"
+  "\"The freshe beauty slay'th me suddenly\n"
+  "Of her that roameth yonder in the place.\n"
+  "And but* I have her mercy and her grace,                         *unless\n"
+  "That I may see her at the leaste way,\n"
+  "I am but dead; there is no more to say.\"\n"
+  "This Palamon, when he these wordes heard,\n"
+  "Dispiteously* he looked, and answer'd:                          *angrily\n"
+  "\"Whether say'st thou this in earnest or in play?\"\n"
+  "\"Nay,\" quoth Arcite, \"in earnest, by my fay*.                     *faith\n"
+  "God help me so, *me lust full ill to play*.\"          *I am in no humour\n"
+  "This Palamon gan knit his browes tway.                      for jesting*\n"
+  "\"It were,\" quoth he, \"to thee no great honour\n"
+  "For to be false, nor for to be traitour\n"
+  "To me, that am thy cousin and thy brother\n"
+  "Y-sworn full deep, and each of us to other,\n"
+  "That never for to dien in the pain <12>,\n"
+  "Till that the death departen shall us twain,\n"
+  "Neither of us in love to hinder other,\n"
+  "Nor in none other case, my leve* brother;                          *dear\n"
+  "But that thou shouldest truly farther me\n"
+  "In every case, as I should farther thee.\n"
+  "This was thine oath, and mine also certain;\n"
+  "I wot it well, thou dar'st it not withsayn*,                       *deny\n"
+  "Thus art thou of my counsel out of doubt,\n"
+  "And now thou wouldest falsely be about\n"
+  "To love my lady, whom I love and serve,\n"
+  "And ever shall, until mine hearte sterve*                           *die\n"
+  "Now certes, false Arcite, thou shalt not so\n"
+  "I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe\n"
+  "As to my counsel, and my brother sworn\n"
+  "To farther me, as I have told beforn.\n"
+  "For which thou art y-bounden as a knight\n"
+  "To helpe me, if it lie in thy might,\n"
+  "Or elles art thou false, I dare well sayn,\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Arcita full proudly spake again:\n"
+  "\"Thou shalt,\" quoth he, \"be rather* false than I,                *sooner\n"
+  "And thou art false, I tell thee utterly;\n"
+  "For par amour I lov'd her first ere thou.\n"
+  "What wilt thou say? *thou wist it not right now*          *even now thou\n"
+  "Whether she be a woman or goddess.                          knowest not*\n"
+  "Thine is affection of holiness,\n"
+  "And mine is love, as to a creature:\n"
+  "For which I tolde thee mine aventure\n"
+  "As to my cousin, and my brother sworn\n"
+  "I pose*, that thou loved'st her beforn:                         *suppose\n"
+  "Wost* thou not well the olde clerke's saw<13>,                  *know'st\n"
+  "That who shall give a lover any law?\n"
+  "Love is a greater lawe, by my pan,\n"
+  "Than may be giv'n to any earthly man:\n"
+  "Therefore positive law, and such decree,\n"
+  "Is broke alway for love in each degree\n"
+  "A man must needes love, maugre his head.\n"
+  "He may not flee it, though he should be dead,\n"
+  "*All be she* maid, or widow, or else wife.              *whether she be*\n"
+  "And eke it is not likely all thy life\n"
+  "To standen in her grace, no more than I\n"
+  "For well thou wost thyselfe verily,\n"
+  "That thou and I be damned to prison\n"
+  "Perpetual, us gaineth no ranson.\n"
+  "We strive, as did the houndes for the bone;\n"
+  "They fought all day, and yet their part was none.\n"
+  "There came a kite, while that they were so wroth,\n"
+  "And bare away the bone betwixt them both.\n"
+  "And therefore at the kinge's court, my brother,\n"
+  "Each man for himselfe, there is no  other.\n"
+  "Love if thee list; for I love and aye shall\n"
+  "And soothly, leve brother, this is all.\n"
+  "Here in this prison musten we endure,\n"
+  "And each of us take his Aventure.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Great was the strife and long between these tway,\n"
+  "If that I hadde leisure for to say;\n"
+  "But to the effect: it happen'd on a day\n"
+  "(To tell it you as shortly as I may),\n"
+  "A worthy duke that hight Perithous<14>\n"
+  "That fellow was to the Duke Theseus\n"
+  "Since thilke* day that they were children lite**          *that **little\n"
+  "Was come to Athens, his fellow to visite,\n"
+  "And for to play, as he was wont to do;\n"
+  "For in this world he loved no man so;\n"
+  "And he lov'd him as tenderly again.\n"
+  "So well they lov'd, as olde bookes sayn,\n"
+  "That when that one was dead, soothly to sayn,\n"
+  "His fellow went and sought him down in hell:\n"
+  "But of that story list me not to write.\n"
+  "Duke Perithous loved well Arcite,\n"
+  "And had him known at Thebes year by year:\n"
+  "And finally at request and prayere\n"
+  "Of Perithous, withoute ranson\n"
+  "Duke Theseus him let out of prison,\n"
+  "Freely to go, where him list over all,\n"
+  "In such a guise, as I you tellen shall\n"
+  "This was the forword*, plainly to indite,                       *promise\n"
+  "Betwixte Theseus and him Arcite:\n"
+  "That if so were, that Arcite were y-found\n"
+  "Ever in his life, by day or night, one stound*               *moment<15>\n"
+  "In any country of this Theseus,\n"
+  "And he were caught, it was accorded thus,\n"
+  "That with a sword he shoulde lose his head;\n"
+  "There was none other remedy nor rede*.                          *counsel\n"
+  "But took his leave, and homeward he him sped;\n"
+  "Let him beware, his necke lieth *to wed*.                    *in pledge*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "How great a sorrow suff'reth now Arcite!\n"
+  "The death he feeleth through his hearte smite;\n"
+  "He weepeth, waileth, crieth piteously;\n"
+  "To slay himself he waiteth privily.\n"
+  "He said; \"Alas the day that I was born!\n"
+  "Now is my prison worse than beforn:\n"
+  "*Now is me shape* eternally to dwell                *it is fixed for me*\n"
+  "Not in purgatory, but right in hell.\n"
+  "Alas! that ever I knew Perithous.\n"
+  "For elles had I dwelt with Theseus\n"
+  "Y-fettered in his prison evermo'.\n"
+  "Then had I been in bliss, and not in woe.\n"
+  "Only the sight of her, whom that I serve,\n"
+  "Though that I never may her grace deserve,\n"
+  "Would have sufficed right enough for me.\n"
+  "O deare cousin Palamon,\" quoth he,\n"
+  "\"Thine is the vict'ry of this aventure,\n"
+  "Full blissfully in prison to endure:\n"
+  "In prison? nay certes, in paradise.\n"
+  "Well hath fortune y-turned thee the dice,\n"
+  "That hast the sight of her, and I th' absence.\n"
+  "For possible is, since thou hast her presence,\n"
+  "And art a knight, a worthy and an able,\n"
+  "That by some cas*, since fortune is changeable,                  *chance\n"
+  "Thou may'st to thy desire sometime attain.\n"
+  "But I that am exiled, and barren\n"
+  "Of alle grace, and in so great despair,\n"
+  "That there n'is earthe, water, fire, nor air,\n"
+  "Nor creature, that of them maked is,\n"
+  "That may me helpe nor comfort in this,\n"
+  "Well ought I *sterve in wanhope* and distress.          *die in despair*\n"
+  "Farewell my life, my lust*, and my gladness.                   *pleasure\n"
+  "Alas, *why plainen men so in commune       *why do men so often complain\n"
+  "Of purveyance of God*, or of Fortune,              of God's providence?*\n"
+  "That giveth them full oft in many a guise\n"
+  "Well better than they can themselves devise?\n"
+  "Some man desireth for to have richess,\n"
+  "That cause is of his murder or great sickness.\n"
+  "And some man would out of his prison fain,\n"
+  "That in his house is of his meinie* slain.                *servants <16>\n"
+  "Infinite harmes be in this mattere.\n"
+  "We wot never what thing we pray for here.\n"
+  "We fare as he that drunk is as a mouse.\n"
+  "A drunken man wot well he hath an house,\n"
+  "But he wot not which is the right way thither,\n"
+  "And to a drunken man the way is slither*.                      *slippery\n"
+  "And certes in this world so fare we.\n"
+  "We seeke fast after felicity,\n"
+  "But we go wrong full often truely.\n"
+  "Thus we may sayen all, and namely* I,                        *especially\n"
+  "That ween'd*, and had a great opinion,                          *thought\n"
+  "That if I might escape from prison\n"
+  "Then had I been in joy and perfect heal,\n"
+  "Where now I am exiled from my weal.\n"
+  "Since that I may not see you, Emily,\n"
+  "I am but dead; there is no remedy.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Upon that other side, Palamon,\n"
+  "When that he wist Arcita was agone,\n"
+  "Much sorrow maketh, that the greate tower\n"
+  "Resounded of his yelling and clamour\n"
+  "The pure* fetters on his shinnes great                        *very <17>\n"
+  "Were of his bitter salte teares wet.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"Arcita, cousin mine,\n"
+  "Of all our strife, God wot, the fruit is thine.\n"
+  "Thou walkest now in Thebes at thy large,\n"
+  "And of my woe thou *givest little charge*.          *takest little heed*\n"
+  "Thou mayst, since thou hast wisdom and manhead*,       *manhood, courage\n"
+  "Assemble all the folk of our kindred,\n"
+  "And make a war so sharp on this country\n"
+  "That by some aventure, or some treaty,\n"
+  "Thou mayst have her to lady and to wife,\n"
+  "For whom that I must needes lose my life.\n"
+  "For as by way of possibility,\n"
+  "Since thou art at thy large, of prison free,\n"
+  "And art a lord, great is thine avantage,\n"
+  "More than is mine, that sterve here in a cage.\n"
+  "For I must weep and wail, while that I live,\n"
+  "With all the woe that prison may me give,\n"
+  "And eke with pain that love me gives also,\n"
+  "That doubles all my torment and my woe.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Therewith the fire of jealousy upstart\n"
+  "Within his breast, and hent* him by the heart                    *seized\n"
+  "So woodly*, that he like was to behold                            *madly\n"
+  "The box-tree, or the ashes dead and cold.\n"
+  "Then said; \"O cruel goddess, that govern\n"
+  "This world with binding of your word etern*                     *eternal\n"
+  "And writen in the table of adamant\n"
+  "Your parlement* and your eternal grant,                    *consultation\n"
+  "What is mankind more *unto you y-hold*                  *by you esteemed\n"
+  "Than is the sheep, that rouketh* in the fold!      *lie huddled together\n"
+  "For slain is man, right as another beast;\n"
+  "And dwelleth eke in prison and arrest,\n"
+  "And hath sickness, and great adversity,\n"
+  "And oftentimes guilteless, pardie*                               *by God\n"
+  "What governance is in your prescience,\n"
+  "That guilteless tormenteth innocence?\n"
+  "And yet increaseth this all my penance,\n"
+  "That man is bounden to his observance\n"
+  "For Godde's  sake to *letten of his will*,         *restrain his desire*\n"
+  "Whereas a beast may all his lust fulfil.\n"
+  "And when a beast is dead, he hath no pain;\n"
+  "But man after his death must weep and plain,\n"
+  "Though in this worlde he have care and woe:\n"
+  "Withoute doubt it maye standen so.\n"
+  "\"The answer of this leave I to divines,\n"
+  "But well I wot, that in this world great pine* is;        *pain, trouble\n"
+  "Alas! I see a serpent or a thief\n"
+  "That many a true man hath done mischief,\n"
+  "Go at his large, and where him list may turn.\n"
+  "But I must be in prison through Saturn,\n"
+  "And eke through Juno, jealous and eke wood*,                        *mad\n"
+  "That hath well nigh destroyed all the blood\n"
+  "Of Thebes, with his waste walles wide.\n"
+  "And Venus slay'th me on that other side\n"
+  "For jealousy, and fear of him, Arcite.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Now will I stent* of Palamon a lite**,                   *pause **little\n"
+  "And let him in his prison stille dwell,\n"
+  "And of Arcita forth I will you tell.\n"
+  "The summer passeth, and the nightes long\n"
+  "Increase double-wise the paines strong\n"
+  "Both of the lover and the prisonere.\n"
+  "I n'ot* which hath the wofuller mistere**.         *know not **condition\n"
+  "For, shortly for to say, this Palamon\n"
+  "Perpetually is damned to prison,\n"
+  "In chaines and in fetters to be dead;\n"
+  "And Arcite is exiled *on his head*                *on peril of his head*\n"
+  "For evermore as out of that country,\n"
+  "Nor never more he shall his lady see.\n"
+  "You lovers ask I now this question,<18>\n"
+  "Who lieth the worse, Arcite or Palamon?\n"
+  "The one may see his lady day by day,\n"
+  "But in prison he dwelle must alway.\n"
+  "The other where him list may ride or go,\n"
+  "But see his lady shall he never mo'.\n"
+  "Now deem all as you liste, ye that can,\n"
+  "For I will tell you forth as I began.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "When that Arcite to Thebes comen was,\n"
+  "Full oft a day he swelt*, and said, \"Alas!\"                     *fainted\n"
+  "For see this lady he shall never mo'.\n"
+  "And shortly to concluden all his woe,\n"
+  "So much sorrow had never creature\n"
+  "That is or shall be while the world may dure.\n"
+  "His sleep, his meat, his drink is *him byraft*,    *taken away from him*\n"
+  "That lean he wex*, and dry as any shaft.                         *became\n"
+  "His eyen hollow, grisly to behold,\n"
+  "His hue sallow, and pale as ashes cold,\n"
+  "And solitary he was, ever alone,\n"
+  "And wailing all the night, making his moan.\n"
+  "And if he hearde song or instrument,\n"
+  "Then would he weepen, he might not be stent*.                   *stopped\n"
+  "So feeble were his spirits, and so low,\n"
+  "And changed so, that no man coulde know\n"
+  "His speech, neither his voice, though men it heard.\n"
+  "And in his gear* for all the world he far'd              *behaviour <19>\n"
+  "Not only like the lovers' malady\n"
+  "Of Eros, but rather y-like manie*                               *madness\n"
+  "Engender'd of humours melancholic,\n"
+  "Before his head in his cell fantastic.<20>\n"
+  "And shortly turned was all upside down,\n"
+  "Both habit and eke dispositioun,\n"
+  "Of him, this woful lover Dan* Arcite.                         *Lord <21>\n"
+  "Why should I all day of his woe indite?\n"
+  "When he endured had a year or two\n"
+  "This cruel torment, and this pain and woe,\n"
+  "At Thebes, in his country, as I said,\n"
+  "Upon a night in sleep as he him laid,\n"
+  "Him thought how that the winged god Mercury\n"
+  "Before him stood, and bade him to be merry.\n"
+  "His sleepy yard* in hand he bare upright;                      *rod <22>\n"
+  "A hat he wore upon his haires bright.\n"
+  "Arrayed was this god (as he took keep*)                          *notice\n"
+  "As he was when that Argus<23> took his sleep;\n"
+  "And said him thus: \"To Athens shalt thou wend*;                      *go\n"
+  "There is thee shapen* of thy woe an end.\"               *fixed, prepared\n"
+  "And with that word Arcite woke and start.\n"
+  "\"Now truely how sore that e'er me smart,\"\n"
+  "Quoth he, \"to Athens right now will I fare.\n"
+  "Nor for no dread of death shall I not spare\n"
+  "To see my lady that I love and serve;\n"
+  "In her presence *I recke not to sterve.*\"         *do not care if I die*\n"
+  "And with that word he caught a great mirror,\n"
+  "And saw that changed was all his colour,\n"
+  "And saw his visage all in other kind.\n"
+  "And right anon it ran him ill his mind,\n"
+  "That since his face was so disfigur'd\n"
+  "Of malady the which he had endur'd,\n"
+  "He mighte well, if that he *bare him low,*      *lived in lowly fashion*\n"
+  "Live in Athenes evermore unknow,\n"
+  "And see his lady wellnigh day by day.\n"
+  "And right anon he changed his array,\n"
+  "And clad him as a poore labourer.\n"
+  "And all alone, save only a squier,\n"
+  "That knew his privity* and all his cas**,             *secrets **fortune\n"
+  "Which was disguised poorly as he was,\n"
+  "To Athens is he gone the nexte*  way.                      *nearest <24>\n"
+  "And to the court he went upon a day,\n"
+  "And at the gate he proffer'd his service,\n"
+  "To drudge and draw, what so men would devise*.                    *order\n"
+  "And, shortly of this matter for to sayn,\n"
+  "He fell in office with a chamberlain,\n"
+  "The which that dwelling was with Emily.\n"
+  "For he was wise, and coulde soon espy\n"
+  "Of every servant which that served her.\n"
+  "Well could he hewe wood, and water bear,\n"
+  "For he was young and mighty for the nones*,                    *occasion\n"
+  "And thereto he was strong and big of bones\n"
+  "To do that any wight can him devise.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "A year or two he was in this service,\n"
+  "Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;\n"
+  "And Philostrate he saide that he hight.\n"
+  "But half so well belov'd a man as he\n"
+  "Ne was there never in court of his degree.\n"
+  "He was so gentle of conditioun,\n"
+  "That throughout all the court was his renown.\n"
+  "They saide that it were a charity\n"
+  "That Theseus would *enhance his degree*,           *elevate him in rank*\n"
+  "And put him in some worshipful service,\n"
+  "There as he might his virtue exercise.\n"
+  "And thus within a while his name sprung\n"
+  "Both of his deedes, and of his good tongue,\n"
+  "That Theseus hath taken him so near,\n"
+  "That of his chamber he hath made him squire,\n"
+  "And gave him gold to maintain his degree;\n"
+  "And eke men brought him out of his country\n"
+  "From year to year full privily his rent.\n"
+  "But honestly and slyly* he it spent,              *discreetly, prudently\n"
+  "That no man wonder'd how that he it had.\n"
+  "And three year in this wise his life be lad*,                       *led\n"
+  "And bare him so in peace and eke in werre*,                         *war\n"
+  "There was no man that Theseus had so derre*.                       *dear\n"
+  "And in this blisse leave I now Arcite,\n"
+  "And speak I will of Palamon a lite*.                             *little\n"
+  "\n"
+  "In darkness horrible, and strong prison,\n"
+  "This seven year hath sitten Palamon,\n"
+  "Forpined*, what for love, and for distress.          *pined, wasted away\n"
+  "Who feeleth double sorrow and heaviness\n"
+  "But Palamon? that love distraineth* so,                        *afflicts\n"
+  "That wood* out of his wits he went for woe,                         *mad\n"
+  "And eke thereto he is a prisonere\n"
+  "Perpetual, not only for a year.\n"
+  "Who coulde rhyme in English properly\n"
+  "His martyrdom? forsooth*, it is not I;                            *truly\n"
+  "Therefore I pass as lightly as I may.\n"
+  "It fell that in the seventh year, in May\n"
+  "The thirde night (as olde bookes sayn,\n"
+  "That all this story tellen more plain),\n"
+  "Were it by a venture or destiny\n"
+  "(As when a thing is shapen* it shall be),              *settled, decreed\n"
+  "That soon after the midnight, Palamon\n"
+  "By helping of a friend brake his prison,\n"
+  "And fled the city fast as he might go,\n"
+  "For he had given drink his gaoler so\n"
+  "Of a clary <25>, made of a certain wine,\n"
+  "With *narcotise and opie* of Thebes fine,          *narcotics and opium*\n"
+  "That all the night, though that men would him shake,\n"
+  "The gaoler slept, he mighte not awake:\n"
+  "And thus he fled as fast as ever he may.\n"
+  "The night was short, and *faste by the day            *close at hand was\n"
+  "That needes cast he must himself to hide*.          the day during which\n"
+  "And to a grove faste there beside       he must cast about, or contrive,\n"
+  "With dreadful foot then stalked Palamon.            to conceal himself.*\n"
+  "For shortly this was his opinion,\n"
+  "That in the grove he would him hide all day,\n"
+  "And in the night then would he take his way\n"
+  "To Thebes-ward, his friendes for to pray\n"
+  "On Theseus to help him to warray*.                        *make war <26>\n"
+  "And shortly either he would lose his life,\n"
+  "Or winnen Emily unto his wife.\n"
+  "This is th' effect, and his intention plain.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Now will I turn to Arcita again,\n"
+  "That little wist how nighe was his care,\n"
+  "Till that Fortune had brought him in the snare.\n"
+  "The busy lark, the messenger of day,\n"
+  "Saluteth in her song the morning gray;\n"
+  "And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright,\n"
+  "That all the orient laugheth at the sight,\n"
+  "And with his streames* drieth in the greves**             *rays **groves\n"
+  "The silver droppes, hanging on the leaves;\n"
+  "And Arcite, that is in the court royal\n"
+  "With Theseus, his squier principal,\n"
+  "Is ris'n, and looketh on the merry day.\n"
+  "And for to do his observance to May,\n"
+  "Remembering the point* of his desire,                            *object\n"
+  "He on his courser, starting as the fire,\n"
+  "Is ridden to the fieldes him to play,\n"
+  "Out of the court, were it a mile or tway.\n"
+  "And to the grove, of which I have you told,\n"
+  "By a venture his way began to hold,\n"
+  "To make him a garland of the greves*,                            *groves\n"
+  "Were it of woodbine, or of hawthorn leaves,\n"
+  "And loud he sang against the sun so sheen*.              *shining bright\n"
+  "\"O May, with all thy flowers and thy green,\n"
+  "Right welcome be thou, faire freshe May,\n"
+  "I hope that I some green here getten may.\"\n"
+  "And from his courser*, with a lusty heart,                        *horse\n"
+  "Into the grove full hastily he start,\n"
+  "And in a path he roamed up and down,\n"
+  "There as by aventure this Palamon\n"
+  "Was in a bush, that no man might him see,\n"
+  "For sore afeard of his death was he.\n"
+  "Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite;\n"
+  "God wot he would have *trowed it full lite*.   *full little believed it*\n"
+  "But sooth is said, gone since full many years,\n"
+  "The field hath eyen*, and the wood hath ears,                      *eyes\n"
+  "It is full fair a man *to bear him even*,           *to be on his guard*\n"
+  "For all day meeten men at *unset steven*.          *unexpected time <27>\n"
+  "Full little wot Arcite of his fellaw,\n"
+  "That was so nigh to hearken of his saw*,                 *saying, speech\n"
+  "For in the bush he sitteth now full still.\n"
+  "When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,\n"
+  "And *sungen all the roundel* lustily,           *sang the roundelay*<28>\n"
+  "Into a study he fell suddenly,\n"
+  "As do those lovers in their *quainte gears*,              *odd fashions*\n"
+  "Now in the crop*, and now down in the breres**, <29>           *tree-top\n"
+  "Now up, now down, as bucket in a well.                          **briars\n"
+  "Right as the Friday, soothly for to tell,\n"
+  "Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,\n"
+  "Right so can geary* Venus overcast                            *changeful\n"
+  "The heartes of her folk, right as her day\n"
+  "Is gearful*, right so changeth she array.                     *changeful\n"
+  "Seldom is Friday all the weeke like.\n"
+  "When Arcite had y-sung, he gan to sike*,                           *sigh\n"
+  "And sat him down withouten any more:\n"
+  "\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"the day that I was bore!\n"
+  "How longe, Juno, through thy cruelty\n"
+  "Wilt thou warrayen* Thebes the city?                            *torment\n"
+  "Alas! y-brought is to confusion\n"
+  "The blood royal of Cadm' and Amphion:\n"
+  "Of Cadmus, which that was the firste man,\n"
+};
+const char knightsTale2[] PROGMEM = {
+  "That Thebes built, or first the town began,\n"
+  "And of the city first was crowned king.\n"
+  "Of his lineage am I, and his offspring\n"
+  "By very line, as of the stock royal;\n"
+  "And now I am *so caitiff and so thrall*,         *wretched and enslaved*\n"
+  "That he that is my mortal enemy,\n"
+  "I serve him as his squier poorely.\n"
+  "And yet doth Juno me well more shame,\n"
+  "For I dare not beknow* mine owen name,                 *acknowledge <30>\n"
+  "But there as I was wont to hight Arcite,\n"
+  "Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.\n"
+  "Alas! thou fell Mars, and alas! Juno,\n"
+  "Thus hath your ire our lineage all fordo*                *undone, ruined\n"
+  "Save only me, and wretched Palamon,\n"
+  "That Theseus martyreth in prison.\n"
+  "And over all this, to slay me utterly,\n"
+  "Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly*                       *burningly\n"
+  "Y-sticked through my true careful heart,\n"
+  "That shapen was my death erst than my shert. <31>\n"
+  "Ye slay me with your eyen, Emily;\n"
+  "Ye be the cause wherefore that I die.\n"
+  "Of all the remnant of mine other care\n"
+  "Ne set I not the *mountance of a tare*,               *value of a straw*\n"
+  "So that I could do aught to your pleasance.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And with that word he fell down in a trance\n"
+  "A longe time; and afterward upstart\n"
+  "This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart\n"
+  "He felt a cold sword suddenly to glide:\n"
+  "For ire he quoke*, no longer would he hide.                      *quaked\n"
+  "And when that he had heard Arcite's tale,\n"
+  "As he were wood*, with face dead and pale,                          *mad\n"
+  "He start him up out of the bushes thick,\n"
+  "And said: \"False Arcita, false traitor wick'*,                   *wicked\n"
+  "Now art thou hent*, that lov'st my lady so,                      *caught\n"
+  "For whom that I have all this pain and woe,\n"
+  "And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,\n"
+  "As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,\n"
+  "And hast bejaped* here Duke Theseus,             *deceived, imposed upon\n"
+  "And falsely changed hast thy name thus;\n"
+  "I will be dead, or elles thou shalt die.\n"
+  "Thou shalt not love my lady Emily,\n"
+  "But I will love her only and no mo';\n"
+  "For I am Palamon thy mortal foe.\n"
+  "And though I have no weapon in this place,\n"
+  "But out of prison am astart* by grace,                          *escaped\n"
+  "I dreade* not that either thou shalt die,                         *doubt\n"
+  "Or else thou shalt not loven Emily.\n"
+  "Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Arcite then, with full dispiteous* heart,                 *wrathful\n"
+  "When he him knew, and had his tale heard,\n"
+  "As fierce as lion pulled out a swerd,\n"
+  "And saide thus; \"By God that sitt'th above,\n"
+  "*N'ere it* that thou art sick, and wood for love,          *were it not*\n"
+  "And eke that thou no weap'n hast in this place,\n"
+  "Thou should'st never out of this grove pace,\n"
+  "That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.\n"
+  "For I defy the surety and the band,\n"
+  "Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.\n"
+  "What? very fool, think well that love is free;\n"
+  "And I will love her maugre* all thy might.                      *despite\n"
+  "But, for thou art a worthy gentle knight,\n"
+  "And *wilnest to darraine her by bataille*,             *will reclaim her\n"
+  "Have here my troth, to-morrow I will not fail,                by combat*\n"
+  "Without weeting* of any other wight,                          *knowledge\n"
+  "That here I will be founden as a knight,\n"
+  "And bringe harness* right enough for thee;              *armour and arms\n"
+  "And choose the best, and leave the worst for me.\n"
+  "And meat and drinke this night will I bring\n"
+  "Enough for thee, and clothes for thy bedding.\n"
+  "And if so be that thou my lady win,\n"
+  "And slay me in this wood that I am in,\n"
+  "Thou may'st well have thy lady as for me.\"\n"
+  "This Palamon answer'd, \"I grant it thee.\"\n"
+  "And thus they be departed till the morrow,\n"
+  "When each of them hath *laid his faith to borrow*.   *pledged his faith*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "O Cupid, out of alle charity!\n"
+  "O Regne* that wilt no fellow have with thee!                 *queen <32>\n"
+  "Full sooth is said, that love nor lordeship\n"
+  "Will not, *his thanks*, have any fellowship.             *thanks to him*\n"
+  "Well finden that Arcite and Palamon.\n"
+  "Arcite is ridd anon unto the town,\n"
+  "And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,\n"
+  "Full privily two harness hath he dight*,                       *prepared\n"
+  "Both suffisant and meete to darraine*                           *contest\n"
+  "The battle in the field betwixt them twain.\n"
+  "And on his horse, alone as he was born,\n"
+  "He carrieth all this harness him beforn;\n"
+  "And in the grove, at time and place y-set,\n"
+  "This Arcite and this Palamon be met.\n"
+  "Then change gan the colour of their face;\n"
+  "Right as the hunter in the regne* of Thrace                     *kingdom\n"
+  "That standeth at a gappe with a spear\n"
+  "When hunted is the lion or the bear,\n"
+  "And heareth him come rushing in the greves*,                     *groves\n"
+  "And breaking both the boughes and the leaves,\n"
+  "Thinketh, \"Here comes my mortal enemy,\n"
+  "Withoute fail, he must be dead or I;\n"
+  "For either I must slay him at the gap;\n"
+  "Or he must slay me, if that me mishap:\"\n"
+  "So fared they, in changing of their hue\n"
+  "*As far as either of them other knew*.        *When they recognised each\n"
+  "There was no good day, and no saluting,                  other afar off*\n"
+  "But straight, withoute wordes rehearsing,\n"
+  "Evereach of them holp to arm the other,\n"
+  "As friendly, as he were his owen brother.\n"
+  "And after that, with sharpe speares strong\n"
+  "They foined* each at other wonder long.                          *thrust\n"
+  "Thou mightest weene*, that this Palamon                           *think\n"
+  "In fighting were as a wood* lion,                                   *mad\n"
+  "And as a cruel tiger was Arcite:\n"
+  "As wilde boars gan they together smite,\n"
+  "That froth as white as foam, *for ire wood*.            *mad with anger*\n"
+  "Up to the ancle fought they in their blood.\n"
+  "And in this wise I let them fighting dwell,\n"
+  "And forth I will of Theseus you tell.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The Destiny, minister general,\n"
+  "That executeth in the world o'er all\n"
+  "The purveyance*, that God hath seen beforn;              *foreordination\n"
+  "So strong it is, that though the world had sworn\n"
+  "The contrary of a thing by yea or nay,\n"
+  "Yet some time it shall fallen on a day\n"
+  "That falleth not eft* in a thousand year.                         *again\n"
+  "For certainly our appetites here,\n"
+  "Be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love,\n"
+  "All is this ruled by the sight* above.         *eye, intelligence, power\n"
+  "This mean I now by mighty Theseus,\n"
+  "That for to hunten is so desirous --\n"
+  "And namely* the greate hart in May --                        *especially\n"
+  "That in his bed there dawneth him no day\n"
+  "That he n'is clad, and ready for to ride\n"
+  "With hunt and horn, and houndes him beside.\n"
+  "For in his hunting hath he such delight,\n"
+  "That it is all his joy and appetite\n"
+  "To be himself the greate harte's bane*                      *destruction\n"
+  "For after Mars he serveth now Diane.\n"
+  "Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,\n"
+  "And Theseus, with alle joy and bliss,\n"
+  "With his Hippolyta, the faire queen,\n"
+  "And Emily, y-clothed all in green,\n"
+  "On hunting be they ridden royally.\n"
+  "And to the grove, that stood there faste by,\n"
+  "In which there was an hart, as men him told,\n"
+  "Duke Theseus the straighte way doth hold,\n"
+  "And to the laund* he rideth him full right,                  *plain <33>\n"
+  "There was the hart y-wont to have his flight,\n"
+  "And over a brook, and so forth on his way.\n"
+  "This Duke will have a course at him or tway\n"
+  "With houndes, such as him lust* to command.                     *pleased\n"
+  "And when this Duke was come to the laund,\n"
+  "Under the sun he looked, and anon\n"
+  "He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,\n"
+  "That foughte breme*, as it were bulles two.                    *fiercely\n"
+  "The brighte swordes wente to and fro\n"
+  "So hideously, that with the leaste stroke\n"
+  "It seemed that it woulde fell an oak,\n"
+  "But what they were, nothing yet he wote*.                          *knew\n"
+  "This Duke his courser with his spurres smote,\n"
+  "*And at a start* he was betwixt them two,                     *suddenly*\n"
+  "And pulled out a sword and cried, \"Ho!\n"
+  "No more, on pain of losing of your head.\n"
+  "By mighty Mars, he shall anon be dead\n"
+  "That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!\n"
+  "But tell to me what mister* men ye be,                *manner, kind <34>\n"
+  "That be so hardy for to fighte here\n"
+  "Withoute judge or other officer,\n"
+  "As though it were in listes royally. <35>\n"
+  "This Palamon answered hastily,\n"
+  "And saide: \"Sir, what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
+  "We have the death deserved bothe two,\n"
+  "Two woful wretches be we, and caitives,\n"
+  "That be accumbered* of our own lives,                          *burdened\n"
+  "And as thou art a rightful lord and judge,\n"
+  "So give us neither mercy nor refuge.\n"
+  "And slay me first, for sainte charity,\n"
+  "But slay my fellow eke as well as me.\n"
+  "Or slay him first; for, though thou know it lite*,               *little\n"
+  "This is thy mortal foe, this is Arcite\n"
+  "That from thy land is banisht on his head,\n"
+  "For which he hath deserved to be dead.\n"
+  "For this is he that came unto thy gate\n"
+  "And saide, that he highte Philostrate.\n"
+  "Thus hath he japed* thee full many year,                       *deceived\n"
+  "And thou hast made of him thy chief esquier;\n"
+  "And this is he, that loveth Emily.\n"
+  "For since the day is come that I shall die\n"
+  "I make pleinly* my confession,                      *fully, unreservedly\n"
+  "That I am thilke* woful Palamon,                         *that same <36>\n"
+  "That hath thy prison broken wickedly.\n"
+  "I am thy mortal foe, and it am I\n"
+  "That so hot loveth Emily the bright,\n"
+  "That I would die here present in her sight.\n"
+  "Therefore I aske death and my jewise*.                        *judgement\n"
+  "But slay my fellow eke in the same wise,\n"
+  "For both we have deserved to be slain.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This worthy Duke answer'd anon again,\n"
+  "And said, \"This is a short conclusion.\n"
+  "Your own mouth, by your own confession\n"
+  "Hath damned you, and I will it record;\n"
+  "It needeth not to pain you with the cord;\n"
+  "Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.<37>\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The queen anon for very womanhead\n"
+  "Began to weep, and so did Emily,\n"
+  "And all the ladies in the company.\n"
+  "Great pity was it as it thought them all,\n"
+  "That ever such a chance should befall,\n"
+  "For gentle men they were, of great estate,\n"
+  "And nothing but for love was this debate\n"
+  "They saw their bloody woundes wide and sore,\n"
+  "And cried all at once, both less and more,\n"
+  "\"Have mercy, Lord, upon us women all.\"\n"
+  "And on their bare knees adown they fall\n"
+  "And would have kissed his feet there as he stood,\n"
+  "Till at the last *aslaked was his mood*                   *his anger was\n"
+  "(For pity runneth soon in gentle heart);                       appeased*\n"
+  "And though at first for ire he quoke and start\n"
+  "He hath consider'd shortly in a clause\n"
+  "The trespass of them both, and eke the cause:\n"
+  "And although that his ire their guilt accused\n"
+  "Yet in his reason he them both excused;\n"
+  "As thus; he thoughte well that every man\n"
+  "Will help himself in love if that he can,\n"
+  "And eke deliver himself out of prison.\n"
+  "Of women, for they wepten ever-in-one:*                     *continually\n"
+  "And eke his hearte had compassion\n"
+  "And in his gentle heart he thought anon,\n"
+  "And soft unto himself he saide: \"Fie\n"
+  "Upon a lord that will have no mercy,\n"
+  "But be a lion both in word and deed,\n"
+  "To them that be in repentance and dread,\n"
+  "As well as-to a proud dispiteous* man                         *unpitying\n"
+  "That will maintaine what he first began.\n"
+  "That lord hath little of discretion,\n"
+  "That in such case *can no division*:           *can make no distinction*\n"
+  "But weigheth pride and humbless *after one*.\"                    *alike*\n"
+  "And shortly, when his ire is thus agone,\n"
+  "He gan to look on them with eyen light*,               *gentle, lenient*\n"
+  "And spake these same wordes *all on height.*                     *aloud*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"The god of love, ah! benedicite*,                         *bless ye him\n"
+  "How mighty and how great a lord is he!\n"
+  "Against his might there gaine* none obstacles,           *avail, conquer\n"
+  "He may be called a god for his miracles\n"
+  "For he can maken at his owen guise\n"
+  "Of every heart, as that him list devise.\n"
+  "Lo here this Arcite, and this Palamon,\n"
+  "That quietly were out of my prison,\n"
+  "And might have lived in Thebes royally,\n"
+  "And weet* I am their mortal enemy,                                 *knew\n"
+  "And that their death li'th in my might also,\n"
+  "And yet hath love, *maugre their eyen two*,     *in spite of their eyes*\n"
+  "Y-brought them hither bothe for to die.\n"
+  "Now look ye, is not this an high folly?\n"
+  "Who may not be a fool, if but he love?\n"
+  "Behold, for Godde's sake that sits above,\n"
+  "See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?\n"
+  "Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid\n"
+  "Their wages and their fees for their service;\n"
+  "And yet they weene for to be full wise,\n"
+  "That serve love, for aught that may befall.\n"
+  "But this is yet the beste game* of all,                            *joke\n"
+  "That she, for whom they have this jealousy,\n"
+  "Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.\n"
+  "She wot no more of all this *hote fare*,                 *hot behaviour*\n"
+  "By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare.\n"
+  "But all must be assayed hot or cold;\n"
+  "A man must be a fool, or young or old;\n"
+  "I wot it by myself *full yore agone*:                   *long years ago*\n"
+  "For in my time a servant was I one.\n"
+  "And therefore since I know of love's pain,\n"
+  "And wot how sore it can a man distrain*,                       *distress\n"
+  "As he that oft hath been caught in his last*,                *snare <38>\n"
+  "I you forgive wholly this trespass,\n"
+  "At request of the queen that kneeleth here,\n"
+  "And eke of Emily, my sister dear.\n"
+  "And ye shall both anon unto me swear,\n"
+  "That never more ye shall my country dere*                        *injure\n"
+  "Nor make war upon me night nor day,\n"
+  "But be my friends in alle that ye may.\n"
+  "I you forgive this trespass *every deal*.                   *completely*\n"
+  "And they him sware *his asking* fair and well,           *what he asked*\n"
+  "And him of lordship and of mercy pray'd,\n"
+  "And he them granted grace, and thus he said:\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"To speak of royal lineage and richess,\n"
+  "Though that she were a queen or a princess,\n"
+  "Each of you both is worthy doubteless\n"
+  "To wedde when time is; but natheless\n"
+  "I speak as for my sister Emily,\n"
+  "For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,\n"
+  "Ye wot* yourselves, she may not wed the two                        *know\n"
+  "At once, although ye fight for evermo:\n"
+  "But one of you, *all be him loth or lief,*    *whether or not he wishes*\n"
+  "He must *go pipe into an ivy leaf*:                       *\"go whistle\"*\n"
+  "This is to say, she may not have you both,\n"
+  "All be ye never so jealous, nor so wroth.\n"
+  "And therefore I you put in this degree,\n"
+  "That each of you shall have his destiny\n"
+  "As *him is shape*; and hearken in what wise      *as is decreed for him*\n"
+  "Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.\n"
+  "My will is this, for plain conclusion\n"
+  "Withouten any replication*,                                       *reply\n"
+  "If that you liketh, take it for the best,\n"
+  "That evereach of you shall go where *him lest*,              *he pleases\n"
+  "Freely without ransom or danger;\n"
+  "And this day fifty weekes, *farre ne nerre*,     *neither more nor less*\n"
+  "Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights,\n"
+  "Armed for listes up at alle rights\n"
+  "All ready to darraine* her by bataille,                     *contend for\n"
+  "And this behete* I you withoute fail                            *promise\n"
+  "Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,\n"
+  "That whether of you bothe that hath might,\n"
+  "That is to say, that whether he or thou\n"
+  "May with his hundred, as I spake of now,\n"
+  "Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive,\n"
+  "Him shall I given Emily to wive,\n"
+  "To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.\n"
+  "The listes shall I make here in this place.\n"
+  "*And God so wisly on my soule rue*,              *may God as surely have\n"
+  "As I shall even judge be and true.                     mercy on my soul*\n"
+  "Ye shall none other ende with me maken\n"
+  "Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.\n"
+  "And if you thinketh this is well y-said,\n"
+  "Say your advice*, and hold yourselves apaid**.      *opinion **satisfied\n"
+  "This is your end, and your conclusion.\"\n"
+  "Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?\n"
+  "Who springeth up for joye but Arcite?\n"
+  "Who could it tell, or who could it indite,\n"
+  "The joye that is maked in the place\n"
+  "When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?\n"
+  "But down on knees went every *manner wight*,            *kind of person*\n"
+  "And thanked him with all their heartes' might,\n"
+  "And namely* these Thebans *ofte sithe*.         *especially *oftentimes*\n"
+  "And thus with good hope and with hearte blithe\n"
+  "They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride\n"
+  "To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "I trow men woulde deem it negligence,\n"
+  "If I forgot to telle the dispence*                          *expenditure\n"
+  "Of Theseus, that went so busily\n"
+  "To maken up the listes royally,\n"
+  "That such a noble theatre as it was,\n"
+  "I dare well say, in all this world there n'as*.                 *was not\n"
+  "The circuit a mile was about,\n"
+  "Walled of stone, and ditched all without.\n"
+  "*Round was the shape, in manner of compass,\n"
+  "Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas*               *see note  <39>*\n"
+  "That when a man was set on one degree\n"
+  "He letted* not his fellow for to see.                          *hindered\n"
+  "Eastward there stood a gate of marble white,\n"
+  "Westward right such another opposite.\n"
+  "And, shortly to conclude, such a place\n"
+  "Was never on earth made in so little space,\n"
+  "For in the land there was no craftes-man,\n"
+  "That geometry or arsmetrike* can**,                   *arithmetic **knew\n"
+  "Nor pourtrayor*, nor carver of images,                 *portrait painter\n"
+  "That Theseus ne gave him meat and wages\n"
+  "The theatre to make and to devise.\n"
+  "And for to do his rite and sacrifice\n"
+  "He eastward hath upon the gate above,\n"
+  "In worship of Venus, goddess of love,\n"
+  "*Done make* an altar and an oratory;                 *caused to be made*\n"
+  "And westward, in the mind and in memory\n"
+  "Of Mars, he maked hath right such another,\n"
+  "That coste largely of gold a fother*.                    *a great amount\n"
+  "And northward, in a turret on the wall,\n"
+  "Of alabaster white and red coral\n"
+  "An oratory riche for to see,\n"
+  "In worship of Diane of chastity,\n"
+  "Hath Theseus done work in noble wise.\n"
+  "But yet had I forgotten to devise*                             *describe\n"
+  "The noble carving, and the portraitures,\n"
+  "The shape, the countenance of the figures\n"
+  "That weren in there oratories three.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "First in the temple of Venus may'st thou see\n"
+  "Wrought on the wall,  full piteous to behold,\n"
+  "The broken sleepes, and the sikes* cold,                         *sighes\n"
+  "The sacred teares, and the waimentings*,                     *lamentings\n"
+  "The fiery strokes of the desirings,\n"
+  "That Love's servants in this life endure;\n"
+  "The oathes, that their covenants assure.\n"
+  "Pleasance and Hope, Desire, Foolhardiness,\n"
+  "Beauty and Youth, and Bawdry and Richess,\n"
+  "Charms and Sorc'ry, Leasings* and Flattery,                  *falsehoods\n"
+  "Dispence, Business, and Jealousy,\n"
+  "That wore of yellow goldes* a garland,                  *sunflowers <40>\n"
+  "And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand,\n"
+  "Feasts, instruments, and caroles and dances,\n"
+  "Lust and array, and all the circumstances\n"
+  "Of Love, which I reckon'd and reckon shall\n"
+  "In order, were painted on the wall,\n"
+  "And more than I can make of mention.\n"
+  "For soothly all the mount of Citheron,<41>\n"
+  "Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,\n"
+  "Was showed on the wall in pourtraying,\n"
+  "With all the garden, and the lustiness*.                   *pleasantness\n"
+  "Nor was forgot the porter Idleness,\n"
+  "Nor Narcissus the fair of *yore agone*,                    *olden times*\n"
+  "Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,\n"
+  "Nor yet the greate strength of Hercules,\n"
+  "Th' enchantments of Medea and Circes,\n"
+  "Nor of Turnus the hardy fierce courage,\n"
+  "The rich Croesus *caitif in servage.* <42>         *abased into slavery*\n"
+  "Thus may ye see, that wisdom nor richess,\n"
+  "Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness\n"
+  "Ne may with Venus holde champartie*,            *divided possession <43>\n"
+  "For as her liste the world may she gie*.                          *guide\n"
+  "Lo, all these folk so caught were in her las*                     *snare\n"
+  "Till they for woe full often said, Alas!\n"
+  "Suffice these ensamples one or two,\n"
+  "Although I could reckon a thousand mo'.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The statue of Venus, glorious to see\n"
+  "Was naked floating in the large sea,\n"
+  "And from the navel down all cover'd was\n"
+  "With waves green, and bright as any glass.\n"
+  "A citole <44> in her right hand hadde she,\n"
+  "And on her head, full seemly for to see,\n"
+  "A rose garland fresh, and well smelling,\n"
+  "Above her head her doves flickering\n"
+  "Before her stood her sone Cupido,\n"
+  "Upon his shoulders winges had he two;\n"
+  "And blind he was, as it is often seen;\n"
+  "A bow he bare, and arrows bright and keen.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Why should I not as well eke tell you all\n"
+  "The portraiture, that was upon the wall\n"
+  "Within the temple of mighty Mars the Red?\n"
+  "All painted was the wall in length and brede*                   *breadth\n"
+  "Like to the estres* of the grisly place               *interior chambers\n"
+  "That hight the great temple of Mars in Thrace,\n"
+  "In thilke* cold and frosty region,                                 *that\n"
+  "There as Mars hath his sovereign mansion.\n"
+  "In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,\n"
+  "With knotty gnarry* barren trees old                            *gnarled\n"
+  "Of stubbes sharp and hideous to behold;\n"
+  "In which there ran a rumble and a sough*,                *groaning noise\n"
+  "As though a storm should bursten every bough:\n"
+  "And downward from an hill under a bent*                           *slope\n"
+  "There stood the temple of Mars Armipotent,\n"
+  "Wrought all of burnish'd steel, of which th' entry\n"
+  "Was long and strait, and ghastly for to see.\n"
+  "And thereout came *a rage and such a vise*,       *such a furious voice*\n"
+  "That it made all the gates for to rise.\n"
+  "The northern light in at the doore shone,\n"
+  "For window on the walle was there none\n"
+  "Through which men mighten any light discern.\n"
+  "The doors were all of adamant etern,\n"
+  "Y-clenched *overthwart and ende-long*         *crossways and lengthways*\n"
+  "With iron tough, and, for to make it strong,\n"
+  "Every pillar the temple to sustain\n"
+  "Was tunne-great*, of iron bright and sheen.     *thick as a tun (barrel)\n"
+  "There saw I first the dark imagining\n"
+  "Of felony, and all the compassing;\n"
+  "The cruel ire, as red as any glede*,                          *live coal\n"
+  "The picke-purse<45>, and eke the pale dread;\n"
+  "The smiler with the knife under the cloak,\n"
+  "The shepen* burning with the blacke smoke                   *stable <46>\n"
+  "The treason of the murd'ring in the bed,\n"
+  "The open war, with woundes all be-bled;\n"
+  "Conteke* with bloody knife, and sharp menace.       *contention, discord\n"
+  "All full of chirking* was that sorry place.     *creaking, jarring noise\n"
+  "The slayer of himself eke saw I there,\n"
+  "His hearte-blood had bathed all his hair:\n"
+  "The nail y-driven in the shode* at night,         *hair of the head <47>\n"
+  "The colde death, with mouth gaping upright.\n"
+  "Amiddes of the temple sat Mischance,\n"
+  "With discomfort and sorry countenance;\n"
+  "Eke saw I Woodness* laughing in his rage,                       *Madness\n"
+  "Armed Complaint, Outhees*, and fierce Outrage;                   *Outcry\n"
+  "The carrain* in the bush, with throat y-corve**,       *corpse **slashed\n"
+  "A thousand slain, and not *of qualm y-storve*;        *dead of sickness*\n"
+  "The tyrant, with the prey by force y-reft;\n"
+  "The town destroy'd, that there was nothing left.\n"
+  "Yet saw I brent* the shippes hoppesteres, <48>                    *burnt\n"
+  "The hunter strangled with the wilde bears:\n"
+  "The sow freting* the child right in the cradle;          *devouring <49>\n"
+  "The cook scalded, for all his longe ladle.\n"
+  "Nor was forgot, *by th'infortune of Mart*        *through the misfortune\n"
+  "The carter overridden with his cart;                             of war*\n"
+  "Under the wheel full low he lay adown.\n"
+  "There were also of Mars' division,\n"
+  "The armourer, the bowyer*, and the smith,                 *maker of bows\n"
+  "That forgeth sharp swordes on his stith*.                         *anvil\n"
+  "And all above depainted in a tower\n"
+  "Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honour,\n"
+  "With thilke* sharpe sword over his head                            *that\n"
+  "Hanging by a subtle y-twined thread.\n"
+  "Painted the slaughter was of Julius<50>,\n"
+  "Of cruel Nero, and Antonius:\n"
+  "Although at that time they were yet unborn,\n"
+  "Yet was their death depainted there beforn,\n"
+  "By menacing of Mars, right by figure,\n"
+  "So was it showed in that portraiture,\n"
+  "As is depainted in the stars above,\n"
+  "Who shall be slain, or elles dead for love.\n"
+  "Sufficeth one ensample in stories old,\n"
+  "I may not reckon them all, though I wo'ld.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The statue of Mars upon a carte* stood                          *chariot\n"
+  "Armed, and looked grim as he were wood*,                            *mad\n"
+  "And over his head there shone two figures\n"
+  "Of starres, that be cleped in scriptures,\n"
+  "That one Puella, that other Rubeus. <51>\n"
+  "This god of armes was arrayed thus:\n"
+  "A wolf there stood before him at his feet\n"
+  "With eyen red, and of a man he eat:\n"
+  "With subtle pencil painted was this story,\n"
+  "In redouting* of Mars and of his glory.                 *reverance, fear\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Now to the temple of Dian the chaste\n"
+  "As shortly as I can I will me haste,\n"
+  "To telle you all the descriptioun.\n"
+  "Depainted be the walles up and down\n"
+  "Of hunting and of shamefast chastity.\n"
+  "There saw I how woful Calistope,<52>\n"
+  "When that Dian aggrieved was with her,\n"
+  "Was turned from a woman to a bear,\n"
+  "And after was she made the lodestar*:                         *pole star\n"
+  "Thus was it painted, I can say no far*;                         *farther\n"
+  "Her son is eke a star as men may see.\n"
+  "There saw I Dane <53> turn'd into a tree,\n"
+  "I meane not the goddess Diane,\n"
+  "But Peneus' daughter, which that hight Dane.\n"
+  "There saw I Actaeon an hart y-maked*,                              *made\n"
+  "For vengeance that he saw Dian all naked:\n"
+  "I saw how that his houndes have him caught,\n"
+  "And freten* him, for that they knew him not.                     *devour\n"
+  "Yet painted was, a little farthermore\n"
+  "How Atalanta hunted the wild boar;\n"
+  "And Meleager, and many other mo',\n"
+  "For which Diana wrought them care and woe.\n"
+  "There saw I many another wondrous story,\n"
+  "The which me list not drawen to memory.\n"
+  "This goddess on an hart full high was set*,                      *seated\n"
+  "With smalle houndes all about her feet,\n"
+  "And underneath her feet she had a moon,\n"
+  "Waxing it was, and shoulde wane soon.\n"
+  "In gaudy green her statue clothed was,\n"
+  "With bow in hand, and arrows in a case*.                         *quiver\n"
+  "Her eyen caste she full low adown,\n"
+  "Where Pluto hath his darke regioun.\n"
+  "A woman travailing was her beforn,\n"
+  "But, for her child so longe was unborn,\n"
+  "Full piteously Lucina <54> gan she call,\n"
+  "And saide; \"Help, for thou may'st best of all.\"\n"
+  "Well could he painte lifelike that it wrought;\n"
+  "With many a florin he the hues had bought.\n"
+  "Now be these listes made, and Theseus,\n"
+  "That at his greate cost arrayed thus\n"
+  "The temples, and the theatre every deal*,                     *part <55>\n"
+  "When it was done, him liked wonder well.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "But stint* I will of Theseus a lite**,          *cease speaking **little\n"
+  "And speak of Palamon and of Arcite.\n"
+  "The day approacheth of their returning,\n"
+  "That evereach an hundred knights should bring,\n"
+  "The battle to darraine* as I you told;                          *contest\n"
+  "And to Athens, their covenant to hold,\n"
+  "Hath ev'reach of them brought an hundred knights,\n"
+  "Well-armed for the war at alle rights.\n"
+  "And sickerly* there trowed** many a man,         *surely <56> **believed\n"
+  "That never, sithen* that the world began,                         *since\n"
+  "For to speaken of knighthood of their hand,\n"
+  "As far as God hath maked sea and land,\n"
+  "Was, of so few, so noble a company.\n"
+  "For every wight that loved chivalry,\n"
+  "And would, *his thankes, have a passant name*,        *thanks to his own\n"
+  "Had prayed, that he might be of that game,               efforts, have a\n"
+  "And well was him, that thereto chosen was.              surpassing name*\n"
+  "For if there fell to-morrow such a case,\n"
+  "Ye knowe well, that every lusty knight,\n"
+  "That loveth par amour, and hath his might\n"
+  "Were it in Engleland, or elleswhere,\n"
+  "They would, their thankes, willen to be there,\n"
+  "T' fight for a lady; Benedicite,\n"
+  "It were a lusty* sighte for to see.                            *pleasing\n"
+  "And right so fared they with Palamon;\n"
+  "With him there wente knightes many one.\n"
+  "Some will be armed in an habergeon,\n"
+  "And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon*;                  *short doublet.\n"
+  "And some will have *a pair of plates* large;     *back and front armour*\n"
+  "And some will have a Prusse* shield, or targe;                 *Prussian\n"
+  "Some will be armed on their legges weel;\n"
+  "Some have an axe, and some a mace of steel.\n"
+  "There is no newe guise*, but it was old.                        *fashion\n"
+  "Armed they weren, as I have you told,\n"
+  "Evereach after his opinion.\n"
+  "There may'st thou see coming with Palamon\n"
+  "Licurgus himself, the great king of Thrace:\n"
+  "Black was his beard, and manly was his face.\n"
+  "The circles of his eyen in his head\n"
+  "They glowed betwixte yellow and red,\n"
+  "And like a griffin looked he about,\n"
+  "With kemped* haires on his browes stout;                     *combed<57>\n"
+  "His limbs were great, his brawns were hard and strong,\n"
+  "His shoulders broad, his armes round and long.\n"
+  "And as the guise* was in his country,                           *fashion\n"
+  "Full high upon a car of gold stood he,\n"
+  "With foure white bulles in the trace.\n"
+  "Instead of coat-armour on his harness,\n"
+  "With yellow nails, and bright as any gold,\n"
+  "He had a beare's skin, coal-black for old*.                         *age\n"
+  "His long hair was y-kempt behind his back,\n"
+  "As any raven's feather it shone for black.\n"
+  "A wreath of gold *arm-great*, of huge weight,     *thick as a man's arm*\n"
+  "Upon his head sate, full of stones bright,\n"
+  "Of fine rubies and clear diamants.\n"
+  "About his car there wente white alauns*,                *greyhounds <58>\n"
+  "Twenty and more, as great as any steer,\n"
+  "To hunt the lion or the wilde bear,\n"
+  "And follow'd him, with muzzle fast y-bound,\n"
+  "Collars of gold, and torettes* filed round.                       *rings\n"
+  "An hundred lordes had he in his rout*                           *retinue\n"
+  "Armed full well, with heartes stern and stout.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "With Arcita, in stories as men find,\n"
+  "The great Emetrius the king of Ind,\n"
+  "Upon a *steede bay* trapped in steel,                        *bay horse*\n"
+  "Cover'd with cloth of gold diapred* well,                     *decorated\n"
+  "Came riding like the god of armes, Mars.\n"
+  "His coat-armour was of *a cloth of Tars*,               *a kind of silk*\n"
+  "Couched* with pearls white and round and great                  *trimmed\n"
+  "His saddle was of burnish'd gold new beat;\n"
+  "A mantelet on his shoulders hanging,\n"
+  "Bretful* of rubies red, as fire sparkling.                      *brimful\n"
+  "His crispe hair like ringes was y-run,\n"
+  "And that was yellow, glittering as the sun.\n"
+  "His nose was high, his eyen bright citrine*,                *pale yellow\n"
+  "His lips were round, his colour was sanguine,\n"
+  "A fewe fracknes* in his face y-sprent**,           *freckles **sprinkled\n"
+  "Betwixte yellow and black somedeal y-ment*                   *mixed <59>\n"
+  "And as a lion he *his looking cast*                *cast about his eyes*\n"
+  "Of five and twenty year his age I cast*                          *reckon\n"
+  "His beard was well begunnen for to spring;\n"
+  "His voice was as a trumpet thundering.\n"
+  "Upon his head he wore of laurel green\n"
+  "A garland fresh and lusty to be seen;\n"
+  "Upon his hand he bare, for his delight,\n"
+  "An eagle tame, as any lily white.\n"
+  "An hundred lordes had he with him there,\n"
+  "All armed, save their heads, in all their gear,\n"
+  "Full richely in alle manner things.\n"
+  "For trust ye well, that earles, dukes, and kings\n"
+  "Were gather'd in this noble company,\n"
+  "For love, and for increase of chivalry.\n"
+  "About this king there ran on every part\n"
+  "Full many a tame lion and leopart.\n"
+  "And in this wise these lordes *all and some*            *all and sundry*\n"
+  "Be on the Sunday to the city come\n"
+  "Aboute prime<60>, and in the town alight.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Theseus, this Duke, this worthy knight\n"
+  "When he had brought them into his city,\n"
+  "And inned* them, ev'reach at his degree,                         *lodged\n"
+  "He feasteth them, and doth so great labour\n"
+  "To *easen them*, and do them all honour,         *make them comfortable*\n"
+  "That yet men weene* that no mannes wit                            *think\n"
+  "Of none estate could amenden* it.                               *improve\n"
+  "The minstrelsy, the service at the feast,\n"
+  "The greate giftes to the most and least,\n"
+  "The rich array of Theseus' palace,\n"
+  "Nor who sate first or last upon the dais.<61>\n"
+  "What ladies fairest be, or best dancing\n"
+  "Or which of them can carol best or sing,\n"
+  "Or who most feelingly speaketh of love;\n"
+  "What hawkes sitten on the perch above,\n"
+  "What houndes liggen* on the floor adown,                            *lie\n"
+  "Of all this now make I no mentioun\n"
+  "But of th'effect; that thinketh me the best\n"
+  "Now comes the point, and hearken if you lest.*                   *please\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The Sunday night, ere day began to spring,\n"
+  "When Palamon the larke hearde sing,\n"
+  "Although it were not day by houres two,\n"
+  "Yet sang the lark, and Palamon right tho*                          *then\n"
+  "With holy heart, and with an high courage,\n"
+  "Arose, to wenden* on his pilgrimage                                  *go\n"
+  "Unto the blissful Cithera benign,\n"
+  "I meane Venus, honourable and digne*.                            *worthy\n"
+  "And in her hour <62> he walketh forth a pace\n"
+  "Unto the listes, where her temple was,\n"
+  "And down he kneeleth, and with humble cheer*                  *demeanour\n"
+};
+const char knightsTale3[] PROGMEM = {
+  "And hearte sore, he said as ye shall hear.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"Fairest of fair, O lady mine Venus,\n"
+  "Daughter to Jove, and spouse of Vulcanus,\n"
+  "Thou gladder of the mount of Citheron!<41>\n"
+  "For thilke love thou haddest to Adon <63>\n"
+  "Have pity on my bitter teares smart,\n"
+  "And take mine humble prayer to thine heart.\n"
+  "Alas! I have no language to tell\n"
+  "Th'effecte, nor the torment of mine hell;\n"
+  "Mine hearte may mine harmes not betray;\n"
+  "I am so confused, that I cannot say.\n"
+  "But mercy, lady bright, that knowest well\n"
+  "My thought, and seest what harm that I feel.\n"
+  "Consider all this, and *rue upon* my sore,                *take pity on*\n"
+  "As wisly* as I shall for evermore                                 *truly\n"
+  "Enforce my might, thy true servant to be,\n"
+  "And holde war alway with chastity:\n"
+  "That make I mine avow*, so ye me help.                     *vow, promise\n"
+  "I keepe not of armes for to yelp,*                                *boast\n"
+  "Nor ask I not to-morrow to have victory,\n"
+  "Nor renown in this case, nor vaine glory\n"
+  "Of *prize of armes*, blowing up and down,            *praise for valour*\n"
+  "But I would have fully possessioun\n"
+  "Of Emily, and die in her service;\n"
+  "Find thou the manner how, and in what wise.\n"
+  "I *recke not but* it may better be                 *do not know whether*\n"
+  "To have vict'ry of them, or they of me,\n"
+  "So that I have my lady in mine arms.\n"
+  "For though so be that Mars is god of arms,\n"
+  "Your virtue is so great in heaven above,\n"
+  "That, if you list, I shall well have my love.\n"
+  "Thy temple will I worship evermo',\n"
+  "And on thine altar, where I ride or go,\n"
+  "I will do sacrifice, and fires bete*.                      *make, kindle\n"
+  "And if ye will not so, my lady sweet,\n"
+  "Then pray I you, to-morrow with a spear\n"
+  "That Arcita me through the hearte bear\n"
+  "Then reck I not, when I have lost my life,\n"
+  "Though that Arcita win her to his wife.\n"
+  "This is th' effect and end of my prayere, --\n"
+  "Give me my love, thou blissful lady dear.\"\n"
+  "When th' orison was done of Palamon,\n"
+  "His sacrifice he did, and that anon,\n"
+  "Full piteously, with alle circumstances,\n"
+  "*All tell I not as now* his observances.       *although I tell not now*\n"
+  "But at the last the statue of Venus shook,\n"
+  "And made a signe, whereby that he took\n"
+  "That his prayer accepted was that day.\n"
+  "For though the signe shewed a delay,\n"
+  "Yet wist he well that granted was his boon;\n"
+  "And with glad heart he went him home full soon.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The third hour unequal <64>  that Palamon\n"
+  "Began to Venus' temple for to gon,\n"
+  "Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily,\n"
+  "And to the temple of Dian gan hie.\n"
+  "Her maidens, that she thither with her lad*,                        *led\n"
+  "Th' incense, the clothes, and the remnant all\n"
+  "That to the sacrifice belonge shall,\n"
+  "The hornes full of mead, as was the guise;\n"
+  "There lacked nought to do her sacrifice.\n"
+  "Smoking* the temple full of clothes fair,                  *draping <65>\n"
+  "This Emily with hearte debonnair*                                *gentle\n"
+  "Her body wash'd with water of a well.\n"
+  "But how she did her rite I dare not tell;\n"
+  "But* it be any thing in general;                                 *unless\n"
+  "And yet it were a game* to hearen all                          *pleasure\n"
+  "To him that meaneth well it were no charge:\n"
+  "But it is good a man to *be at large*.                   *do as he will*\n"
+  "Her bright hair combed was, untressed all.\n"
+  "A coronet of green oak cerriall <66>\n"
+  "Upon her head was set full fair and meet.\n"
+  "Two fires on the altar gan she bete,\n"
+  "And did her thinges, as men may behold\n"
+  "In Stace of Thebes <67>, and these bookes old.\n"
+  "When kindled was the fire, with piteous cheer\n"
+  "Unto Dian she spake as ye may hear.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"O chaste goddess of the woodes green,\n"
+  "To whom both heav'n and earth and sea is seen,\n"
+  "Queen of the realm of Pluto dark and low,\n"
+  "Goddess of maidens, that mine heart hast know\n"
+  "Full many a year, and wost* what I desire,                      *knowest\n"
+  "To keep me from the vengeance of thine ire,\n"
+  "That Actaeon aboughte* cruelly:                   *earned; suffered from\n"
+  "Chaste goddess, well wottest thou that I\n"
+  "Desire to be a maiden all my life,\n"
+  "Nor never will I be no love nor wife.\n"
+  "I am, thou wost*, yet of thy company,                           *knowest\n"
+  "A maid, and love hunting and venery*,                      *field sports\n"
+  "And for to walken in the woodes wild,\n"
+  "And not to be a wife, and be with child.\n"
+  "Nought will I know the company of man.\n"
+  "Now help me, lady, since ye may and can,\n"
+  "For those three formes <68> that thou hast in thee.\n"
+  "And Palamon, that hath such love to me,\n"
+  "And eke Arcite, that loveth me so sore,\n"
+  "This grace I pray thee withoute more,\n"
+  "As sende love and peace betwixt them two:\n"
+  "And from me turn away their heartes so,\n"
+  "That all their hote love, and their desire,\n"
+  "And all their busy torment, and their fire,\n"
+  "Be queint*, or turn'd into another place.                      *quenched\n"
+  "And if so be thou wilt do me no grace,\n"
+  "Or if my destiny be shapen so\n"
+  "That I shall needes have one of them two,\n"
+  "So send me him that most desireth me.\n"
+  "Behold, goddess of cleane chastity,\n"
+  "The bitter tears that on my cheekes fall.\n"
+  "Since thou art maid, and keeper of us all,\n"
+  "My maidenhead thou keep and well conserve,\n"
+  "And, while I live, a maid I will thee serve.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The fires burn upon the altar clear,\n"
+  "While Emily was thus in her prayere:\n"
+  "But suddenly she saw a sighte quaint*.                          *strange\n"
+  "For right anon one of the fire's *queint\n"
+  "And quick'd* again, and after that anon           *went out and revived*\n"
+  "That other fire was queint, and all agone:\n"
+  "And as it queint, it made a whisteling,\n"
+  "As doth a brande wet in its burning.\n"
+  "And at the brandes end outran anon\n"
+  "As it were bloody droppes many one:\n"
+  "For which so sore aghast was Emily,\n"
+  "That she was well-nigh mad, and gan to cry,\n"
+  "For she ne wiste what it signified;\n"
+  "But onely for feare thus she cried,\n"
+  "And wept, that it was pity for to hear.\n"
+  "And therewithal Diana gan appear\n"
+  "With bow in hand, right as an hunteress,\n"
+  "And saide; \"Daughter, stint* thine heaviness.                     *cease\n"
+  "Among the goddes high it is affirm'd,\n"
+  "And by eternal word writ and confirm'd,\n"
+  "Thou shalt be wedded unto one of tho*                             *those\n"
+  "That have for thee so muche care and woe:\n"
+  "But unto which of them I may not tell.\n"
+  "Farewell, for here I may no longer dwell.\n"
+  "The fires which that on mine altar brenn*,                         *burn\n"
+  "Shall thee declaren, ere that thou go henne*,                     *hence\n"
+  "Thine aventure of love, as in this case.\"\n"
+  "And with that word, the arrows in the case*                      *quiver\n"
+  "Of the goddess did clatter fast and ring,\n"
+  "And forth she went, and made a vanishing,\n"
+  "For which this Emily astonied was,\n"
+  "And saide; \"What amounteth this, alas!\n"
+  "I put me under thy protection,\n"
+  "Diane, and in thy disposition.\"\n"
+  "And home she went anon the nexte* way.                          *nearest\n"
+  "This is th' effect, there is no more to say.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The nexte hour of Mars following this\n"
+  "Arcite to the temple walked is\n"
+  "Of fierce Mars, to do his sacrifice\n"
+  "With all the rites of his pagan guise.\n"
+  "With piteous* heart and high devotion                             *pious\n"
+  "Right thus to Mars he said his orison\n"
+  "\"O stronge god, that in the regnes* old                          *realms\n"
+  "Of Thrace honoured art, and lord y-hold*                           *held\n"
+  "And hast in every regne, and every land\n"
+  "Of armes all the bridle in thine hand,\n"
+  "And *them fortunest as thee list devise*,             *send them fortune\n"
+  "Accept of me my piteous sacrifice.                        as you please*\n"
+  "If so be that my youthe may deserve,\n"
+  "And that my might be worthy for to serve\n"
+  "Thy godhead, that I may be one of thine,\n"
+  "Then pray I thee to *rue upon my pine*,                *pity my anguish*\n"
+  "For thilke* pain, and thilke hote fire,                            *that\n"
+  "In which thou whilom burned'st for desire\n"
+  "Whenne that thou usedest* the beauty                            *enjoyed\n"
+  "Of faire young Venus, fresh and free,\n"
+  "And haddest her in armes at thy will:\n"
+  "And though thee ones on a time misfill*,                   *were unlucky\n"
+  "When Vulcanus had caught thee in his las*,                     *net <69>\n"
+  "And found thee ligging* by his wife, alas!                        *lying\n"
+  "For thilke sorrow that was in thine heart,\n"
+  "Have ruth* as well upon my paine's smart.                          *pity\n"
+  "I am young and unconning*, as thou know'st,            *ignorant, simple\n"
+  "And, as I trow*, with love offended most                        *believe\n"
+  "That e'er was any living creature:\n"
+  "For she, that doth* me all this woe endure,                      *causes\n"
+  "Ne recketh ne'er whether I sink or fleet*                          *swim\n"
+  "And well I wot, ere she me mercy hete*,              *promise, vouchsafe\n"
+  "I must with strengthe win her in the place:\n"
+  "And well I wot, withoute help or grace\n"
+  "Of thee, ne may my strengthe not avail:\n"
+  "Then help me, lord, to-morr'w in my bataille,\n"
+  "For thilke fire that whilom burned thee,\n"
+  "As well as this fire that now burneth me;\n"
+  "And do* that I to-morr'w may have victory.                        *cause\n"
+  "Mine be the travail, all thine be the glory.\n"
+  "Thy sovereign temple will I most honour\n"
+  "Of any place, and alway most labour\n"
+  "In thy pleasance and in thy craftes strong.\n"
+  "And in thy temple I will my banner hong*,                          *hang\n"
+  "And all the armes of my company,\n"
+  "And evermore, until that day I die,\n"
+  "Eternal fire I will before thee find\n"
+  "And eke to this my vow I will me bind:\n"
+  "My beard, my hair that hangeth long adown,\n"
+  "That never yet hath felt offension*                           *indignity\n"
+  "Of razor nor of shears, I will thee give,\n"
+  "And be thy true servant while I live.\n"
+  "Now, lord, have ruth upon my sorrows sore,\n"
+  "Give me the victory, I ask no more.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The prayer stint* of Arcita the strong,                           *ended\n"
+  "The ringes on the temple door that hong,\n"
+  "And eke the doores, clattered full fast,\n"
+  "Of which Arcita somewhat was aghast.\n"
+  "The fires burn'd upon the altar bright,\n"
+  "That it gan all the temple for to light;\n"
+  "A sweete smell anon the ground up gaf*,                            *gave\n"
+  "And Arcita anon his hand up haf*,                                *lifted\n"
+  "And more incense into the fire he cast,\n"
+  "With other rites more and at the last\n"
+  "The statue of Mars began his hauberk ring;\n"
+  "And with that sound he heard a murmuring\n"
+  "Full low and dim, that saide thus,  \"Victory.\"\n"
+  "For which he gave to Mars honour and glory.\n"
+  "And thus with joy, and hope well to fare,\n"
+  "Arcite anon unto his inn doth fare.\n"
+  "As fain* as fowl is of the brighte sun.                            *glad\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And right anon such strife there is begun\n"
+  "For thilke* granting, in the heav'n above,                         *that\n"
+  "Betwixte Venus the goddess of love,\n"
+  "And Mars the sterne god armipotent,\n"
+  "That Jupiter was busy it to stent*:                                *stop\n"
+  "Till that the pale Saturnus the cold,<70>\n"
+  "That knew so many of adventures old,\n"
+  "Found in his old experience such an art,\n"
+  "That he full soon hath pleased every part.\n"
+  "As sooth is said, eld* hath great advantage,                        *age\n"
+  "In eld is bothe wisdom and usage*:                           *experience\n"
+  "Men may the old out-run, but not out-rede*.                      *outwit\n"
+  "Saturn anon, to stint the strife and drede,\n"
+  "Albeit that it is against his kind,*                             *nature\n"
+  "Of all this strife gan a remedy find.\n"
+  "\"My deare daughter Venus,\" quoth Saturn,\n"
+  "\"My course*, that hath so wide for to turn,                  *orbit <71>\n"
+  "Hath more power than wot any man.\n"
+  "Mine is the drowning in the sea so wan;\n"
+  "Mine is the prison in the darke cote*,                             *cell\n"
+  "Mine the strangling and hanging by the throat,\n"
+  "The murmur, and the churlish rebelling,\n"
+  "The groyning*, and the privy poisoning.                      *discontent\n"
+  "I do vengeance and plein* correction,                              *full\n"
+  "I dwell in the sign of the lion.\n"
+  "Mine is the ruin of the highe halls,\n"
+  "The falling of the towers and the walls\n"
+  "Upon the miner or the carpenter:\n"
+  "I slew Samson in shaking the pillar:\n"
+  "Mine also be the maladies cold,\n"
+  "The darke treasons, and the castes* old:                          *plots\n"
+  "My looking is the father of pestilence.\n"
+  "Now weep no more, I shall do diligence\n"
+  "That Palamon, that is thine owen knight,\n"
+  "Shall have his lady, as thou hast him hight*.                  *promised\n"
+  "Though Mars shall help his knight, yet natheless\n"
+  "Betwixte you there must sometime be peace:\n"
+  "All be ye not of one complexion,\n"
+  "That each day causeth such division,\n"
+  "I am thine ayel*, ready at thy will;                   *grandfather <72>\n"
+  "Weep now no more, I shall thy lust* fulfil.\"                   *pleasure\n"
+  "Now will I stenten* of the gods above,                   *cease speaking\n"
+  "Of Mars, and of Venus, goddess of love,\n"
+  "And telle you as plainly as I can\n"
+  "The great effect, for which that I began.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Great was the feast in Athens thilke* day;                         *that\n"
+  "And eke the lusty season of that May\n"
+  "Made every wight to be in such pleasance,\n"
+  "That all that Monday jousten they and dance,\n"
+  "And spenden it in Venus' high service.\n"
+  "But by the cause that they shoulde rise\n"
+  "Early a-morrow for to see that fight,\n"
+  "Unto their reste wente they at night.\n"
+  "And on the morrow, when the day gan spring,\n"
+  "Of horse and harness* noise and clattering                       *armour\n"
+  "There was in the hostelries all about:\n"
+  "And to the palace rode there many a rout*                *train, retinue\n"
+  "Of lordes, upon steedes and palfreys.\n"
+  "There mayst thou see devising* of harness                    *decoration\n"
+  "So uncouth* and so rich, and wrought so weel               *unkown, rare\n"
+  "Of goldsmithry, of brouding*, and of steel;                  *embroidery\n"
+  "The shieldes bright, the testers*, and trappures**          *helmets<73>\n"
+  "Gold-hewen helmets, hauberks, coat-armures;                  **trappings\n"
+  "Lordes in parements* on their coursers,           *ornamental garb <74>;\n"
+  "Knightes of retinue, and eke squiers,\n"
+  "Nailing the spears, and helmes buckeling,\n"
+  "Gniding* of shieldes, with lainers** lacing;             *polishing <75>\n"
+  "There as need is, they were nothing idle:                     **lanyards\n"
+  "The foamy steeds upon the golden bridle\n"
+  "Gnawing, and fast the armourers also\n"
+  "With file and hammer pricking to and fro;\n"
+  "Yeomen on foot, and knaves* many one                           *servants\n"
+  "With shorte staves, thick* as they may gon**;              *close **walk\n"
+  "Pipes, trumpets, nakeres*, and clariouns,                    *drums <76>\n"
+  "That in the battle blowe bloody souns;\n"
+  "The palace full of people up and down,\n"
+  "There three, there ten, holding their questioun*,          *conversation\n"
+  "Divining* of these Theban knightes two.                    *conjecturing\n"
+  "Some saiden thus, some said it shall he so;\n"
+  "Some helden with him with the blacke beard,\n"
+  "Some with the bald, some with the thick-hair'd;\n"
+  "Some said he looked grim, and woulde fight:\n"
+  "He had a sparth* of twenty pound of weight.           *double-headed axe\n"
+  "Thus was the halle full of divining*                       *conjecturing\n"
+  "Long after that the sunne gan up spring.\n"
+  "The great Theseus that of his sleep is waked\n"
+  "With minstrelsy, and noise that was maked,\n"
+  "Held yet the chamber of his palace rich,\n"
+  "Till that the Theban knightes both y-lich*                        *alike\n"
+  "Honoured were, and to the palace fet*.                          *fetched\n"
+  "Duke Theseus is at a window set,\n"
+  "Array'd right as he were a god in throne:\n"
+  "The people presseth thitherward full soon\n"
+  "Him for to see, and do him reverence,\n"
+  "And eke to hearken his hest* and his sentence**.       *command **speech\n"
+  "An herald on a scaffold made an O, <77>\n"
+  "Till the noise of the people was y-do*:                            *done\n"
+  "And when he saw the people of noise all still,\n"
+  "Thus shewed he the mighty Duke's will.\n"
+  "\"The lord hath of his high discretion\n"
+  "Considered that it were destruction\n"
+  "To gentle blood, to fighten in the guise\n"
+  "Of mortal battle now in this emprise:\n"
+  "Wherefore to shape* that they shall not die,          *arrange, contrive\n"
+  "He will his firste purpose modify.\n"
+  "No man therefore, on pain of loss of life,\n"
+  "No manner* shot, nor poleaxe, nor short knife                   *kind of\n"
+  "Into the lists shall send, or thither bring.\n"
+  "Nor short sword for to stick with point biting\n"
+  "No man shall draw, nor bear it by his side.\n"
+  "And no man shall unto his fellow ride\n"
+  "But one course, with a sharp y-grounden spear:\n"
+  "*Foin if him list on foot, himself to wear.           *He who wishes can\n"
+  "And he that is at mischief shall be take*,       fence on foot to defend\n"
+  "And not slain, but be brought unto the stake,       himself, and he that\n"
+  "That shall be ordained on either side;       is in peril shall be taken*\n"
+  "Thither he shall by force, and there abide.\n"
+  "And if *so fall* the chiefetain be take                  *should happen*\n"
+  "On either side, or elles slay his make*,                   *equal, match\n"
+  "No longer then the tourneying shall last.\n"
+  "God speede you; go forth and lay on fast.\n"
+  "With long sword and with mace fight your fill.\n"
+  "Go now your way; this is the lordes will.\n"
+  "The voice of the people touched the heaven,\n"
+  "So loude cried they with merry steven*:                           *sound\n"
+  "God save such a lord that is so good,\n"
+  "He willeth no destruction of blood.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Up go the trumpets and the melody,\n"
+  "And to the listes rode the company\n"
+  "*By ordinance*, throughout the city large,            *in orderly array*\n"
+  "Hanged with cloth of gold, and not with sarge*.              *serge <78>\n"
+  "Full like a lord this noble Duke gan ride,\n"
+  "And these two Thebans upon either side:\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And after rode the queen and Emily,\n"
+  "And after them another company\n"
+  "Of one and other, after their degree.\n"
+  "And thus they passed thorough that city\n"
+  "And to the listes came they by time:\n"
+  "It was not of the day yet fully prime*.              *between 6 & 9 a.m.\n"
+  "When set was Theseus full rich and high,\n"
+  "Hippolyta the queen and Emily,\n"
+  "And other ladies in their degrees about,\n"
+  "Unto the seates presseth all the rout.\n"
+  "And westward, through the gates under Mart,\n"
+  "Arcite, and eke the hundred of his part,\n"
+  "With banner red, is enter'd right anon;\n"
+  "And in the selve* moment Palamon                              *self-same\n"
+  "Is, under Venus, eastward in the place,\n"
+  "With banner white, and hardy cheer* and face                 *expression\n"
+  "In all the world, to seeken up and down\n"
+  "So even* without variatioun                                       *equal\n"
+  "There were such companies never tway.\n"
+  "For there was none so wise that coulde say\n"
+  "That any had of other avantage\n"
+  "Of worthiness, nor of estate, nor age,\n"
+  "So even were they chosen for to guess.\n"
+  "And *in two ranges faire they them dress*.     *they arranged themselves\n"
+  "When that their names read were every one,                  in two rows*\n"
+  "That in their number guile* were there none,                      *fraud\n"
+  "Then were the gates shut, and cried was loud;\n"
+  "\"Do now your devoir, younge knights proud\n"
+  "The heralds left their pricking* up and down      *spurring their horses\n"
+  "Now ring the trumpet loud and clarioun.\n"
+  "There is no more to say, but east and west\n"
+  "In go the speares sadly* in the rest;                          *steadily\n"
+  "In go the sharpe spurs into the side.\n"
+  "There see me who can joust, and who can ride.\n"
+  "There shiver shaftes upon shieldes thick;\n"
+  "He feeleth through the hearte-spoon<79> the prick.\n"
+  "Up spring the speares twenty foot on height;\n"
+  "Out go the swordes as the silver bright.\n"
+  "The helmes they to-hewen, and to-shred*;          *strike in pieces <80>\n"
+  "Out burst the blood, with sterne streames red.\n"
+  "With mighty maces the bones they to-brest*.                       *burst\n"
+  "He <81> through the thickest of the throng gan threst*.          *thrust\n"
+  "There stumble steedes strong, and down go all.\n"
+  "He rolleth under foot as doth a ball.\n"
+  "He foineth* on his foe with a trunchoun,                 *forces himself\n"
+  "And he him hurtleth with his horse adown.\n"
+  "He through the body hurt is, and *sith take*,      *afterwards captured*\n"
+  "Maugre his head, and brought unto the stake,\n"
+  "As forword* was, right there he must abide.                    *covenant\n"
+  "Another led is on that other side.\n"
+  "And sometime doth* them Theseus to rest,                         *caused\n"
+  "Them to refresh, and drinken if them lest*.                     *pleased\n"
+  "Full oft a day have thilke Thebans two                            *these\n"
+  "Together met and wrought each other woe:\n"
+  "Unhorsed hath each other of them tway*                            *twice\n"
+  "There is no tiger in the vale of Galaphay, <82>\n"
+  "When that her whelp is stole, when it is lite*                   *little\n"
+  "So cruel on the hunter, as Arcite\n"
+  "For jealous heart upon this Palamon:\n"
+  "Nor in Belmarie <83> there is no fell lion,\n"
+  "That hunted is, or for his hunger wood*                             *mad\n"
+  "Or for his prey desireth so the blood,\n"
+  "As Palamon to slay his foe Arcite.\n"
+  "The jealous strokes upon their helmets bite;\n"
+  "Out runneth blood on both their sides red,\n"
+  "Sometime an end there is of every deed\n"
+  "For ere the sun unto the reste went,\n"
+  "The stronge king Emetrius gan hent*                       *sieze, assail\n"
+  "This Palamon, as he fought with Arcite,\n"
+  "And made his sword deep in his flesh to bite,\n"
+  "And by the force of twenty is he take,\n"
+  "Unyielding, and is drawn unto the stake.\n"
+  "And in the rescue of this Palamon\n"
+  "The stronge king Licurgus is borne down:\n"
+  "And king Emetrius, for all his strength\n"
+  "Is borne out of his saddle a sword's length,\n"
+  "So hit him Palamon ere he were take:\n"
+  "But all for nought; he was brought to the stake:\n"
+  "His hardy hearte might him helpe naught,\n"
+  "He must abide when that he was caught,\n"
+  "By force, and eke by composition*.                          *the bargain\n"
+  "Who sorroweth now but woful Palamon\n"
+  "That must no more go again to fight?\n"
+  "And when that Theseus had seen that sight\n"
+  "Unto the folk that foughte thus each one,\n"
+  "He cried, Ho! no more, for it is done!\n"
+  "I will be true judge, and not party.\n"
+  "Arcite of Thebes shall have Emily,\n"
+  "That by his fortune hath her fairly won.\"\n"
+  "Anon there is a noise of people gone,\n"
+  "For joy of this, so loud and high withal,\n"
+  "It seemed that the listes shoulde fall.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "What can now faire Venus do above?\n"
+  "What saith she now? what doth this queen of love?\n"
+  "But weepeth so, for wanting of her will,\n"
+  "Till that her teares in the listes fill*                           *fall\n"
+  "She said: \"I am ashamed doubteless.\"\n"
+  "Saturnus saide: \"Daughter, hold thy peace.\n"
+  "Mars hath his will, his knight hath all his boon,\n"
+  "And by mine head thou shalt be eased soon.\"\n"
+  " The trumpeters with the loud minstrelsy,\n"
+  "The heralds, that full loude yell and cry,\n"
+  "Be in their joy for weal of Dan* Arcite.                           *Lord\n"
+  "But hearken me, and stinte noise a lite,\n"
+  "What a miracle there befell anon\n"
+  "This fierce Arcite hath off his helm y-done,\n"
+  "And on a courser for to shew his face\n"
+  "He *pricketh endelong* the large place,          *rides from end to end*\n"
+  "Looking upward upon this Emily;\n"
+  "And she again him cast a friendly eye\n"
+  "(For women, as to speaken *in commune*,                      *generally*\n"
+  "They follow all the favour of fortune),\n"
+  "And was all his in cheer*,  as his in heart.                *countenance\n"
+  "Out of the ground a fire infernal start,\n"
+  "From Pluto sent, at request of Saturn\n"
+  "For which his horse for fear began to turn,\n"
+  "And leap aside, and founder* as he leap                         *stumble\n"
+  "And ere that Arcite may take any keep*,                            *care\n"
+  "He pight* him on the pummel** of his head.                *pitched **top\n"
+  "That in the place he lay as he were dead.\n"
+  "His breast to-bursten with his saddle-bow.\n"
+  "As black he lay as any coal or crow,\n"
+  "So was the blood y-run into his face.\n"
+  "Anon he was y-borne out of the place\n"
+  "With hearte sore, to Theseus' palace.\n"
+  "Then was he carven* out of his harness.                             *cut\n"
+  "And in a bed y-brought full fair and blive*                     *quickly\n"
+  "For he was yet in mem'ry and alive,\n"
+  "And always crying after Emily.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Duke Theseus, with all his company,\n"
+  "Is come home to Athens his city,\n"
+  "With alle bliss and great solemnity.\n"
+  "Albeit that this aventure was fall*,                           *befallen\n"
+  "He woulde not discomforte* them all                          *discourage\n"
+  "Then said eke, that Arcite should not die,\n"
+  "He should be healed of his malady.\n"
+  "And of another thing they were as fain*.                           *glad\n"
+  "That of them alle was there no one slain,\n"
+  "All* were they sorely hurt, and namely** one,     *although **especially\n"
+  "That with a spear was thirled* his breast-bone.                 *pierced\n"
+  "To other woundes, and to broken arms,\n"
+  "Some hadden salves, and some hadden charms:\n"
+  "And pharmacies of herbs, and eke save*         *sage, Salvia officinalis\n"
+  "They dranken, for they would their lives have.\n"
+  "For which this noble Duke, as he well can,\n"
+  "Comforteth and honoureth every man,\n"
+  "And made revel all the longe night,\n"
+  "Unto the strange lordes, as was right.\n"
+  "Nor there was holden no discomforting,\n"
+  "But as at jousts or at a tourneying;\n"
+  "For soothly there was no discomfiture,\n"
+  "For falling is not but an aventure*.                   *chance, accident\n"
+  "Nor to be led by force unto a stake\n"
+  "Unyielding, and with twenty knights y-take\n"
+  "One person all alone, withouten mo',\n"
+  "And harried* forth by armes, foot, and toe,            *dragged, hurried\n"
+  "And eke his steede driven forth with staves,\n"
+  "With footmen, bothe yeomen and eke knaves*,                    *servants\n"
+  "It was *aretted him no villainy:*           *counted no disgrace to him*\n"
+  "There may no man *clepen it cowardy*.                *call it cowardice*\n"
+  "For which anon Duke Theseus *let cry*, --      *caused to be proclaimed*\n"
+  "To stenten* alle rancour and envy, --                              *stop\n"
+  "The gree* as well on one side as the other,                *prize, merit\n"
+  "And either side alike as other's brother:\n"
+  "And gave them giftes after their degree,\n"
+  "And held a feaste fully dayes three:\n"
+  "And conveyed the kinges worthily\n"
+  "Out of  his town a journee* largely                       *day's journey\n"
+  "And home went every man the righte way,\n"
+  "There was no more but \"Farewell, Have good day.\"\n"
+  "Of this bataille I will no more indite\n"
+  "But speak of Palamon and of Arcite.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Swelleth the breast of Arcite and the sore\n"
+  "Increaseth at his hearte more and more.\n"
+  "The clotted blood, for any leache-craft*                 *surgical skill\n"
+  "Corrupteth and is *in his bouk y-laft*                *left in his body*\n"
+  "That neither *veine blood nor ventousing*,    *blood-letting or cupping*\n"
+  "Nor drink of herbes may be his helping.\n"
+  "The virtue expulsive or animal,\n"
+  "From thilke virtue called natural,\n"
+  "Nor may the venom voide, nor expel\n"
+  "The pipes of his lungs began to swell\n"
+  "And every lacert* in his breast adown                     *sinew, muscle\n"
+  "Is shent* with venom and corruption.                          *destroyed\n"
+  "Him gaineth* neither, for to get his life,                     *availeth\n"
+  "Vomit upward, nor downward laxative;\n"
+  "All is to-bursten thilke region;\n"
+  "Nature hath now no domination.\n"
+  "And certainly where nature will not wirch,*                        *work\n"
+  "Farewell physic: go bear the man to chirch.*                     *church\n"
+  "This all and some is, Arcite must die.\n"
+  "For which he sendeth after Emily,\n"
+  "And Palamon, that was his cousin dear,\n"
+  "Then said he thus, as ye shall after hear.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"Nought may the woful spirit in mine heart\n"
+  "Declare one point of all my sorrows' smart\n"
+  "To you, my lady, that I love the most:\n"
+  "But I bequeath  the service of my ghost\n"
+  "To you aboven every creature,\n"
+  "Since that my life ne may no longer dure.\n"
+  "Alas the woe! alas, the paines strong\n"
+  "That I for you have suffered and so long!\n"
+  "Alas the death,  alas, mine Emily!\n"
+  "Alas departing* of our company!                           *the severance\n"
+  "Alas, mine hearte's queen! alas, my wife!\n"
+  "Mine hearte's lady, ender of my life!\n"
+  "What is this world? what aske men to have?\n"
+  "Now with his love, now in his colde grave\n"
+  "Al one, withouten any company.\n"
+  "Farewell, my sweet, farewell, mine Emily,\n"
+  "And softly take me in your armes tway,\n"
+  "For love of God, and hearken what I say.\n"
+  "I have here with my cousin Palamon\n"
+  "Had strife and rancour many a day agone,\n"
+  "For love of you, and for my jealousy.\n"
+  "And Jupiter so *wis my soule gie*,               *surely guides my soul*\n"
+  "To speaken of a servant properly,\n"
+  "With alle circumstances truely,\n"
+  "That is to say, truth, honour, and knighthead,\n"
+  "Wisdom, humbless*, estate, and high kindred,                   *humility\n"
+  "Freedom, and all that longeth to that art,\n"
+  "So Jupiter have of my soul part,\n"
+  "As in this world right now I know not one,\n"
+  "So worthy to be lov'd as Palamon,\n"
+  "That serveth you, and will do all his life.\n"
+  "And if that you shall ever be a wife,\n"
+  "Forget not Palamon, the gentle man.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And with that word his speech to fail began.\n"
+  "For from his feet up to his breast was come\n"
+  "The cold of death, that had him overnome*.                     *overcome\n"
+  "And yet moreover in his armes two\n"
+  "The vital strength is lost, and all ago*.                          *gone\n"
+  "Only the intellect, withoute more,\n"
+  "That dwelled in his hearte sick and sore,\n"
+  "Gan faile, when the hearte felte death;\n"
+  "Dusked* his eyen two, and fail'd his breath.                   *grew dim\n"
+  "But on his lady yet he cast his eye;\n"
+  "His laste word was; \"Mercy, Emily!\"\n"
+  "His spirit changed house, and wente there,\n"
+  "As I came never I cannot telle where.<84>\n"
+  "Therefore I stent*, I am no divinister**;             *refrain **diviner\n"
+  "Of soules find I nought in this register.\n"
+  "Ne me list not th' opinions to tell\n"
+  "Of them, though that they writen where they dwell;\n"
+  "Arcite is cold, there Mars his soule gie.*                        *guide\n"
+  "Now will I speake forth of Emily.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Shriek'd Emily, and howled Palamon,\n"
+  "And Theseus his sister took anon\n"
+  "Swooning, and bare her from the corpse away.\n"
+  "What helpeth it to tarry forth the day,\n"
+  "To telle how she wept both eve and morrow?\n"
+  "For in such cases women have such sorrow,\n"
+  "When that their husbands be from them y-go*,                       *gone\n"
+  "That for the more part they sorrow so,\n"
+  "Or elles fall into such malady,\n"
+  "That at the laste certainly they die.\n"
+  "Infinite be the sorrows and the tears\n"
+  "Of olde folk, and folk of tender years,\n"
+  "In all the town, for death of this Theban:\n"
+  "For him there weepeth bothe child and man.\n"
+  "So great a weeping was there none certain,\n"
+  "When Hector was y-brought, all fresh y-slain,\n"
+  "To Troy: alas! the pity that was there,\n"
+  "Scratching of cheeks, and rending eke of hair.\n"
+  "\"Why wouldest thou be dead?\" these women cry,\n"
+  "\"And haddest gold enough, and Emily.\"\n"
+  "No manner man might gladden Theseus,\n"
+  "Saving his olde father Egeus,\n"
+  "That knew this worlde's transmutatioun,\n"
+  "As he had seen it changen up and down,\n"
+  "Joy after woe, and woe after gladness;\n"
+  "And shewed him example and likeness.\n"
+  "\"Right as there died never man,\" quoth he,\n"
+  "\"That he ne liv'd in earth in some degree*,             *rank, condition\n"
+  "Right so there lived never man,\" he said,\n"
+  "\"In all this world, that sometime be not died.\n"
+  "This world is but a throughfare full of woe,\n"
+  "And we be pilgrims, passing to and fro:\n"
+  "Death is an end of every worldly sore.\"\n"
+  "And over all this said he yet much more\n"
+  "To this effect, full wisely to exhort\n"
+  "The people, that they should them recomfort.\n"
+  "Duke Theseus, with all his busy cure*,                             *care\n"
+  "*Casteth about*, where that the sepulture                  *deliberates*\n"
+  "Of good Arcite may best y-maked be,\n"
+  "And eke most honourable in his degree.\n"
+  "And at the last he took conclusion,\n"
+  "That there as first Arcite and Palamon\n"
+  "Hadde for love the battle them between,\n"
+  "That in that selve* grove, sweet and green,                   *self-same\n"
+  "There as he had his amorous desires,\n"
+  "His complaint, and for love his hote fires,\n"
+  "He woulde make a fire*, in which th' office                *funeral pyre\n"
+  "Of funeral he might all accomplice;\n"
+  "And *let anon command* to hack and hew         *immediately gave orders*\n"
+  "The oakes old, and lay them *on a rew*                        *in a row*\n"
+  "In culpons*, well arrayed for to brenne**.                  *logs **burn\n"
+  "His officers with swifte feet they renne*                           *run\n"
+  "And ride anon at his commandement.\n"
+  "And after this, Duke Theseus hath sent\n"
+  "After a bier, and it all oversprad\n"
+  "With cloth of gold, the richest that he had;\n"
+  "And of the same suit he clad Arcite.\n"
+  "Upon his handes were his gloves white,\n"
+  "Eke on his head a crown of laurel green,\n"
+  "And in his hand a sword full bright and keen.\n"
+  "He laid him *bare the visage* on the bier,         *with face uncovered*\n"
+  "Therewith he wept, that pity was to hear.\n"
+  "And, for the people shoulde see him all,\n"
+  "When it was day he brought them to the hall,\n"
+  "That roareth of the crying and the soun'.\n"
+  "Then came this woful Theban, Palamon,\n"
+  "With sluttery beard, and ruggy ashy hairs,<85>\n"
+  "In clothes black, y-dropped all with tears,\n"
+  "And (passing over weeping Emily)\n"
+  "The ruefullest of all the company.\n"
+  "And *inasmuch as* the service should be                  *in order that*\n"
+  "The more noble and rich in its degree,\n"
+  "Duke Theseus let forth three steedes bring,\n"
+  "That trapped were in steel all glittering.\n"
+  "And covered with the arms of Dan Arcite.\n"
+  "Upon these steedes, that were great and white,\n"
+  "There satte folk, of whom one bare his shield,\n"
+  "Another his spear in his handes held;\n"
+};
+const char knightsTale4[] PROGMEM = {
+  "The thirde bare with him his bow Turkeis*,                     *Turkish.\n"
+  "Of brent* gold was the case** and the harness:       *burnished **quiver\n"
+  "And ride forth *a pace* with sorrowful cheer**          *at a foot pace*\n"
+  "Toward the grove, as ye shall after hear.                   **expression\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The noblest of the Greekes that there were\n"
+  "Upon their shoulders carried the bier,\n"
+  "With slacke pace, and eyen red and wet,\n"
+  "Throughout the city, by the master* street,                   *main <86>\n"
+  "That spread was all with black, and wondrous high\n"
+  "Right of the same is all the street y-wrie.*               *covered <87>\n"
+  "Upon the right hand went old Egeus,\n"
+  "And on the other side Duke Theseus,\n"
+  "With vessels in their hand of gold full fine,\n"
+  "All full of honey, milk, and blood, and wine;\n"
+  "Eke Palamon, with a great company;\n"
+  "And after that came woful Emily,\n"
+  "With fire in hand, as was that time the guise*,                  *custom\n"
+  "To do th' office of funeral service.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "High labour, and full great appareling*                     *preparation\n"
+  "Was at the service, and the pyre-making,\n"
+  "That with its greene top the heaven raught*,                    *reached\n"
+  "And twenty fathom broad its armes straught*:                  *stretched\n"
+  "This is to say, the boughes were so broad.\n"
+  "Of straw first there was laid many a load.\n"
+  "But how the pyre was maked up on height,\n"
+  "And eke the names how the trees hight*,                     *were called\n"
+  "As oak, fir, birch, asp*, alder, holm, poplere,                   *aspen\n"
+  "Willow, elm, plane, ash, box, chestnut, lind*, laurere,    *linden, lime\n"
+  "Maple, thorn, beech, hazel, yew, whipul tree,\n"
+  "How they were fell'd, shall not be told for me;\n"
+  "Nor how the goddes* rannen up and down               *the forest deities\n"
+  "Disinherited of their habitatioun,\n"
+  "In which they wonned* had in rest and peace,                      *dwelt\n"
+  "Nymphes, Faunes, and Hamadryades;\n"
+  "Nor how the beastes and the birdes all\n"
+  "Fledden for feare, when the wood gan fall;\n"
+  "Nor how the ground aghast* was of the light,                  *terrified\n"
+  "That was not wont to see the sunne bright;\n"
+  "Nor how the fire was couched* first with stre**,           *laid **straw\n"
+  "And then with dry stickes cloven in three,\n"
+  "And then with greene wood and spicery*,                          *spices\n"
+  "And then with cloth of gold and with pierrie*,          *precious stones\n"
+  "And garlands hanging with full many a flower,\n"
+  "The myrrh, the incense with so sweet odour;\n"
+  "Nor how Arcita lay among all this,\n"
+  "Nor what richess about his body is;\n"
+  "Nor how that Emily, as was the guise*,                           *custom\n"
+  "*Put in the fire* of funeral service<88>;           *appplied the torch*\n"
+  "Nor how she swooned when she made the fire,\n"
+  "Nor what she spake, nor what was her desire;\n"
+  "Nor what jewels men in the fire then cast\n"
+  "When that the fire was great and burned fast;\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Nor how some cast their shield, and some their spear,\n"
+  "And of their vestiments, which that they wear,\n"
+  "And cuppes full of wine, and milk, and blood,\n"
+  "Into the fire, that burnt as it were wood*;                         *mad\n"
+  "Nor how the Greekes with a huge rout*                        *procession\n"
+  "Three times riden all the fire about <89>\n"
+  "Upon the left hand, with a loud shouting,\n"
+  "And thries with their speares clattering;\n"
+  "And thries how the ladies gan to cry;\n"
+  "Nor how that led was homeward Emily;\n"
+  "Nor how Arcite is burnt to ashes cold;\n"
+  "Nor how the lyke-wake* was y-hold                             *wake <90>\n"
+  "All thilke* night, nor how the Greekes play                        *that\n"
+  "The wake-plays*, ne keep** I not to say:           *funeral games **care\n"
+  "Who wrestled best naked, with oil anoint,\n"
+  "Nor who that bare him best *in no disjoint*.            *in any contest*\n"
+  "I will not tell eke how they all are gone\n"
+  "Home to Athenes when the play is done;\n"
+  "But shortly to the point now will I wend*,                         *come\n"
+  "And maken of my longe tale an end.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "By process and by length of certain years\n"
+  "All stinted* is the mourning and the tears                        *ended\n"
+  "Of Greekes, by one general assent.\n"
+  "Then seemed me there was a parlement\n"
+  "At Athens, upon certain points and cas*:                          *cases\n"
+  "Amonge the which points y-spoken was\n"
+  "To have with certain countries alliance,\n"
+  "And have of Thebans full obeisance.\n"
+  "For which this noble Theseus anon\n"
+  "Let* send after the gentle Palamon,                              *caused\n"
+  "Unwist* of him what was the cause and why:                      *unknown\n"
+  "But in his blacke clothes sorrowfully\n"
+  "He came at his commandment *on hie*;                          *in haste*\n"
+  "Then sente Theseus for Emily.\n"
+  "When they were set*, and hush'd was all the place                *seated\n"
+  "And Theseus abided* had a space                                  *waited\n"
+  "Ere any word came from his wise breast\n"
+  "*His eyen set he there as was his lest*,               *he cast his eyes\n"
+  "And with a sad visage he sighed still,              wherever he pleased*\n"
+  "And after that right thus he said his will.\n"
+  "\"The firste mover of the cause above\n"
+  "When he first made the faire chain of love,\n"
+  "Great was th' effect, and high was his intent;\n"
+  "Well wist he why, and what thereof he meant:\n"
+  "For with that faire chain of love he bond*                        *bound\n"
+  "The fire, the air, the water, and the lond\n"
+  "In certain bondes, that they may not flee:<91>\n"
+  "That same prince and mover eke,\" quoth he,\n"
+  "\"Hath stablish'd, in this wretched world adown,\n"
+  "Certain of dayes and duration\n"
+  "To all that are engender'd in this place,\n"
+  "Over the whiche day they may not pace*,                            *pass\n"
+  "All may they yet their dayes well abridge.\n"
+  "There needeth no authority to allege\n"
+  "For it is proved by experience;\n"
+  "But that me list declare my sentence*.                          *opinion\n"
+  "Then may men by this order well discern,\n"
+  "That thilke* mover stable is and etern.                        *the same\n"
+  "Well may men know, but that it be a fool,\n"
+  "That every part deriveth from its whole.\n"
+  "For nature hath not ta'en its beginning\n"
+  "Of no *partie nor cantle* of a thing,                    *part or piece*\n"
+  "But of a thing that perfect is and stable,\n"
+  "Descending so, till it be corruptable.\n"
+  "And therefore of His wise purveyance*                        *providence\n"
+  "He hath so well beset* his ordinance,\n"
+  "That species of things and progressions\n"
+  "Shallen endure by successions,\n"
+  "And not etern, withouten any lie:\n"
+  "This mayst thou understand and see at eye.\n"
+  "Lo th' oak, that hath so long a nourishing\n"
+  "From the time that it 'ginneth first to spring,\n"
+  "And hath so long a life, as ye may see,\n"
+  "Yet at the last y-wasted is the tree.\n"
+  "Consider eke, how that the harde stone\n"
+  "Under our feet, on which we tread and gon*,                        *walk\n"
+  "Yet wasteth, as it lieth by the way.\n"
+  "The broade river some time waxeth drey*.                            *dry\n"
+  "The greate townes see we wane and wend*.                  *go, disappear\n"
+  "Then may ye see that all things have an end.\n"
+  "Of man and woman see we well also, --\n"
+  "That needes in one of the termes two, --\n"
+  "That is to say, in youth or else in age,-\n"
+  "He must be dead, the king as shall a page;\n"
+  "Some in his bed, some in the deepe sea,\n"
+  "Some in the large field, as ye may see:\n"
+  "There helpeth nought, all go that ilke* way:                       *same\n"
+  "Then may I say that alle thing must die.\n"
+  "What maketh this but Jupiter the king?\n"
+  "The which is prince, and cause of alle thing,\n"
+  "Converting all unto his proper will,\n"
+  "From which it is derived, sooth to tell\n"
+  "And hereagainst no creature alive,\n"
+  "Of no degree, availeth for to strive.\n"
+  "Then is it wisdom, as it thinketh me,\n"
+  "To make a virtue of necessity,\n"
+  "And take it well, that we may not eschew*,                       *escape\n"
+  "And namely what to us all is due.\n"
+  "And whoso grudgeth* ought, he doth folly,                    *murmurs at\n"
+  "And rebel is to him that all may gie*.                    *direct, guide\n"
+  "And certainly a man hath most honour\n"
+  "To dien in his excellence and flower,\n"
+  "When he is sicker* of his goode name.                           *certain\n"
+  "Then hath he done his friend, nor him*, no shame                *himself\n"
+  "And gladder ought his friend be of his death,\n"
+  "When with honour is yielded up his breath,\n"
+  "Than when his name *appalled is for age*;           *decayed by old age*\n"
+  "For all forgotten is his vassalage*.                    *valour, service\n"
+  "Then is it best, as for a worthy fame,\n"
+  "To dien when a man is best of name.\n"
+  "The contrary of all this is wilfulness.\n"
+  "Why grudge we, why have we heaviness,\n"
+  "That good Arcite, of chivalry the flower,\n"
+  "Departed is, with duty and honour,\n"
+  "Out of this foule prison of this life?\n"
+  "Why grudge here his cousin and his wife\n"
+  "Of his welfare, that loved him so well?\n"
+  "Can he them thank? nay, God wot, neverdeal*, --               *not a jot\n"
+  "That both his soul and eke themselves offend*,                     *hurt\n"
+  "And yet they may their lustes* not amend**.           *desires **control\n"
+  "What may I conclude of this longe serie*,             *string of remarks\n"
+  "But after sorrow I rede* us to be merry,                        *counsel\n"
+  "And thanke Jupiter for all his grace?\n"
+  "And ere that we departe from this place,\n"
+  "I rede that we make of sorrows two\n"
+  "One perfect joye lasting evermo':\n"
+  "And look now where most sorrow is herein,\n"
+  "There will I first amenden and begin.\n"
+  "\"Sister,\" quoth he, \"this is my full assent,\n"
+  "With all th' advice here of my parlement,\n"
+  "That gentle Palamon, your owen knight,\n"
+  "That serveth you with will, and heart, and might,\n"
+  "And ever hath, since first time ye him knew,\n"
+  "That ye shall of your grace upon him rue*,                    *take pity\n"
+  "And take him for your husband and your lord:\n"
+  "Lend me your hand, for this is our accord.\n"
+  "*Let see* now of your womanly pity.                       *make display*\n"
+  "He is a kinge's brother's son, pardie*.                          *by God\n"
+  "And though he were a poore bachelere,\n"
+  "Since he hath served you so many a year,\n"
+  "And had for you so great adversity,\n"
+  "It muste be considered, *'lieveth me*.                      *believe me*\n"
+  "For gentle mercy *oweth to passen right*.\"          *ought to be rightly\n"
+  "Then said he thus to Palamon the knight;                       directed*\n"
+  "\"I trow there needeth little sermoning\n"
+  "To make you assente to this thing.\n"
+  "Come near, and take your lady by the hand.\"\n"
+  "Betwixte them was made anon the band,\n"
+  "That hight matrimony or marriage,\n"
+  "By all the counsel of the baronage.\n"
+  "And thus with alle bliss and melody\n"
+  "Hath Palamon y-wedded Emily.\n"
+  "And God, that all this wide world hath wrought,\n"
+  "Send him his love, that hath it dearly bought.\n"
+  "For now is Palamon in all his weal,\n"
+  "Living in bliss, in riches, and in heal*.                        *health\n"
+  "And Emily him loves so tenderly,\n"
+  "And he her serveth all so gentilly,\n"
+  "That never was there worde them between\n"
+  "Of jealousy, nor of none other teen*.                    *cause of anger\n"
+  "Thus endeth Palamon and Emily\n"
+  "And God save all this faire company.\n"
+};
+
+void setup() {
+  int i = 0;
+  uint8_t c;
+  Serial.begin(115200);
+  do {
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale) + i);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
+    i++;
+  } while (c);
+  i = 0;
+  do {
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale2) + i);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
+    i++;
+  } while (c);
+  i = 0;
+  do {
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale3) + i);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
+    i++;
+  } while (c);
+  i = 0;
+  do {
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale4) + i);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
+    i++;
+  } while (c);
+}
+void loop() {
+}

optiboot/examples/chaucer112k/chaucer112k.pde

@@ -1,2347 +0,0 @@
-// Text is an extract from The Canterbury Tales
-// Full text at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/cbtls12.txt
-#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
-
-prog_char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
-"                     THE KNIGHT'S TALE <1>\n"
-"\n"
-"\n"
-"WHILOM*, as olde stories tellen us,                            *formerly\n"
-"There was a duke that highte* Theseus.                   *was called <2>\n"
-"Of Athens he was lord and governor,\n"
-"And in his time such a conqueror\n"
-"That greater was there none under the sun.\n"
-"Full many a riche country had he won.\n"
-"What with his wisdom and his chivalry,\n"
-"He conquer'd all the regne of Feminie,<3>\n"
-"That whilom was y-cleped Scythia;\n"
-"And weddede the Queen Hippolyta\n"
-"And brought her home with him to his country\n"
-"With muchel* glory and great solemnity,                           *great\n"
-"And eke her younge sister Emily,\n"
-"And thus with vict'ry and with melody\n"
-"Let I this worthy Duke to Athens ride,\n"
-"And all his host, in armes him beside.\n"
-"\n"
-"And certes, if it n'ere* too long to hear,                     *were not\n"
-"I would have told you fully the mannere,\n"
-"How wonnen* was the regne of Feminie, <4>                           *won\n"
-"By Theseus, and by his chivalry;\n"
-"And of the greate battle for the nonce\n"
-"Betwixt Athenes and the Amazons;\n"
-"And how assieged was Hippolyta,\n"
-"The faire hardy queen of Scythia;\n"
-"And of the feast that was at her wedding\n"
-"And of the tempest at her homecoming.\n"
-"But all these things I must as now forbear.\n"
-"I have, God wot, a large field to ear*                       *plough<5>;\n"
-"And weake be the oxen in my plough;\n"
-"The remnant of my tale is long enow.\n"
-"I will not *letten eke none of this rout*.                *hinder any of\n"
-"Let every fellow tell his tale about,                      this company*\n"
-"And let see now who shall the supper win.\n"
-"There *as I left*, I will again begin.                *where I left off*\n"
-"\n"
-"This Duke, of whom I make mentioun,\n"
-"When he was come almost unto the town,\n"
-"In all his weal, and in his moste pride,\n"
-"He was ware, as he cast his eye aside,\n"
-"Where that there kneeled in the highe way\n"
-"A company of ladies, tway and tway,\n"
-"Each after other, clad in clothes black:\n"
-"But such a cry and such a woe they make,\n"
-"That in this world n'is creature living,\n"
-"That hearde such another waimenting*                      *lamenting <6>\n"
-"And of this crying would they never stenten*,                    *desist\n"
-"Till they the reines of his bridle henten*.                       *seize\n"
-"\"What folk be ye that at mine homecoming\n"
-"Perturben so my feaste with crying?\"\n"
-"Quoth Theseus; \"Have ye so great envy\n"
-"Of mine honour, that thus complain and cry?\n"
-"Or who hath you misboden*, or offended?                         *wronged\n"
-"Do telle me, if it may be amended;\n"
-"And why that ye be clad thus all in black?\"\n"
-"\n"
-"The oldest lady of them all then spake,\n"
-"When she had swooned, with a deadly cheer*,                 *countenance\n"
-"That it was ruthe* for to see or hear.                             *pity\n"
-"She saide; \"Lord, to whom fortune hath given\n"
-"Vict'ry, and as a conqueror to liven,\n"
-"Nought grieveth us your glory and your honour;\n"
-"But we beseechen mercy and succour.\n"
-"Have mercy on our woe and our distress;\n"
-"Some drop of pity, through thy gentleness,\n"
-"Upon us wretched women let now fall.\n"
-"For certes, lord, there is none of us all\n"
-"That hath not been a duchess or a queen;\n"
-"Now be we caitives*, as it is well seen:                       *captives\n"
-"Thanked be Fortune, and her false wheel,\n"
-"That *none estate ensureth to be wele*.       *assures no continuance of\n"
-"And certes, lord, t'abiden your presence              prosperous estate*\n"
-"Here in this temple of the goddess Clemence\n"
-"We have been waiting all this fortenight:\n"
-"Now help us, lord, since it lies in thy might.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"I, wretched wight, that weep and waile thus,\n"
-"Was whilom wife to king Capaneus,\n"
-"That starf* at Thebes, cursed be that day:                     *died <7>\n"
-"And alle we that be in this array,\n"
-"And maken all this lamentatioun,\n"
-"We losten all our husbands at that town,\n"
-"While that the siege thereabouten lay.\n"
-"And yet the olde Creon, wellaway!\n"
-"That lord is now of Thebes the city,\n"
-"Fulfilled of ire and of iniquity,\n"
-"He for despite, and for his tyranny,\n"
-"To do the deade bodies villainy*,                                *insult\n"
-"Of all our lorde's, which that been y-slaw,                       *slain\n"
-"Hath all the bodies on an heap y-draw,\n"
-"And will not suffer them by none assent\n"
-"Neither to be y-buried, nor y-brent*,                             *burnt\n"
-"But maketh houndes eat them in despite.\"\n"
-"And with that word, withoute more respite\n"
-"They fallen groff,* and cryden piteously;                    *grovelling\n"
-"\"Have on us wretched women some mercy,\n"
-"And let our sorrow sinken in thine heart.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This gentle Duke down from his courser start\n"
-"With hearte piteous, when he heard them speak.\n"
-"Him thoughte that his heart would all to-break,\n"
-"When he saw them so piteous and so mate*                         *abased\n"
-"That whilom weren of so great estate.\n"
-"And in his armes he them all up hent*,                     *raised, took\n"
-"And them comforted in full good intent,\n"
-"And swore his oath, as he was true knight,\n"
-"He woulde do *so farforthly his might*        *as far as his power went*\n"
-"Upon the tyrant Creon them to wreak*,                            *avenge\n"
-"That all the people of Greece shoulde speak,\n"
-"How Creon was of Theseus y-served,\n"
-"As he that had his death full well deserved.\n"
-"And right anon withoute more abode*                               *delay\n"
-"His banner he display'd, and forth he rode\n"
-"To Thebes-ward, and all his, host beside:\n"
-"No ner* Athenes would he go nor ride,                            *nearer\n"
-"Nor take his ease fully half a day,\n"
-"But onward on his way that night he lay:\n"
-"And sent anon Hippolyta the queen,\n"
-"And Emily her younge sister sheen*                       *bright, lovely\n"
-"Unto the town of Athens for to dwell:\n"
-"And forth he rit*; there is no more to tell.                       *rode\n"
-"\n"
-"The red statue of Mars with spear and targe*                     *shield\n"
-"So shineth in his white banner large\n"
-"That all the fieldes glitter up and down:\n"
-"And by his banner borne is his pennon\n"
-"Of gold full rich, in which there was y-beat*                   *stamped\n"
-"The Minotaur<8> which that he slew in Crete\n"
-"Thus rit this Duke, thus rit this conqueror\n"
-"And in his host of chivalry the flower,\n"
-"Till that he came to Thebes, and alight\n"
-"Fair in a field, there as he thought to fight.\n"
-"But shortly for to speaken of this thing,\n"
-"With Creon, which that was of Thebes king,\n"
-"He fought, and slew him manly as a knight\n"
-"In plain bataille, and put his folk to flight:\n"
-"And by assault he won the city after,\n"
-"And rent adown both wall, and spar, and rafter;\n"
-"And to the ladies he restored again\n"
-"The bodies of their husbands that were slain,\n"
-"To do obsequies, as was then the guise*.                         *custom\n"
-"\n"
-"But it were all too long for to devise*                        *describe\n"
-"The greate clamour, and the waimenting*,                      *lamenting\n"
-"Which that the ladies made at the brenning*                     *burning\n"
-"Of the bodies, and the great honour\n"
-"That Theseus the noble conqueror\n"
-"Did to the ladies, when they from him went:\n"
-"But shortly for to tell is mine intent.\n"
-"When that this worthy Duke, this Theseus,\n"
-"Had Creon slain, and wonnen Thebes thus,\n"
-"Still in the field he took all night his rest,\n"
-"And did with all the country as him lest*.                      *pleased\n"
-"To ransack in the tas* of bodies dead,                             *heap\n"
-"Them for to strip of *harness and of **weed,           *armour **clothes\n"
-"The pillers* did their business and cure,                 *pillagers <9>\n"
-"After the battle and discomfiture.\n"
-"And so befell, that in the tas they found,\n"
-"Through girt with many a grievous bloody wound,\n"
-"Two younge knightes *ligging by and by*             *lying side by side*\n"
-"Both in *one armes*, wrought full richely:             *the same armour*\n"
-"Of whiche two, Arcita hight that one,\n"
-"And he that other highte Palamon.\n"
-"Not fully quick*, nor fully dead they were,                       *alive\n"
-"But by their coat-armour, and by their gear,\n"
-"The heralds knew them well in special,\n"
-"As those that weren of the blood royal\n"
-"Of Thebes, and *of sistren two y-born*.            *born of two sisters*\n"
-"Out of the tas the pillers have them torn,\n"
-"And have them carried soft unto the tent\n"
-"Of Theseus, and he full soon them sent\n"
-"To Athens, for to dwellen in prison\n"
-"Perpetually, he *n'olde no ranson*.               *would take no ransom*\n"
-"And when this worthy Duke had thus y-done,\n"
-"He took his host, and home he rit anon\n"
-"With laurel crowned as a conquerour;\n"
-"And there he lived in joy and in honour\n"
-"Term of his life; what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
-"And in a tower, in anguish and in woe,\n"
-"Dwellen this Palamon, and eke Arcite,\n"
-"For evermore, there may no gold them quite*                    *set free\n"
-"\n"
-"Thus passed year by year, and day by day,\n"
-"Till it fell ones in a morn of May\n"
-"That Emily, that fairer was to seen\n"
-"Than is the lily upon his stalke green,\n"
-"And fresher than the May with flowers new\n"
-"(For with the rose colour strove her hue;\n"
-"I n'ot* which was the finer of them two),                      *know not\n"
-"Ere it was day, as she was wont to do,\n"
-"She was arisen, and all ready dight*,                           *dressed\n"
-"For May will have no sluggardy a-night;\n"
-"The season pricketh every gentle heart,\n"
-"And maketh him out of his sleep to start,\n"
-"And saith, \"Arise, and do thine observance.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This maketh Emily have remembrance\n"
-"To do honour to May, and for to rise.\n"
-"Y-clothed was she fresh for to devise;\n"
-"Her yellow hair was braided in a tress,\n"
-"Behind her back, a yarde long I guess.\n"
-"And in the garden at *the sun uprist*                           *sunrise\n"
-"She walketh up and down where as her list.\n"
-"She gathereth flowers, party* white and red,                    *mingled\n"
-"To make a sotel* garland for her head,            *subtle, well-arranged\n"
-"And as an angel heavenly she sung.\n"
-"The greate tower, that was so thick and strong,\n"
-"Which of the castle was the chief dungeon<10>\n"
-"(Where as these knightes weren in prison,\n"
-"Of which I tolde you, and telle shall),\n"
-"Was even joinant* to the garden wall,                         *adjoining\n"
-"There as this Emily had her playing.\n"
-"\n"
-"Bright was the sun, and clear that morrowning,\n"
-"And Palamon, this woful prisoner,\n"
-"As was his wont, by leave of his gaoler,\n"
-"Was ris'n, and roamed in a chamber on high,\n"
-"In which he all the noble city sigh*,                               *saw\n"
-"And eke the garden, full of branches green,\n"
-"There as this fresh Emelia the sheen\n"
-"Was in her walk, and roamed up and down.\n"
-"This sorrowful prisoner, this Palamon\n"
-"Went in his chamber roaming to and fro,\n"
-"And to himself complaining of his woe:\n"
-"That he was born, full oft he said, Alas!\n"
-"And so befell, by aventure or cas*,                              *chance\n"
-"That through a window thick of many a bar\n"
-"Of iron great, and square as any spar,\n"
-"He cast his eyes upon Emelia,\n"
-"And therewithal he blent* and cried, Ah!                  *started aside\n"
-"As though he stungen were unto the heart.\n"
-"And with that cry Arcite anon up start,\n"
-"And saide, \"Cousin mine, what aileth thee,\n"
-"That art so pale and deadly for to see?\n"
-"Why cried'st thou? who hath thee done offence?\n"
-"For Godde's love, take all in patience\n"
-"Our prison*, for it may none other be.                     *imprisonment\n"
-"Fortune hath giv'n us this adversity'.\n"
-"Some wick'* aspect or disposition                                *wicked\n"
-"Of Saturn<11>, by some constellation,\n"
-"Hath giv'n us this, although we had it sworn,\n"
-"So stood the heaven when that we were born,\n"
-"We must endure; this is the short and plain.\n"
-"\n"
-"This Palamon answer'd, and said again:\n"
-"\"Cousin, forsooth of this opinion\n"
-"Thou hast a vain imagination.\n"
-"This prison caused me not for to cry;\n"
-"But I was hurt right now thorough mine eye\n"
-"Into mine heart; that will my bane*  be.                    *destruction\n"
-"The fairness of the lady that I see\n"
-"Yond in the garden roaming to and fro,\n"
-"Is cause of all my crying and my woe.\n"
-"I *n'ot wher* she be woman or goddess,                *know not whether*\n"
-"But Venus is it, soothly* as I guess,                             *truly\n"
-"And therewithal on knees adown he fill,\n"
-"And saide: \"Venus, if it be your will\n"
-"You in this garden thus to transfigure\n"
-"Before me sorrowful wretched creature,\n"
-"Out of this prison help that we may scape.\n"
-"And if so be our destiny be shape\n"
-"By etern word to dien in prison,\n"
-"Of our lineage have some compassion,\n"
-"That is so low y-brought by tyranny.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"And with that word Arcita *gan espy*               *began to look forth*\n"
-"Where as this lady roamed to and fro\n"
-"And with that sight her beauty hurt him so,\n"
-"That if that Palamon was wounded sore,\n"
-"Arcite is hurt as much as he, or more.\n"
-"And with a sigh he saide piteously:\n"
-"\"The freshe beauty slay'th me suddenly\n"
-"Of her that roameth yonder in the place.\n"
-"And but* I have her mercy and her grace,                         *unless\n"
-"That I may see her at the leaste way,\n"
-"I am but dead; there is no more to say.\"\n"
-"This Palamon, when he these wordes heard,\n"
-"Dispiteously* he looked, and answer'd:                          *angrily\n"
-"\"Whether say'st thou this in earnest or in play?\"\n"
-"\"Nay,\" quoth Arcite, \"in earnest, by my fay*.                     *faith\n"
-"God help me so, *me lust full ill to play*.\"          *I am in no humour\n"
-"This Palamon gan knit his browes tway.                      for jesting*\n"
-"\"It were,\" quoth he, \"to thee no great honour\n"
-"For to be false, nor for to be traitour\n"
-"To me, that am thy cousin and thy brother\n"
-"Y-sworn full deep, and each of us to other,\n"
-"That never for to dien in the pain <12>,\n"
-"Till that the death departen shall us twain,\n"
-"Neither of us in love to hinder other,\n"
-"Nor in none other case, my leve* brother;                          *dear\n"
-"But that thou shouldest truly farther me\n"
-"In every case, as I should farther thee.\n"
-"This was thine oath, and mine also certain;\n"
-"I wot it well, thou dar'st it not withsayn*,                       *deny\n"
-"Thus art thou of my counsel out of doubt,\n"
-"And now thou wouldest falsely be about\n"
-"To love my lady, whom I love and serve,\n"
-"And ever shall, until mine hearte sterve*                           *die\n"
-"Now certes, false Arcite, thou shalt not so\n"
-"I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe\n"
-"As to my counsel, and my brother sworn\n"
-"To farther me, as I have told beforn.\n"
-"For which thou art y-bounden as a knight\n"
-"To helpe me, if it lie in thy might,\n"
-"Or elles art thou false, I dare well sayn,\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This Arcita full proudly spake again:\n"
-"\"Thou shalt,\" quoth he, \"be rather* false than I,                *sooner\n"
-"And thou art false, I tell thee utterly;\n"
-"For par amour I lov'd her first ere thou.\n"
-"What wilt thou say? *thou wist it not right now*          *even now thou\n"
-"Whether she be a woman or goddess.                          knowest not*\n"
-"Thine is affection of holiness,\n"
-"And mine is love, as to a creature:\n"
-"For which I tolde thee mine aventure\n"
-"As to my cousin, and my brother sworn\n"
-"I pose*, that thou loved'st her beforn:                         *suppose\n"
-"Wost* thou not well the olde clerke's saw<13>,                  *know'st\n"
-"That who shall give a lover any law?\n"
-"Love is a greater lawe, by my pan,\n"
-"Than may be giv'n to any earthly man:\n"
-"Therefore positive law, and such decree,\n"
-"Is broke alway for love in each degree\n"
-"A man must needes love, maugre his head.\n"
-"He may not flee it, though he should be dead,\n"
-"*All be she* maid, or widow, or else wife.              *whether she be*\n"
-"And eke it is not likely all thy life\n"
-"To standen in her grace, no more than I\n"
-"For well thou wost thyselfe verily,\n"
-"That thou and I be damned to prison\n"
-"Perpetual, us gaineth no ranson.\n"
-"We strive, as did the houndes for the bone;\n"
-"They fought all day, and yet their part was none.\n"
-"There came a kite, while that they were so wroth,\n"
-"And bare away the bone betwixt them both.\n"
-"And therefore at the kinge's court, my brother,\n"
-"Each man for himselfe, there is no  other.\n"
-"Love if thee list; for I love and aye shall\n"
-"And soothly, leve brother, this is all.\n"
-"Here in this prison musten we endure,\n"
-"And each of us take his Aventure.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Great was the strife and long between these tway,\n"
-"If that I hadde leisure for to say;\n"
-"But to the effect: it happen'd on a day\n"
-"(To tell it you as shortly as I may),\n"
-"A worthy duke that hight Perithous<14>\n"
-"That fellow was to the Duke Theseus\n"
-"Since thilke* day that they were children lite**          *that **little\n"
-"Was come to Athens, his fellow to visite,\n"
-"And for to play, as he was wont to do;\n"
-"For in this world he loved no man so;\n"
-"And he lov'd him as tenderly again.\n"
-"So well they lov'd, as olde bookes sayn,\n"
-"That when that one was dead, soothly to sayn,\n"
-"His fellow went and sought him down in hell:\n"
-"But of that story list me not to write.\n"
-"Duke Perithous loved well Arcite,\n"
-"And had him known at Thebes year by year:\n"
-"And finally at request and prayere\n"
-"Of Perithous, withoute ranson\n"
-"Duke Theseus him let out of prison,\n"
-"Freely to go, where him list over all,\n"
-"In such a guise, as I you tellen shall\n"
-"This was the forword*, plainly to indite,                       *promise\n"
-"Betwixte Theseus and him Arcite:\n"
-"That if so were, that Arcite were y-found\n"
-"Ever in his life, by day or night, one stound*               *moment<15>\n"
-"In any country of this Theseus,\n"
-"And he were caught, it was accorded thus,\n"
-"That with a sword he shoulde lose his head;\n"
-"There was none other remedy nor rede*.                          *counsel\n"
-"But took his leave, and homeward he him sped;\n"
-"Let him beware, his necke lieth *to wed*.                    *in pledge*\n"
-"\n"
-"How great a sorrow suff'reth now Arcite!\n"
-"The death he feeleth through his hearte smite;\n"
-"He weepeth, waileth, crieth piteously;\n"
-"To slay himself he waiteth privily.\n"
-"He said; \"Alas the day that I was born!\n"
-"Now is my prison worse than beforn:\n"
-"*Now is me shape* eternally to dwell                *it is fixed for me*\n"
-"Not in purgatory, but right in hell.\n"
-"Alas! that ever I knew Perithous.\n"
-"For elles had I dwelt with Theseus\n"
-"Y-fettered in his prison evermo'.\n"
-"Then had I been in bliss, and not in woe.\n"
-"Only the sight of her, whom that I serve,\n"
-"Though that I never may her grace deserve,\n"
-"Would have sufficed right enough for me.\n"
-"O deare cousin Palamon,\" quoth he,\n"
-"\"Thine is the vict'ry of this aventure,\n"
-"Full blissfully in prison to endure:\n"
-"In prison? nay certes, in paradise.\n"
-"Well hath fortune y-turned thee the dice,\n"
-"That hast the sight of her, and I th' absence.\n"
-"For possible is, since thou hast her presence,\n"
-"And art a knight, a worthy and an able,\n"
-"That by some cas*, since fortune is changeable,                  *chance\n"
-"Thou may'st to thy desire sometime attain.\n"
-"But I that am exiled, and barren\n"
-"Of alle grace, and in so great despair,\n"
-"That there n'is earthe, water, fire, nor air,\n"
-"Nor creature, that of them maked is,\n"
-"That may me helpe nor comfort in this,\n"
-"Well ought I *sterve in wanhope* and distress.          *die in despair*\n"
-"Farewell my life, my lust*, and my gladness.                   *pleasure\n"
-"Alas, *why plainen men so in commune       *why do men so often complain\n"
-"Of purveyance of God*, or of Fortune,              of God's providence?*\n"
-"That giveth them full oft in many a guise\n"
-"Well better than they can themselves devise?\n"
-"Some man desireth for to have richess,\n"
-"That cause is of his murder or great sickness.\n"
-"And some man would out of his prison fain,\n"
-"That in his house is of his meinie* slain.                *servants <16>\n"
-"Infinite harmes be in this mattere.\n"
-"We wot never what thing we pray for here.\n"
-"We fare as he that drunk is as a mouse.\n"
-"A drunken man wot well he hath an house,\n"
-"But he wot not which is the right way thither,\n"
-"And to a drunken man the way is slither*.                      *slippery\n"
-"And certes in this world so fare we.\n"
-"We seeke fast after felicity,\n"
-"But we go wrong full often truely.\n"
-"Thus we may sayen all, and namely* I,                        *especially\n"
-"That ween'd*, and had a great opinion,                          *thought\n"
-"That if I might escape from prison\n"
-"Then had I been in joy and perfect heal,\n"
-"Where now I am exiled from my weal.\n"
-"Since that I may not see you, Emily,\n"
-"I am but dead; there is no remedy.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Upon that other side, Palamon,\n"
-"When that he wist Arcita was agone,\n"
-"Much sorrow maketh, that the greate tower\n"
-"Resounded of his yelling and clamour\n"
-"The pure* fetters on his shinnes great                        *very <17>\n"
-"Were of his bitter salte teares wet.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"Arcita, cousin mine,\n"
-"Of all our strife, God wot, the fruit is thine.\n"
-"Thou walkest now in Thebes at thy large,\n"
-"And of my woe thou *givest little charge*.          *takest little heed*\n"
-"Thou mayst, since thou hast wisdom and manhead*,       *manhood, courage\n"
-"Assemble all the folk of our kindred,\n"
-"And make a war so sharp on this country\n"
-"That by some aventure, or some treaty,\n"
-"Thou mayst have her to lady and to wife,\n"
-"For whom that I must needes lose my life.\n"
-"For as by way of possibility,\n"
-"Since thou art at thy large, of prison free,\n"
-"And art a lord, great is thine avantage,\n"
-"More than is mine, that sterve here in a cage.\n"
-"For I must weep and wail, while that I live,\n"
-"With all the woe that prison may me give,\n"
-"And eke with pain that love me gives also,\n"
-"That doubles all my torment and my woe.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Therewith the fire of jealousy upstart\n"
-"Within his breast, and hent* him by the heart                    *seized\n"
-"So woodly*, that he like was to behold                            *madly\n"
-"The box-tree, or the ashes dead and cold.\n"
-"Then said; \"O cruel goddess, that govern\n"
-"This world with binding of your word etern*                     *eternal\n"
-"And writen in the table of adamant\n"
-"Your parlement* and your eternal grant,                    *consultation\n"
-"What is mankind more *unto you y-hold*                  *by you esteemed\n"
-"Than is the sheep, that rouketh* in the fold!      *lie huddled together\n"
-"For slain is man, right as another beast;\n"
-"And dwelleth eke in prison and arrest,\n"
-"And hath sickness, and great adversity,\n"
-"And oftentimes guilteless, pardie*                               *by God\n"
-"What governance is in your prescience,\n"
-"That guilteless tormenteth innocence?\n"
-"And yet increaseth this all my penance,\n"
-"That man is bounden to his observance\n"
-"For Godde's  sake to *letten of his will*,         *restrain his desire*\n"
-"Whereas a beast may all his lust fulfil.\n"
-"And when a beast is dead, he hath no pain;\n"
-"But man after his death must weep and plain,\n"
-"Though in this worlde he have care and woe:\n"
-"Withoute doubt it maye standen so.\n"
-"\"The answer of this leave I to divines,\n"
-"But well I wot, that in this world great pine* is;        *pain, trouble\n"
-"Alas! I see a serpent or a thief\n"
-"That many a true man hath done mischief,\n"
-"Go at his large, and where him list may turn.\n"
-"But I must be in prison through Saturn,\n"
-"And eke through Juno, jealous and eke wood*,                        *mad\n"
-"That hath well nigh destroyed all the blood\n"
-"Of Thebes, with his waste walles wide.\n"
-"And Venus slay'th me on that other side\n"
-"For jealousy, and fear of him, Arcite.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Now will I stent* of Palamon a lite**,                   *pause **little\n"
-"And let him in his prison stille dwell,\n"
-"And of Arcita forth I will you tell.\n"
-"The summer passeth, and the nightes long\n"
-"Increase double-wise the paines strong\n"
-"Both of the lover and the prisonere.\n"
-"I n'ot* which hath the wofuller mistere**.         *know not **condition\n"
-"For, shortly for to say, this Palamon\n"
-"Perpetually is damned to prison,\n"
-"In chaines and in fetters to be dead;\n"
-"And Arcite is exiled *on his head*                *on peril of his head*\n"
-"For evermore as out of that country,\n"
-"Nor never more he shall his lady see.\n"
-"You lovers ask I now this question,<18>\n"
-"Who lieth the worse, Arcite or Palamon?\n"
-"The one may see his lady day by day,\n"
-"But in prison he dwelle must alway.\n"
-"The other where him list may ride or go,\n"
-"But see his lady shall he never mo'.\n"
-"Now deem all as you liste, ye that can,\n"
-"For I will tell you forth as I began.\n"
-"\n"
-"When that Arcite to Thebes comen was,\n"
-"Full oft a day he swelt*, and said, \"Alas!\"                     *fainted\n"
-"For see this lady he shall never mo'.\n"
-"And shortly to concluden all his woe,\n"
-"So much sorrow had never creature\n"
-"That is or shall be while the world may dure.\n"
-"His sleep, his meat, his drink is *him byraft*,    *taken away from him*\n"
-"That lean he wex*, and dry as any shaft.                         *became\n"
-"His eyen hollow, grisly to behold,\n"
-"His hue sallow, and pale as ashes cold,\n"
-"And solitary he was, ever alone,\n"
-"And wailing all the night, making his moan.\n"
-"And if he hearde song or instrument,\n"
-"Then would he weepen, he might not be stent*.                   *stopped\n"
-"So feeble were his spirits, and so low,\n"
-"And changed so, that no man coulde know\n"
-"His speech, neither his voice, though men it heard.\n"
-"And in his gear* for all the world he far'd              *behaviour <19>\n"
-"Not only like the lovers' malady\n"
-"Of Eros, but rather y-like manie*                               *madness\n"
-"Engender'd of humours melancholic,\n"
-"Before his head in his cell fantastic.<20>\n"
-"And shortly turned was all upside down,\n"
-"Both habit and eke dispositioun,\n"
-"Of him, this woful lover Dan* Arcite.                         *Lord <21>\n"
-"Why should I all day of his woe indite?\n"
-"When he endured had a year or two\n"
-"This cruel torment, and this pain and woe,\n"
-"At Thebes, in his country, as I said,\n"
-"Upon a night in sleep as he him laid,\n"
-"Him thought how that the winged god Mercury\n"
-"Before him stood, and bade him to be merry.\n"
-"His sleepy yard* in hand he bare upright;                      *rod <22>\n"
-"A hat he wore upon his haires bright.\n"
-"Arrayed was this god (as he took keep*)                          *notice\n"
-"As he was when that Argus<23> took his sleep;\n"
-"And said him thus: \"To Athens shalt thou wend*;                      *go\n"
-"There is thee shapen* of thy woe an end.\"               *fixed, prepared\n"
-"And with that word Arcite woke and start.\n"
-"\"Now truely how sore that e'er me smart,\"\n"
-"Quoth he, \"to Athens right now will I fare.\n"
-"Nor for no dread of death shall I not spare\n"
-"To see my lady that I love and serve;\n"
-"In her presence *I recke not to sterve.*\"         *do not care if I die*\n"
-"And with that word he caught a great mirror,\n"
-"And saw that changed was all his colour,\n"
-"And saw his visage all in other kind.\n"
-"And right anon it ran him ill his mind,\n"
-"That since his face was so disfigur'd\n"
-"Of malady the which he had endur'd,\n"
-"He mighte well, if that he *bare him low,*      *lived in lowly fashion*\n"
-"Live in Athenes evermore unknow,\n"
-"And see his lady wellnigh day by day.\n"
-"And right anon he changed his array,\n"
-"And clad him as a poore labourer.\n"
-"And all alone, save only a squier,\n"
-"That knew his privity* and all his cas**,             *secrets **fortune\n"
-"Which was disguised poorly as he was,\n"
-"To Athens is he gone the nexte*  way.                      *nearest <24>\n"
-"And to the court he went upon a day,\n"
-"And at the gate he proffer'd his service,\n"
-"To drudge and draw, what so men would devise*.                    *order\n"
-"And, shortly of this matter for to sayn,\n"
-"He fell in office with a chamberlain,\n"
-"The which that dwelling was with Emily.\n"
-"For he was wise, and coulde soon espy\n"
-"Of every servant which that served her.\n"
-"Well could he hewe wood, and water bear,\n"
-"For he was young and mighty for the nones*,                    *occasion\n"
-"And thereto he was strong and big of bones\n"
-"To do that any wight can him devise.\n"
-"\n"
-"A year or two he was in this service,\n"
-"Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;\n"
-"And Philostrate he saide that he hight.\n"
-"But half so well belov'd a man as he\n"
-"Ne was there never in court of his degree.\n"
-"He was so gentle of conditioun,\n"
-"That throughout all the court was his renown.\n"
-"They saide that it were a charity\n"
-"That Theseus would *enhance his degree*,           *elevate him in rank*\n"
-"And put him in some worshipful service,\n"
-"There as he might his virtue exercise.\n"
-"And thus within a while his name sprung\n"
-"Both of his deedes, and of his good tongue,\n"
-"That Theseus hath taken him so near,\n"
-"That of his chamber he hath made him squire,\n"
-"And gave him gold to maintain his degree;\n"
-"And eke men brought him out of his country\n"
-"From year to year full privily his rent.\n"
-"But honestly and slyly* he it spent,              *discreetly, prudently\n"
-"That no man wonder'd how that he it had.\n"
-"And three year in this wise his life be lad*,                       *led\n"
-"And bare him so in peace and eke in werre*,                         *war\n"
-"There was no man that Theseus had so derre*.                       *dear\n"
-"And in this blisse leave I now Arcite,\n"
-"And speak I will of Palamon a lite*.                             *little\n"
-"\n"
-"In darkness horrible, and strong prison,\n"
-"This seven year hath sitten Palamon,\n"
-"Forpined*, what for love, and for distress.          *pined, wasted away\n"
-"Who feeleth double sorrow and heaviness\n"
-"But Palamon? that love distraineth* so,                        *afflicts\n"
-"That wood* out of his wits he went for woe,                         *mad\n"
-"And eke thereto he is a prisonere\n"
-"Perpetual, not only for a year.\n"
-"Who coulde rhyme in English properly\n"
-"His martyrdom? forsooth*, it is not I;                            *truly\n"
-"Therefore I pass as lightly as I may.\n"
-"It fell that in the seventh year, in May\n"
-"The thirde night (as olde bookes sayn,\n"
-"That all this story tellen more plain),\n"
-"Were it by a venture or destiny\n"
-"(As when a thing is shapen* it shall be),              *settled, decreed\n"
-"That soon after the midnight, Palamon\n"
-"By helping of a friend brake his prison,\n"
-"And fled the city fast as he might go,\n"
-"For he had given drink his gaoler so\n"
-"Of a clary <25>, made of a certain wine,\n"
-"With *narcotise and opie* of Thebes fine,          *narcotics and opium*\n"
-"That all the night, though that men would him shake,\n"
-"The gaoler slept, he mighte not awake:\n"
-"And thus he fled as fast as ever he may.\n"
-"The night was short, and *faste by the day            *close at hand was\n"
-"That needes cast he must himself to hide*.          the day during which\n"
-"And to a grove faste there beside       he must cast about, or contrive,\n"
-"With dreadful foot then stalked Palamon.            to conceal himself.*\n"
-"For shortly this was his opinion,\n"
-"That in the grove he would him hide all day,\n"
-"And in the night then would he take his way\n"
-"To Thebes-ward, his friendes for to pray\n"
-"On Theseus to help him to warray*.                        *make war <26>\n"
-"And shortly either he would lose his life,\n"
-"Or winnen Emily unto his wife.\n"
-"This is th' effect, and his intention plain.\n"
-"\n"
-"Now will I turn to Arcita again,\n"
-"That little wist how nighe was his care,\n"
-"Till that Fortune had brought him in the snare.\n"
-"The busy lark, the messenger of day,\n"
-"Saluteth in her song the morning gray;\n"
-"And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright,\n"
-"That all the orient laugheth at the sight,\n"
-"And with his streames* drieth in the greves**             *rays **groves\n"
-"The silver droppes, hanging on the leaves;\n"
-"And Arcite, that is in the court royal\n"
-"With Theseus, his squier principal,\n"
-"Is ris'n, and looketh on the merry day.\n"
-"And for to do his observance to May,\n"
-"Remembering the point* of his desire,                            *object\n"
-"He on his courser, starting as the fire,\n"
-"Is ridden to the fieldes him to play,\n"
-"Out of the court, were it a mile or tway.\n"
-"And to the grove, of which I have you told,\n"
-"By a venture his way began to hold,\n"
-"To make him a garland of the greves*,                            *groves\n"
-"Were it of woodbine, or of hawthorn leaves,\n"
-"And loud he sang against the sun so sheen*.              *shining bright\n"
-"\"O May, with all thy flowers and thy green,\n"
-"Right welcome be thou, faire freshe May,\n"
-"I hope that I some green here getten may.\"\n"
-"And from his courser*, with a lusty heart,                        *horse\n"
-"Into the grove full hastily he start,\n"
-"And in a path he roamed up and down,\n"
-"There as by aventure this Palamon\n"
-"Was in a bush, that no man might him see,\n"
-"For sore afeard of his death was he.\n"
-"Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite;\n"
-"God wot he would have *trowed it full lite*.   *full little believed it*\n"
-"But sooth is said, gone since full many years,\n"
-"The field hath eyen*, and the wood hath ears,                      *eyes\n"
-"It is full fair a man *to bear him even*,           *to be on his guard*\n"
-"For all day meeten men at *unset steven*.          *unexpected time <27>\n"
-"Full little wot Arcite of his fellaw,\n"
-"That was so nigh to hearken of his saw*,                 *saying, speech\n"
-"For in the bush he sitteth now full still.\n"
-"When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,\n"
-"And *sungen all the roundel* lustily,           *sang the roundelay*<28>\n"
-"Into a study he fell suddenly,\n"
-"As do those lovers in their *quainte gears*,              *odd fashions*\n"
-"Now in the crop*, and now down in the breres**, <29>           *tree-top\n"
-"Now up, now down, as bucket in a well.                          **briars\n"
-"Right as the Friday, soothly for to tell,\n"
-"Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,\n"
-"Right so can geary* Venus overcast                            *changeful\n"
-"The heartes of her folk, right as her day\n"
-"Is gearful*, right so changeth she array.                     *changeful\n"
-"Seldom is Friday all the weeke like.\n"
-"When Arcite had y-sung, he gan to sike*,                           *sigh\n"
-"And sat him down withouten any more:\n"
-"\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"the day that I was bore!\n"
-"How longe, Juno, through thy cruelty\n"
-"Wilt thou warrayen* Thebes the city?                            *torment\n"
-"Alas! y-brought is to confusion\n"
-"The blood royal of Cadm' and Amphion:\n"
-"Of Cadmus, which that was the firste man,\n"
-};
-prog_char knightsTale2[] PROGMEM= {
-"That Thebes built, or first the town began,\n"
-"And of the city first was crowned king.\n"
-"Of his lineage am I, and his offspring\n"
-"By very line, as of the stock royal;\n"
-"And now I am *so caitiff and so thrall*,         *wretched and enslaved*\n"
-"That he that is my mortal enemy,\n"
-"I serve him as his squier poorely.\n"
-"And yet doth Juno me well more shame,\n"
-"For I dare not beknow* mine owen name,                 *acknowledge <30>\n"
-"But there as I was wont to hight Arcite,\n"
-"Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.\n"
-"Alas! thou fell Mars, and alas! Juno,\n"
-"Thus hath your ire our lineage all fordo*                *undone, ruined\n"
-"Save only me, and wretched Palamon,\n"
-"That Theseus martyreth in prison.\n"
-"And over all this, to slay me utterly,\n"
-"Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly*                       *burningly\n"
-"Y-sticked through my true careful heart,\n"
-"That shapen was my death erst than my shert. <31>\n"
-"Ye slay me with your eyen, Emily;\n"
-"Ye be the cause wherefore that I die.\n"
-"Of all the remnant of mine other care\n"
-"Ne set I not the *mountance of a tare*,               *value of a straw*\n"
-"So that I could do aught to your pleasance.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"And with that word he fell down in a trance\n"
-"A longe time; and afterward upstart\n"
-"This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart\n"
-"He felt a cold sword suddenly to glide:\n"
-"For ire he quoke*, no longer would he hide.                      *quaked\n"
-"And when that he had heard Arcite's tale,\n"
-"As he were wood*, with face dead and pale,                          *mad\n"
-"He start him up out of the bushes thick,\n"
-"And said: \"False Arcita, false traitor wick'*,                   *wicked\n"
-"Now art thou hent*, that lov'st my lady so,                      *caught\n"
-"For whom that I have all this pain and woe,\n"
-"And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,\n"
-"As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,\n"
-"And hast bejaped* here Duke Theseus,             *deceived, imposed upon\n"
-"And falsely changed hast thy name thus;\n"
-"I will be dead, or elles thou shalt die.\n"
-"Thou shalt not love my lady Emily,\n"
-"But I will love her only and no mo';\n"
-"For I am Palamon thy mortal foe.\n"
-"And though I have no weapon in this place,\n"
-"But out of prison am astart* by grace,                          *escaped\n"
-"I dreade* not that either thou shalt die,                         *doubt\n"
-"Or else thou shalt not loven Emily.\n"
-"Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This Arcite then, with full dispiteous* heart,                 *wrathful\n"
-"When he him knew, and had his tale heard,\n"
-"As fierce as lion pulled out a swerd,\n"
-"And saide thus; \"By God that sitt'th above,\n"
-"*N'ere it* that thou art sick, and wood for love,          *were it not*\n"
-"And eke that thou no weap'n hast in this place,\n"
-"Thou should'st never out of this grove pace,\n"
-"That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.\n"
-"For I defy the surety and the band,\n"
-"Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.\n"
-"What? very fool, think well that love is free;\n"
-"And I will love her maugre* all thy might.                      *despite\n"
-"But, for thou art a worthy gentle knight,\n"
-"And *wilnest to darraine her by bataille*,             *will reclaim her\n"
-"Have here my troth, to-morrow I will not fail,                by combat*\n"
-"Without weeting* of any other wight,                          *knowledge\n"
-"That here I will be founden as a knight,\n"
-"And bringe harness* right enough for thee;              *armour and arms\n"
-"And choose the best, and leave the worst for me.\n"
-"And meat and drinke this night will I bring\n"
-"Enough for thee, and clothes for thy bedding.\n"
-"And if so be that thou my lady win,\n"
-"And slay me in this wood that I am in,\n"
-"Thou may'st well have thy lady as for me.\"\n"
-"This Palamon answer'd, \"I grant it thee.\"\n"
-"And thus they be departed till the morrow,\n"
-"When each of them hath *laid his faith to borrow*.   *pledged his faith*\n"
-"\n"
-"O Cupid, out of alle charity!\n"
-"O Regne* that wilt no fellow have with thee!                 *queen <32>\n"
-"Full sooth is said, that love nor lordeship\n"
-"Will not, *his thanks*, have any fellowship.             *thanks to him*\n"
-"Well finden that Arcite and Palamon.\n"
-"Arcite is ridd anon unto the town,\n"
-"And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,\n"
-"Full privily two harness hath he dight*,                       *prepared\n"
-"Both suffisant and meete to darraine*                           *contest\n"
-"The battle in the field betwixt them twain.\n"
-"And on his horse, alone as he was born,\n"
-"He carrieth all this harness him beforn;\n"
-"And in the grove, at time and place y-set,\n"
-"This Arcite and this Palamon be met.\n"
-"Then change gan the colour of their face;\n"
-"Right as the hunter in the regne* of Thrace                     *kingdom\n"
-"That standeth at a gappe with a spear\n"
-"When hunted is the lion or the bear,\n"
-"And heareth him come rushing in the greves*,                     *groves\n"
-"And breaking both the boughes and the leaves,\n"
-"Thinketh, \"Here comes my mortal enemy,\n"
-"Withoute fail, he must be dead or I;\n"
-"For either I must slay him at the gap;\n"
-"Or he must slay me, if that me mishap:\"\n"
-"So fared they, in changing of their hue\n"
-"*As far as either of them other knew*.        *When they recognised each\n"
-"There was no good day, and no saluting,                  other afar off*\n"
-"But straight, withoute wordes rehearsing,\n"
-"Evereach of them holp to arm the other,\n"
-"As friendly, as he were his owen brother.\n"
-"And after that, with sharpe speares strong\n"
-"They foined* each at other wonder long.                          *thrust\n"
-"Thou mightest weene*, that this Palamon                           *think\n"
-"In fighting were as a wood* lion,                                   *mad\n"
-"And as a cruel tiger was Arcite:\n"
-"As wilde boars gan they together smite,\n"
-"That froth as white as foam, *for ire wood*.            *mad with anger*\n"
-"Up to the ancle fought they in their blood.\n"
-"And in this wise I let them fighting dwell,\n"
-"And forth I will of Theseus you tell.\n"
-"\n"
-"The Destiny, minister general,\n"
-"That executeth in the world o'er all\n"
-"The purveyance*, that God hath seen beforn;              *foreordination\n"
-"So strong it is, that though the world had sworn\n"
-"The contrary of a thing by yea or nay,\n"
-"Yet some time it shall fallen on a day\n"
-"That falleth not eft* in a thousand year.                         *again\n"
-"For certainly our appetites here,\n"
-"Be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love,\n"
-"All is this ruled by the sight* above.         *eye, intelligence, power\n"
-"This mean I now by mighty Theseus,\n"
-"That for to hunten is so desirous --\n"
-"And namely* the greate hart in May --                        *especially\n"
-"That in his bed there dawneth him no day\n"
-"That he n'is clad, and ready for to ride\n"
-"With hunt and horn, and houndes him beside.\n"
-"For in his hunting hath he such delight,\n"
-"That it is all his joy and appetite\n"
-"To be himself the greate harte's bane*                      *destruction\n"
-"For after Mars he serveth now Diane.\n"
-"Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,\n"
-"And Theseus, with alle joy and bliss,\n"
-"With his Hippolyta, the faire queen,\n"
-"And Emily, y-clothed all in green,\n"
-"On hunting be they ridden royally.\n"
-"And to the grove, that stood there faste by,\n"
-"In which there was an hart, as men him told,\n"
-"Duke Theseus the straighte way doth hold,\n"
-"And to the laund* he rideth him full right,                  *plain <33>\n"
-"There was the hart y-wont to have his flight,\n"
-"And over a brook, and so forth on his way.\n"
-"This Duke will have a course at him or tway\n"
-"With houndes, such as him lust* to command.                     *pleased\n"
-"And when this Duke was come to the laund,\n"
-"Under the sun he looked, and anon\n"
-"He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,\n"
-"That foughte breme*, as it were bulles two.                    *fiercely\n"
-"The brighte swordes wente to and fro\n"
-"So hideously, that with the leaste stroke\n"
-"It seemed that it woulde fell an oak,\n"
-"But what they were, nothing yet he wote*.                          *knew\n"
-"This Duke his courser with his spurres smote,\n"
-"*And at a start* he was betwixt them two,                     *suddenly*\n"
-"And pulled out a sword and cried, \"Ho!\n"
-"No more, on pain of losing of your head.\n"
-"By mighty Mars, he shall anon be dead\n"
-"That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!\n"
-"But tell to me what mister* men ye be,                *manner, kind <34>\n"
-"That be so hardy for to fighte here\n"
-"Withoute judge or other officer,\n"
-"As though it were in listes royally. <35>\n"
-"This Palamon answered hastily,\n"
-"And saide: \"Sir, what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
-"We have the death deserved bothe two,\n"
-"Two woful wretches be we, and caitives,\n"
-"That be accumbered* of our own lives,                          *burdened\n"
-"And as thou art a rightful lord and judge,\n"
-"So give us neither mercy nor refuge.\n"
-"And slay me first, for sainte charity,\n"
-"But slay my fellow eke as well as me.\n"
-"Or slay him first; for, though thou know it lite*,               *little\n"
-"This is thy mortal foe, this is Arcite\n"
-"That from thy land is banisht on his head,\n"
-"For which he hath deserved to be dead.\n"
-"For this is he that came unto thy gate\n"
-"And saide, that he highte Philostrate.\n"
-"Thus hath he japed* thee full many year,                       *deceived\n"
-"And thou hast made of him thy chief esquier;\n"
-"And this is he, that loveth Emily.\n"
-"For since the day is come that I shall die\n"
-"I make pleinly* my confession,                      *fully, unreservedly\n"
-"That I am thilke* woful Palamon,                         *that same <36>\n"
-"That hath thy prison broken wickedly.\n"
-"I am thy mortal foe, and it am I\n"
-"That so hot loveth Emily the bright,\n"
-"That I would die here present in her sight.\n"
-"Therefore I aske death and my jewise*.                        *judgement\n"
-"But slay my fellow eke in the same wise,\n"
-"For both we have deserved to be slain.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This worthy Duke answer'd anon again,\n"
-"And said, \"This is a short conclusion.\n"
-"Your own mouth, by your own confession\n"
-"Hath damned you, and I will it record;\n"
-"It needeth not to pain you with the cord;\n"
-"Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.<37>\n"
-"\n"
-"The queen anon for very womanhead\n"
-"Began to weep, and so did Emily,\n"
-"And all the ladies in the company.\n"
-"Great pity was it as it thought them all,\n"
-"That ever such a chance should befall,\n"
-"For gentle men they were, of great estate,\n"
-"And nothing but for love was this debate\n"
-"They saw their bloody woundes wide and sore,\n"
-"And cried all at once, both less and more,\n"
-"\"Have mercy, Lord, upon us women all.\"\n"
-"And on their bare knees adown they fall\n"
-"And would have kissed his feet there as he stood,\n"
-"Till at the last *aslaked was his mood*                   *his anger was\n"
-"(For pity runneth soon in gentle heart);                       appeased*\n"
-"And though at first for ire he quoke and start\n"
-"He hath consider'd shortly in a clause\n"
-"The trespass of them both, and eke the cause:\n"
-"And although that his ire their guilt accused\n"
-"Yet in his reason he them both excused;\n"
-"As thus; he thoughte well that every man\n"
-"Will help himself in love if that he can,\n"
-"And eke deliver himself out of prison.\n"
-"Of women, for they wepten ever-in-one:*                     *continually\n"
-"And eke his hearte had compassion\n"
-"And in his gentle heart he thought anon,\n"
-"And soft unto himself he saide: \"Fie\n"
-"Upon a lord that will have no mercy,\n"
-"But be a lion both in word and deed,\n"
-"To them that be in repentance and dread,\n"
-"As well as-to a proud dispiteous* man                         *unpitying\n"
-"That will maintaine what he first began.\n"
-"That lord hath little of discretion,\n"
-"That in such case *can no division*:           *can make no distinction*\n"
-"But weigheth pride and humbless *after one*.\"                    *alike*\n"
-"And shortly, when his ire is thus agone,\n"
-"He gan to look on them with eyen light*,               *gentle, lenient*\n"
-"And spake these same wordes *all on height.*                     *aloud*\n"
-"\n"
-"\"The god of love, ah! benedicite*,                         *bless ye him\n"
-"How mighty and how great a lord is he!\n"
-"Against his might there gaine* none obstacles,           *avail, conquer\n"
-"He may be called a god for his miracles\n"
-"For he can maken at his owen guise\n"
-"Of every heart, as that him list devise.\n"
-"Lo here this Arcite, and this Palamon,\n"
-"That quietly were out of my prison,\n"
-"And might have lived in Thebes royally,\n"
-"And weet* I am their mortal enemy,                                 *knew\n"
-"And that their death li'th in my might also,\n"
-"And yet hath love, *maugre their eyen two*,     *in spite of their eyes*\n"
-"Y-brought them hither bothe for to die.\n"
-"Now look ye, is not this an high folly?\n"
-"Who may not be a fool, if but he love?\n"
-"Behold, for Godde's sake that sits above,\n"
-"See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?\n"
-"Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid\n"
-"Their wages and their fees for their service;\n"
-"And yet they weene for to be full wise,\n"
-"That serve love, for aught that may befall.\n"
-"But this is yet the beste game* of all,                            *joke\n"
-"That she, for whom they have this jealousy,\n"
-"Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.\n"
-"She wot no more of all this *hote fare*,                 *hot behaviour*\n"
-"By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare.\n"
-"But all must be assayed hot or cold;\n"
-"A man must be a fool, or young or old;\n"
-"I wot it by myself *full yore agone*:                   *long years ago*\n"
-"For in my time a servant was I one.\n"
-"And therefore since I know of love's pain,\n"
-"And wot how sore it can a man distrain*,                       *distress\n"
-"As he that oft hath been caught in his last*,                *snare <38>\n"
-"I you forgive wholly this trespass,\n"
-"At request of the queen that kneeleth here,\n"
-"And eke of Emily, my sister dear.\n"
-"And ye shall both anon unto me swear,\n"
-"That never more ye shall my country dere*                        *injure\n"
-"Nor make war upon me night nor day,\n"
-"But be my friends in alle that ye may.\n"
-"I you forgive this trespass *every deal*.                   *completely*\n"
-"And they him sware *his asking* fair and well,           *what he asked*\n"
-"And him of lordship and of mercy pray'd,\n"
-"And he them granted grace, and thus he said:\n"
-"\n"
-"\"To speak of royal lineage and richess,\n"
-"Though that she were a queen or a princess,\n"
-"Each of you both is worthy doubteless\n"
-"To wedde when time is; but natheless\n"
-"I speak as for my sister Emily,\n"
-"For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,\n"
-"Ye wot* yourselves, she may not wed the two                        *know\n"
-"At once, although ye fight for evermo:\n"
-"But one of you, *all be him loth or lief,*    *whether or not he wishes*\n"
-"He must *go pipe into an ivy leaf*:                       *\"go whistle\"*\n"
-"This is to say, she may not have you both,\n"
-"All be ye never so jealous, nor so wroth.\n"
-"And therefore I you put in this degree,\n"
-"That each of you shall have his destiny\n"
-"As *him is shape*; and hearken in what wise      *as is decreed for him*\n"
-"Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.\n"
-"My will is this, for plain conclusion\n"
-"Withouten any replication*,                                       *reply\n"
-"If that you liketh, take it for the best,\n"
-"That evereach of you shall go where *him lest*,              *he pleases\n"
-"Freely without ransom or danger;\n"
-"And this day fifty weekes, *farre ne nerre*,     *neither more nor less*\n"
-"Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights,\n"
-"Armed for listes up at alle rights\n"
-"All ready to darraine* her by bataille,                     *contend for\n"
-"And this behete* I you withoute fail                            *promise\n"
-"Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,\n"
-"That whether of you bothe that hath might,\n"
-"That is to say, that whether he or thou\n"
-"May with his hundred, as I spake of now,\n"
-"Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive,\n"
-"Him shall I given Emily to wive,\n"
-"To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.\n"
-"The listes shall I make here in this place.\n"
-"*And God so wisly on my soule rue*,              *may God as surely have\n"
-"As I shall even judge be and true.                     mercy on my soul*\n"
-"Ye shall none other ende with me maken\n"
-"Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.\n"
-"And if you thinketh this is well y-said,\n"
-"Say your advice*, and hold yourselves apaid**.      *opinion **satisfied\n"
-"This is your end, and your conclusion.\"\n"
-"Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?\n"
-"Who springeth up for joye but Arcite?\n"
-"Who could it tell, or who could it indite,\n"
-"The joye that is maked in the place\n"
-"When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?\n"
-"But down on knees went every *manner wight*,            *kind of person*\n"
-"And thanked him with all their heartes' might,\n"
-"And namely* these Thebans *ofte sithe*.         *especially *oftentimes*\n"
-"And thus with good hope and with hearte blithe\n"
-"They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride\n"
-"To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.\n"
-"\n"
-"I trow men woulde deem it negligence,\n"
-"If I forgot to telle the dispence*                          *expenditure\n"
-"Of Theseus, that went so busily\n"
-"To maken up the listes royally,\n"
-"That such a noble theatre as it was,\n"
-"I dare well say, in all this world there n'as*.                 *was not\n"
-"The circuit a mile was about,\n"
-"Walled of stone, and ditched all without.\n"
-"*Round was the shape, in manner of compass,\n"
-"Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas*               *see note  <39>*\n"
-"That when a man was set on one degree\n"
-"He letted* not his fellow for to see.                          *hindered\n"
-"Eastward there stood a gate of marble white,\n"
-"Westward right such another opposite.\n"
-"And, shortly to conclude, such a place\n"
-"Was never on earth made in so little space,\n"
-"For in the land there was no craftes-man,\n"
-"That geometry or arsmetrike* can**,                   *arithmetic **knew\n"
-"Nor pourtrayor*, nor carver of images,                 *portrait painter\n"
-"That Theseus ne gave him meat and wages\n"
-"The theatre to make and to devise.\n"
-"And for to do his rite and sacrifice\n"
-"He eastward hath upon the gate above,\n"
-"In worship of Venus, goddess of love,\n"
-"*Done make* an altar and an oratory;                 *caused to be made*\n"
-"And westward, in the mind and in memory\n"
-"Of Mars, he maked hath right such another,\n"
-"That coste largely of gold a fother*.                    *a great amount\n"
-"And northward, in a turret on the wall,\n"
-"Of alabaster white and red coral\n"
-"An oratory riche for to see,\n"
-"In worship of Diane of chastity,\n"
-"Hath Theseus done work in noble wise.\n"
-"But yet had I forgotten to devise*                             *describe\n"
-"The noble carving, and the portraitures,\n"
-"The shape, the countenance of the figures\n"
-"That weren in there oratories three.\n"
-"\n"
-"First in the temple of Venus may'st thou see\n"
-"Wrought on the wall,  full piteous to behold,\n"
-"The broken sleepes, and the sikes* cold,                         *sighes\n"
-"The sacred teares, and the waimentings*,                     *lamentings\n"
-"The fiery strokes of the desirings,\n"
-"That Love's servants in this life endure;\n"
-"The oathes, that their covenants assure.\n"
-"Pleasance and Hope, Desire, Foolhardiness,\n"
-"Beauty and Youth, and Bawdry and Richess,\n"
-"Charms and Sorc'ry, Leasings* and Flattery,                  *falsehoods\n"
-"Dispence, Business, and Jealousy,\n"
-"That wore of yellow goldes* a garland,                  *sunflowers <40>\n"
-"And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand,\n"
-"Feasts, instruments, and caroles and dances,\n"
-"Lust and array, and all the circumstances\n"
-"Of Love, which I reckon'd and reckon shall\n"
-"In order, were painted on the wall,\n"
-"And more than I can make of mention.\n"
-"For soothly all the mount of Citheron,<41>\n"
-"Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,\n"
-"Was showed on the wall in pourtraying,\n"
-"With all the garden, and the lustiness*.                   *pleasantness\n"
-"Nor was forgot the porter Idleness,\n"
-"Nor Narcissus the fair of *yore agone*,                    *olden times*\n"
-"Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,\n"
-"Nor yet the greate strength of Hercules,\n"
-"Th' enchantments of Medea and Circes,\n"
-"Nor of Turnus the hardy fierce courage,\n"
-"The rich Croesus *caitif in servage.* <42>         *abased into slavery*\n"
-"Thus may ye see, that wisdom nor richess,\n"
-"Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness\n"
-"Ne may with Venus holde champartie*,            *divided possession <43>\n"
-"For as her liste the world may she gie*.                          *guide\n"
-"Lo, all these folk so caught were in her las*                     *snare\n"
-"Till they for woe full often said, Alas!\n"
-"Suffice these ensamples one or two,\n"
-"Although I could reckon a thousand mo'.\n"
-"\n"
-"The statue of Venus, glorious to see\n"
-"Was naked floating in the large sea,\n"
-"And from the navel down all cover'd was\n"
-"With waves green, and bright as any glass.\n"
-"A citole <44> in her right hand hadde she,\n"
-"And on her head, full seemly for to see,\n"
-"A rose garland fresh, and well smelling,\n"
-"Above her head her doves flickering\n"
-"Before her stood her sone Cupido,\n"
-"Upon his shoulders winges had he two;\n"
-"And blind he was, as it is often seen;\n"
-"A bow he bare, and arrows bright and keen.\n"
-"\n"
-"Why should I not as well eke tell you all\n"
-"The portraiture, that was upon the wall\n"
-"Within the temple of mighty Mars the Red?\n"
-"All painted was the wall in length and brede*                   *breadth\n"
-"Like to the estres* of the grisly place               *interior chambers\n"
-"That hight the great temple of Mars in Thrace,\n"
-"In thilke* cold and frosty region,                                 *that\n"
-"There as Mars hath his sovereign mansion.\n"
-"In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,\n"
-"With knotty gnarry* barren trees old                            *gnarled\n"
-"Of stubbes sharp and hideous to behold;\n"
-"In which there ran a rumble and a sough*,                *groaning noise\n"
-"As though a storm should bursten every bough:\n"
-"And downward from an hill under a bent*                           *slope\n"
-"There stood the temple of Mars Armipotent,\n"
-"Wrought all of burnish'd steel, of which th' entry\n"
-"Was long and strait, and ghastly for to see.\n"
-"And thereout came *a rage and such a vise*,       *such a furious voice*\n"
-"That it made all the gates for to rise.\n"
-"The northern light in at the doore shone,\n"
-"For window on the walle was there none\n"
-"Through which men mighten any light discern.\n"
-"The doors were all of adamant etern,\n"
-"Y-clenched *overthwart and ende-long*         *crossways and lengthways*\n"
-"With iron tough, and, for to make it strong,\n"
-"Every pillar the temple to sustain\n"
-"Was tunne-great*, of iron bright and sheen.     *thick as a tun (barrel)\n"
-"There saw I first the dark imagining\n"
-"Of felony, and all the compassing;\n"
-"The cruel ire, as red as any glede*,                          *live coal\n"
-"The picke-purse<45>, and eke the pale dread;\n"
-"The smiler with the knife under the cloak,\n"
-"The shepen* burning with the blacke smoke                   *stable <46>\n"
-"The treason of the murd'ring in the bed,\n"
-"The open war, with woundes all be-bled;\n"
-"Conteke* with bloody knife, and sharp menace.       *contention, discord\n"
-"All full of chirking* was that sorry place.     *creaking, jarring noise\n"
-"The slayer of himself eke saw I there,\n"
-"His hearte-blood had bathed all his hair:\n"
-"The nail y-driven in the shode* at night,         *hair of the head <47>\n"
-"The colde death, with mouth gaping upright.\n"
-"Amiddes of the temple sat Mischance,\n"
-"With discomfort and sorry countenance;\n"
-"Eke saw I Woodness* laughing in his rage,                       *Madness\n"
-"Armed Complaint, Outhees*, and fierce Outrage;                   *Outcry\n"
-"The carrain* in the bush, with throat y-corve**,       *corpse **slashed\n"
-"A thousand slain, and not *of qualm y-storve*;        *dead of sickness*\n"
-"The tyrant, with the prey by force y-reft;\n"
-"The town destroy'd, that there was nothing left.\n"
-"Yet saw I brent* the shippes hoppesteres, <48>                    *burnt\n"
-"The hunter strangled with the wilde bears:\n"
-"The sow freting* the child right in the cradle;          *devouring <49>\n"
-"The cook scalded, for all his longe ladle.\n"
-"Nor was forgot, *by th'infortune of Mart*        *through the misfortune\n"
-"The carter overridden with his cart;                             of war*\n"
-"Under the wheel full low he lay adown.\n"
-"There were also of Mars' division,\n"
-"The armourer, the bowyer*, and the smith,                 *maker of bows\n"
-"That forgeth sharp swordes on his stith*.                         *anvil\n"
-"And all above depainted in a tower\n"
-"Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honour,\n"
-"With thilke* sharpe sword over his head                            *that\n"
-"Hanging by a subtle y-twined thread.\n"
-"Painted the slaughter was of Julius<50>,\n"
-"Of cruel Nero, and Antonius:\n"
-"Although at that time they were yet unborn,\n"
-"Yet was their death depainted there beforn,\n"
-"By menacing of Mars, right by figure,\n"
-"So was it showed in that portraiture,\n"
-"As is depainted in the stars above,\n"
-"Who shall be slain, or elles dead for love.\n"
-"Sufficeth one ensample in stories old,\n"
-"I may not reckon them all, though I wo'ld.\n"
-"\n"
-"The statue of Mars upon a carte* stood                          *chariot\n"
-"Armed, and looked grim as he were wood*,                            *mad\n"
-"And over his head there shone two figures\n"
-"Of starres, that be cleped in scriptures,\n"
-"That one Puella, that other Rubeus. <51>\n"
-"This god of armes was arrayed thus:\n"
-"A wolf there stood before him at his feet\n"
-"With eyen red, and of a man he eat:\n"
-"With subtle pencil painted was this story,\n"
-"In redouting* of Mars and of his glory.                 *reverance, fear\n"
-"\n"
-"Now to the temple of Dian the chaste\n"
-"As shortly as I can I will me haste,\n"
-"To telle you all the descriptioun.\n"
-"Depainted be the walles up and down\n"
-"Of hunting and of shamefast chastity.\n"
-"There saw I how woful Calistope,<52>\n"
-"When that Dian aggrieved was with her,\n"
-"Was turned from a woman to a bear,\n"
-"And after was she made the lodestar*:                         *pole star\n"
-"Thus was it painted, I can say no far*;                         *farther\n"
-"Her son is eke a star as men may see.\n"
-"There saw I Dane <53> turn'd into a tree,\n"
-"I meane not the goddess Diane,\n"
-"But Peneus' daughter, which that hight Dane.\n"
-"There saw I Actaeon an hart y-maked*,                              *made\n"
-"For vengeance that he saw Dian all naked:\n"
-"I saw how that his houndes have him caught,\n"
-"And freten* him, for that they knew him not.                     *devour\n"
-"Yet painted was, a little farthermore\n"
-"How Atalanta hunted the wild boar;\n"
-"And Meleager, and many other mo',\n"
-"For which Diana wrought them care and woe.\n"
-"There saw I many another wondrous story,\n"
-"The which me list not drawen to memory.\n"
-"This goddess on an hart full high was set*,                      *seated\n"
-"With smalle houndes all about her feet,\n"
-"And underneath her feet she had a moon,\n"
-"Waxing it was, and shoulde wane soon.\n"
-"In gaudy green her statue clothed was,\n"
-"With bow in hand, and arrows in a case*.                         *quiver\n"
-"Her eyen caste she full low adown,\n"
-"Where Pluto hath his darke regioun.\n"
-"A woman travailing was her beforn,\n"
-"But, for her child so longe was unborn,\n"
-"Full piteously Lucina <54> gan she call,\n"
-"And saide; \"Help, for thou may'st best of all.\"\n"
-"Well could he painte lifelike that it wrought;\n"
-"With many a florin he the hues had bought.\n"
-"Now be these listes made, and Theseus,\n"
-"That at his greate cost arrayed thus\n"
-"The temples, and the theatre every deal*,                     *part <55>\n"
-"When it was done, him liked wonder well.\n"
-"\n"
-"But stint* I will of Theseus a lite**,          *cease speaking **little\n"
-"And speak of Palamon and of Arcite.\n"
-"The day approacheth of their returning,\n"
-"That evereach an hundred knights should bring,\n"
-"The battle to darraine* as I you told;                          *contest\n"
-"And to Athens, their covenant to hold,\n"
-"Hath ev'reach of them brought an hundred knights,\n"
-"Well-armed for the war at alle rights.\n"
-"And sickerly* there trowed** many a man,         *surely <56> **believed\n"
-"That never, sithen* that the world began,                         *since\n"
-"For to speaken of knighthood of their hand,\n"
-"As far as God hath maked sea and land,\n"
-"Was, of so few, so noble a company.\n"
-"For every wight that loved chivalry,\n"
-"And would, *his thankes, have a passant name*,        *thanks to his own\n"
-"Had prayed, that he might be of that game,               efforts, have a\n"
-"And well was him, that thereto chosen was.              surpassing name*\n"
-"For if there fell to-morrow such a case,\n"
-"Ye knowe well, that every lusty knight,\n"
-"That loveth par amour, and hath his might\n"
-"Were it in Engleland, or elleswhere,\n"
-"They would, their thankes, willen to be there,\n"
-"T' fight for a lady; Benedicite,\n"
-"It were a lusty* sighte for to see.                            *pleasing\n"
-"And right so fared they with Palamon;\n"
-"With him there wente knightes many one.\n"
-"Some will be armed in an habergeon,\n"
-"And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon*;                  *short doublet.\n"
-"And some will have *a pair of plates* large;     *back and front armour*\n"
-"And some will have a Prusse* shield, or targe;                 *Prussian\n"
-"Some will be armed on their legges weel;\n"
-"Some have an axe, and some a mace of steel.\n"
-"There is no newe guise*, but it was old.                        *fashion\n"
-"Armed they weren, as I have you told,\n"
-"Evereach after his opinion.\n"
-"There may'st thou see coming with Palamon\n"
-"Licurgus himself, the great king of Thrace:\n"
-"Black was his beard, and manly was his face.\n"
-"The circles of his eyen in his head\n"
-"They glowed betwixte yellow and red,\n"
-"And like a griffin looked he about,\n"
-"With kemped* haires on his browes stout;                     *combed<57>\n"
-"His limbs were great, his brawns were hard and strong,\n"
-"His shoulders broad, his armes round and long.\n"
-"And as the guise* was in his country,                           *fashion\n"
-"Full high upon a car of gold stood he,\n"
-"With foure white bulles in the trace.\n"
-"Instead of coat-armour on his harness,\n"
-"With yellow nails, and bright as any gold,\n"
-"He had a beare's skin, coal-black for old*.                         *age\n"
-"His long hair was y-kempt behind his back,\n"
-"As any raven's feather it shone for black.\n"
-"A wreath of gold *arm-great*, of huge weight,     *thick as a man's arm*\n"
-"Upon his head sate, full of stones bright,\n"
-"Of fine rubies and clear diamants.\n"
-"About his car there wente white alauns*,                *greyhounds <58>\n"
-"Twenty and more, as great as any steer,\n"
-"To hunt the lion or the wilde bear,\n"
-"And follow'd him, with muzzle fast y-bound,\n"
-"Collars of gold, and torettes* filed round.                       *rings\n"
-"An hundred lordes had he in his rout*                           *retinue\n"
-"Armed full well, with heartes stern and stout.\n"
-"\n"
-"With Arcita, in stories as men find,\n"
-"The great Emetrius the king of Ind,\n"
-"Upon a *steede bay* trapped in steel,                        *bay horse*\n"
-"Cover'd with cloth of gold diapred* well,                     *decorated\n"
-"Came riding like the god of armes, Mars.\n"
-"His coat-armour was of *a cloth of Tars*,               *a kind of silk*\n"
-"Couched* with pearls white and round and great                  *trimmed\n"
-"His saddle was of burnish'd gold new beat;\n"
-"A mantelet on his shoulders hanging,\n"
-"Bretful* of rubies red, as fire sparkling.                      *brimful\n"
-"His crispe hair like ringes was y-run,\n"
-"And that was yellow, glittering as the sun.\n"
-"His nose was high, his eyen bright citrine*,                *pale yellow\n"
-"His lips were round, his colour was sanguine,\n"
-"A fewe fracknes* in his face y-sprent**,           *freckles **sprinkled\n"
-"Betwixte yellow and black somedeal y-ment*                   *mixed <59>\n"
-"And as a lion he *his looking cast*                *cast about his eyes*\n"
-"Of five and twenty year his age I cast*                          *reckon\n"
-"His beard was well begunnen for to spring;\n"
-"His voice was as a trumpet thundering.\n"
-"Upon his head he wore of laurel green\n"
-"A garland fresh and lusty to be seen;\n"
-"Upon his hand he bare, for his delight,\n"
-"An eagle tame, as any lily white.\n"
-"An hundred lordes had he with him there,\n"
-"All armed, save their heads, in all their gear,\n"
-"Full richely in alle manner things.\n"
-"For trust ye well, that earles, dukes, and kings\n"
-"Were gather'd in this noble company,\n"
-"For love, and for increase of chivalry.\n"
-"About this king there ran on every part\n"
-"Full many a tame lion and leopart.\n"
-"And in this wise these lordes *all and some*            *all and sundry*\n"
-"Be on the Sunday to the city come\n"
-"Aboute prime<60>, and in the town alight.\n"
-"\n"
-"This Theseus, this Duke, this worthy knight\n"
-"When he had brought them into his city,\n"
-"And inned* them, ev'reach at his degree,                         *lodged\n"
-"He feasteth them, and doth so great labour\n"
-"To *easen them*, and do them all honour,         *make them comfortable*\n"
-"That yet men weene* that no mannes wit                            *think\n"
-"Of none estate could amenden* it.                               *improve\n"
-"The minstrelsy, the service at the feast,\n"
-"The greate giftes to the most and least,\n"
-"The rich array of Theseus' palace,\n"
-"Nor who sate first or last upon the dais.<61>\n"
-"What ladies fairest be, or best dancing\n"
-"Or which of them can carol best or sing,\n"
-"Or who most feelingly speaketh of love;\n"
-"What hawkes sitten on the perch above,\n"
-"What houndes liggen* on the floor adown,                            *lie\n"
-"Of all this now make I no mentioun\n"
-"But of th'effect; that thinketh me the best\n"
-"Now comes the point, and hearken if you lest.*                   *please\n"
-"\n"
-"The Sunday night, ere day began to spring,\n"
-"When Palamon the larke hearde sing,\n"
-"Although it were not day by houres two,\n"
-"Yet sang the lark, and Palamon right tho*                          *then\n"
-"With holy heart, and with an high courage,\n"
-"Arose, to wenden* on his pilgrimage                                  *go\n"
-"Unto the blissful Cithera benign,\n"
-"I meane Venus, honourable and digne*.                            *worthy\n"
-"And in her hour <62> he walketh forth a pace\n"
-"Unto the listes, where her temple was,\n"
-"And down he kneeleth, and with humble cheer*                  *demeanour\n"
-};
-prog_char knightsTale3[] PROGMEM= {
-"And hearte sore, he said as ye shall hear.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"Fairest of fair, O lady mine Venus,\n"
-"Daughter to Jove, and spouse of Vulcanus,\n"
-"Thou gladder of the mount of Citheron!<41>\n"
-"For thilke love thou haddest to Adon <63>\n"
-"Have pity on my bitter teares smart,\n"
-"And take mine humble prayer to thine heart.\n"
-"Alas! I have no language to tell\n"
-"Th'effecte, nor the torment of mine hell;\n"
-"Mine hearte may mine harmes not betray;\n"
-"I am so confused, that I cannot say.\n"
-"But mercy, lady bright, that knowest well\n"
-"My thought, and seest what harm that I feel.\n"
-"Consider all this, and *rue upon* my sore,                *take pity on*\n"
-"As wisly* as I shall for evermore                                 *truly\n"
-"Enforce my might, thy true servant to be,\n"
-"And holde war alway with chastity:\n"
-"That make I mine avow*, so ye me help.                     *vow, promise\n"
-"I keepe not of armes for to yelp,*                                *boast\n"
-"Nor ask I not to-morrow to have victory,\n"
-"Nor renown in this case, nor vaine glory\n"
-"Of *prize of armes*, blowing up and down,            *praise for valour*\n"
-"But I would have fully possessioun\n"
-"Of Emily, and die in her service;\n"
-"Find thou the manner how, and in what wise.\n"
-"I *recke not but* it may better be                 *do not know whether*\n"
-"To have vict'ry of them, or they of me,\n"
-"So that I have my lady in mine arms.\n"
-"For though so be that Mars is god of arms,\n"
-"Your virtue is so great in heaven above,\n"
-"That, if you list, I shall well have my love.\n"
-"Thy temple will I worship evermo',\n"
-"And on thine altar, where I ride or go,\n"
-"I will do sacrifice, and fires bete*.                      *make, kindle\n"
-"And if ye will not so, my lady sweet,\n"
-"Then pray I you, to-morrow with a spear\n"
-"That Arcita me through the hearte bear\n"
-"Then reck I not, when I have lost my life,\n"
-"Though that Arcita win her to his wife.\n"
-"This is th' effect and end of my prayere, --\n"
-"Give me my love, thou blissful lady dear.\"\n"
-"When th' orison was done of Palamon,\n"
-"His sacrifice he did, and that anon,\n"
-"Full piteously, with alle circumstances,\n"
-"*All tell I not as now* his observances.       *although I tell not now*\n"
-"But at the last the statue of Venus shook,\n"
-"And made a signe, whereby that he took\n"
-"That his prayer accepted was that day.\n"
-"For though the signe shewed a delay,\n"
-"Yet wist he well that granted was his boon;\n"
-"And with glad heart he went him home full soon.\n"
-"\n"
-"The third hour unequal <64>  that Palamon\n"
-"Began to Venus' temple for to gon,\n"
-"Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily,\n"
-"And to the temple of Dian gan hie.\n"
-"Her maidens, that she thither with her lad*,                        *led\n"
-"Th' incense, the clothes, and the remnant all\n"
-"That to the sacrifice belonge shall,\n"
-"The hornes full of mead, as was the guise;\n"
-"There lacked nought to do her sacrifice.\n"
-"Smoking* the temple full of clothes fair,                  *draping <65>\n"
-"This Emily with hearte debonnair*                                *gentle\n"
-"Her body wash'd with water of a well.\n"
-"But how she did her rite I dare not tell;\n"
-"But* it be any thing in general;                                 *unless\n"
-"And yet it were a game* to hearen all                          *pleasure\n"
-"To him that meaneth well it were no charge:\n"
-"But it is good a man to *be at large*.                   *do as he will*\n"
-"Her bright hair combed was, untressed all.\n"
-"A coronet of green oak cerriall <66>\n"
-"Upon her head was set full fair and meet.\n"
-"Two fires on the altar gan she bete,\n"
-"And did her thinges, as men may behold\n"
-"In Stace of Thebes <67>, and these bookes old.\n"
-"When kindled was the fire, with piteous cheer\n"
-"Unto Dian she spake as ye may hear.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"O chaste goddess of the woodes green,\n"
-"To whom both heav'n and earth and sea is seen,\n"
-"Queen of the realm of Pluto dark and low,\n"
-"Goddess of maidens, that mine heart hast know\n"
-"Full many a year, and wost* what I desire,                      *knowest\n"
-"To keep me from the vengeance of thine ire,\n"
-"That Actaeon aboughte* cruelly:                   *earned; suffered from\n"
-"Chaste goddess, well wottest thou that I\n"
-"Desire to be a maiden all my life,\n"
-"Nor never will I be no love nor wife.\n"
-"I am, thou wost*, yet of thy company,                           *knowest\n"
-"A maid, and love hunting and venery*,                      *field sports\n"
-"And for to walken in the woodes wild,\n"
-"And not to be a wife, and be with child.\n"
-"Nought will I know the company of man.\n"
-"Now help me, lady, since ye may and can,\n"
-"For those three formes <68> that thou hast in thee.\n"
-"And Palamon, that hath such love to me,\n"
-"And eke Arcite, that loveth me so sore,\n"
-"This grace I pray thee withoute more,\n"
-"As sende love and peace betwixt them two:\n"
-"And from me turn away their heartes so,\n"
-"That all their hote love, and their desire,\n"
-"And all their busy torment, and their fire,\n"
-"Be queint*, or turn'd into another place.                      *quenched\n"
-"And if so be thou wilt do me no grace,\n"
-"Or if my destiny be shapen so\n"
-"That I shall needes have one of them two,\n"
-"So send me him that most desireth me.\n"
-"Behold, goddess of cleane chastity,\n"
-"The bitter tears that on my cheekes fall.\n"
-"Since thou art maid, and keeper of us all,\n"
-"My maidenhead thou keep and well conserve,\n"
-"And, while I live, a maid I will thee serve.\n"
-"\n"
-"The fires burn upon the altar clear,\n"
-"While Emily was thus in her prayere:\n"
-"But suddenly she saw a sighte quaint*.                          *strange\n"
-"For right anon one of the fire's *queint\n"
-"And quick'd* again, and after that anon           *went out and revived*\n"
-"That other fire was queint, and all agone:\n"
-"And as it queint, it made a whisteling,\n"
-"As doth a brande wet in its burning.\n"
-"And at the brandes end outran anon\n"
-"As it were bloody droppes many one:\n"
-"For which so sore aghast was Emily,\n"
-"That she was well-nigh mad, and gan to cry,\n"
-"For she ne wiste what it signified;\n"
-"But onely for feare thus she cried,\n"
-"And wept, that it was pity for to hear.\n"
-"And therewithal Diana gan appear\n"
-"With bow in hand, right as an hunteress,\n"
-"And saide; \"Daughter, stint* thine heaviness.                     *cease\n"
-"Among the goddes high it is affirm'd,\n"
-"And by eternal word writ and confirm'd,\n"
-"Thou shalt be wedded unto one of tho*                             *those\n"
-"That have for thee so muche care and woe:\n"
-"But unto which of them I may not tell.\n"
-"Farewell, for here I may no longer dwell.\n"
-"The fires which that on mine altar brenn*,                         *burn\n"
-"Shall thee declaren, ere that thou go henne*,                     *hence\n"
-"Thine aventure of love, as in this case.\"\n"
-"And with that word, the arrows in the case*                      *quiver\n"
-"Of the goddess did clatter fast and ring,\n"
-"And forth she went, and made a vanishing,\n"
-"For which this Emily astonied was,\n"
-"And saide; \"What amounteth this, alas!\n"
-"I put me under thy protection,\n"
-"Diane, and in thy disposition.\"\n"
-"And home she went anon the nexte* way.                          *nearest\n"
-"This is th' effect, there is no more to say.\n"
-"\n"
-"The nexte hour of Mars following this\n"
-"Arcite to the temple walked is\n"
-"Of fierce Mars, to do his sacrifice\n"
-"With all the rites of his pagan guise.\n"
-"With piteous* heart and high devotion                             *pious\n"
-"Right thus to Mars he said his orison\n"
-"\"O stronge god, that in the regnes* old                          *realms\n"
-"Of Thrace honoured art, and lord y-hold*                           *held\n"
-"And hast in every regne, and every land\n"
-"Of armes all the bridle in thine hand,\n"
-"And *them fortunest as thee list devise*,             *send them fortune\n"
-"Accept of me my piteous sacrifice.                        as you please*\n"
-"If so be that my youthe may deserve,\n"
-"And that my might be worthy for to serve\n"
-"Thy godhead, that I may be one of thine,\n"
-"Then pray I thee to *rue upon my pine*,                *pity my anguish*\n"
-"For thilke* pain, and thilke hote fire,                            *that\n"
-"In which thou whilom burned'st for desire\n"
-"Whenne that thou usedest* the beauty                            *enjoyed\n"
-"Of faire young Venus, fresh and free,\n"
-"And haddest her in armes at thy will:\n"
-"And though thee ones on a time misfill*,                   *were unlucky\n"
-"When Vulcanus had caught thee in his las*,                     *net <69>\n"
-"And found thee ligging* by his wife, alas!                        *lying\n"
-"For thilke sorrow that was in thine heart,\n"
-"Have ruth* as well upon my paine's smart.                          *pity\n"
-"I am young and unconning*, as thou know'st,            *ignorant, simple\n"
-"And, as I trow*, with love offended most                        *believe\n"
-"That e'er was any living creature:\n"
-"For she, that doth* me all this woe endure,                      *causes\n"
-"Ne recketh ne'er whether I sink or fleet*                          *swim\n"
-"And well I wot, ere she me mercy hete*,              *promise, vouchsafe\n"
-"I must with strengthe win her in the place:\n"
-"And well I wot, withoute help or grace\n"
-"Of thee, ne may my strengthe not avail:\n"
-"Then help me, lord, to-morr'w in my bataille,\n"
-"For thilke fire that whilom burned thee,\n"
-"As well as this fire that now burneth me;\n"
-"And do* that I to-morr'w may have victory.                        *cause\n"
-"Mine be the travail, all thine be the glory.\n"
-"Thy sovereign temple will I most honour\n"
-"Of any place, and alway most labour\n"
-"In thy pleasance and in thy craftes strong.\n"
-"And in thy temple I will my banner hong*,                          *hang\n"
-"And all the armes of my company,\n"
-"And evermore, until that day I die,\n"
-"Eternal fire I will before thee find\n"
-"And eke to this my vow I will me bind:\n"
-"My beard, my hair that hangeth long adown,\n"
-"That never yet hath felt offension*                           *indignity\n"
-"Of razor nor of shears, I will thee give,\n"
-"And be thy true servant while I live.\n"
-"Now, lord, have ruth upon my sorrows sore,\n"
-"Give me the victory, I ask no more.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"The prayer stint* of Arcita the strong,                           *ended\n"
-"The ringes on the temple door that hong,\n"
-"And eke the doores, clattered full fast,\n"
-"Of which Arcita somewhat was aghast.\n"
-"The fires burn'd upon the altar bright,\n"
-"That it gan all the temple for to light;\n"
-"A sweete smell anon the ground up gaf*,                            *gave\n"
-"And Arcita anon his hand up haf*,                                *lifted\n"
-"And more incense into the fire he cast,\n"
-"With other rites more and at the last\n"
-"The statue of Mars began his hauberk ring;\n"
-"And with that sound he heard a murmuring\n"
-"Full low and dim, that saide thus,  \"Victory.\"\n"
-"For which he gave to Mars honour and glory.\n"
-"And thus with joy, and hope well to fare,\n"
-"Arcite anon unto his inn doth fare.\n"
-"As fain* as fowl is of the brighte sun.                            *glad\n"
-"\n"
-"And right anon such strife there is begun\n"
-"For thilke* granting, in the heav'n above,                         *that\n"
-"Betwixte Venus the goddess of love,\n"
-"And Mars the sterne god armipotent,\n"
-"That Jupiter was busy it to stent*:                                *stop\n"
-"Till that the pale Saturnus the cold,<70>\n"
-"That knew so many of adventures old,\n"
-"Found in his old experience such an art,\n"
-"That he full soon hath pleased every part.\n"
-"As sooth is said, eld* hath great advantage,                        *age\n"
-"In eld is bothe wisdom and usage*:                           *experience\n"
-"Men may the old out-run, but not out-rede*.                      *outwit\n"
-"Saturn anon, to stint the strife and drede,\n"
-"Albeit that it is against his kind,*                             *nature\n"
-"Of all this strife gan a remedy find.\n"
-"\"My deare daughter Venus,\" quoth Saturn,\n"
-"\"My course*, that hath so wide for to turn,                  *orbit <71>\n"
-"Hath more power than wot any man.\n"
-"Mine is the drowning in the sea so wan;\n"
-"Mine is the prison in the darke cote*,                             *cell\n"
-"Mine the strangling and hanging by the throat,\n"
-"The murmur, and the churlish rebelling,\n"
-"The groyning*, and the privy poisoning.                      *discontent\n"
-"I do vengeance and plein* correction,                              *full\n"
-"I dwell in the sign of the lion.\n"
-"Mine is the ruin of the highe halls,\n"
-"The falling of the towers and the walls\n"
-"Upon the miner or the carpenter:\n"
-"I slew Samson in shaking the pillar:\n"
-"Mine also be the maladies cold,\n"
-"The darke treasons, and the castes* old:                          *plots\n"
-"My looking is the father of pestilence.\n"
-"Now weep no more, I shall do diligence\n"
-"That Palamon, that is thine owen knight,\n"
-"Shall have his lady, as thou hast him hight*.                  *promised\n"
-"Though Mars shall help his knight, yet natheless\n"
-"Betwixte you there must sometime be peace:\n"
-"All be ye not of one complexion,\n"
-"That each day causeth such division,\n"
-"I am thine ayel*, ready at thy will;                   *grandfather <72>\n"
-"Weep now no more, I shall thy lust* fulfil.\"                   *pleasure\n"
-"Now will I stenten* of the gods above,                   *cease speaking\n"
-"Of Mars, and of Venus, goddess of love,\n"
-"And telle you as plainly as I can\n"
-"The great effect, for which that I began.\n"
-"\n"
-"Great was the feast in Athens thilke* day;                         *that\n"
-"And eke the lusty season of that May\n"
-"Made every wight to be in such pleasance,\n"
-"That all that Monday jousten they and dance,\n"
-"And spenden it in Venus' high service.\n"
-"But by the cause that they shoulde rise\n"
-"Early a-morrow for to see that fight,\n"
-"Unto their reste wente they at night.\n"
-"And on the morrow, when the day gan spring,\n"
-"Of horse and harness* noise and clattering                       *armour\n"
-"There was in the hostelries all about:\n"
-"And to the palace rode there many a rout*                *train, retinue\n"
-"Of lordes, upon steedes and palfreys.\n"
-"There mayst thou see devising* of harness                    *decoration\n"
-"So uncouth* and so rich, and wrought so weel               *unkown, rare\n"
-"Of goldsmithry, of brouding*, and of steel;                  *embroidery\n"
-"The shieldes bright, the testers*, and trappures**          *helmets<73>\n"
-"Gold-hewen helmets, hauberks, coat-armures;                  **trappings\n"
-"Lordes in parements* on their coursers,           *ornamental garb <74>;\n"
-"Knightes of retinue, and eke squiers,\n"
-"Nailing the spears, and helmes buckeling,\n"
-"Gniding* of shieldes, with lainers** lacing;             *polishing <75>\n"
-"There as need is, they were nothing idle:                     **lanyards\n"
-"The foamy steeds upon the golden bridle\n"
-"Gnawing, and fast the armourers also\n"
-"With file and hammer pricking to and fro;\n"
-"Yeomen on foot, and knaves* many one                           *servants\n"
-"With shorte staves, thick* as they may gon**;              *close **walk\n"
-"Pipes, trumpets, nakeres*, and clariouns,                    *drums <76>\n"
-"That in the battle blowe bloody souns;\n"
-"The palace full of people up and down,\n"
-"There three, there ten, holding their questioun*,          *conversation\n"
-"Divining* of these Theban knightes two.                    *conjecturing\n"
-"Some saiden thus, some said it shall he so;\n"
-"Some helden with him with the blacke beard,\n"
-"Some with the bald, some with the thick-hair'd;\n"
-"Some said he looked grim, and woulde fight:\n"
-"He had a sparth* of twenty pound of weight.           *double-headed axe\n"
-"Thus was the halle full of divining*                       *conjecturing\n"
-"Long after that the sunne gan up spring.\n"
-"The great Theseus that of his sleep is waked\n"
-"With minstrelsy, and noise that was maked,\n"
-"Held yet the chamber of his palace rich,\n"
-"Till that the Theban knightes both y-lich*                        *alike\n"
-"Honoured were, and to the palace fet*.                          *fetched\n"
-"Duke Theseus is at a window set,\n"
-"Array'd right as he were a god in throne:\n"
-"The people presseth thitherward full soon\n"
-"Him for to see, and do him reverence,\n"
-"And eke to hearken his hest* and his sentence**.       *command **speech\n"
-"An herald on a scaffold made an O, <77>\n"
-"Till the noise of the people was y-do*:                            *done\n"
-"And when he saw the people of noise all still,\n"
-"Thus shewed he the mighty Duke's will.\n"
-"\"The lord hath of his high discretion\n"
-"Considered that it were destruction\n"
-"To gentle blood, to fighten in the guise\n"
-"Of mortal battle now in this emprise:\n"
-"Wherefore to shape* that they shall not die,          *arrange, contrive\n"
-"He will his firste purpose modify.\n"
-"No man therefore, on pain of loss of life,\n"
-"No manner* shot, nor poleaxe, nor short knife                   *kind of\n"
-"Into the lists shall send, or thither bring.\n"
-"Nor short sword for to stick with point biting\n"
-"No man shall draw, nor bear it by his side.\n"
-"And no man shall unto his fellow ride\n"
-"But one course, with a sharp y-grounden spear:\n"
-"*Foin if him list on foot, himself to wear.           *He who wishes can\n"
-"And he that is at mischief shall be take*,       fence on foot to defend\n"
-"And not slain, but be brought unto the stake,       himself, and he that\n"
-"That shall be ordained on either side;       is in peril shall be taken*\n"
-"Thither he shall by force, and there abide.\n"
-"And if *so fall* the chiefetain be take                  *should happen*\n"
-"On either side, or elles slay his make*,                   *equal, match\n"
-"No longer then the tourneying shall last.\n"
-"God speede you; go forth and lay on fast.\n"
-"With long sword and with mace fight your fill.\n"
-"Go now your way; this is the lordes will.\n"
-"The voice of the people touched the heaven,\n"
-"So loude cried they with merry steven*:                           *sound\n"
-"God save such a lord that is so good,\n"
-"He willeth no destruction of blood.\n"
-"\n"
-"Up go the trumpets and the melody,\n"
-"And to the listes rode the company\n"
-"*By ordinance*, throughout the city large,            *in orderly array*\n"
-"Hanged with cloth of gold, and not with sarge*.              *serge <78>\n"
-"Full like a lord this noble Duke gan ride,\n"
-"And these two Thebans upon either side:\n"
-"\n"
-"And after rode the queen and Emily,\n"
-"And after them another company\n"
-"Of one and other, after their degree.\n"
-"And thus they passed thorough that city\n"
-"And to the listes came they by time:\n"
-"It was not of the day yet fully prime*.              *between 6 & 9 a.m.\n"
-"When set was Theseus full rich and high,\n"
-"Hippolyta the queen and Emily,\n"
-"And other ladies in their degrees about,\n"
-"Unto the seates presseth all the rout.\n"
-"And westward, through the gates under Mart,\n"
-"Arcite, and eke the hundred of his part,\n"
-"With banner red, is enter'd right anon;\n"
-"And in the selve* moment Palamon                              *self-same\n"
-"Is, under Venus, eastward in the place,\n"
-"With banner white, and hardy cheer* and face                 *expression\n"
-"In all the world, to seeken up and down\n"
-"So even* without variatioun                                       *equal\n"
-"There were such companies never tway.\n"
-"For there was none so wise that coulde say\n"
-"That any had of other avantage\n"
-"Of worthiness, nor of estate, nor age,\n"
-"So even were they chosen for to guess.\n"
-"And *in two ranges faire they them dress*.     *they arranged themselves\n"
-"When that their names read were every one,                  in two rows*\n"
-"That in their number guile* were there none,                      *fraud\n"
-"Then were the gates shut, and cried was loud;\n"
-"\"Do now your devoir, younge knights proud\n"
-"The heralds left their pricking* up and down      *spurring their horses\n"
-"Now ring the trumpet loud and clarioun.\n"
-"There is no more to say, but east and west\n"
-"In go the speares sadly* in the rest;                          *steadily\n"
-"In go the sharpe spurs into the side.\n"
-"There see me who can joust, and who can ride.\n"
-"There shiver shaftes upon shieldes thick;\n"
-"He feeleth through the hearte-spoon<79> the prick.\n"
-"Up spring the speares twenty foot on height;\n"
-"Out go the swordes as the silver bright.\n"
-"The helmes they to-hewen, and to-shred*;          *strike in pieces <80>\n"
-"Out burst the blood, with sterne streames red.\n"
-"With mighty maces the bones they to-brest*.                       *burst\n"
-"He <81> through the thickest of the throng gan threst*.          *thrust\n"
-"There stumble steedes strong, and down go all.\n"
-"He rolleth under foot as doth a ball.\n"
-"He foineth* on his foe with a trunchoun,                 *forces himself\n"
-"And he him hurtleth with his horse adown.\n"
-"He through the body hurt is, and *sith take*,      *afterwards captured*\n"
-"Maugre his head, and brought unto the stake,\n"
-"As forword* was, right there he must abide.                    *covenant\n"
-"Another led is on that other side.\n"
-"And sometime doth* them Theseus to rest,                         *caused\n"
-"Them to refresh, and drinken if them lest*.                     *pleased\n"
-"Full oft a day have thilke Thebans two                            *these\n"
-"Together met and wrought each other woe:\n"
-"Unhorsed hath each other of them tway*                            *twice\n"
-"There is no tiger in the vale of Galaphay, <82>\n"
-"When that her whelp is stole, when it is lite*                   *little\n"
-"So cruel on the hunter, as Arcite\n"
-"For jealous heart upon this Palamon:\n"
-"Nor in Belmarie <83> there is no fell lion,\n"
-"That hunted is, or for his hunger wood*                             *mad\n"
-"Or for his prey desireth so the blood,\n"
-"As Palamon to slay his foe Arcite.\n"
-"The jealous strokes upon their helmets bite;\n"
-"Out runneth blood on both their sides red,\n"
-"Sometime an end there is of every deed\n"
-"For ere the sun unto the reste went,\n"
-"The stronge king Emetrius gan hent*                       *sieze, assail\n"
-"This Palamon, as he fought with Arcite,\n"
-"And made his sword deep in his flesh to bite,\n"
-"And by the force of twenty is he take,\n"
-"Unyielding, and is drawn unto the stake.\n"
-"And in the rescue of this Palamon\n"
-"The stronge king Licurgus is borne down:\n"
-"And king Emetrius, for all his strength\n"
-"Is borne out of his saddle a sword's length,\n"
-"So hit him Palamon ere he were take:\n"
-"But all for nought; he was brought to the stake:\n"
-"His hardy hearte might him helpe naught,\n"
-"He must abide when that he was caught,\n"
-"By force, and eke by composition*.                          *the bargain\n"
-"Who sorroweth now but woful Palamon\n"
-"That must no more go again to fight?\n"
-"And when that Theseus had seen that sight\n"
-"Unto the folk that foughte thus each one,\n"
-"He cried, Ho! no more, for it is done!\n"
-"I will be true judge, and not party.\n"
-"Arcite of Thebes shall have Emily,\n"
-"That by his fortune hath her fairly won.\"\n"
-"Anon there is a noise of people gone,\n"
-"For joy of this, so loud and high withal,\n"
-"It seemed that the listes shoulde fall.\n"
-"\n"
-"What can now faire Venus do above?\n"
-"What saith she now? what doth this queen of love?\n"
-"But weepeth so, for wanting of her will,\n"
-"Till that her teares in the listes fill*                           *fall\n"
-"She said: \"I am ashamed doubteless.\"\n"
-"Saturnus saide: \"Daughter, hold thy peace.\n"
-"Mars hath his will, his knight hath all his boon,\n"
-"And by mine head thou shalt be eased soon.\"\n"
-" The trumpeters with the loud minstrelsy,\n"
-"The heralds, that full loude yell and cry,\n"
-"Be in their joy for weal of Dan* Arcite.                           *Lord\n"
-"But hearken me, and stinte noise a lite,\n"
-"What a miracle there befell anon\n"
-"This fierce Arcite hath off his helm y-done,\n"
-"And on a courser for to shew his face\n"
-"He *pricketh endelong* the large place,          *rides from end to end*\n"
-"Looking upward upon this Emily;\n"
-"And she again him cast a friendly eye\n"
-"(For women, as to speaken *in commune*,                      *generally*\n"
-"They follow all the favour of fortune),\n"
-"And was all his in cheer*,  as his in heart.                *countenance\n"
-"Out of the ground a fire infernal start,\n"
-"From Pluto sent, at request of Saturn\n"
-"For which his horse for fear began to turn,\n"
-"And leap aside, and founder* as he leap                         *stumble\n"
-"And ere that Arcite may take any keep*,                            *care\n"
-"He pight* him on the pummel** of his head.                *pitched **top\n"
-"That in the place he lay as he were dead.\n"
-"His breast to-bursten with his saddle-bow.\n"
-"As black he lay as any coal or crow,\n"
-"So was the blood y-run into his face.\n"
-"Anon he was y-borne out of the place\n"
-"With hearte sore, to Theseus' palace.\n"
-"Then was he carven* out of his harness.                             *cut\n"
-"And in a bed y-brought full fair and blive*                     *quickly\n"
-"For he was yet in mem'ry and alive,\n"
-"And always crying after Emily.\n"
-"\n"
-"Duke Theseus, with all his company,\n"
-"Is come home to Athens his city,\n"
-"With alle bliss and great solemnity.\n"
-"Albeit that this aventure was fall*,                           *befallen\n"
-"He woulde not discomforte* them all                          *discourage\n"
-"Then said eke, that Arcite should not die,\n"
-"He should be healed of his malady.\n"
-"And of another thing they were as fain*.                           *glad\n"
-"That of them alle was there no one slain,\n"
-"All* were they sorely hurt, and namely** one,     *although **especially\n"
-"That with a spear was thirled* his breast-bone.                 *pierced\n"
-"To other woundes, and to broken arms,\n"
-"Some hadden salves, and some hadden charms:\n"
-"And pharmacies of herbs, and eke save*         *sage, Salvia officinalis\n"
-"They dranken, for they would their lives have.\n"
-"For which this noble Duke, as he well can,\n"
-"Comforteth and honoureth every man,\n"
-"And made revel all the longe night,\n"
-"Unto the strange lordes, as was right.\n"
-"Nor there was holden no discomforting,\n"
-"But as at jousts or at a tourneying;\n"
-"For soothly there was no discomfiture,\n"
-"For falling is not but an aventure*.                   *chance, accident\n"
-"Nor to be led by force unto a stake\n"
-"Unyielding, and with twenty knights y-take\n"
-"One person all alone, withouten mo',\n"
-"And harried* forth by armes, foot, and toe,            *dragged, hurried\n"
-"And eke his steede driven forth with staves,\n"
-"With footmen, bothe yeomen and eke knaves*,                    *servants\n"
-"It was *aretted him no villainy:*           *counted no disgrace to him*\n"
-"There may no man *clepen it cowardy*.                *call it cowardice*\n"
-"For which anon Duke Theseus *let cry*, --      *caused to be proclaimed*\n"
-"To stenten* alle rancour and envy, --                              *stop\n"
-"The gree* as well on one side as the other,                *prize, merit\n"
-"And either side alike as other's brother:\n"
-"And gave them giftes after their degree,\n"
-"And held a feaste fully dayes three:\n"
-"And conveyed the kinges worthily\n"
-"Out of  his town a journee* largely                       *day's journey\n"
-"And home went every man the righte way,\n"
-"There was no more but \"Farewell, Have good day.\"\n"
-"Of this bataille I will no more indite\n"
-"But speak of Palamon and of Arcite.\n"
-"\n"
-"Swelleth the breast of Arcite and the sore\n"
-"Increaseth at his hearte more and more.\n"
-"The clotted blood, for any leache-craft*                 *surgical skill\n"
-"Corrupteth and is *in his bouk y-laft*                *left in his body*\n"
-"That neither *veine blood nor ventousing*,    *blood-letting or cupping*\n"
-"Nor drink of herbes may be his helping.\n"
-"The virtue expulsive or animal,\n"
-"From thilke virtue called natural,\n"
-"Nor may the venom voide, nor expel\n"
-"The pipes of his lungs began to swell\n"
-"And every lacert* in his breast adown                     *sinew, muscle\n"
-"Is shent* with venom and corruption.                          *destroyed\n"
-"Him gaineth* neither, for to get his life,                     *availeth\n"
-"Vomit upward, nor downward laxative;\n"
-"All is to-bursten thilke region;\n"
-"Nature hath now no domination.\n"
-"And certainly where nature will not wirch,*                        *work\n"
-"Farewell physic: go bear the man to chirch.*                     *church\n"
-"This all and some is, Arcite must die.\n"
-"For which he sendeth after Emily,\n"
-"And Palamon, that was his cousin dear,\n"
-"Then said he thus, as ye shall after hear.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"Nought may the woful spirit in mine heart\n"
-"Declare one point of all my sorrows' smart\n"
-"To you, my lady, that I love the most:\n"
-"But I bequeath  the service of my ghost\n"
-"To you aboven every creature,\n"
-"Since that my life ne may no longer dure.\n"
-"Alas the woe! alas, the paines strong\n"
-"That I for you have suffered and so long!\n"
-"Alas the death,  alas, mine Emily!\n"
-"Alas departing* of our company!                           *the severance\n"
-"Alas, mine hearte's queen! alas, my wife!\n"
-"Mine hearte's lady, ender of my life!\n"
-"What is this world? what aske men to have?\n"
-"Now with his love, now in his colde grave\n"
-"Al one, withouten any company.\n"
-"Farewell, my sweet, farewell, mine Emily,\n"
-"And softly take me in your armes tway,\n"
-"For love of God, and hearken what I say.\n"
-"I have here with my cousin Palamon\n"
-"Had strife and rancour many a day agone,\n"
-"For love of you, and for my jealousy.\n"
-"And Jupiter so *wis my soule gie*,               *surely guides my soul*\n"
-"To speaken of a servant properly,\n"
-"With alle circumstances truely,\n"
-"That is to say, truth, honour, and knighthead,\n"
-"Wisdom, humbless*, estate, and high kindred,                   *humility\n"
-"Freedom, and all that longeth to that art,\n"
-"So Jupiter have of my soul part,\n"
-"As in this world right now I know not one,\n"
-"So worthy to be lov'd as Palamon,\n"
-"That serveth you, and will do all his life.\n"
-"And if that you shall ever be a wife,\n"
-"Forget not Palamon, the gentle man.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"And with that word his speech to fail began.\n"
-"For from his feet up to his breast was come\n"
-"The cold of death, that had him overnome*.                     *overcome\n"
-"And yet moreover in his armes two\n"
-"The vital strength is lost, and all ago*.                          *gone\n"
-"Only the intellect, withoute more,\n"
-"That dwelled in his hearte sick and sore,\n"
-"Gan faile, when the hearte felte death;\n"
-"Dusked* his eyen two, and fail'd his breath.                   *grew dim\n"
-"But on his lady yet he cast his eye;\n"
-"His laste word was; \"Mercy, Emily!\"\n"
-"His spirit changed house, and wente there,\n"
-"As I came never I cannot telle where.<84>\n"
-"Therefore I stent*, I am no divinister**;             *refrain **diviner\n"
-"Of soules find I nought in this register.\n"
-"Ne me list not th' opinions to tell\n"
-"Of them, though that they writen where they dwell;\n"
-"Arcite is cold, there Mars his soule gie.*                        *guide\n"
-"Now will I speake forth of Emily.\n"
-"\n"
-"Shriek'd Emily, and howled Palamon,\n"
-"And Theseus his sister took anon\n"
-"Swooning, and bare her from the corpse away.\n"
-"What helpeth it to tarry forth the day,\n"
-"To telle how she wept both eve and morrow?\n"
-"For in such cases women have such sorrow,\n"
-"When that their husbands be from them y-go*,                       *gone\n"
-"That for the more part they sorrow so,\n"
-"Or elles fall into such malady,\n"
-"That at the laste certainly they die.\n"
-"Infinite be the sorrows and the tears\n"
-"Of olde folk, and folk of tender years,\n"
-"In all the town, for death of this Theban:\n"
-"For him there weepeth bothe child and man.\n"
-"So great a weeping was there none certain,\n"
-"When Hector was y-brought, all fresh y-slain,\n"
-"To Troy: alas! the pity that was there,\n"
-"Scratching of cheeks, and rending eke of hair.\n"
-"\"Why wouldest thou be dead?\" these women cry,\n"
-"\"And haddest gold enough, and Emily.\"\n"
-"No manner man might gladden Theseus,\n"
-"Saving his olde father Egeus,\n"
-"That knew this worlde's transmutatioun,\n"
-"As he had seen it changen up and down,\n"
-"Joy after woe, and woe after gladness;\n"
-"And shewed him example and likeness.\n"
-"\"Right as there died never man,\" quoth he,\n"
-"\"That he ne liv'd in earth in some degree*,             *rank, condition\n"
-"Right so there lived never man,\" he said,\n"
-"\"In all this world, that sometime be not died.\n"
-"This world is but a throughfare full of woe,\n"
-"And we be pilgrims, passing to and fro:\n"
-"Death is an end of every worldly sore.\"\n"
-"And over all this said he yet much more\n"
-"To this effect, full wisely to exhort\n"
-"The people, that they should them recomfort.\n"
-"Duke Theseus, with all his busy cure*,                             *care\n"
-"*Casteth about*, where that the sepulture                  *deliberates*\n"
-"Of good Arcite may best y-maked be,\n"
-"And eke most honourable in his degree.\n"
-"And at the last he took conclusion,\n"
-"That there as first Arcite and Palamon\n"
-"Hadde for love the battle them between,\n"
-"That in that selve* grove, sweet and green,                   *self-same\n"
-"There as he had his amorous desires,\n"
-"His complaint, and for love his hote fires,\n"
-"He woulde make a fire*, in which th' office                *funeral pyre\n"
-"Of funeral he might all accomplice;\n"
-"And *let anon command* to hack and hew         *immediately gave orders*\n"
-"The oakes old, and lay them *on a rew*                        *in a row*\n"
-"In culpons*, well arrayed for to brenne**.                  *logs **burn\n"
-"His officers with swifte feet they renne*                           *run\n"
-"And ride anon at his commandement.\n"
-"And after this, Duke Theseus hath sent\n"
-"After a bier, and it all oversprad\n"
-"With cloth of gold, the richest that he had;\n"
-"And of the same suit he clad Arcite.\n"
-"Upon his handes were his gloves white,\n"
-"Eke on his head a crown of laurel green,\n"
-"And in his hand a sword full bright and keen.\n"
-"He laid him *bare the visage* on the bier,         *with face uncovered*\n"
-"Therewith he wept, that pity was to hear.\n"
-"And, for the people shoulde see him all,\n"
-"When it was day he brought them to the hall,\n"
-"That roareth of the crying and the soun'.\n"
-"Then came this woful Theban, Palamon,\n"
-"With sluttery beard, and ruggy ashy hairs,<85>\n"
-"In clothes black, y-dropped all with tears,\n"
-"And (passing over weeping Emily)\n"
-"The ruefullest of all the company.\n"
-"And *inasmuch as* the service should be                  *in order that*\n"
-"The more noble and rich in its degree,\n"
-"Duke Theseus let forth three steedes bring,\n"
-"That trapped were in steel all glittering.\n"
-"And covered with the arms of Dan Arcite.\n"
-"Upon these steedes, that were great and white,\n"
-"There satte folk, of whom one bare his shield,\n"
-"Another his spear in his handes held;\n"
-};
-prog_char knightsTale4[] PROGMEM= {
-"The thirde bare with him his bow Turkeis*,                     *Turkish.\n"
-"Of brent* gold was the case** and the harness:       *burnished **quiver\n"
-"And ride forth *a pace* with sorrowful cheer**          *at a foot pace*\n"
-"Toward the grove, as ye shall after hear.                   **expression\n"
-"\n"
-"The noblest of the Greekes that there were\n"
-"Upon their shoulders carried the bier,\n"
-"With slacke pace, and eyen red and wet,\n"
-"Throughout the city, by the master* street,                   *main <86>\n"
-"That spread was all with black, and wondrous high\n"
-"Right of the same is all the street y-wrie.*               *covered <87>\n"
-"Upon the right hand went old Egeus,\n"
-"And on the other side Duke Theseus,\n"
-"With vessels in their hand of gold full fine,\n"
-"All full of honey, milk, and blood, and wine;\n"
-"Eke Palamon, with a great company;\n"
-"And after that came woful Emily,\n"
-"With fire in hand, as was that time the guise*,                  *custom\n"
-"To do th' office of funeral service.\n"
-"\n"
-"High labour, and full great appareling*                     *preparation\n"
-"Was at the service, and the pyre-making,\n"
-"That with its greene top the heaven raught*,                    *reached\n"
-"And twenty fathom broad its armes straught*:                  *stretched\n"
-"This is to say, the boughes were so broad.\n"
-"Of straw first there was laid many a load.\n"
-"But how the pyre was maked up on height,\n"
-"And eke the names how the trees hight*,                     *were called\n"
-"As oak, fir, birch, asp*, alder, holm, poplere,                   *aspen\n"
-"Willow, elm, plane, ash, box, chestnut, lind*, laurere,    *linden, lime\n"
-"Maple, thorn, beech, hazel, yew, whipul tree,\n"
-"How they were fell'd, shall not be told for me;\n"
-"Nor how the goddes* rannen up and down               *the forest deities\n"
-"Disinherited of their habitatioun,\n"
-"In which they wonned* had in rest and peace,                      *dwelt\n"
-"Nymphes, Faunes, and Hamadryades;\n"
-"Nor how the beastes and the birdes all\n"
-"Fledden for feare, when the wood gan fall;\n"
-"Nor how the ground aghast* was of the light,                  *terrified\n"
-"That was not wont to see the sunne bright;\n"
-"Nor how the fire was couched* first with stre**,           *laid **straw\n"
-"And then with dry stickes cloven in three,\n"
-"And then with greene wood and spicery*,                          *spices\n"
-"And then with cloth of gold and with pierrie*,          *precious stones\n"
-"And garlands hanging with full many a flower,\n"
-"The myrrh, the incense with so sweet odour;\n"
-"Nor how Arcita lay among all this,\n"
-"Nor what richess about his body is;\n"
-"Nor how that Emily, as was the guise*,                           *custom\n"
-"*Put in the fire* of funeral service<88>;           *appplied the torch*\n"
-"Nor how she swooned when she made the fire,\n"
-"Nor what she spake, nor what was her desire;\n"
-"Nor what jewels men in the fire then cast\n"
-"When that the fire was great and burned fast;\n"
-"\n"
-"Nor how some cast their shield, and some their spear,\n"
-"And of their vestiments, which that they wear,\n"
-"And cuppes full of wine, and milk, and blood,\n"
-"Into the fire, that burnt as it were wood*;                         *mad\n"
-"Nor how the Greekes with a huge rout*                        *procession\n"
-"Three times riden all the fire about <89>\n"
-"Upon the left hand, with a loud shouting,\n"
-"And thries with their speares clattering;\n"
-"And thries how the ladies gan to cry;\n"
-"Nor how that led was homeward Emily;\n"
-"Nor how Arcite is burnt to ashes cold;\n"
-"Nor how the lyke-wake* was y-hold                             *wake <90>\n"
-"All thilke* night, nor how the Greekes play                        *that\n"
-"The wake-plays*, ne keep** I not to say:           *funeral games **care\n"
-"Who wrestled best naked, with oil anoint,\n"
-"Nor who that bare him best *in no disjoint*.            *in any contest*\n"
-"I will not tell eke how they all are gone\n"
-"Home to Athenes when the play is done;\n"
-"But shortly to the point now will I wend*,                         *come\n"
-"And maken of my longe tale an end.\n"
-"\n"
-"By process and by length of certain years\n"
-"All stinted* is the mourning and the tears                        *ended\n"
-"Of Greekes, by one general assent.\n"
-"Then seemed me there was a parlement\n"
-"At Athens, upon certain points and cas*:                          *cases\n"
-"Amonge the which points y-spoken was\n"
-"To have with certain countries alliance,\n"
-"And have of Thebans full obeisance.\n"
-"For which this noble Theseus anon\n"
-"Let* send after the gentle Palamon,                              *caused\n"
-"Unwist* of him what was the cause and why:                      *unknown\n"
-"But in his blacke clothes sorrowfully\n"
-"He came at his commandment *on hie*;                          *in haste*\n"
-"Then sente Theseus for Emily.\n"
-"When they were set*, and hush'd was all the place                *seated\n"
-"And Theseus abided* had a space                                  *waited\n"
-"Ere any word came from his wise breast\n"
-"*His eyen set he there as was his lest*,               *he cast his eyes\n"
-"And with a sad visage he sighed still,              wherever he pleased*\n"
-"And after that right thus he said his will.\n"
-"\"The firste mover of the cause above\n"
-"When he first made the faire chain of love,\n"
-"Great was th' effect, and high was his intent;\n"
-"Well wist he why, and what thereof he meant:\n"
-"For with that faire chain of love he bond*                        *bound\n"
-"The fire, the air, the water, and the lond\n"
-"In certain bondes, that they may not flee:<91>\n"
-"That same prince and mover eke,\" quoth he,\n"
-"\"Hath stablish'd, in this wretched world adown,\n"
-"Certain of dayes and duration\n"
-"To all that are engender'd in this place,\n"
-"Over the whiche day they may not pace*,                            *pass\n"
-"All may they yet their dayes well abridge.\n"
-"There needeth no authority to allege\n"
-"For it is proved by experience;\n"
-"But that me list declare my sentence*.                          *opinion\n"
-"Then may men by this order well discern,\n"
-"That thilke* mover stable is and etern.                        *the same\n"
-"Well may men know, but that it be a fool,\n"
-"That every part deriveth from its whole.\n"
-"For nature hath not ta'en its beginning\n"
-"Of no *partie nor cantle* of a thing,                    *part or piece*\n"
-"But of a thing that perfect is and stable,\n"
-"Descending so, till it be corruptable.\n"
-"And therefore of His wise purveyance*                        *providence\n"
-"He hath so well beset* his ordinance,\n"
-"That species of things and progressions\n"
-"Shallen endure by successions,\n"
-"And not etern, withouten any lie:\n"
-"This mayst thou understand and see at eye.\n"
-"Lo th' oak, that hath so long a nourishing\n"
-"From the time that it 'ginneth first to spring,\n"
-"And hath so long a life, as ye may see,\n"
-"Yet at the last y-wasted is the tree.\n"
-"Consider eke, how that the harde stone\n"
-"Under our feet, on which we tread and gon*,                        *walk\n"
-"Yet wasteth, as it lieth by the way.\n"
-"The broade river some time waxeth drey*.                            *dry\n"
-"The greate townes see we wane and wend*.                  *go, disappear\n"
-"Then may ye see that all things have an end.\n"
-"Of man and woman see we well also, --\n"
-"That needes in one of the termes two, --\n"
-"That is to say, in youth or else in age,-\n"
-"He must be dead, the king as shall a page;\n"
-"Some in his bed, some in the deepe sea,\n"
-"Some in the large field, as ye may see:\n"
-"There helpeth nought, all go that ilke* way:                       *same\n"
-"Then may I say that alle thing must die.\n"
-"What maketh this but Jupiter the king?\n"
-"The which is prince, and cause of alle thing,\n"
-"Converting all unto his proper will,\n"
-"From which it is derived, sooth to tell\n"
-"And hereagainst no creature alive,\n"
-"Of no degree, availeth for to strive.\n"
-"Then is it wisdom, as it thinketh me,\n"
-"To make a virtue of necessity,\n"
-"And take it well, that we may not eschew*,                       *escape\n"
-"And namely what to us all is due.\n"
-"And whoso grudgeth* ought, he doth folly,                    *murmurs at\n"
-"And rebel is to him that all may gie*.                    *direct, guide\n"
-"And certainly a man hath most honour\n"
-"To dien in his excellence and flower,\n"
-"When he is sicker* of his goode name.                           *certain\n"
-"Then hath he done his friend, nor him*, no shame                *himself\n"
-"And gladder ought his friend be of his death,\n"
-"When with honour is yielded up his breath,\n"
-"Than when his name *appalled is for age*;           *decayed by old age*\n"
-"For all forgotten is his vassalage*.                    *valour, service\n"
-"Then is it best, as for a worthy fame,\n"
-"To dien when a man is best of name.\n"
-"The contrary of all this is wilfulness.\n"
-"Why grudge we, why have we heaviness,\n"
-"That good Arcite, of chivalry the flower,\n"
-"Departed is, with duty and honour,\n"
-"Out of this foule prison of this life?\n"
-"Why grudge here his cousin and his wife\n"
-"Of his welfare, that loved him so well?\n"
-"Can he them thank? nay, God wot, neverdeal*, --               *not a jot\n"
-"That both his soul and eke themselves offend*,                     *hurt\n"
-"And yet they may their lustes* not amend**.           *desires **control\n"
-"What may I conclude of this longe serie*,             *string of remarks\n"
-"But after sorrow I rede* us to be merry,                        *counsel\n"
-"And thanke Jupiter for all his grace?\n"
-"And ere that we departe from this place,\n"
-"I rede that we make of sorrows two\n"
-"One perfect joye lasting evermo':\n"
-"And look now where most sorrow is herein,\n"
-"There will I first amenden and begin.\n"
-"\"Sister,\" quoth he, \"this is my full assent,\n"
-"With all th' advice here of my parlement,\n"
-"That gentle Palamon, your owen knight,\n"
-"That serveth you with will, and heart, and might,\n"
-"And ever hath, since first time ye him knew,\n"
-"That ye shall of your grace upon him rue*,                    *take pity\n"
-"And take him for your husband and your lord:\n"
-"Lend me your hand, for this is our accord.\n"
-"*Let see* now of your womanly pity.                       *make display*\n"
-"He is a kinge's brother's son, pardie*.                          *by God\n"
-"And though he were a poore bachelere,\n"
-"Since he hath served you so many a year,\n"
-"And had for you so great adversity,\n"
-"It muste be considered, *'lieveth me*.                      *believe me*\n"
-"For gentle mercy *oweth to passen right*.\"          *ought to be rightly\n"
-"Then said he thus to Palamon the knight;                       directed*\n"
-"\"I trow there needeth little sermoning\n"
-"To make you assente to this thing.\n"
-"Come near, and take your lady by the hand.\"\n"
-"Betwixte them was made anon the band,\n"
-"That hight matrimony or marriage,\n"
-"By all the counsel of the baronage.\n"
-"And thus with alle bliss and melody\n"
-"Hath Palamon y-wedded Emily.\n"
-"And God, that all this wide world hath wrought,\n"
-"Send him his love, that hath it dearly bought.\n"
-"For now is Palamon in all his weal,\n"
-"Living in bliss, in riches, and in heal*.                        *health\n"
-"And Emily him loves so tenderly,\n"
-"And he her serveth all so gentilly,\n"
-"That never was there worde them between\n"
-"Of jealousy, nor of none other teen*.                    *cause of anger\n"
-"Thus endeth Palamon and Emily\n"
-"And God save all this faire company.\n"
-};
-
-void setup() {
-  int i=0;
-  uint8_t c;
-  Serial.begin(9600);
-  do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
-    i++;
-  } while (c);
-  do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale2+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
-    i++;
-  } while (c);
-  do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale3+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
-    i++;
-  } while (c);
-}
-void loop() {
-}

optiboot/examples/chaucer16k/chaucer16k.pde → optiboot/examples/chaucer16k/chaucer16k.ino

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // Full text at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/cbtls12.txt
 #include <avr/pgmspace.h>
 
-prog_char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
+const char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
 "                     THE KNIGHT'S TALE <1>\n"
 "\n"
 "\n"
@@ -295,10 +295,10 @@ prog_char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
 void setup() {
   int i=0;
   uint8_t c;
-  Serial.begin(9600);
+  Serial.begin(115200);
   do {
     c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
 }

optiboot/examples/chaucer256k/chaucer256k.ino

@@ -3736,37 +3736,43 @@ const char knightsTale6[] PROGMEM= {
 void setup() {
   int i=0;
   uint8_t c;
-  Serial.begin(9600);
+  Serial.begin(115200);
   do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale+i);
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale)+i);
     if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
+  i = 0;
   do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale2+i);
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale2)+i);
     if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
+  i = 0;
   do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale3+i);
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale3)+i);
     if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
+  i = 0;
   do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale4+i);
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale4)+i);
     if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
+  i = 0;
   do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale5+i);
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale5)+i);
     if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
+  i = 0;
   do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale6+i);
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale6)+i);
     if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
 }
+
 void loop() {
 }

optiboot/examples/chaucer32k/chaucer32k.pde → optiboot/examples/chaucer32k/chaucer32k.ino

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // Full text at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/cbtls12.txt
 #include <avr/pgmspace.h>
 
-prog_char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
+const char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
 "                     THE KNIGHT'S TALE <1>\n"
 "\n"
 "\n"
@@ -668,10 +668,10 @@ prog_char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
 void setup() {
   int i=0;
   uint8_t c;
-  Serial.begin(9600);
+  Serial.begin(115200);
   do {
     c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
     i++;
   } while (c);
 }

optiboot/examples/chaucer64k/chaucer64k.ino

@@ -0,0 +1,1335 @@
+// Text is an extract from The Canterbury Tales
+// Full text at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/cbtls12.txt
+#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
+
+const char knightsTale[] PROGMEM = {
+  "                     THE KNIGHT'S TALE <1>\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\n"
+  "WHILOM*, as olde stories tellen us,                            *formerly\n"
+  "There was a duke that highte* Theseus.                   *was called <2>\n"
+  "Of Athens he was lord and governor,\n"
+  "And in his time such a conqueror\n"
+  "That greater was there none under the sun.\n"
+  "Full many a riche country had he won.\n"
+  "What with his wisdom and his chivalry,\n"
+  "He conquer'd all the regne of Feminie,<3>\n"
+  "That whilom was y-cleped Scythia;\n"
+  "And weddede the Queen Hippolyta\n"
+  "And brought her home with him to his country\n"
+  "With muchel* glory and great solemnity,                           *great\n"
+  "And eke her younge sister Emily,\n"
+  "And thus with vict'ry and with melody\n"
+  "Let I this worthy Duke to Athens ride,\n"
+  "And all his host, in armes him beside.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And certes, if it n'ere* too long to hear,                     *were not\n"
+  "I would have told you fully the mannere,\n"
+  "How wonnen* was the regne of Feminie, <4>                           *won\n"
+  "By Theseus, and by his chivalry;\n"
+  "And of the greate battle for the nonce\n"
+  "Betwixt Athenes and the Amazons;\n"
+  "And how assieged was Hippolyta,\n"
+  "The faire hardy queen of Scythia;\n"
+  "And of the feast that was at her wedding\n"
+  "And of the tempest at her homecoming.\n"
+  "But all these things I must as now forbear.\n"
+  "I have, God wot, a large field to ear*                       *plough<5>;\n"
+  "And weake be the oxen in my plough;\n"
+  "The remnant of my tale is long enow.\n"
+  "I will not *letten eke none of this rout*.                *hinder any of\n"
+  "Let every fellow tell his tale about,                      this company*\n"
+  "And let see now who shall the supper win.\n"
+  "There *as I left*, I will again begin.                *where I left off*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Duke, of whom I make mentioun,\n"
+  "When he was come almost unto the town,\n"
+  "In all his weal, and in his moste pride,\n"
+  "He was ware, as he cast his eye aside,\n"
+  "Where that there kneeled in the highe way\n"
+  "A company of ladies, tway and tway,\n"
+  "Each after other, clad in clothes black:\n"
+  "But such a cry and such a woe they make,\n"
+  "That in this world n'is creature living,\n"
+  "That hearde such another waimenting*                      *lamenting <6>\n"
+  "And of this crying would they never stenten*,                    *desist\n"
+  "Till they the reines of his bridle henten*.                       *seize\n"
+  "\"What folk be ye that at mine homecoming\n"
+  "Perturben so my feaste with crying?\"\n"
+  "Quoth Theseus; \"Have ye so great envy\n"
+  "Of mine honour, that thus complain and cry?\n"
+  "Or who hath you misboden*, or offended?                         *wronged\n"
+  "Do telle me, if it may be amended;\n"
+  "And why that ye be clad thus all in black?\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The oldest lady of them all then spake,\n"
+  "When she had swooned, with a deadly cheer*,                 *countenance\n"
+  "That it was ruthe* for to see or hear.                             *pity\n"
+  "She saide; \"Lord, to whom fortune hath given\n"
+  "Vict'ry, and as a conqueror to liven,\n"
+  "Nought grieveth us your glory and your honour;\n"
+  "But we beseechen mercy and succour.\n"
+  "Have mercy on our woe and our distress;\n"
+  "Some drop of pity, through thy gentleness,\n"
+  "Upon us wretched women let now fall.\n"
+  "For certes, lord, there is none of us all\n"
+  "That hath not been a duchess or a queen;\n"
+  "Now be we caitives*, as it is well seen:                       *captives\n"
+  "Thanked be Fortune, and her false wheel,\n"
+  "That *none estate ensureth to be wele*.       *assures no continuance of\n"
+  "And certes, lord, t'abiden your presence              prosperous estate*\n"
+  "Here in this temple of the goddess Clemence\n"
+  "We have been waiting all this fortenight:\n"
+  "Now help us, lord, since it lies in thy might.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"I, wretched wight, that weep and waile thus,\n"
+  "Was whilom wife to king Capaneus,\n"
+  "That starf* at Thebes, cursed be that day:                     *died <7>\n"
+  "And alle we that be in this array,\n"
+  "And maken all this lamentatioun,\n"
+  "We losten all our husbands at that town,\n"
+  "While that the siege thereabouten lay.\n"
+  "And yet the olde Creon, wellaway!\n"
+  "That lord is now of Thebes the city,\n"
+  "Fulfilled of ire and of iniquity,\n"
+  "He for despite, and for his tyranny,\n"
+  "To do the deade bodies villainy*,                                *insult\n"
+  "Of all our lorde's, which that been y-slaw,                       *slain\n"
+  "Hath all the bodies on an heap y-draw,\n"
+  "And will not suffer them by none assent\n"
+  "Neither to be y-buried, nor y-brent*,                             *burnt\n"
+  "But maketh houndes eat them in despite.\"\n"
+  "And with that word, withoute more respite\n"
+  "They fallen groff,* and cryden piteously;                    *grovelling\n"
+  "\"Have on us wretched women some mercy,\n"
+  "And let our sorrow sinken in thine heart.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This gentle Duke down from his courser start\n"
+  "With hearte piteous, when he heard them speak.\n"
+  "Him thoughte that his heart would all to-break,\n"
+  "When he saw them so piteous and so mate*                         *abased\n"
+  "That whilom weren of so great estate.\n"
+  "And in his armes he them all up hent*,                     *raised, took\n"
+  "And them comforted in full good intent,\n"
+  "And swore his oath, as he was true knight,\n"
+  "He woulde do *so farforthly his might*        *as far as his power went*\n"
+  "Upon the tyrant Creon them to wreak*,                            *avenge\n"
+  "That all the people of Greece shoulde speak,\n"
+  "How Creon was of Theseus y-served,\n"
+  "As he that had his death full well deserved.\n"
+  "And right anon withoute more abode*                               *delay\n"
+  "His banner he display'd, and forth he rode\n"
+  "To Thebes-ward, and all his, host beside:\n"
+  "No ner* Athenes would he go nor ride,                            *nearer\n"
+  "Nor take his ease fully half a day,\n"
+  "But onward on his way that night he lay:\n"
+  "And sent anon Hippolyta the queen,\n"
+  "And Emily her younge sister sheen*                       *bright, lovely\n"
+  "Unto the town of Athens for to dwell:\n"
+  "And forth he rit*; there is no more to tell.                       *rode\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The red statue of Mars with spear and targe*                     *shield\n"
+  "So shineth in his white banner large\n"
+  "That all the fieldes glitter up and down:\n"
+  "And by his banner borne is his pennon\n"
+  "Of gold full rich, in which there was y-beat*                   *stamped\n"
+  "The Minotaur<8> which that he slew in Crete\n"
+  "Thus rit this Duke, thus rit this conqueror\n"
+  "And in his host of chivalry the flower,\n"
+  "Till that he came to Thebes, and alight\n"
+  "Fair in a field, there as he thought to fight.\n"
+  "But shortly for to speaken of this thing,\n"
+  "With Creon, which that was of Thebes king,\n"
+  "He fought, and slew him manly as a knight\n"
+  "In plain bataille, and put his folk to flight:\n"
+  "And by assault he won the city after,\n"
+  "And rent adown both wall, and spar, and rafter;\n"
+  "And to the ladies he restored again\n"
+  "The bodies of their husbands that were slain,\n"
+  "To do obsequies, as was then the guise*.                         *custom\n"
+  "\n"
+  "But it were all too long for to devise*                        *describe\n"
+  "The greate clamour, and the waimenting*,                      *lamenting\n"
+  "Which that the ladies made at the brenning*                     *burning\n"
+  "Of the bodies, and the great honour\n"
+  "That Theseus the noble conqueror\n"
+  "Did to the ladies, when they from him went:\n"
+  "But shortly for to tell is mine intent.\n"
+  "When that this worthy Duke, this Theseus,\n"
+  "Had Creon slain, and wonnen Thebes thus,\n"
+  "Still in the field he took all night his rest,\n"
+  "And did with all the country as him lest*.                      *pleased\n"
+  "To ransack in the tas* of bodies dead,                             *heap\n"
+  "Them for to strip of *harness and of **weed,           *armour **clothes\n"
+  "The pillers* did their business and cure,                 *pillagers <9>\n"
+  "After the battle and discomfiture.\n"
+  "And so befell, that in the tas they found,\n"
+  "Through girt with many a grievous bloody wound,\n"
+  "Two younge knightes *ligging by and by*             *lying side by side*\n"
+  "Both in *one armes*, wrought full richely:             *the same armour*\n"
+  "Of whiche two, Arcita hight that one,\n"
+  "And he that other highte Palamon.\n"
+  "Not fully quick*, nor fully dead they were,                       *alive\n"
+  "But by their coat-armour, and by their gear,\n"
+  "The heralds knew them well in special,\n"
+  "As those that weren of the blood royal\n"
+  "Of Thebes, and *of sistren two y-born*.            *born of two sisters*\n"
+  "Out of the tas the pillers have them torn,\n"
+  "And have them carried soft unto the tent\n"
+  "Of Theseus, and he full soon them sent\n"
+  "To Athens, for to dwellen in prison\n"
+  "Perpetually, he *n'olde no ranson*.               *would take no ransom*\n"
+  "And when this worthy Duke had thus y-done,\n"
+  "He took his host, and home he rit anon\n"
+  "With laurel crowned as a conquerour;\n"
+  "And there he lived in joy and in honour\n"
+  "Term of his life; what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
+  "And in a tower, in anguish and in woe,\n"
+  "Dwellen this Palamon, and eke Arcite,\n"
+  "For evermore, there may no gold them quite*                    *set free\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Thus passed year by year, and day by day,\n"
+  "Till it fell ones in a morn of May\n"
+  "That Emily, that fairer was to seen\n"
+  "Than is the lily upon his stalke green,\n"
+  "And fresher than the May with flowers new\n"
+  "(For with the rose colour strove her hue;\n"
+  "I n'ot* which was the finer of them two),                      *know not\n"
+  "Ere it was day, as she was wont to do,\n"
+  "She was arisen, and all ready dight*,                           *dressed\n"
+  "For May will have no sluggardy a-night;\n"
+  "The season pricketh every gentle heart,\n"
+  "And maketh him out of his sleep to start,\n"
+  "And saith, \"Arise, and do thine observance.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This maketh Emily have remembrance\n"
+  "To do honour to May, and for to rise.\n"
+  "Y-clothed was she fresh for to devise;\n"
+  "Her yellow hair was braided in a tress,\n"
+  "Behind her back, a yarde long I guess.\n"
+  "And in the garden at *the sun uprist*                           *sunrise\n"
+  "She walketh up and down where as her list.\n"
+  "She gathereth flowers, party* white and red,                    *mingled\n"
+  "To make a sotel* garland for her head,            *subtle, well-arranged\n"
+  "And as an angel heavenly she sung.\n"
+  "The greate tower, that was so thick and strong,\n"
+  "Which of the castle was the chief dungeon<10>\n"
+  "(Where as these knightes weren in prison,\n"
+  "Of which I tolde you, and telle shall),\n"
+  "Was even joinant* to the garden wall,                         *adjoining\n"
+  "There as this Emily had her playing.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Bright was the sun, and clear that morrowning,\n"
+  "And Palamon, this woful prisoner,\n"
+  "As was his wont, by leave of his gaoler,\n"
+  "Was ris'n, and roamed in a chamber on high,\n"
+  "In which he all the noble city sigh*,                               *saw\n"
+  "And eke the garden, full of branches green,\n"
+  "There as this fresh Emelia the sheen\n"
+  "Was in her walk, and roamed up and down.\n"
+  "This sorrowful prisoner, this Palamon\n"
+  "Went in his chamber roaming to and fro,\n"
+  "And to himself complaining of his woe:\n"
+  "That he was born, full oft he said, Alas!\n"
+  "And so befell, by aventure or cas*,                              *chance\n"
+  "That through a window thick of many a bar\n"
+  "Of iron great, and square as any spar,\n"
+  "He cast his eyes upon Emelia,\n"
+  "And therewithal he blent* and cried, Ah!                  *started aside\n"
+  "As though he stungen were unto the heart.\n"
+  "And with that cry Arcite anon up start,\n"
+  "And saide, \"Cousin mine, what aileth thee,\n"
+  "That art so pale and deadly for to see?\n"
+  "Why cried'st thou? who hath thee done offence?\n"
+  "For Godde's love, take all in patience\n"
+  "Our prison*, for it may none other be.                     *imprisonment\n"
+  "Fortune hath giv'n us this adversity'.\n"
+  "Some wick'* aspect or disposition                                *wicked\n"
+  "Of Saturn<11>, by some constellation,\n"
+  "Hath giv'n us this, although we had it sworn,\n"
+  "So stood the heaven when that we were born,\n"
+  "We must endure; this is the short and plain.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Palamon answer'd, and said again:\n"
+  "\"Cousin, forsooth of this opinion\n"
+  "Thou hast a vain imagination.\n"
+  "This prison caused me not for to cry;\n"
+  "But I was hurt right now thorough mine eye\n"
+  "Into mine heart; that will my bane*  be.                    *destruction\n"
+  "The fairness of the lady that I see\n"
+  "Yond in the garden roaming to and fro,\n"
+  "Is cause of all my crying and my woe.\n"
+  "I *n'ot wher* she be woman or goddess,                *know not whether*\n"
+  "But Venus is it, soothly* as I guess,                             *truly\n"
+  "And therewithal on knees adown he fill,\n"
+  "And saide: \"Venus, if it be your will\n"
+  "You in this garden thus to transfigure\n"
+  "Before me sorrowful wretched creature,\n"
+  "Out of this prison help that we may scape.\n"
+  "And if so be our destiny be shape\n"
+  "By etern word to dien in prison,\n"
+  "Of our lineage have some compassion,\n"
+  "That is so low y-brought by tyranny.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And with that word Arcita *gan espy*               *began to look forth*\n"
+  "Where as this lady roamed to and fro\n"
+  "And with that sight her beauty hurt him so,\n"
+  "That if that Palamon was wounded sore,\n"
+  "Arcite is hurt as much as he, or more.\n"
+  "And with a sigh he saide piteously:\n"
+  "\"The freshe beauty slay'th me suddenly\n"
+  "Of her that roameth yonder in the place.\n"
+  "And but* I have her mercy and her grace,                         *unless\n"
+  "That I may see her at the leaste way,\n"
+  "I am but dead; there is no more to say.\"\n"
+  "This Palamon, when he these wordes heard,\n"
+  "Dispiteously* he looked, and answer'd:                          *angrily\n"
+  "\"Whether say'st thou this in earnest or in play?\"\n"
+  "\"Nay,\" quoth Arcite, \"in earnest, by my fay*.                     *faith\n"
+  "God help me so, *me lust full ill to play*.\"          *I am in no humour\n"
+  "This Palamon gan knit his browes tway.                      for jesting*\n"
+  "\"It were,\" quoth he, \"to thee no great honour\n"
+  "For to be false, nor for to be traitour\n"
+  "To me, that am thy cousin and thy brother\n"
+  "Y-sworn full deep, and each of us to other,\n"
+  "That never for to dien in the pain <12>,\n"
+  "Till that the death departen shall us twain,\n"
+  "Neither of us in love to hinder other,\n"
+  "Nor in none other case, my leve* brother;                          *dear\n"
+  "But that thou shouldest truly farther me\n"
+  "In every case, as I should farther thee.\n"
+  "This was thine oath, and mine also certain;\n"
+  "I wot it well, thou dar'st it not withsayn*,                       *deny\n"
+  "Thus art thou of my counsel out of doubt,\n"
+  "And now thou wouldest falsely be about\n"
+  "To love my lady, whom I love and serve,\n"
+  "And ever shall, until mine hearte sterve*                           *die\n"
+  "Now certes, false Arcite, thou shalt not so\n"
+  "I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe\n"
+  "As to my counsel, and my brother sworn\n"
+  "To farther me, as I have told beforn.\n"
+  "For which thou art y-bounden as a knight\n"
+  "To helpe me, if it lie in thy might,\n"
+  "Or elles art thou false, I dare well sayn,\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Arcita full proudly spake again:\n"
+  "\"Thou shalt,\" quoth he, \"be rather* false than I,                *sooner\n"
+  "And thou art false, I tell thee utterly;\n"
+  "For par amour I lov'd her first ere thou.\n"
+  "What wilt thou say? *thou wist it not right now*          *even now thou\n"
+  "Whether she be a woman or goddess.                          knowest not*\n"
+  "Thine is affection of holiness,\n"
+  "And mine is love, as to a creature:\n"
+  "For which I tolde thee mine aventure\n"
+  "As to my cousin, and my brother sworn\n"
+  "I pose*, that thou loved'st her beforn:                         *suppose\n"
+  "Wost* thou not well the olde clerke's saw<13>,                  *know'st\n"
+  "That who shall give a lover any law?\n"
+  "Love is a greater lawe, by my pan,\n"
+  "Than may be giv'n to any earthly man:\n"
+  "Therefore positive law, and such decree,\n"
+  "Is broke alway for love in each degree\n"
+  "A man must needes love, maugre his head.\n"
+  "He may not flee it, though he should be dead,\n"
+  "*All be she* maid, or widow, or else wife.              *whether she be*\n"
+  "And eke it is not likely all thy life\n"
+  "To standen in her grace, no more than I\n"
+  "For well thou wost thyselfe verily,\n"
+  "That thou and I be damned to prison\n"
+  "Perpetual, us gaineth no ranson.\n"
+  "We strive, as did the houndes for the bone;\n"
+  "They fought all day, and yet their part was none.\n"
+  "There came a kite, while that they were so wroth,\n"
+  "And bare away the bone betwixt them both.\n"
+  "And therefore at the kinge's court, my brother,\n"
+  "Each man for himselfe, there is no  other.\n"
+  "Love if thee list; for I love and aye shall\n"
+  "And soothly, leve brother, this is all.\n"
+  "Here in this prison musten we endure,\n"
+  "And each of us take his Aventure.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Great was the strife and long between these tway,\n"
+  "If that I hadde leisure for to say;\n"
+  "But to the effect: it happen'd on a day\n"
+  "(To tell it you as shortly as I may),\n"
+  "A worthy duke that hight Perithous<14>\n"
+  "That fellow was to the Duke Theseus\n"
+  "Since thilke* day that they were children lite**          *that **little\n"
+  "Was come to Athens, his fellow to visite,\n"
+  "And for to play, as he was wont to do;\n"
+  "For in this world he loved no man so;\n"
+  "And he lov'd him as tenderly again.\n"
+  "So well they lov'd, as olde bookes sayn,\n"
+  "That when that one was dead, soothly to sayn,\n"
+  "His fellow went and sought him down in hell:\n"
+  "But of that story list me not to write.\n"
+  "Duke Perithous loved well Arcite,\n"
+  "And had him known at Thebes year by year:\n"
+  "And finally at request and prayere\n"
+  "Of Perithous, withoute ranson\n"
+  "Duke Theseus him let out of prison,\n"
+  "Freely to go, where him list over all,\n"
+  "In such a guise, as I you tellen shall\n"
+  "This was the forword*, plainly to indite,                       *promise\n"
+  "Betwixte Theseus and him Arcite:\n"
+  "That if so were, that Arcite were y-found\n"
+  "Ever in his life, by day or night, one stound*               *moment<15>\n"
+  "In any country of this Theseus,\n"
+  "And he were caught, it was accorded thus,\n"
+  "That with a sword he shoulde lose his head;\n"
+  "There was none other remedy nor rede*.                          *counsel\n"
+  "But took his leave, and homeward he him sped;\n"
+  "Let him beware, his necke lieth *to wed*.                    *in pledge*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "How great a sorrow suff'reth now Arcite!\n"
+  "The death he feeleth through his hearte smite;\n"
+  "He weepeth, waileth, crieth piteously;\n"
+  "To slay himself he waiteth privily.\n"
+  "He said; \"Alas the day that I was born!\n"
+  "Now is my prison worse than beforn:\n"
+  "*Now is me shape* eternally to dwell                *it is fixed for me*\n"
+  "Not in purgatory, but right in hell.\n"
+  "Alas! that ever I knew Perithous.\n"
+  "For elles had I dwelt with Theseus\n"
+  "Y-fettered in his prison evermo'.\n"
+  "Then had I been in bliss, and not in woe.\n"
+  "Only the sight of her, whom that I serve,\n"
+  "Though that I never may her grace deserve,\n"
+  "Would have sufficed right enough for me.\n"
+  "O deare cousin Palamon,\" quoth he,\n"
+  "\"Thine is the vict'ry of this aventure,\n"
+  "Full blissfully in prison to endure:\n"
+  "In prison? nay certes, in paradise.\n"
+  "Well hath fortune y-turned thee the dice,\n"
+  "That hast the sight of her, and I th' absence.\n"
+  "For possible is, since thou hast her presence,\n"
+  "And art a knight, a worthy and an able,\n"
+  "That by some cas*, since fortune is changeable,                  *chance\n"
+  "Thou may'st to thy desire sometime attain.\n"
+  "But I that am exiled, and barren\n"
+  "Of alle grace, and in so great despair,\n"
+  "That there n'is earthe, water, fire, nor air,\n"
+  "Nor creature, that of them maked is,\n"
+  "That may me helpe nor comfort in this,\n"
+  "Well ought I *sterve in wanhope* and distress.          *die in despair*\n"
+  "Farewell my life, my lust*, and my gladness.                   *pleasure\n"
+  "Alas, *why plainen men so in commune       *why do men so often complain\n"
+  "Of purveyance of God*, or of Fortune,              of God's providence?*\n"
+  "That giveth them full oft in many a guise\n"
+  "Well better than they can themselves devise?\n"
+  "Some man desireth for to have richess,\n"
+  "That cause is of his murder or great sickness.\n"
+  "And some man would out of his prison fain,\n"
+  "That in his house is of his meinie* slain.                *servants <16>\n"
+  "Infinite harmes be in this mattere.\n"
+  "We wot never what thing we pray for here.\n"
+  "We fare as he that drunk is as a mouse.\n"
+  "A drunken man wot well he hath an house,\n"
+  "But he wot not which is the right way thither,\n"
+  "And to a drunken man the way is slither*.                      *slippery\n"
+  "And certes in this world so fare we.\n"
+  "We seeke fast after felicity,\n"
+  "But we go wrong full often truely.\n"
+  "Thus we may sayen all, and namely* I,                        *especially\n"
+  "That ween'd*, and had a great opinion,                          *thought\n"
+  "That if I might escape from prison\n"
+  "Then had I been in joy and perfect heal,\n"
+  "Where now I am exiled from my weal.\n"
+  "Since that I may not see you, Emily,\n"
+  "I am but dead; there is no remedy.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Upon that other side, Palamon,\n"
+  "When that he wist Arcita was agone,\n"
+  "Much sorrow maketh, that the greate tower\n"
+  "Resounded of his yelling and clamour\n"
+  "The pure* fetters on his shinnes great                        *very <17>\n"
+  "Were of his bitter salte teares wet.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"Arcita, cousin mine,\n"
+  "Of all our strife, God wot, the fruit is thine.\n"
+  "Thou walkest now in Thebes at thy large,\n"
+  "And of my woe thou *givest little charge*.          *takest little heed*\n"
+  "Thou mayst, since thou hast wisdom and manhead*,       *manhood, courage\n"
+  "Assemble all the folk of our kindred,\n"
+  "And make a war so sharp on this country\n"
+  "That by some aventure, or some treaty,\n"
+  "Thou mayst have her to lady and to wife,\n"
+  "For whom that I must needes lose my life.\n"
+  "For as by way of possibility,\n"
+  "Since thou art at thy large, of prison free,\n"
+  "And art a lord, great is thine avantage,\n"
+  "More than is mine, that sterve here in a cage.\n"
+  "For I must weep and wail, while that I live,\n"
+  "With all the woe that prison may me give,\n"
+  "And eke with pain that love me gives also,\n"
+  "That doubles all my torment and my woe.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Therewith the fire of jealousy upstart\n"
+  "Within his breast, and hent* him by the heart                    *seized\n"
+  "So woodly*, that he like was to behold                            *madly\n"
+  "The box-tree, or the ashes dead and cold.\n"
+  "Then said; \"O cruel goddess, that govern\n"
+  "This world with binding of your word etern*                     *eternal\n"
+  "And writen in the table of adamant\n"
+  "Your parlement* and your eternal grant,                    *consultation\n"
+  "What is mankind more *unto you y-hold*                  *by you esteemed\n"
+  "Than is the sheep, that rouketh* in the fold!      *lie huddled together\n"
+  "For slain is man, right as another beast;\n"
+  "And dwelleth eke in prison and arrest,\n"
+  "And hath sickness, and great adversity,\n"
+  "And oftentimes guilteless, pardie*                               *by God\n"
+  "What governance is in your prescience,\n"
+  "That guilteless tormenteth innocence?\n"
+  "And yet increaseth this all my penance,\n"
+  "That man is bounden to his observance\n"
+  "For Godde's  sake to *letten of his will*,         *restrain his desire*\n"
+  "Whereas a beast may all his lust fulfil.\n"
+  "And when a beast is dead, he hath no pain;\n"
+  "But man after his death must weep and plain,\n"
+  "Though in this worlde he have care and woe:\n"
+  "Withoute doubt it maye standen so.\n"
+  "\"The answer of this leave I to divines,\n"
+  "But well I wot, that in this world great pine* is;        *pain, trouble\n"
+  "Alas! I see a serpent or a thief\n"
+  "That many a true man hath done mischief,\n"
+  "Go at his large, and where him list may turn.\n"
+  "But I must be in prison through Saturn,\n"
+  "And eke through Juno, jealous and eke wood*,                        *mad\n"
+  "That hath well nigh destroyed all the blood\n"
+  "Of Thebes, with his waste walles wide.\n"
+  "And Venus slay'th me on that other side\n"
+  "For jealousy, and fear of him, Arcite.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Now will I stent* of Palamon a lite**,                   *pause **little\n"
+  "And let him in his prison stille dwell,\n"
+  "And of Arcita forth I will you tell.\n"
+  "The summer passeth, and the nightes long\n"
+  "Increase double-wise the paines strong\n"
+  "Both of the lover and the prisonere.\n"
+  "I n'ot* which hath the wofuller mistere**.         *know not **condition\n"
+  "For, shortly for to say, this Palamon\n"
+  "Perpetually is damned to prison,\n"
+  "In chaines and in fetters to be dead;\n"
+  "And Arcite is exiled *on his head*                *on peril of his head*\n"
+  "For evermore as out of that country,\n"
+  "Nor never more he shall his lady see.\n"
+  "You lovers ask I now this question,<18>\n"
+  "Who lieth the worse, Arcite or Palamon?\n"
+  "The one may see his lady day by day,\n"
+  "But in prison he dwelle must alway.\n"
+  "The other where him list may ride or go,\n"
+  "But see his lady shall he never mo'.\n"
+  "Now deem all as you liste, ye that can,\n"
+  "For I will tell you forth as I began.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "When that Arcite to Thebes comen was,\n"
+  "Full oft a day he swelt*, and said, \"Alas!\"                     *fainted\n"
+  "For see this lady he shall never mo'.\n"
+  "And shortly to concluden all his woe,\n"
+  "So much sorrow had never creature\n"
+  "That is or shall be while the world may dure.\n"
+  "His sleep, his meat, his drink is *him byraft*,    *taken away from him*\n"
+  "That lean he wex*, and dry as any shaft.                         *became\n"
+  "His eyen hollow, grisly to behold,\n"
+  "His hue sallow, and pale as ashes cold,\n"
+  "And solitary he was, ever alone,\n"
+  "And wailing all the night, making his moan.\n"
+  "And if he hearde song or instrument,\n"
+  "Then would he weepen, he might not be stent*.                   *stopped\n"
+  "So feeble were his spirits, and so low,\n"
+  "And changed so, that no man coulde know\n"
+  "His speech, neither his voice, though men it heard.\n"
+  "And in his gear* for all the world he far'd              *behaviour <19>\n"
+  "Not only like the lovers' malady\n"
+  "Of Eros, but rather y-like manie*                               *madness\n"
+  "Engender'd of humours melancholic,\n"
+  "Before his head in his cell fantastic.<20>\n"
+  "And shortly turned was all upside down,\n"
+  "Both habit and eke dispositioun,\n"
+  "Of him, this woful lover Dan* Arcite.                         *Lord <21>\n"
+  "Why should I all day of his woe indite?\n"
+  "When he endured had a year or two\n"
+  "This cruel torment, and this pain and woe,\n"
+  "At Thebes, in his country, as I said,\n"
+  "Upon a night in sleep as he him laid,\n"
+  "Him thought how that the winged god Mercury\n"
+  "Before him stood, and bade him to be merry.\n"
+  "His sleepy yard* in hand he bare upright;                      *rod <22>\n"
+  "A hat he wore upon his haires bright.\n"
+  "Arrayed was this god (as he took keep*)                          *notice\n"
+  "As he was when that Argus<23> took his sleep;\n"
+  "And said him thus: \"To Athens shalt thou wend*;                      *go\n"
+  "There is thee shapen* of thy woe an end.\"               *fixed, prepared\n"
+  "And with that word Arcite woke and start.\n"
+  "\"Now truely how sore that e'er me smart,\"\n"
+  "Quoth he, \"to Athens right now will I fare.\n"
+  "Nor for no dread of death shall I not spare\n"
+  "To see my lady that I love and serve;\n"
+  "In her presence *I recke not to sterve.*\"         *do not care if I die*\n"
+  "And with that word he caught a great mirror,\n"
+  "And saw that changed was all his colour,\n"
+  "And saw his visage all in other kind.\n"
+  "And right anon it ran him ill his mind,\n"
+  "That since his face was so disfigur'd\n"
+  "Of malady the which he had endur'd,\n"
+  "He mighte well, if that he *bare him low,*      *lived in lowly fashion*\n"
+  "Live in Athenes evermore unknow,\n"
+  "And see his lady wellnigh day by day.\n"
+  "And right anon he changed his array,\n"
+  "And clad him as a poore labourer.\n"
+  "And all alone, save only a squier,\n"
+  "That knew his privity* and all his cas**,             *secrets **fortune\n"
+  "Which was disguised poorly as he was,\n"
+  "To Athens is he gone the nexte*  way.                      *nearest <24>\n"
+  "And to the court he went upon a day,\n"
+  "And at the gate he proffer'd his service,\n"
+  "To drudge and draw, what so men would devise*.                    *order\n"
+  "And, shortly of this matter for to sayn,\n"
+  "He fell in office with a chamberlain,\n"
+  "The which that dwelling was with Emily.\n"
+  "For he was wise, and coulde soon espy\n"
+  "Of every servant which that served her.\n"
+  "Well could he hewe wood, and water bear,\n"
+  "For he was young and mighty for the nones*,                    *occasion\n"
+  "And thereto he was strong and big of bones\n"
+  "To do that any wight can him devise.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "A year or two he was in this service,\n"
+  "Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;\n"
+  "And Philostrate he saide that he hight.\n"
+  "But half so well belov'd a man as he\n"
+  "Ne was there never in court of his degree.\n"
+  "He was so gentle of conditioun,\n"
+  "That throughout all the court was his renown.\n"
+  "They saide that it were a charity\n"
+  "That Theseus would *enhance his degree*,           *elevate him in rank*\n"
+  "And put him in some worshipful service,\n"
+  "There as he might his virtue exercise.\n"
+  "And thus within a while his name sprung\n"
+  "Both of his deedes, and of his good tongue,\n"
+  "That Theseus hath taken him so near,\n"
+  "That of his chamber he hath made him squire,\n"
+  "And gave him gold to maintain his degree;\n"
+  "And eke men brought him out of his country\n"
+  "From year to year full privily his rent.\n"
+  "But honestly and slyly* he it spent,              *discreetly, prudently\n"
+  "That no man wonder'd how that he it had.\n"
+  "And three year in this wise his life be lad*,                       *led\n"
+  "And bare him so in peace and eke in werre*,                         *war\n"
+  "There was no man that Theseus had so derre*.                       *dear\n"
+  "And in this blisse leave I now Arcite,\n"
+  "And speak I will of Palamon a lite*.                             *little\n"
+  "\n"
+  "In darkness horrible, and strong prison,\n"
+  "This seven year hath sitten Palamon,\n"
+  "Forpined*, what for love, and for distress.          *pined, wasted away\n"
+  "Who feeleth double sorrow and heaviness\n"
+  "But Palamon? that love distraineth* so,                        *afflicts\n"
+  "That wood* out of his wits he went for woe,                         *mad\n"
+  "And eke thereto he is a prisonere\n"
+  "Perpetual, not only for a year.\n"
+  "Who coulde rhyme in English properly\n"
+  "His martyrdom? forsooth*, it is not I;                            *truly\n"
+  "Therefore I pass as lightly as I may.\n"
+  "It fell that in the seventh year, in May\n"
+  "The thirde night (as olde bookes sayn,\n"
+  "That all this story tellen more plain),\n"
+  "Were it by a venture or destiny\n"
+  "(As when a thing is shapen* it shall be),              *settled, decreed\n"
+  "That soon after the midnight, Palamon\n"
+  "By helping of a friend brake his prison,\n"
+  "And fled the city fast as he might go,\n"
+  "For he had given drink his gaoler so\n"
+  "Of a clary <25>, made of a certain wine,\n"
+  "With *narcotise and opie* of Thebes fine,          *narcotics and opium*\n"
+  "That all the night, though that men would him shake,\n"
+  "The gaoler slept, he mighte not awake:\n"
+  "And thus he fled as fast as ever he may.\n"
+  "The night was short, and *faste by the day            *close at hand was\n"
+  "That needes cast he must himself to hide*.          the day during which\n"
+  "And to a grove faste there beside       he must cast about, or contrive,\n"
+  "With dreadful foot then stalked Palamon.            to conceal himself.*\n"
+  "For shortly this was his opinion,\n"
+  "That in the grove he would him hide all day,\n"
+  "And in the night then would he take his way\n"
+  "To Thebes-ward, his friendes for to pray\n"
+  "On Theseus to help him to warray*.                        *make war <26>\n"
+  "And shortly either he would lose his life,\n"
+  "Or winnen Emily unto his wife.\n"
+  "This is th' effect, and his intention plain.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Now will I turn to Arcita again,\n"
+  "That little wist how nighe was his care,\n"
+  "Till that Fortune had brought him in the snare.\n"
+  "The busy lark, the messenger of day,\n"
+  "Saluteth in her song the morning gray;\n"
+  "And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright,\n"
+  "That all the orient laugheth at the sight,\n"
+  "And with his streames* drieth in the greves**             *rays **groves\n"
+  "The silver droppes, hanging on the leaves;\n"
+  "And Arcite, that is in the court royal\n"
+  "With Theseus, his squier principal,\n"
+  "Is ris'n, and looketh on the merry day.\n"
+  "And for to do his observance to May,\n"
+  "Remembering the point* of his desire,                            *object\n"
+  "He on his courser, starting as the fire,\n"
+  "Is ridden to the fieldes him to play,\n"
+  "Out of the court, were it a mile or tway.\n"
+  "And to the grove, of which I have you told,\n"
+  "By a venture his way began to hold,\n"
+  "To make him a garland of the greves*,                            *groves\n"
+  "Were it of woodbine, or of hawthorn leaves,\n"
+  "And loud he sang against the sun so sheen*.              *shining bright\n"
+  "\"O May, with all thy flowers and thy green,\n"
+  "Right welcome be thou, faire freshe May,\n"
+  "I hope that I some green here getten may.\"\n"
+  "And from his courser*, with a lusty heart,                        *horse\n"
+  "Into the grove full hastily he start,\n"
+  "And in a path he roamed up and down,\n"
+  "There as by aventure this Palamon\n"
+  "Was in a bush, that no man might him see,\n"
+  "For sore afeard of his death was he.\n"
+  "Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite;\n"
+  "God wot he would have *trowed it full lite*.   *full little believed it*\n"
+  "But sooth is said, gone since full many years,\n"
+  "The field hath eyen*, and the wood hath ears,                      *eyes\n"
+  "It is full fair a man *to bear him even*,           *to be on his guard*\n"
+  "For all day meeten men at *unset steven*.          *unexpected time <27>\n"
+  "Full little wot Arcite of his fellaw,\n"
+  "That was so nigh to hearken of his saw*,                 *saying, speech\n"
+  "For in the bush he sitteth now full still.\n"
+  "When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,\n"
+  "And *sungen all the roundel* lustily,           *sang the roundelay*<28>\n"
+  "Into a study he fell suddenly,\n"
+  "As do those lovers in their *quainte gears*,              *odd fashions*\n"
+  "Now in the crop*, and now down in the breres**, <29>           *tree-top\n"
+  "Now up, now down, as bucket in a well.                          **briars\n"
+  "Right as the Friday, soothly for to tell,\n"
+  "Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,\n"
+  "Right so can geary* Venus overcast                            *changeful\n"
+  "The heartes of her folk, right as her day\n"
+  "Is gearful*, right so changeth she array.                     *changeful\n"
+  "Seldom is Friday all the weeke like.\n"
+  "When Arcite had y-sung, he gan to sike*,                           *sigh\n"
+  "And sat him down withouten any more:\n"
+  "\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"the day that I was bore!\n"
+  "How longe, Juno, through thy cruelty\n"
+  "Wilt thou warrayen* Thebes the city?                            *torment\n"
+  "Alas! y-brought is to confusion\n"
+  "The blood royal of Cadm' and Amphion:\n"
+  "Of Cadmus, which that was the firste man,\n"
+};
+const char knightsTale2[] PROGMEM = {
+  "That Thebes built, or first the town began,\n"
+  "And of the city first was crowned king.\n"
+  "Of his lineage am I, and his offspring\n"
+  "By very line, as of the stock royal;\n"
+  "And now I am *so caitiff and so thrall*,         *wretched and enslaved*\n"
+  "That he that is my mortal enemy,\n"
+  "I serve him as his squier poorely.\n"
+  "And yet doth Juno me well more shame,\n"
+  "For I dare not beknow* mine owen name,                 *acknowledge <30>\n"
+  "But there as I was wont to hight Arcite,\n"
+  "Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.\n"
+  "Alas! thou fell Mars, and alas! Juno,\n"
+  "Thus hath your ire our lineage all fordo*                *undone, ruined\n"
+  "Save only me, and wretched Palamon,\n"
+  "That Theseus martyreth in prison.\n"
+  "And over all this, to slay me utterly,\n"
+  "Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly*                       *burningly\n"
+  "Y-sticked through my true careful heart,\n"
+  "That shapen was my death erst than my shert. <31>\n"
+  "Ye slay me with your eyen, Emily;\n"
+  "Ye be the cause wherefore that I die.\n"
+  "Of all the remnant of mine other care\n"
+  "Ne set I not the *mountance of a tare*,               *value of a straw*\n"
+  "So that I could do aught to your pleasance.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "And with that word he fell down in a trance\n"
+  "A longe time; and afterward upstart\n"
+  "This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart\n"
+  "He felt a cold sword suddenly to glide:\n"
+  "For ire he quoke*, no longer would he hide.                      *quaked\n"
+  "And when that he had heard Arcite's tale,\n"
+  "As he were wood*, with face dead and pale,                          *mad\n"
+  "He start him up out of the bushes thick,\n"
+  "And said: \"False Arcita, false traitor wick'*,                   *wicked\n"
+  "Now art thou hent*, that lov'st my lady so,                      *caught\n"
+  "For whom that I have all this pain and woe,\n"
+  "And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,\n"
+  "As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,\n"
+  "And hast bejaped* here Duke Theseus,             *deceived, imposed upon\n"
+  "And falsely changed hast thy name thus;\n"
+  "I will be dead, or elles thou shalt die.\n"
+  "Thou shalt not love my lady Emily,\n"
+  "But I will love her only and no mo';\n"
+  "For I am Palamon thy mortal foe.\n"
+  "And though I have no weapon in this place,\n"
+  "But out of prison am astart* by grace,                          *escaped\n"
+  "I dreade* not that either thou shalt die,                         *doubt\n"
+  "Or else thou shalt not loven Emily.\n"
+  "Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This Arcite then, with full dispiteous* heart,                 *wrathful\n"
+  "When he him knew, and had his tale heard,\n"
+  "As fierce as lion pulled out a swerd,\n"
+  "And saide thus; \"By God that sitt'th above,\n"
+  "*N'ere it* that thou art sick, and wood for love,          *were it not*\n"
+  "And eke that thou no weap'n hast in this place,\n"
+  "Thou should'st never out of this grove pace,\n"
+  "That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.\n"
+  "For I defy the surety and the band,\n"
+  "Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.\n"
+  "What? very fool, think well that love is free;\n"
+  "And I will love her maugre* all thy might.                      *despite\n"
+  "But, for thou art a worthy gentle knight,\n"
+  "And *wilnest to darraine her by bataille*,             *will reclaim her\n"
+  "Have here my troth, to-morrow I will not fail,                by combat*\n"
+  "Without weeting* of any other wight,                          *knowledge\n"
+  "That here I will be founden as a knight,\n"
+  "And bringe harness* right enough for thee;              *armour and arms\n"
+  "And choose the best, and leave the worst for me.\n"
+  "And meat and drinke this night will I bring\n"
+  "Enough for thee, and clothes for thy bedding.\n"
+  "And if so be that thou my lady win,\n"
+  "And slay me in this wood that I am in,\n"
+  "Thou may'st well have thy lady as for me.\"\n"
+  "This Palamon answer'd, \"I grant it thee.\"\n"
+  "And thus they be departed till the morrow,\n"
+  "When each of them hath *laid his faith to borrow*.   *pledged his faith*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "O Cupid, out of alle charity!\n"
+  "O Regne* that wilt no fellow have with thee!                 *queen <32>\n"
+  "Full sooth is said, that love nor lordeship\n"
+  "Will not, *his thanks*, have any fellowship.             *thanks to him*\n"
+  "Well finden that Arcite and Palamon.\n"
+  "Arcite is ridd anon unto the town,\n"
+  "And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,\n"
+  "Full privily two harness hath he dight*,                       *prepared\n"
+  "Both suffisant and meete to darraine*                           *contest\n"
+  "The battle in the field betwixt them twain.\n"
+  "And on his horse, alone as he was born,\n"
+  "He carrieth all this harness him beforn;\n"
+  "And in the grove, at time and place y-set,\n"
+  "This Arcite and this Palamon be met.\n"
+  "Then change gan the colour of their face;\n"
+  "Right as the hunter in the regne* of Thrace                     *kingdom\n"
+  "That standeth at a gappe with a spear\n"
+  "When hunted is the lion or the bear,\n"
+  "And heareth him come rushing in the greves*,                     *groves\n"
+  "And breaking both the boughes and the leaves,\n"
+  "Thinketh, \"Here comes my mortal enemy,\n"
+  "Withoute fail, he must be dead or I;\n"
+  "For either I must slay him at the gap;\n"
+  "Or he must slay me, if that me mishap:\"\n"
+  "So fared they, in changing of their hue\n"
+  "*As far as either of them other knew*.        *When they recognised each\n"
+  "There was no good day, and no saluting,                  other afar off*\n"
+  "But straight, withoute wordes rehearsing,\n"
+  "Evereach of them holp to arm the other,\n"
+  "As friendly, as he were his owen brother.\n"
+  "And after that, with sharpe speares strong\n"
+  "They foined* each at other wonder long.                          *thrust\n"
+  "Thou mightest weene*, that this Palamon                           *think\n"
+  "In fighting were as a wood* lion,                                   *mad\n"
+  "And as a cruel tiger was Arcite:\n"
+  "As wilde boars gan they together smite,\n"
+  "That froth as white as foam, *for ire wood*.            *mad with anger*\n"
+  "Up to the ancle fought they in their blood.\n"
+  "And in this wise I let them fighting dwell,\n"
+  "And forth I will of Theseus you tell.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The Destiny, minister general,\n"
+  "That executeth in the world o'er all\n"
+  "The purveyance*, that God hath seen beforn;              *foreordination\n"
+  "So strong it is, that though the world had sworn\n"
+  "The contrary of a thing by yea or nay,\n"
+  "Yet some time it shall fallen on a day\n"
+  "That falleth not eft* in a thousand year.                         *again\n"
+  "For certainly our appetites here,\n"
+  "Be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love,\n"
+  "All is this ruled by the sight* above.         *eye, intelligence, power\n"
+  "This mean I now by mighty Theseus,\n"
+  "That for to hunten is so desirous --\n"
+  "And namely* the greate hart in May --                        *especially\n"
+  "That in his bed there dawneth him no day\n"
+  "That he n'is clad, and ready for to ride\n"
+  "With hunt and horn, and houndes him beside.\n"
+  "For in his hunting hath he such delight,\n"
+  "That it is all his joy and appetite\n"
+  "To be himself the greate harte's bane*                      *destruction\n"
+  "For after Mars he serveth now Diane.\n"
+  "Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,\n"
+  "And Theseus, with alle joy and bliss,\n"
+  "With his Hippolyta, the faire queen,\n"
+  "And Emily, y-clothed all in green,\n"
+  "On hunting be they ridden royally.\n"
+  "And to the grove, that stood there faste by,\n"
+  "In which there was an hart, as men him told,\n"
+  "Duke Theseus the straighte way doth hold,\n"
+  "And to the laund* he rideth him full right,                  *plain <33>\n"
+  "There was the hart y-wont to have his flight,\n"
+  "And over a brook, and so forth on his way.\n"
+  "This Duke will have a course at him or tway\n"
+  "With houndes, such as him lust* to command.                     *pleased\n"
+  "And when this Duke was come to the laund,\n"
+  "Under the sun he looked, and anon\n"
+  "He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,\n"
+  "That foughte breme*, as it were bulles two.                    *fiercely\n"
+  "The brighte swordes wente to and fro\n"
+  "So hideously, that with the leaste stroke\n"
+  "It seemed that it woulde fell an oak,\n"
+  "But what they were, nothing yet he wote*.                          *knew\n"
+  "This Duke his courser with his spurres smote,\n"
+  "*And at a start* he was betwixt them two,                     *suddenly*\n"
+  "And pulled out a sword and cried, \"Ho!\n"
+  "No more, on pain of losing of your head.\n"
+  "By mighty Mars, he shall anon be dead\n"
+  "That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!\n"
+  "But tell to me what mister* men ye be,                *manner, kind <34>\n"
+  "That be so hardy for to fighte here\n"
+  "Withoute judge or other officer,\n"
+  "As though it were in listes royally. <35>\n"
+  "This Palamon answered hastily,\n"
+  "And saide: \"Sir, what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
+  "We have the death deserved bothe two,\n"
+  "Two woful wretches be we, and caitives,\n"
+  "That be accumbered* of our own lives,                          *burdened\n"
+  "And as thou art a rightful lord and judge,\n"
+  "So give us neither mercy nor refuge.\n"
+  "And slay me first, for sainte charity,\n"
+  "But slay my fellow eke as well as me.\n"
+  "Or slay him first; for, though thou know it lite*,               *little\n"
+  "This is thy mortal foe, this is Arcite\n"
+  "That from thy land is banisht on his head,\n"
+  "For which he hath deserved to be dead.\n"
+  "For this is he that came unto thy gate\n"
+  "And saide, that he highte Philostrate.\n"
+  "Thus hath he japed* thee full many year,                       *deceived\n"
+  "And thou hast made of him thy chief esquier;\n"
+  "And this is he, that loveth Emily.\n"
+  "For since the day is come that I shall die\n"
+  "I make pleinly* my confession,                      *fully, unreservedly\n"
+  "That I am thilke* woful Palamon,                         *that same <36>\n"
+  "That hath thy prison broken wickedly.\n"
+  "I am thy mortal foe, and it am I\n"
+  "That so hot loveth Emily the bright,\n"
+  "That I would die here present in her sight.\n"
+  "Therefore I aske death and my jewise*.                        *judgement\n"
+  "But slay my fellow eke in the same wise,\n"
+  "For both we have deserved to be slain.\"\n"
+  "\n"
+  "This worthy Duke answer'd anon again,\n"
+  "And said, \"This is a short conclusion.\n"
+  "Your own mouth, by your own confession\n"
+  "Hath damned you, and I will it record;\n"
+  "It needeth not to pain you with the cord;\n"
+  "Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.<37>\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The queen anon for very womanhead\n"
+  "Began to weep, and so did Emily,\n"
+  "And all the ladies in the company.\n"
+  "Great pity was it as it thought them all,\n"
+  "That ever such a chance should befall,\n"
+  "For gentle men they were, of great estate,\n"
+  "And nothing but for love was this debate\n"
+  "They saw their bloody woundes wide and sore,\n"
+  "And cried all at once, both less and more,\n"
+  "\"Have mercy, Lord, upon us women all.\"\n"
+  "And on their bare knees adown they fall\n"
+  "And would have kissed his feet there as he stood,\n"
+  "Till at the last *aslaked was his mood*                   *his anger was\n"
+  "(For pity runneth soon in gentle heart);                       appeased*\n"
+  "And though at first for ire he quoke and start\n"
+  "He hath consider'd shortly in a clause\n"
+  "The trespass of them both, and eke the cause:\n"
+  "And although that his ire their guilt accused\n"
+  "Yet in his reason he them both excused;\n"
+  "As thus; he thoughte well that every man\n"
+  "Will help himself in love if that he can,\n"
+  "And eke deliver himself out of prison.\n"
+  "Of women, for they wepten ever-in-one:*                     *continually\n"
+  "And eke his hearte had compassion\n"
+  "And in his gentle heart he thought anon,\n"
+  "And soft unto himself he saide: \"Fie\n"
+  "Upon a lord that will have no mercy,\n"
+  "But be a lion both in word and deed,\n"
+  "To them that be in repentance and dread,\n"
+  "As well as-to a proud dispiteous* man                         *unpitying\n"
+  "That will maintaine what he first began.\n"
+  "That lord hath little of discretion,\n"
+  "That in such case *can no division*:           *can make no distinction*\n"
+  "But weigheth pride and humbless *after one*.\"                    *alike*\n"
+  "And shortly, when his ire is thus agone,\n"
+  "He gan to look on them with eyen light*,               *gentle, lenient*\n"
+  "And spake these same wordes *all on height.*                     *aloud*\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"The god of love, ah! benedicite*,                         *bless ye him\n"
+  "How mighty and how great a lord is he!\n"
+  "Against his might there gaine* none obstacles,           *avail, conquer\n"
+  "He may be called a god for his miracles\n"
+  "For he can maken at his owen guise\n"
+  "Of every heart, as that him list devise.\n"
+  "Lo here this Arcite, and this Palamon,\n"
+  "That quietly were out of my prison,\n"
+  "And might have lived in Thebes royally,\n"
+  "And weet* I am their mortal enemy,                                 *knew\n"
+  "And that their death li'th in my might also,\n"
+  "And yet hath love, *maugre their eyen two*,     *in spite of their eyes*\n"
+  "Y-brought them hither bothe for to die.\n"
+  "Now look ye, is not this an high folly?\n"
+  "Who may not be a fool, if but he love?\n"
+  "Behold, for Godde's sake that sits above,\n"
+  "See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?\n"
+  "Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid\n"
+  "Their wages and their fees for their service;\n"
+  "And yet they weene for to be full wise,\n"
+  "That serve love, for aught that may befall.\n"
+  "But this is yet the beste game* of all,                            *joke\n"
+  "That she, for whom they have this jealousy,\n"
+  "Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.\n"
+  "She wot no more of all this *hote fare*,                 *hot behaviour*\n"
+  "By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare.\n"
+  "But all must be assayed hot or cold;\n"
+  "A man must be a fool, or young or old;\n"
+  "I wot it by myself *full yore agone*:                   *long years ago*\n"
+  "For in my time a servant was I one.\n"
+  "And therefore since I know of love's pain,\n"
+  "And wot how sore it can a man distrain*,                       *distress\n"
+  "As he that oft hath been caught in his last*,                *snare <38>\n"
+  "I you forgive wholly this trespass,\n"
+  "At request of the queen that kneeleth here,\n"
+  "And eke of Emily, my sister dear.\n"
+  "And ye shall both anon unto me swear,\n"
+  "That never more ye shall my country dere*                        *injure\n"
+  "Nor make war upon me night nor day,\n"
+  "But be my friends in alle that ye may.\n"
+  "I you forgive this trespass *every deal*.                   *completely*\n"
+  "And they him sware *his asking* fair and well,           *what he asked*\n"
+  "And him of lordship and of mercy pray'd,\n"
+  "And he them granted grace, and thus he said:\n"
+  "\n"
+  "\"To speak of royal lineage and richess,\n"
+  "Though that she were a queen or a princess,\n"
+  "Each of you both is worthy doubteless\n"
+  "To wedde when time is; but natheless\n"
+  "I speak as for my sister Emily,\n"
+  "For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,\n"
+  "Ye wot* yourselves, she may not wed the two                        *know\n"
+  "At once, although ye fight for evermo:\n"
+  "But one of you, *all be him loth or lief,*    *whether or not he wishes*\n"
+  "He must *go pipe into an ivy leaf*:                       *\"go whistle\"*\n"
+  "This is to say, she may not have you both,\n"
+  "All be ye never so jealous, nor so wroth.\n"
+  "And therefore I you put in this degree,\n"
+  "That each of you shall have his destiny\n"
+  "As *him is shape*; and hearken in what wise      *as is decreed for him*\n"
+  "Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.\n"
+  "My will is this, for plain conclusion\n"
+  "Withouten any replication*,                                       *reply\n"
+  "If that you liketh, take it for the best,\n"
+  "That evereach of you shall go where *him lest*,              *he pleases\n"
+  "Freely without ransom or danger;\n"
+  "And this day fifty weekes, *farre ne nerre*,     *neither more nor less*\n"
+  "Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights,\n"
+  "Armed for listes up at alle rights\n"
+  "All ready to darraine* her by bataille,                     *contend for\n"
+  "And this behete* I you withoute fail                            *promise\n"
+  "Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,\n"
+  "That whether of you bothe that hath might,\n"
+  "That is to say, that whether he or thou\n"
+  "May with his hundred, as I spake of now,\n"
+  "Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive,\n"
+  "Him shall I given Emily to wive,\n"
+  "To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.\n"
+  "The listes shall I make here in this place.\n"
+  "*And God so wisly on my soule rue*,              *may God as surely have\n"
+  "As I shall even judge be and true.                     mercy on my soul*\n"
+  "Ye shall none other ende with me maken\n"
+  "Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.\n"
+  "And if you thinketh this is well y-said,\n"
+  "Say your advice*, and hold yourselves apaid**.      *opinion **satisfied\n"
+  "This is your end, and your conclusion.\"\n"
+  "Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?\n"
+  "Who springeth up for joye but Arcite?\n"
+  "Who could it tell, or who could it indite,\n"
+  "The joye that is maked in the place\n"
+  "When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?\n"
+  "But down on knees went every *manner wight*,            *kind of person*\n"
+  "And thanked him with all their heartes' might,\n"
+  "And namely* these Thebans *ofte sithe*.         *especially *oftentimes*\n"
+  "And thus with good hope and with hearte blithe\n"
+  "They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride\n"
+  "To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "I trow men woulde deem it negligence,\n"
+  "If I forgot to telle the dispence*                          *expenditure\n"
+  "Of Theseus, that went so busily\n"
+  "To maken up the listes royally,\n"
+  "That such a noble theatre as it was,\n"
+  "I dare well say, in all this world there n'as*.                 *was not\n"
+  "The circuit a mile was about,\n"
+  "Walled of stone, and ditched all without.\n"
+  "*Round was the shape, in manner of compass,\n"
+  "Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas*               *see note  <39>*\n"
+  "That when a man was set on one degree\n"
+  "He letted* not his fellow for to see.                          *hindered\n"
+  "Eastward there stood a gate of marble white,\n"
+  "Westward right such another opposite.\n"
+  "And, shortly to conclude, such a place\n"
+  "Was never on earth made in so little space,\n"
+  "For in the land there was no craftes-man,\n"
+  "That geometry or arsmetrike* can**,                   *arithmetic **knew\n"
+  "Nor pourtrayor*, nor carver of images,                 *portrait painter\n"
+  "That Theseus ne gave him meat and wages\n"
+  "The theatre to make and to devise.\n"
+  "And for to do his rite and sacrifice\n"
+  "He eastward hath upon the gate above,\n"
+  "In worship of Venus, goddess of love,\n"
+  "*Done make* an altar and an oratory;                 *caused to be made*\n"
+  "And westward, in the mind and in memory\n"
+  "Of Mars, he maked hath right such another,\n"
+  "That coste largely of gold a fother*.                    *a great amount\n"
+  "And northward, in a turret on the wall,\n"
+  "Of alabaster white and red coral\n"
+  "An oratory riche for to see,\n"
+  "In worship of Diane of chastity,\n"
+  "Hath Theseus done work in noble wise.\n"
+  "But yet had I forgotten to devise*                             *describe\n"
+  "The noble carving, and the portraitures,\n"
+  "The shape, the countenance of the figures\n"
+  "That weren in there oratories three.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "First in the temple of Venus may'st thou see\n"
+  "Wrought on the wall,  full piteous to behold,\n"
+  "The broken sleepes, and the sikes* cold,                         *sighes\n"
+  "The sacred teares, and the waimentings*,                     *lamentings\n"
+  "The fiery strokes of the desirings,\n"
+  "That Love's servants in this life endure;\n"
+  "The oathes, that their covenants assure.\n"
+  "Pleasance and Hope, Desire, Foolhardiness,\n"
+  "Beauty and Youth, and Bawdry and Richess,\n"
+  "Charms and Sorc'ry, Leasings* and Flattery,                  *falsehoods\n"
+  "Dispence, Business, and Jealousy,\n"
+  "That wore of yellow goldes* a garland,                  *sunflowers <40>\n"
+  "And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand,\n"
+  "Feasts, instruments, and caroles and dances,\n"
+  "Lust and array, and all the circumstances\n"
+  "Of Love, which I reckon'd and reckon shall\n"
+  "In order, were painted on the wall,\n"
+  "And more than I can make of mention.\n"
+  "For soothly all the mount of Citheron,<41>\n"
+  "Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,\n"
+  "Was showed on the wall in pourtraying,\n"
+  "With all the garden, and the lustiness*.                   *pleasantness\n"
+  "Nor was forgot the porter Idleness,\n"
+  "Nor Narcissus the fair of *yore agone*,                    *olden times*\n"
+  "Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,\n"
+  "Nor yet the greate strength of Hercules,\n"
+  "Th' enchantments of Medea and Circes,\n"
+  "Nor of Turnus the hardy fierce courage,\n"
+  "The rich Croesus *caitif in servage.* <42>         *abased into slavery*\n"
+  "Thus may ye see, that wisdom nor richess,\n"
+  "Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness\n"
+  "Ne may with Venus holde champartie*,            *divided possession <43>\n"
+  "For as her liste the world may she gie*.                          *guide\n"
+  "Lo, all these folk so caught were in her las*                     *snare\n"
+  "Till they for woe full often said, Alas!\n"
+  "Suffice these ensamples one or two,\n"
+  "Although I could reckon a thousand mo'.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The statue of Venus, glorious to see\n"
+  "Was naked floating in the large sea,\n"
+  "And from the navel down all cover'd was\n"
+  "With waves green, and bright as any glass.\n"
+  "A citole <44> in her right hand hadde she,\n"
+  "And on her head, full seemly for to see,\n"
+  "A rose garland fresh, and well smelling,\n"
+  "Above her head her doves flickering\n"
+  "Before her stood her sone Cupido,\n"
+  "Upon his shoulders winges had he two;\n"
+  "And blind he was, as it is often seen;\n"
+  "A bow he bare, and arrows bright and keen.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Why should I not as well eke tell you all\n"
+  "The portraiture, that was upon the wall\n"
+  "Within the temple of mighty Mars the Red?\n"
+  "All painted was the wall in length and brede*                   *breadth\n"
+  "Like to the estres* of the grisly place               *interior chambers\n"
+  "That hight the great temple of Mars in Thrace,\n"
+  "In thilke* cold and frosty region,                                 *that\n"
+  "There as Mars hath his sovereign mansion.\n"
+  "In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,\n"
+  "With knotty gnarry* barren trees old                            *gnarled\n"
+  "Of stubbes sharp and hideous to behold;\n"
+  "In which there ran a rumble and a sough*,                *groaning noise\n"
+  "As though a storm should bursten every bough:\n"
+  "And downward from an hill under a bent*                           *slope\n"
+  "There stood the temple of Mars Armipotent,\n"
+  "Wrought all of burnish'd steel, of which th' entry\n"
+  "Was long and strait, and ghastly for to see.\n"
+  "And thereout came *a rage and such a vise*,       *such a furious voice*\n"
+  "That it made all the gates for to rise.\n"
+  "The northern light in at the doore shone,\n"
+  "For window on the walle was there none\n"
+  "Through which men mighten any light discern.\n"
+  "The doors were all of adamant etern,\n"
+  "Y-clenched *overthwart and ende-long*         *crossways and lengthways*\n"
+  "With iron tough, and, for to make it strong,\n"
+  "Every pillar the temple to sustain\n"
+  "Was tunne-great*, of iron bright and sheen.     *thick as a tun (barrel)\n"
+  "There saw I first the dark imagining\n"
+  "Of felony, and all the compassing;\n"
+  "The cruel ire, as red as any glede*,                          *live coal\n"
+  "The picke-purse<45>, and eke the pale dread;\n"
+  "The smiler with the knife under the cloak,\n"
+  "The shepen* burning with the blacke smoke                   *stable <46>\n"
+  "The treason of the murd'ring in the bed,\n"
+  "The open war, with woundes all be-bled;\n"
+  "Conteke* with bloody knife, and sharp menace.       *contention, discord\n"
+  "All full of chirking* was that sorry place.     *creaking, jarring noise\n"
+  "The slayer of himself eke saw I there,\n"
+  "His hearte-blood had bathed all his hair:\n"
+  "The nail y-driven in the shode* at night,         *hair of the head <47>\n"
+  "The colde death, with mouth gaping upright.\n"
+  "Amiddes of the temple sat Mischance,\n"
+  "With discomfort and sorry countenance;\n"
+  "Eke saw I Woodness* laughing in his rage,                       *Madness\n"
+  "Armed Complaint, Outhees*, and fierce Outrage;                   *Outcry\n"
+  "The carrain* in the bush, with throat y-corve**,       *corpse **slashed\n"
+  "A thousand slain, and not *of qualm y-storve*;        *dead of sickness*\n"
+  "The tyrant, with the prey by force y-reft;\n"
+  "The town destroy'd, that there was nothing left.\n"
+  "Yet saw I brent* the shippes hoppesteres, <48>                    *burnt\n"
+  "The hunter strangled with the wilde bears:\n"
+  "The sow freting* the child right in the cradle;          *devouring <49>\n"
+  "The cook scalded, for all his longe ladle.\n"
+  "Nor was forgot, *by th'infortune of Mart*        *through the misfortune\n"
+  "The carter overridden with his cart;                             of war*\n"
+  "Under the wheel full low he lay adown.\n"
+  "There were also of Mars' division,\n"
+  "The armourer, the bowyer*, and the smith,                 *maker of bows\n"
+  "That forgeth sharp swordes on his stith*.                         *anvil\n"
+  "And all above depainted in a tower\n"
+  "Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honour,\n"
+  "With thilke* sharpe sword over his head                            *that\n"
+  "Hanging by a subtle y-twined thread.\n"
+  "Painted the slaughter was of Julius<50>,\n"
+  "Of cruel Nero, and Antonius:\n"
+  "Although at that time they were yet unborn,\n"
+  "Yet was their death depainted there beforn,\n"
+  "By menacing of Mars, right by figure,\n"
+  "So was it showed in that portraiture,\n"
+  "As is depainted in the stars above,\n"
+  "Who shall be slain, or elles dead for love.\n"
+  "Sufficeth one ensample in stories old,\n"
+  "I may not reckon them all, though I wo'ld.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "The statue of Mars upon a carte* stood                          *chariot\n"
+  "Armed, and looked grim as he were wood*,                            *mad\n"
+  "And over his head there shone two figures\n"
+  "Of starres, that be cleped in scriptures,\n"
+  "That one Puella, that other Rubeus. <51>\n"
+  "This god of armes was arrayed thus:\n"
+  "A wolf there stood before him at his feet\n"
+  "With eyen red, and of a man he eat:\n"
+  "With subtle pencil painted was this story,\n"
+  "In redouting* of Mars and of his glory.                 *reverance, fear\n"
+  "\n"
+  "Now to the temple of Dian the chaste\n"
+  "As shortly as I can I will me haste,\n"
+  "To telle you all the descriptioun.\n"
+  "Depainted be the walles up and down\n"
+  "Of hunting and of shamefast chastity.\n"
+  "There saw I how woful Calistope,<52>\n"
+  "When that Dian aggrieved was with her,\n"
+  "Was turned from a woman to a bear,\n"
+  "And after was she made the lodestar*:                         *pole star\n"
+  "Thus was it painted, I can say no far*;                         *farther\n"
+  "Her son is eke a star as men may see.\n"
+  "There saw I Dane <53> turn'd into a tree,\n"
+  "I meane not the goddess Diane,\n"
+  "But Peneus' daughter, which that hight Dane.\n"
+  "There saw I Actaeon an hart y-maked*,                              *made\n"
+  "For vengeance that he saw Dian all naked:\n"
+  "I saw how that his houndes have him caught,\n"
+  "And freten* him, for that they knew him not.                     *devour\n"
+  "Yet painted was, a little farthermore\n"
+  "How Atalanta hunted the wild boar;\n"
+  "And Meleager, and many other mo',\n"
+  "For which Diana wrought them care and woe.\n"
+  "There saw I many another wondrous story,\n"
+  "The which me list not drawen to memory.\n"
+  "This goddess on an hart full high was set*,                      *seated\n"
+  "With smalle houndes all about her feet,\n"
+  "And underneath her feet she had a moon,\n"
+  "Waxing it was, and shoulde wane soon.\n"
+  "In gaudy green her statue clothed was,\n"
+  "With bow in hand, and arrows in a case*.                         *quiver\n"
+  "Her eyen caste she full low adown,\n"
+  "Where Pluto hath his darke regioun.\n"
+  "A woman travailing was her beforn,\n"
+  "But, for her child so longe was unborn,\n"
+  "Full piteously Lucina <54> gan she call,\n"
+  "And saide; \"Help, for thou may'st best of all.\"\n"
+  "Well could he painte lifelike that it wrought;\n"
+  "With many a florin he the hues had bought.\n"
+  "Now be these listes made, and Theseus,\n"
+  "That at his greate cost arrayed thus\n"
+  "The temples, and the theatre every deal*,                     *part <55>\n"
+  "When it was done, him liked wonder well.\n"
+  "\n"
+  "But stint* I will of Theseus a lite**,          *cease speaking **little\n"
+  "And speak of Palamon and of Arcite.\n"
+  "The day approacheth of their returning,\n"
+  "That evereach an hundred knights should bring,\n"
+  "The battle to darraine* as I you told;                          *contest\n"
+  "And to Athens, their covenant to hold,\n"
+  "Hath ev'reach of them brought an hundred knights,\n"
+  "Well-armed for the war at alle rights.\n"
+  "And sickerly* there trowed** many a man,         *surely <56> **believed\n"
+  "That never, sithen* that the world began,                         *since\n"
+  "For to speaken of knighthood of their hand,\n"
+  "As far as God hath maked sea and land,\n"
+  "Was, of so few, so noble a company.\n"
+  "For every wight that loved chivalry,\n"
+  "And would, *his thankes, have a passant name*,        *thanks to his own\n"
+  "Had prayed, that he might be of that game,               efforts, have a\n"
+  "And well was him, that thereto chosen was.              surpassing name*\n"
+  "For if there fell to-morrow such a case,\n"
+  "Ye knowe well, that every lusty knight,\n"
+  "That loveth par amour, and hath his might\n"
+  "Were it in Engleland, or elleswhere,\n"
+  "They would, their thankes, willen to be there,\n"
+  "T' fight for a lady; Benedicite,\n"
+  "It were a lusty* sighte for to see.                            *pleasing\n"
+  "And right so fared they with Palamon;\n"
+  "With him there wente knightes many one.\n"
+  "Some will be armed in an habergeon,\n"
+  "And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon*;                  *short doublet.\n"
+  "And some will have *a pair of plates* large;     *back and front armour*\n"
+  "And some will have a Prusse* shield, or targe;                 *Prussian\n"
+  "Some will be armed on their legges weel;\n"
+  "Some have an axe, and some a mace of steel.\n"
+};
+
+void setup() {
+  int i = 0;
+  uint8_t c;
+  Serial.begin(115200);
+
+  do {
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale) + i);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
+    i++;
+  } while (c);
+
+  i = 0;
+  do {
+    c = pgm_read_byte_far(pgm_get_far_address(knightsTale2) + i);
+    if (c) Serial.write(c);
+    i++;
+  } while (c);
+}
+void loop() {
+}

optiboot/examples/chaucer64k/chaucer64k.pde

@@ -1,1332 +0,0 @@
-// Text is an extract from The Canterbury Tales
-// Full text at http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/cbtls12.txt
-#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
-
-prog_char knightsTale[] PROGMEM= {
-"                     THE KNIGHT'S TALE <1>\n"
-"\n"
-"\n"
-"WHILOM*, as olde stories tellen us,                            *formerly\n"
-"There was a duke that highte* Theseus.                   *was called <2>\n"
-"Of Athens he was lord and governor,\n"
-"And in his time such a conqueror\n"
-"That greater was there none under the sun.\n"
-"Full many a riche country had he won.\n"
-"What with his wisdom and his chivalry,\n"
-"He conquer'd all the regne of Feminie,<3>\n"
-"That whilom was y-cleped Scythia;\n"
-"And weddede the Queen Hippolyta\n"
-"And brought her home with him to his country\n"
-"With muchel* glory and great solemnity,                           *great\n"
-"And eke her younge sister Emily,\n"
-"And thus with vict'ry and with melody\n"
-"Let I this worthy Duke to Athens ride,\n"
-"And all his host, in armes him beside.\n"
-"\n"
-"And certes, if it n'ere* too long to hear,                     *were not\n"
-"I would have told you fully the mannere,\n"
-"How wonnen* was the regne of Feminie, <4>                           *won\n"
-"By Theseus, and by his chivalry;\n"
-"And of the greate battle for the nonce\n"
-"Betwixt Athenes and the Amazons;\n"
-"And how assieged was Hippolyta,\n"
-"The faire hardy queen of Scythia;\n"
-"And of the feast that was at her wedding\n"
-"And of the tempest at her homecoming.\n"
-"But all these things I must as now forbear.\n"
-"I have, God wot, a large field to ear*                       *plough<5>;\n"
-"And weake be the oxen in my plough;\n"
-"The remnant of my tale is long enow.\n"
-"I will not *letten eke none of this rout*.                *hinder any of\n"
-"Let every fellow tell his tale about,                      this company*\n"
-"And let see now who shall the supper win.\n"
-"There *as I left*, I will again begin.                *where I left off*\n"
-"\n"
-"This Duke, of whom I make mentioun,\n"
-"When he was come almost unto the town,\n"
-"In all his weal, and in his moste pride,\n"
-"He was ware, as he cast his eye aside,\n"
-"Where that there kneeled in the highe way\n"
-"A company of ladies, tway and tway,\n"
-"Each after other, clad in clothes black:\n"
-"But such a cry and such a woe they make,\n"
-"That in this world n'is creature living,\n"
-"That hearde such another waimenting*                      *lamenting <6>\n"
-"And of this crying would they never stenten*,                    *desist\n"
-"Till they the reines of his bridle henten*.                       *seize\n"
-"\"What folk be ye that at mine homecoming\n"
-"Perturben so my feaste with crying?\"\n"
-"Quoth Theseus; \"Have ye so great envy\n"
-"Of mine honour, that thus complain and cry?\n"
-"Or who hath you misboden*, or offended?                         *wronged\n"
-"Do telle me, if it may be amended;\n"
-"And why that ye be clad thus all in black?\"\n"
-"\n"
-"The oldest lady of them all then spake,\n"
-"When she had swooned, with a deadly cheer*,                 *countenance\n"
-"That it was ruthe* for to see or hear.                             *pity\n"
-"She saide; \"Lord, to whom fortune hath given\n"
-"Vict'ry, and as a conqueror to liven,\n"
-"Nought grieveth us your glory and your honour;\n"
-"But we beseechen mercy and succour.\n"
-"Have mercy on our woe and our distress;\n"
-"Some drop of pity, through thy gentleness,\n"
-"Upon us wretched women let now fall.\n"
-"For certes, lord, there is none of us all\n"
-"That hath not been a duchess or a queen;\n"
-"Now be we caitives*, as it is well seen:                       *captives\n"
-"Thanked be Fortune, and her false wheel,\n"
-"That *none estate ensureth to be wele*.       *assures no continuance of\n"
-"And certes, lord, t'abiden your presence              prosperous estate*\n"
-"Here in this temple of the goddess Clemence\n"
-"We have been waiting all this fortenight:\n"
-"Now help us, lord, since it lies in thy might.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"I, wretched wight, that weep and waile thus,\n"
-"Was whilom wife to king Capaneus,\n"
-"That starf* at Thebes, cursed be that day:                     *died <7>\n"
-"And alle we that be in this array,\n"
-"And maken all this lamentatioun,\n"
-"We losten all our husbands at that town,\n"
-"While that the siege thereabouten lay.\n"
-"And yet the olde Creon, wellaway!\n"
-"That lord is now of Thebes the city,\n"
-"Fulfilled of ire and of iniquity,\n"
-"He for despite, and for his tyranny,\n"
-"To do the deade bodies villainy*,                                *insult\n"
-"Of all our lorde's, which that been y-slaw,                       *slain\n"
-"Hath all the bodies on an heap y-draw,\n"
-"And will not suffer them by none assent\n"
-"Neither to be y-buried, nor y-brent*,                             *burnt\n"
-"But maketh houndes eat them in despite.\"\n"
-"And with that word, withoute more respite\n"
-"They fallen groff,* and cryden piteously;                    *grovelling\n"
-"\"Have on us wretched women some mercy,\n"
-"And let our sorrow sinken in thine heart.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This gentle Duke down from his courser start\n"
-"With hearte piteous, when he heard them speak.\n"
-"Him thoughte that his heart would all to-break,\n"
-"When he saw them so piteous and so mate*                         *abased\n"
-"That whilom weren of so great estate.\n"
-"And in his armes he them all up hent*,                     *raised, took\n"
-"And them comforted in full good intent,\n"
-"And swore his oath, as he was true knight,\n"
-"He woulde do *so farforthly his might*        *as far as his power went*\n"
-"Upon the tyrant Creon them to wreak*,                            *avenge\n"
-"That all the people of Greece shoulde speak,\n"
-"How Creon was of Theseus y-served,\n"
-"As he that had his death full well deserved.\n"
-"And right anon withoute more abode*                               *delay\n"
-"His banner he display'd, and forth he rode\n"
-"To Thebes-ward, and all his, host beside:\n"
-"No ner* Athenes would he go nor ride,                            *nearer\n"
-"Nor take his ease fully half a day,\n"
-"But onward on his way that night he lay:\n"
-"And sent anon Hippolyta the queen,\n"
-"And Emily her younge sister sheen*                       *bright, lovely\n"
-"Unto the town of Athens for to dwell:\n"
-"And forth he rit*; there is no more to tell.                       *rode\n"
-"\n"
-"The red statue of Mars with spear and targe*                     *shield\n"
-"So shineth in his white banner large\n"
-"That all the fieldes glitter up and down:\n"
-"And by his banner borne is his pennon\n"
-"Of gold full rich, in which there was y-beat*                   *stamped\n"
-"The Minotaur<8> which that he slew in Crete\n"
-"Thus rit this Duke, thus rit this conqueror\n"
-"And in his host of chivalry the flower,\n"
-"Till that he came to Thebes, and alight\n"
-"Fair in a field, there as he thought to fight.\n"
-"But shortly for to speaken of this thing,\n"
-"With Creon, which that was of Thebes king,\n"
-"He fought, and slew him manly as a knight\n"
-"In plain bataille, and put his folk to flight:\n"
-"And by assault he won the city after,\n"
-"And rent adown both wall, and spar, and rafter;\n"
-"And to the ladies he restored again\n"
-"The bodies of their husbands that were slain,\n"
-"To do obsequies, as was then the guise*.                         *custom\n"
-"\n"
-"But it were all too long for to devise*                        *describe\n"
-"The greate clamour, and the waimenting*,                      *lamenting\n"
-"Which that the ladies made at the brenning*                     *burning\n"
-"Of the bodies, and the great honour\n"
-"That Theseus the noble conqueror\n"
-"Did to the ladies, when they from him went:\n"
-"But shortly for to tell is mine intent.\n"
-"When that this worthy Duke, this Theseus,\n"
-"Had Creon slain, and wonnen Thebes thus,\n"
-"Still in the field he took all night his rest,\n"
-"And did with all the country as him lest*.                      *pleased\n"
-"To ransack in the tas* of bodies dead,                             *heap\n"
-"Them for to strip of *harness and of **weed,           *armour **clothes\n"
-"The pillers* did their business and cure,                 *pillagers <9>\n"
-"After the battle and discomfiture.\n"
-"And so befell, that in the tas they found,\n"
-"Through girt with many a grievous bloody wound,\n"
-"Two younge knightes *ligging by and by*             *lying side by side*\n"
-"Both in *one armes*, wrought full richely:             *the same armour*\n"
-"Of whiche two, Arcita hight that one,\n"
-"And he that other highte Palamon.\n"
-"Not fully quick*, nor fully dead they were,                       *alive\n"
-"But by their coat-armour, and by their gear,\n"
-"The heralds knew them well in special,\n"
-"As those that weren of the blood royal\n"
-"Of Thebes, and *of sistren two y-born*.            *born of two sisters*\n"
-"Out of the tas the pillers have them torn,\n"
-"And have them carried soft unto the tent\n"
-"Of Theseus, and he full soon them sent\n"
-"To Athens, for to dwellen in prison\n"
-"Perpetually, he *n'olde no ranson*.               *would take no ransom*\n"
-"And when this worthy Duke had thus y-done,\n"
-"He took his host, and home he rit anon\n"
-"With laurel crowned as a conquerour;\n"
-"And there he lived in joy and in honour\n"
-"Term of his life; what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
-"And in a tower, in anguish and in woe,\n"
-"Dwellen this Palamon, and eke Arcite,\n"
-"For evermore, there may no gold them quite*                    *set free\n"
-"\n"
-"Thus passed year by year, and day by day,\n"
-"Till it fell ones in a morn of May\n"
-"That Emily, that fairer was to seen\n"
-"Than is the lily upon his stalke green,\n"
-"And fresher than the May with flowers new\n"
-"(For with the rose colour strove her hue;\n"
-"I n'ot* which was the finer of them two),                      *know not\n"
-"Ere it was day, as she was wont to do,\n"
-"She was arisen, and all ready dight*,                           *dressed\n"
-"For May will have no sluggardy a-night;\n"
-"The season pricketh every gentle heart,\n"
-"And maketh him out of his sleep to start,\n"
-"And saith, \"Arise, and do thine observance.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This maketh Emily have remembrance\n"
-"To do honour to May, and for to rise.\n"
-"Y-clothed was she fresh for to devise;\n"
-"Her yellow hair was braided in a tress,\n"
-"Behind her back, a yarde long I guess.\n"
-"And in the garden at *the sun uprist*                           *sunrise\n"
-"She walketh up and down where as her list.\n"
-"She gathereth flowers, party* white and red,                    *mingled\n"
-"To make a sotel* garland for her head,            *subtle, well-arranged\n"
-"And as an angel heavenly she sung.\n"
-"The greate tower, that was so thick and strong,\n"
-"Which of the castle was the chief dungeon<10>\n"
-"(Where as these knightes weren in prison,\n"
-"Of which I tolde you, and telle shall),\n"
-"Was even joinant* to the garden wall,                         *adjoining\n"
-"There as this Emily had her playing.\n"
-"\n"
-"Bright was the sun, and clear that morrowning,\n"
-"And Palamon, this woful prisoner,\n"
-"As was his wont, by leave of his gaoler,\n"
-"Was ris'n, and roamed in a chamber on high,\n"
-"In which he all the noble city sigh*,                               *saw\n"
-"And eke the garden, full of branches green,\n"
-"There as this fresh Emelia the sheen\n"
-"Was in her walk, and roamed up and down.\n"
-"This sorrowful prisoner, this Palamon\n"
-"Went in his chamber roaming to and fro,\n"
-"And to himself complaining of his woe:\n"
-"That he was born, full oft he said, Alas!\n"
-"And so befell, by aventure or cas*,                              *chance\n"
-"That through a window thick of many a bar\n"
-"Of iron great, and square as any spar,\n"
-"He cast his eyes upon Emelia,\n"
-"And therewithal he blent* and cried, Ah!                  *started aside\n"
-"As though he stungen were unto the heart.\n"
-"And with that cry Arcite anon up start,\n"
-"And saide, \"Cousin mine, what aileth thee,\n"
-"That art so pale and deadly for to see?\n"
-"Why cried'st thou? who hath thee done offence?\n"
-"For Godde's love, take all in patience\n"
-"Our prison*, for it may none other be.                     *imprisonment\n"
-"Fortune hath giv'n us this adversity'.\n"
-"Some wick'* aspect or disposition                                *wicked\n"
-"Of Saturn<11>, by some constellation,\n"
-"Hath giv'n us this, although we had it sworn,\n"
-"So stood the heaven when that we were born,\n"
-"We must endure; this is the short and plain.\n"
-"\n"
-"This Palamon answer'd, and said again:\n"
-"\"Cousin, forsooth of this opinion\n"
-"Thou hast a vain imagination.\n"
-"This prison caused me not for to cry;\n"
-"But I was hurt right now thorough mine eye\n"
-"Into mine heart; that will my bane*  be.                    *destruction\n"
-"The fairness of the lady that I see\n"
-"Yond in the garden roaming to and fro,\n"
-"Is cause of all my crying and my woe.\n"
-"I *n'ot wher* she be woman or goddess,                *know not whether*\n"
-"But Venus is it, soothly* as I guess,                             *truly\n"
-"And therewithal on knees adown he fill,\n"
-"And saide: \"Venus, if it be your will\n"
-"You in this garden thus to transfigure\n"
-"Before me sorrowful wretched creature,\n"
-"Out of this prison help that we may scape.\n"
-"And if so be our destiny be shape\n"
-"By etern word to dien in prison,\n"
-"Of our lineage have some compassion,\n"
-"That is so low y-brought by tyranny.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"And with that word Arcita *gan espy*               *began to look forth*\n"
-"Where as this lady roamed to and fro\n"
-"And with that sight her beauty hurt him so,\n"
-"That if that Palamon was wounded sore,\n"
-"Arcite is hurt as much as he, or more.\n"
-"And with a sigh he saide piteously:\n"
-"\"The freshe beauty slay'th me suddenly\n"
-"Of her that roameth yonder in the place.\n"
-"And but* I have her mercy and her grace,                         *unless\n"
-"That I may see her at the leaste way,\n"
-"I am but dead; there is no more to say.\"\n"
-"This Palamon, when he these wordes heard,\n"
-"Dispiteously* he looked, and answer'd:                          *angrily\n"
-"\"Whether say'st thou this in earnest or in play?\"\n"
-"\"Nay,\" quoth Arcite, \"in earnest, by my fay*.                     *faith\n"
-"God help me so, *me lust full ill to play*.\"          *I am in no humour\n"
-"This Palamon gan knit his browes tway.                      for jesting*\n"
-"\"It were,\" quoth he, \"to thee no great honour\n"
-"For to be false, nor for to be traitour\n"
-"To me, that am thy cousin and thy brother\n"
-"Y-sworn full deep, and each of us to other,\n"
-"That never for to dien in the pain <12>,\n"
-"Till that the death departen shall us twain,\n"
-"Neither of us in love to hinder other,\n"
-"Nor in none other case, my leve* brother;                          *dear\n"
-"But that thou shouldest truly farther me\n"
-"In every case, as I should farther thee.\n"
-"This was thine oath, and mine also certain;\n"
-"I wot it well, thou dar'st it not withsayn*,                       *deny\n"
-"Thus art thou of my counsel out of doubt,\n"
-"And now thou wouldest falsely be about\n"
-"To love my lady, whom I love and serve,\n"
-"And ever shall, until mine hearte sterve*                           *die\n"
-"Now certes, false Arcite, thou shalt not so\n"
-"I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe\n"
-"As to my counsel, and my brother sworn\n"
-"To farther me, as I have told beforn.\n"
-"For which thou art y-bounden as a knight\n"
-"To helpe me, if it lie in thy might,\n"
-"Or elles art thou false, I dare well sayn,\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This Arcita full proudly spake again:\n"
-"\"Thou shalt,\" quoth he, \"be rather* false than I,                *sooner\n"
-"And thou art false, I tell thee utterly;\n"
-"For par amour I lov'd her first ere thou.\n"
-"What wilt thou say? *thou wist it not right now*          *even now thou\n"
-"Whether she be a woman or goddess.                          knowest not*\n"
-"Thine is affection of holiness,\n"
-"And mine is love, as to a creature:\n"
-"For which I tolde thee mine aventure\n"
-"As to my cousin, and my brother sworn\n"
-"I pose*, that thou loved'st her beforn:                         *suppose\n"
-"Wost* thou not well the olde clerke's saw<13>,                  *know'st\n"
-"That who shall give a lover any law?\n"
-"Love is a greater lawe, by my pan,\n"
-"Than may be giv'n to any earthly man:\n"
-"Therefore positive law, and such decree,\n"
-"Is broke alway for love in each degree\n"
-"A man must needes love, maugre his head.\n"
-"He may not flee it, though he should be dead,\n"
-"*All be she* maid, or widow, or else wife.              *whether she be*\n"
-"And eke it is not likely all thy life\n"
-"To standen in her grace, no more than I\n"
-"For well thou wost thyselfe verily,\n"
-"That thou and I be damned to prison\n"
-"Perpetual, us gaineth no ranson.\n"
-"We strive, as did the houndes for the bone;\n"
-"They fought all day, and yet their part was none.\n"
-"There came a kite, while that they were so wroth,\n"
-"And bare away the bone betwixt them both.\n"
-"And therefore at the kinge's court, my brother,\n"
-"Each man for himselfe, there is no  other.\n"
-"Love if thee list; for I love and aye shall\n"
-"And soothly, leve brother, this is all.\n"
-"Here in this prison musten we endure,\n"
-"And each of us take his Aventure.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Great was the strife and long between these tway,\n"
-"If that I hadde leisure for to say;\n"
-"But to the effect: it happen'd on a day\n"
-"(To tell it you as shortly as I may),\n"
-"A worthy duke that hight Perithous<14>\n"
-"That fellow was to the Duke Theseus\n"
-"Since thilke* day that they were children lite**          *that **little\n"
-"Was come to Athens, his fellow to visite,\n"
-"And for to play, as he was wont to do;\n"
-"For in this world he loved no man so;\n"
-"And he lov'd him as tenderly again.\n"
-"So well they lov'd, as olde bookes sayn,\n"
-"That when that one was dead, soothly to sayn,\n"
-"His fellow went and sought him down in hell:\n"
-"But of that story list me not to write.\n"
-"Duke Perithous loved well Arcite,\n"
-"And had him known at Thebes year by year:\n"
-"And finally at request and prayere\n"
-"Of Perithous, withoute ranson\n"
-"Duke Theseus him let out of prison,\n"
-"Freely to go, where him list over all,\n"
-"In such a guise, as I you tellen shall\n"
-"This was the forword*, plainly to indite,                       *promise\n"
-"Betwixte Theseus and him Arcite:\n"
-"That if so were, that Arcite were y-found\n"
-"Ever in his life, by day or night, one stound*               *moment<15>\n"
-"In any country of this Theseus,\n"
-"And he were caught, it was accorded thus,\n"
-"That with a sword he shoulde lose his head;\n"
-"There was none other remedy nor rede*.                          *counsel\n"
-"But took his leave, and homeward he him sped;\n"
-"Let him beware, his necke lieth *to wed*.                    *in pledge*\n"
-"\n"
-"How great a sorrow suff'reth now Arcite!\n"
-"The death he feeleth through his hearte smite;\n"
-"He weepeth, waileth, crieth piteously;\n"
-"To slay himself he waiteth privily.\n"
-"He said; \"Alas the day that I was born!\n"
-"Now is my prison worse than beforn:\n"
-"*Now is me shape* eternally to dwell                *it is fixed for me*\n"
-"Not in purgatory, but right in hell.\n"
-"Alas! that ever I knew Perithous.\n"
-"For elles had I dwelt with Theseus\n"
-"Y-fettered in his prison evermo'.\n"
-"Then had I been in bliss, and not in woe.\n"
-"Only the sight of her, whom that I serve,\n"
-"Though that I never may her grace deserve,\n"
-"Would have sufficed right enough for me.\n"
-"O deare cousin Palamon,\" quoth he,\n"
-"\"Thine is the vict'ry of this aventure,\n"
-"Full blissfully in prison to endure:\n"
-"In prison? nay certes, in paradise.\n"
-"Well hath fortune y-turned thee the dice,\n"
-"That hast the sight of her, and I th' absence.\n"
-"For possible is, since thou hast her presence,\n"
-"And art a knight, a worthy and an able,\n"
-"That by some cas*, since fortune is changeable,                  *chance\n"
-"Thou may'st to thy desire sometime attain.\n"
-"But I that am exiled, and barren\n"
-"Of alle grace, and in so great despair,\n"
-"That there n'is earthe, water, fire, nor air,\n"
-"Nor creature, that of them maked is,\n"
-"That may me helpe nor comfort in this,\n"
-"Well ought I *sterve in wanhope* and distress.          *die in despair*\n"
-"Farewell my life, my lust*, and my gladness.                   *pleasure\n"
-"Alas, *why plainen men so in commune       *why do men so often complain\n"
-"Of purveyance of God*, or of Fortune,              of God's providence?*\n"
-"That giveth them full oft in many a guise\n"
-"Well better than they can themselves devise?\n"
-"Some man desireth for to have richess,\n"
-"That cause is of his murder or great sickness.\n"
-"And some man would out of his prison fain,\n"
-"That in his house is of his meinie* slain.                *servants <16>\n"
-"Infinite harmes be in this mattere.\n"
-"We wot never what thing we pray for here.\n"
-"We fare as he that drunk is as a mouse.\n"
-"A drunken man wot well he hath an house,\n"
-"But he wot not which is the right way thither,\n"
-"And to a drunken man the way is slither*.                      *slippery\n"
-"And certes in this world so fare we.\n"
-"We seeke fast after felicity,\n"
-"But we go wrong full often truely.\n"
-"Thus we may sayen all, and namely* I,                        *especially\n"
-"That ween'd*, and had a great opinion,                          *thought\n"
-"That if I might escape from prison\n"
-"Then had I been in joy and perfect heal,\n"
-"Where now I am exiled from my weal.\n"
-"Since that I may not see you, Emily,\n"
-"I am but dead; there is no remedy.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Upon that other side, Palamon,\n"
-"When that he wist Arcita was agone,\n"
-"Much sorrow maketh, that the greate tower\n"
-"Resounded of his yelling and clamour\n"
-"The pure* fetters on his shinnes great                        *very <17>\n"
-"Were of his bitter salte teares wet.\n"
-"\n"
-"\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"Arcita, cousin mine,\n"
-"Of all our strife, God wot, the fruit is thine.\n"
-"Thou walkest now in Thebes at thy large,\n"
-"And of my woe thou *givest little charge*.          *takest little heed*\n"
-"Thou mayst, since thou hast wisdom and manhead*,       *manhood, courage\n"
-"Assemble all the folk of our kindred,\n"
-"And make a war so sharp on this country\n"
-"That by some aventure, or some treaty,\n"
-"Thou mayst have her to lady and to wife,\n"
-"For whom that I must needes lose my life.\n"
-"For as by way of possibility,\n"
-"Since thou art at thy large, of prison free,\n"
-"And art a lord, great is thine avantage,\n"
-"More than is mine, that sterve here in a cage.\n"
-"For I must weep and wail, while that I live,\n"
-"With all the woe that prison may me give,\n"
-"And eke with pain that love me gives also,\n"
-"That doubles all my torment and my woe.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Therewith the fire of jealousy upstart\n"
-"Within his breast, and hent* him by the heart                    *seized\n"
-"So woodly*, that he like was to behold                            *madly\n"
-"The box-tree, or the ashes dead and cold.\n"
-"Then said; \"O cruel goddess, that govern\n"
-"This world with binding of your word etern*                     *eternal\n"
-"And writen in the table of adamant\n"
-"Your parlement* and your eternal grant,                    *consultation\n"
-"What is mankind more *unto you y-hold*                  *by you esteemed\n"
-"Than is the sheep, that rouketh* in the fold!      *lie huddled together\n"
-"For slain is man, right as another beast;\n"
-"And dwelleth eke in prison and arrest,\n"
-"And hath sickness, and great adversity,\n"
-"And oftentimes guilteless, pardie*                               *by God\n"
-"What governance is in your prescience,\n"
-"That guilteless tormenteth innocence?\n"
-"And yet increaseth this all my penance,\n"
-"That man is bounden to his observance\n"
-"For Godde's  sake to *letten of his will*,         *restrain his desire*\n"
-"Whereas a beast may all his lust fulfil.\n"
-"And when a beast is dead, he hath no pain;\n"
-"But man after his death must weep and plain,\n"
-"Though in this worlde he have care and woe:\n"
-"Withoute doubt it maye standen so.\n"
-"\"The answer of this leave I to divines,\n"
-"But well I wot, that in this world great pine* is;        *pain, trouble\n"
-"Alas! I see a serpent or a thief\n"
-"That many a true man hath done mischief,\n"
-"Go at his large, and where him list may turn.\n"
-"But I must be in prison through Saturn,\n"
-"And eke through Juno, jealous and eke wood*,                        *mad\n"
-"That hath well nigh destroyed all the blood\n"
-"Of Thebes, with his waste walles wide.\n"
-"And Venus slay'th me on that other side\n"
-"For jealousy, and fear of him, Arcite.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"Now will I stent* of Palamon a lite**,                   *pause **little\n"
-"And let him in his prison stille dwell,\n"
-"And of Arcita forth I will you tell.\n"
-"The summer passeth, and the nightes long\n"
-"Increase double-wise the paines strong\n"
-"Both of the lover and the prisonere.\n"
-"I n'ot* which hath the wofuller mistere**.         *know not **condition\n"
-"For, shortly for to say, this Palamon\n"
-"Perpetually is damned to prison,\n"
-"In chaines and in fetters to be dead;\n"
-"And Arcite is exiled *on his head*                *on peril of his head*\n"
-"For evermore as out of that country,\n"
-"Nor never more he shall his lady see.\n"
-"You lovers ask I now this question,<18>\n"
-"Who lieth the worse, Arcite or Palamon?\n"
-"The one may see his lady day by day,\n"
-"But in prison he dwelle must alway.\n"
-"The other where him list may ride or go,\n"
-"But see his lady shall he never mo'.\n"
-"Now deem all as you liste, ye that can,\n"
-"For I will tell you forth as I began.\n"
-"\n"
-"When that Arcite to Thebes comen was,\n"
-"Full oft a day he swelt*, and said, \"Alas!\"                     *fainted\n"
-"For see this lady he shall never mo'.\n"
-"And shortly to concluden all his woe,\n"
-"So much sorrow had never creature\n"
-"That is or shall be while the world may dure.\n"
-"His sleep, his meat, his drink is *him byraft*,    *taken away from him*\n"
-"That lean he wex*, and dry as any shaft.                         *became\n"
-"His eyen hollow, grisly to behold,\n"
-"His hue sallow, and pale as ashes cold,\n"
-"And solitary he was, ever alone,\n"
-"And wailing all the night, making his moan.\n"
-"And if he hearde song or instrument,\n"
-"Then would he weepen, he might not be stent*.                   *stopped\n"
-"So feeble were his spirits, and so low,\n"
-"And changed so, that no man coulde know\n"
-"His speech, neither his voice, though men it heard.\n"
-"And in his gear* for all the world he far'd              *behaviour <19>\n"
-"Not only like the lovers' malady\n"
-"Of Eros, but rather y-like manie*                               *madness\n"
-"Engender'd of humours melancholic,\n"
-"Before his head in his cell fantastic.<20>\n"
-"And shortly turned was all upside down,\n"
-"Both habit and eke dispositioun,\n"
-"Of him, this woful lover Dan* Arcite.                         *Lord <21>\n"
-"Why should I all day of his woe indite?\n"
-"When he endured had a year or two\n"
-"This cruel torment, and this pain and woe,\n"
-"At Thebes, in his country, as I said,\n"
-"Upon a night in sleep as he him laid,\n"
-"Him thought how that the winged god Mercury\n"
-"Before him stood, and bade him to be merry.\n"
-"His sleepy yard* in hand he bare upright;                      *rod <22>\n"
-"A hat he wore upon his haires bright.\n"
-"Arrayed was this god (as he took keep*)                          *notice\n"
-"As he was when that Argus<23> took his sleep;\n"
-"And said him thus: \"To Athens shalt thou wend*;                      *go\n"
-"There is thee shapen* of thy woe an end.\"               *fixed, prepared\n"
-"And with that word Arcite woke and start.\n"
-"\"Now truely how sore that e'er me smart,\"\n"
-"Quoth he, \"to Athens right now will I fare.\n"
-"Nor for no dread of death shall I not spare\n"
-"To see my lady that I love and serve;\n"
-"In her presence *I recke not to sterve.*\"         *do not care if I die*\n"
-"And with that word he caught a great mirror,\n"
-"And saw that changed was all his colour,\n"
-"And saw his visage all in other kind.\n"
-"And right anon it ran him ill his mind,\n"
-"That since his face was so disfigur'd\n"
-"Of malady the which he had endur'd,\n"
-"He mighte well, if that he *bare him low,*      *lived in lowly fashion*\n"
-"Live in Athenes evermore unknow,\n"
-"And see his lady wellnigh day by day.\n"
-"And right anon he changed his array,\n"
-"And clad him as a poore labourer.\n"
-"And all alone, save only a squier,\n"
-"That knew his privity* and all his cas**,             *secrets **fortune\n"
-"Which was disguised poorly as he was,\n"
-"To Athens is he gone the nexte*  way.                      *nearest <24>\n"
-"And to the court he went upon a day,\n"
-"And at the gate he proffer'd his service,\n"
-"To drudge and draw, what so men would devise*.                    *order\n"
-"And, shortly of this matter for to sayn,\n"
-"He fell in office with a chamberlain,\n"
-"The which that dwelling was with Emily.\n"
-"For he was wise, and coulde soon espy\n"
-"Of every servant which that served her.\n"
-"Well could he hewe wood, and water bear,\n"
-"For he was young and mighty for the nones*,                    *occasion\n"
-"And thereto he was strong and big of bones\n"
-"To do that any wight can him devise.\n"
-"\n"
-"A year or two he was in this service,\n"
-"Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;\n"
-"And Philostrate he saide that he hight.\n"
-"But half so well belov'd a man as he\n"
-"Ne was there never in court of his degree.\n"
-"He was so gentle of conditioun,\n"
-"That throughout all the court was his renown.\n"
-"They saide that it were a charity\n"
-"That Theseus would *enhance his degree*,           *elevate him in rank*\n"
-"And put him in some worshipful service,\n"
-"There as he might his virtue exercise.\n"
-"And thus within a while his name sprung\n"
-"Both of his deedes, and of his good tongue,\n"
-"That Theseus hath taken him so near,\n"
-"That of his chamber he hath made him squire,\n"
-"And gave him gold to maintain his degree;\n"
-"And eke men brought him out of his country\n"
-"From year to year full privily his rent.\n"
-"But honestly and slyly* he it spent,              *discreetly, prudently\n"
-"That no man wonder'd how that he it had.\n"
-"And three year in this wise his life be lad*,                       *led\n"
-"And bare him so in peace and eke in werre*,                         *war\n"
-"There was no man that Theseus had so derre*.                       *dear\n"
-"And in this blisse leave I now Arcite,\n"
-"And speak I will of Palamon a lite*.                             *little\n"
-"\n"
-"In darkness horrible, and strong prison,\n"
-"This seven year hath sitten Palamon,\n"
-"Forpined*, what for love, and for distress.          *pined, wasted away\n"
-"Who feeleth double sorrow and heaviness\n"
-"But Palamon? that love distraineth* so,                        *afflicts\n"
-"That wood* out of his wits he went for woe,                         *mad\n"
-"And eke thereto he is a prisonere\n"
-"Perpetual, not only for a year.\n"
-"Who coulde rhyme in English properly\n"
-"His martyrdom? forsooth*, it is not I;                            *truly\n"
-"Therefore I pass as lightly as I may.\n"
-"It fell that in the seventh year, in May\n"
-"The thirde night (as olde bookes sayn,\n"
-"That all this story tellen more plain),\n"
-"Were it by a venture or destiny\n"
-"(As when a thing is shapen* it shall be),              *settled, decreed\n"
-"That soon after the midnight, Palamon\n"
-"By helping of a friend brake his prison,\n"
-"And fled the city fast as he might go,\n"
-"For he had given drink his gaoler so\n"
-"Of a clary <25>, made of a certain wine,\n"
-"With *narcotise and opie* of Thebes fine,          *narcotics and opium*\n"
-"That all the night, though that men would him shake,\n"
-"The gaoler slept, he mighte not awake:\n"
-"And thus he fled as fast as ever he may.\n"
-"The night was short, and *faste by the day            *close at hand was\n"
-"That needes cast he must himself to hide*.          the day during which\n"
-"And to a grove faste there beside       he must cast about, or contrive,\n"
-"With dreadful foot then stalked Palamon.            to conceal himself.*\n"
-"For shortly this was his opinion,\n"
-"That in the grove he would him hide all day,\n"
-"And in the night then would he take his way\n"
-"To Thebes-ward, his friendes for to pray\n"
-"On Theseus to help him to warray*.                        *make war <26>\n"
-"And shortly either he would lose his life,\n"
-"Or winnen Emily unto his wife.\n"
-"This is th' effect, and his intention plain.\n"
-"\n"
-"Now will I turn to Arcita again,\n"
-"That little wist how nighe was his care,\n"
-"Till that Fortune had brought him in the snare.\n"
-"The busy lark, the messenger of day,\n"
-"Saluteth in her song the morning gray;\n"
-"And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright,\n"
-"That all the orient laugheth at the sight,\n"
-"And with his streames* drieth in the greves**             *rays **groves\n"
-"The silver droppes, hanging on the leaves;\n"
-"And Arcite, that is in the court royal\n"
-"With Theseus, his squier principal,\n"
-"Is ris'n, and looketh on the merry day.\n"
-"And for to do his observance to May,\n"
-"Remembering the point* of his desire,                            *object\n"
-"He on his courser, starting as the fire,\n"
-"Is ridden to the fieldes him to play,\n"
-"Out of the court, were it a mile or tway.\n"
-"And to the grove, of which I have you told,\n"
-"By a venture his way began to hold,\n"
-"To make him a garland of the greves*,                            *groves\n"
-"Were it of woodbine, or of hawthorn leaves,\n"
-"And loud he sang against the sun so sheen*.              *shining bright\n"
-"\"O May, with all thy flowers and thy green,\n"
-"Right welcome be thou, faire freshe May,\n"
-"I hope that I some green here getten may.\"\n"
-"And from his courser*, with a lusty heart,                        *horse\n"
-"Into the grove full hastily he start,\n"
-"And in a path he roamed up and down,\n"
-"There as by aventure this Palamon\n"
-"Was in a bush, that no man might him see,\n"
-"For sore afeard of his death was he.\n"
-"Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite;\n"
-"God wot he would have *trowed it full lite*.   *full little believed it*\n"
-"But sooth is said, gone since full many years,\n"
-"The field hath eyen*, and the wood hath ears,                      *eyes\n"
-"It is full fair a man *to bear him even*,           *to be on his guard*\n"
-"For all day meeten men at *unset steven*.          *unexpected time <27>\n"
-"Full little wot Arcite of his fellaw,\n"
-"That was so nigh to hearken of his saw*,                 *saying, speech\n"
-"For in the bush he sitteth now full still.\n"
-"When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,\n"
-"And *sungen all the roundel* lustily,           *sang the roundelay*<28>\n"
-"Into a study he fell suddenly,\n"
-"As do those lovers in their *quainte gears*,              *odd fashions*\n"
-"Now in the crop*, and now down in the breres**, <29>           *tree-top\n"
-"Now up, now down, as bucket in a well.                          **briars\n"
-"Right as the Friday, soothly for to tell,\n"
-"Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,\n"
-"Right so can geary* Venus overcast                            *changeful\n"
-"The heartes of her folk, right as her day\n"
-"Is gearful*, right so changeth she array.                     *changeful\n"
-"Seldom is Friday all the weeke like.\n"
-"When Arcite had y-sung, he gan to sike*,                           *sigh\n"
-"And sat him down withouten any more:\n"
-"\"Alas!\" quoth he, \"the day that I was bore!\n"
-"How longe, Juno, through thy cruelty\n"
-"Wilt thou warrayen* Thebes the city?                            *torment\n"
-"Alas! y-brought is to confusion\n"
-"The blood royal of Cadm' and Amphion:\n"
-"Of Cadmus, which that was the firste man,\n"
-};
-prog_char knightsTale2[] PROGMEM= {
-"That Thebes built, or first the town began,\n"
-"And of the city first was crowned king.\n"
-"Of his lineage am I, and his offspring\n"
-"By very line, as of the stock royal;\n"
-"And now I am *so caitiff and so thrall*,         *wretched and enslaved*\n"
-"That he that is my mortal enemy,\n"
-"I serve him as his squier poorely.\n"
-"And yet doth Juno me well more shame,\n"
-"For I dare not beknow* mine owen name,                 *acknowledge <30>\n"
-"But there as I was wont to hight Arcite,\n"
-"Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.\n"
-"Alas! thou fell Mars, and alas! Juno,\n"
-"Thus hath your ire our lineage all fordo*                *undone, ruined\n"
-"Save only me, and wretched Palamon,\n"
-"That Theseus martyreth in prison.\n"
-"And over all this, to slay me utterly,\n"
-"Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly*                       *burningly\n"
-"Y-sticked through my true careful heart,\n"
-"That shapen was my death erst than my shert. <31>\n"
-"Ye slay me with your eyen, Emily;\n"
-"Ye be the cause wherefore that I die.\n"
-"Of all the remnant of mine other care\n"
-"Ne set I not the *mountance of a tare*,               *value of a straw*\n"
-"So that I could do aught to your pleasance.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"And with that word he fell down in a trance\n"
-"A longe time; and afterward upstart\n"
-"This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart\n"
-"He felt a cold sword suddenly to glide:\n"
-"For ire he quoke*, no longer would he hide.                      *quaked\n"
-"And when that he had heard Arcite's tale,\n"
-"As he were wood*, with face dead and pale,                          *mad\n"
-"He start him up out of the bushes thick,\n"
-"And said: \"False Arcita, false traitor wick'*,                   *wicked\n"
-"Now art thou hent*, that lov'st my lady so,                      *caught\n"
-"For whom that I have all this pain and woe,\n"
-"And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,\n"
-"As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,\n"
-"And hast bejaped* here Duke Theseus,             *deceived, imposed upon\n"
-"And falsely changed hast thy name thus;\n"
-"I will be dead, or elles thou shalt die.\n"
-"Thou shalt not love my lady Emily,\n"
-"But I will love her only and no mo';\n"
-"For I am Palamon thy mortal foe.\n"
-"And though I have no weapon in this place,\n"
-"But out of prison am astart* by grace,                          *escaped\n"
-"I dreade* not that either thou shalt die,                         *doubt\n"
-"Or else thou shalt not loven Emily.\n"
-"Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This Arcite then, with full dispiteous* heart,                 *wrathful\n"
-"When he him knew, and had his tale heard,\n"
-"As fierce as lion pulled out a swerd,\n"
-"And saide thus; \"By God that sitt'th above,\n"
-"*N'ere it* that thou art sick, and wood for love,          *were it not*\n"
-"And eke that thou no weap'n hast in this place,\n"
-"Thou should'st never out of this grove pace,\n"
-"That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.\n"
-"For I defy the surety and the band,\n"
-"Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.\n"
-"What? very fool, think well that love is free;\n"
-"And I will love her maugre* all thy might.                      *despite\n"
-"But, for thou art a worthy gentle knight,\n"
-"And *wilnest to darraine her by bataille*,             *will reclaim her\n"
-"Have here my troth, to-morrow I will not fail,                by combat*\n"
-"Without weeting* of any other wight,                          *knowledge\n"
-"That here I will be founden as a knight,\n"
-"And bringe harness* right enough for thee;              *armour and arms\n"
-"And choose the best, and leave the worst for me.\n"
-"And meat and drinke this night will I bring\n"
-"Enough for thee, and clothes for thy bedding.\n"
-"And if so be that thou my lady win,\n"
-"And slay me in this wood that I am in,\n"
-"Thou may'st well have thy lady as for me.\"\n"
-"This Palamon answer'd, \"I grant it thee.\"\n"
-"And thus they be departed till the morrow,\n"
-"When each of them hath *laid his faith to borrow*.   *pledged his faith*\n"
-"\n"
-"O Cupid, out of alle charity!\n"
-"O Regne* that wilt no fellow have with thee!                 *queen <32>\n"
-"Full sooth is said, that love nor lordeship\n"
-"Will not, *his thanks*, have any fellowship.             *thanks to him*\n"
-"Well finden that Arcite and Palamon.\n"
-"Arcite is ridd anon unto the town,\n"
-"And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,\n"
-"Full privily two harness hath he dight*,                       *prepared\n"
-"Both suffisant and meete to darraine*                           *contest\n"
-"The battle in the field betwixt them twain.\n"
-"And on his horse, alone as he was born,\n"
-"He carrieth all this harness him beforn;\n"
-"And in the grove, at time and place y-set,\n"
-"This Arcite and this Palamon be met.\n"
-"Then change gan the colour of their face;\n"
-"Right as the hunter in the regne* of Thrace                     *kingdom\n"
-"That standeth at a gappe with a spear\n"
-"When hunted is the lion or the bear,\n"
-"And heareth him come rushing in the greves*,                     *groves\n"
-"And breaking both the boughes and the leaves,\n"
-"Thinketh, \"Here comes my mortal enemy,\n"
-"Withoute fail, he must be dead or I;\n"
-"For either I must slay him at the gap;\n"
-"Or he must slay me, if that me mishap:\"\n"
-"So fared they, in changing of their hue\n"
-"*As far as either of them other knew*.        *When they recognised each\n"
-"There was no good day, and no saluting,                  other afar off*\n"
-"But straight, withoute wordes rehearsing,\n"
-"Evereach of them holp to arm the other,\n"
-"As friendly, as he were his owen brother.\n"
-"And after that, with sharpe speares strong\n"
-"They foined* each at other wonder long.                          *thrust\n"
-"Thou mightest weene*, that this Palamon                           *think\n"
-"In fighting were as a wood* lion,                                   *mad\n"
-"And as a cruel tiger was Arcite:\n"
-"As wilde boars gan they together smite,\n"
-"That froth as white as foam, *for ire wood*.            *mad with anger*\n"
-"Up to the ancle fought they in their blood.\n"
-"And in this wise I let them fighting dwell,\n"
-"And forth I will of Theseus you tell.\n"
-"\n"
-"The Destiny, minister general,\n"
-"That executeth in the world o'er all\n"
-"The purveyance*, that God hath seen beforn;              *foreordination\n"
-"So strong it is, that though the world had sworn\n"
-"The contrary of a thing by yea or nay,\n"
-"Yet some time it shall fallen on a day\n"
-"That falleth not eft* in a thousand year.                         *again\n"
-"For certainly our appetites here,\n"
-"Be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love,\n"
-"All is this ruled by the sight* above.         *eye, intelligence, power\n"
-"This mean I now by mighty Theseus,\n"
-"That for to hunten is so desirous --\n"
-"And namely* the greate hart in May --                        *especially\n"
-"That in his bed there dawneth him no day\n"
-"That he n'is clad, and ready for to ride\n"
-"With hunt and horn, and houndes him beside.\n"
-"For in his hunting hath he such delight,\n"
-"That it is all his joy and appetite\n"
-"To be himself the greate harte's bane*                      *destruction\n"
-"For after Mars he serveth now Diane.\n"
-"Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,\n"
-"And Theseus, with alle joy and bliss,\n"
-"With his Hippolyta, the faire queen,\n"
-"And Emily, y-clothed all in green,\n"
-"On hunting be they ridden royally.\n"
-"And to the grove, that stood there faste by,\n"
-"In which there was an hart, as men him told,\n"
-"Duke Theseus the straighte way doth hold,\n"
-"And to the laund* he rideth him full right,                  *plain <33>\n"
-"There was the hart y-wont to have his flight,\n"
-"And over a brook, and so forth on his way.\n"
-"This Duke will have a course at him or tway\n"
-"With houndes, such as him lust* to command.                     *pleased\n"
-"And when this Duke was come to the laund,\n"
-"Under the sun he looked, and anon\n"
-"He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,\n"
-"That foughte breme*, as it were bulles two.                    *fiercely\n"
-"The brighte swordes wente to and fro\n"
-"So hideously, that with the leaste stroke\n"
-"It seemed that it woulde fell an oak,\n"
-"But what they were, nothing yet he wote*.                          *knew\n"
-"This Duke his courser with his spurres smote,\n"
-"*And at a start* he was betwixt them two,                     *suddenly*\n"
-"And pulled out a sword and cried, \"Ho!\n"
-"No more, on pain of losing of your head.\n"
-"By mighty Mars, he shall anon be dead\n"
-"That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!\n"
-"But tell to me what mister* men ye be,                *manner, kind <34>\n"
-"That be so hardy for to fighte here\n"
-"Withoute judge or other officer,\n"
-"As though it were in listes royally. <35>\n"
-"This Palamon answered hastily,\n"
-"And saide: \"Sir, what needeth wordes mo'?\n"
-"We have the death deserved bothe two,\n"
-"Two woful wretches be we, and caitives,\n"
-"That be accumbered* of our own lives,                          *burdened\n"
-"And as thou art a rightful lord and judge,\n"
-"So give us neither mercy nor refuge.\n"
-"And slay me first, for sainte charity,\n"
-"But slay my fellow eke as well as me.\n"
-"Or slay him first; for, though thou know it lite*,               *little\n"
-"This is thy mortal foe, this is Arcite\n"
-"That from thy land is banisht on his head,\n"
-"For which he hath deserved to be dead.\n"
-"For this is he that came unto thy gate\n"
-"And saide, that he highte Philostrate.\n"
-"Thus hath he japed* thee full many year,                       *deceived\n"
-"And thou hast made of him thy chief esquier;\n"
-"And this is he, that loveth Emily.\n"
-"For since the day is come that I shall die\n"
-"I make pleinly* my confession,                      *fully, unreservedly\n"
-"That I am thilke* woful Palamon,                         *that same <36>\n"
-"That hath thy prison broken wickedly.\n"
-"I am thy mortal foe, and it am I\n"
-"That so hot loveth Emily the bright,\n"
-"That I would die here present in her sight.\n"
-"Therefore I aske death and my jewise*.                        *judgement\n"
-"But slay my fellow eke in the same wise,\n"
-"For both we have deserved to be slain.\"\n"
-"\n"
-"This worthy Duke answer'd anon again,\n"
-"And said, \"This is a short conclusion.\n"
-"Your own mouth, by your own confession\n"
-"Hath damned you, and I will it record;\n"
-"It needeth not to pain you with the cord;\n"
-"Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.<37>\n"
-"\n"
-"The queen anon for very womanhead\n"
-"Began to weep, and so did Emily,\n"
-"And all the ladies in the company.\n"
-"Great pity was it as it thought them all,\n"
-"That ever such a chance should befall,\n"
-"For gentle men they were, of great estate,\n"
-"And nothing but for love was this debate\n"
-"They saw their bloody woundes wide and sore,\n"
-"And cried all at once, both less and more,\n"
-"\"Have mercy, Lord, upon us women all.\"\n"
-"And on their bare knees adown they fall\n"
-"And would have kissed his feet there as he stood,\n"
-"Till at the last *aslaked was his mood*                   *his anger was\n"
-"(For pity runneth soon in gentle heart);                       appeased*\n"
-"And though at first for ire he quoke and start\n"
-"He hath consider'd shortly in a clause\n"
-"The trespass of them both, and eke the cause:\n"
-"And although that his ire their guilt accused\n"
-"Yet in his reason he them both excused;\n"
-"As thus; he thoughte well that every man\n"
-"Will help himself in love if that he can,\n"
-"And eke deliver himself out of prison.\n"
-"Of women, for they wepten ever-in-one:*                     *continually\n"
-"And eke his hearte had compassion\n"
-"And in his gentle heart he thought anon,\n"
-"And soft unto himself he saide: \"Fie\n"
-"Upon a lord that will have no mercy,\n"
-"But be a lion both in word and deed,\n"
-"To them that be in repentance and dread,\n"
-"As well as-to a proud dispiteous* man                         *unpitying\n"
-"That will maintaine what he first began.\n"
-"That lord hath little of discretion,\n"
-"That in such case *can no division*:           *can make no distinction*\n"
-"But weigheth pride and humbless *after one*.\"                    *alike*\n"
-"And shortly, when his ire is thus agone,\n"
-"He gan to look on them with eyen light*,               *gentle, lenient*\n"
-"And spake these same wordes *all on height.*                     *aloud*\n"
-"\n"
-"\"The god of love, ah! benedicite*,                         *bless ye him\n"
-"How mighty and how great a lord is he!\n"
-"Against his might there gaine* none obstacles,           *avail, conquer\n"
-"He may be called a god for his miracles\n"
-"For he can maken at his owen guise\n"
-"Of every heart, as that him list devise.\n"
-"Lo here this Arcite, and this Palamon,\n"
-"That quietly were out of my prison,\n"
-"And might have lived in Thebes royally,\n"
-"And weet* I am their mortal enemy,                                 *knew\n"
-"And that their death li'th in my might also,\n"
-"And yet hath love, *maugre their eyen two*,     *in spite of their eyes*\n"
-"Y-brought them hither bothe for to die.\n"
-"Now look ye, is not this an high folly?\n"
-"Who may not be a fool, if but he love?\n"
-"Behold, for Godde's sake that sits above,\n"
-"See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?\n"
-"Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid\n"
-"Their wages and their fees for their service;\n"
-"And yet they weene for to be full wise,\n"
-"That serve love, for aught that may befall.\n"
-"But this is yet the beste game* of all,                            *joke\n"
-"That she, for whom they have this jealousy,\n"
-"Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.\n"
-"She wot no more of all this *hote fare*,                 *hot behaviour*\n"
-"By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare.\n"
-"But all must be assayed hot or cold;\n"
-"A man must be a fool, or young or old;\n"
-"I wot it by myself *full yore agone*:                   *long years ago*\n"
-"For in my time a servant was I one.\n"
-"And therefore since I know of love's pain,\n"
-"And wot how sore it can a man distrain*,                       *distress\n"
-"As he that oft hath been caught in his last*,                *snare <38>\n"
-"I you forgive wholly this trespass,\n"
-"At request of the queen that kneeleth here,\n"
-"And eke of Emily, my sister dear.\n"
-"And ye shall both anon unto me swear,\n"
-"That never more ye shall my country dere*                        *injure\n"
-"Nor make war upon me night nor day,\n"
-"But be my friends in alle that ye may.\n"
-"I you forgive this trespass *every deal*.                   *completely*\n"
-"And they him sware *his asking* fair and well,           *what he asked*\n"
-"And him of lordship and of mercy pray'd,\n"
-"And he them granted grace, and thus he said:\n"
-"\n"
-"\"To speak of royal lineage and richess,\n"
-"Though that she were a queen or a princess,\n"
-"Each of you both is worthy doubteless\n"
-"To wedde when time is; but natheless\n"
-"I speak as for my sister Emily,\n"
-"For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,\n"
-"Ye wot* yourselves, she may not wed the two                        *know\n"
-"At once, although ye fight for evermo:\n"
-"But one of you, *all be him loth or lief,*    *whether or not he wishes*\n"
-"He must *go pipe into an ivy leaf*:                       *\"go whistle\"*\n"
-"This is to say, she may not have you both,\n"
-"All be ye never so jealous, nor so wroth.\n"
-"And therefore I you put in this degree,\n"
-"That each of you shall have his destiny\n"
-"As *him is shape*; and hearken in what wise      *as is decreed for him*\n"
-"Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.\n"
-"My will is this, for plain conclusion\n"
-"Withouten any replication*,                                       *reply\n"
-"If that you liketh, take it for the best,\n"
-"That evereach of you shall go where *him lest*,              *he pleases\n"
-"Freely without ransom or danger;\n"
-"And this day fifty weekes, *farre ne nerre*,     *neither more nor less*\n"
-"Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights,\n"
-"Armed for listes up at alle rights\n"
-"All ready to darraine* her by bataille,                     *contend for\n"
-"And this behete* I you withoute fail                            *promise\n"
-"Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,\n"
-"That whether of you bothe that hath might,\n"
-"That is to say, that whether he or thou\n"
-"May with his hundred, as I spake of now,\n"
-"Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive,\n"
-"Him shall I given Emily to wive,\n"
-"To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.\n"
-"The listes shall I make here in this place.\n"
-"*And God so wisly on my soule rue*,              *may God as surely have\n"
-"As I shall even judge be and true.                     mercy on my soul*\n"
-"Ye shall none other ende with me maken\n"
-"Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.\n"
-"And if you thinketh this is well y-said,\n"
-"Say your advice*, and hold yourselves apaid**.      *opinion **satisfied\n"
-"This is your end, and your conclusion.\"\n"
-"Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?\n"
-"Who springeth up for joye but Arcite?\n"
-"Who could it tell, or who could it indite,\n"
-"The joye that is maked in the place\n"
-"When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?\n"
-"But down on knees went every *manner wight*,            *kind of person*\n"
-"And thanked him with all their heartes' might,\n"
-"And namely* these Thebans *ofte sithe*.         *especially *oftentimes*\n"
-"And thus with good hope and with hearte blithe\n"
-"They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride\n"
-"To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.\n"
-"\n"
-"I trow men woulde deem it negligence,\n"
-"If I forgot to telle the dispence*                          *expenditure\n"
-"Of Theseus, that went so busily\n"
-"To maken up the listes royally,\n"
-"That such a noble theatre as it was,\n"
-"I dare well say, in all this world there n'as*.                 *was not\n"
-"The circuit a mile was about,\n"
-"Walled of stone, and ditched all without.\n"
-"*Round was the shape, in manner of compass,\n"
-"Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas*               *see note  <39>*\n"
-"That when a man was set on one degree\n"
-"He letted* not his fellow for to see.                          *hindered\n"
-"Eastward there stood a gate of marble white,\n"
-"Westward right such another opposite.\n"
-"And, shortly to conclude, such a place\n"
-"Was never on earth made in so little space,\n"
-"For in the land there was no craftes-man,\n"
-"That geometry or arsmetrike* can**,                   *arithmetic **knew\n"
-"Nor pourtrayor*, nor carver of images,                 *portrait painter\n"
-"That Theseus ne gave him meat and wages\n"
-"The theatre to make and to devise.\n"
-"And for to do his rite and sacrifice\n"
-"He eastward hath upon the gate above,\n"
-"In worship of Venus, goddess of love,\n"
-"*Done make* an altar and an oratory;                 *caused to be made*\n"
-"And westward, in the mind and in memory\n"
-"Of Mars, he maked hath right such another,\n"
-"That coste largely of gold a fother*.                    *a great amount\n"
-"And northward, in a turret on the wall,\n"
-"Of alabaster white and red coral\n"
-"An oratory riche for to see,\n"
-"In worship of Diane of chastity,\n"
-"Hath Theseus done work in noble wise.\n"
-"But yet had I forgotten to devise*                             *describe\n"
-"The noble carving, and the portraitures,\n"
-"The shape, the countenance of the figures\n"
-"That weren in there oratories three.\n"
-"\n"
-"First in the temple of Venus may'st thou see\n"
-"Wrought on the wall,  full piteous to behold,\n"
-"The broken sleepes, and the sikes* cold,                         *sighes\n"
-"The sacred teares, and the waimentings*,                     *lamentings\n"
-"The fiery strokes of the desirings,\n"
-"That Love's servants in this life endure;\n"
-"The oathes, that their covenants assure.\n"
-"Pleasance and Hope, Desire, Foolhardiness,\n"
-"Beauty and Youth, and Bawdry and Richess,\n"
-"Charms and Sorc'ry, Leasings* and Flattery,                  *falsehoods\n"
-"Dispence, Business, and Jealousy,\n"
-"That wore of yellow goldes* a garland,                  *sunflowers <40>\n"
-"And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand,\n"
-"Feasts, instruments, and caroles and dances,\n"
-"Lust and array, and all the circumstances\n"
-"Of Love, which I reckon'd and reckon shall\n"
-"In order, were painted on the wall,\n"
-"And more than I can make of mention.\n"
-"For soothly all the mount of Citheron,<41>\n"
-"Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,\n"
-"Was showed on the wall in pourtraying,\n"
-"With all the garden, and the lustiness*.                   *pleasantness\n"
-"Nor was forgot the porter Idleness,\n"
-"Nor Narcissus the fair of *yore agone*,                    *olden times*\n"
-"Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,\n"
-"Nor yet the greate strength of Hercules,\n"
-"Th' enchantments of Medea and Circes,\n"
-"Nor of Turnus the hardy fierce courage,\n"
-"The rich Croesus *caitif in servage.* <42>         *abased into slavery*\n"
-"Thus may ye see, that wisdom nor richess,\n"
-"Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness\n"
-"Ne may with Venus holde champartie*,            *divided possession <43>\n"
-"For as her liste the world may she gie*.                          *guide\n"
-"Lo, all these folk so caught were in her las*                     *snare\n"
-"Till they for woe full often said, Alas!\n"
-"Suffice these ensamples one or two,\n"
-"Although I could reckon a thousand mo'.\n"
-"\n"
-"The statue of Venus, glorious to see\n"
-"Was naked floating in the large sea,\n"
-"And from the navel down all cover'd was\n"
-"With waves green, and bright as any glass.\n"
-"A citole <44> in her right hand hadde she,\n"
-"And on her head, full seemly for to see,\n"
-"A rose garland fresh, and well smelling,\n"
-"Above her head her doves flickering\n"
-"Before her stood her sone Cupido,\n"
-"Upon his shoulders winges had he two;\n"
-"And blind he was, as it is often seen;\n"
-"A bow he bare, and arrows bright and keen.\n"
-"\n"
-"Why should I not as well eke tell you all\n"
-"The portraiture, that was upon the wall\n"
-"Within the temple of mighty Mars the Red?\n"
-"All painted was the wall in length and brede*                   *breadth\n"
-"Like to the estres* of the grisly place               *interior chambers\n"
-"That hight the great temple of Mars in Thrace,\n"
-"In thilke* cold and frosty region,                                 *that\n"
-"There as Mars hath his sovereign mansion.\n"
-"In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,\n"
-"With knotty gnarry* barren trees old                            *gnarled\n"
-"Of stubbes sharp and hideous to behold;\n"
-"In which there ran a rumble and a sough*,                *groaning noise\n"
-"As though a storm should bursten every bough:\n"
-"And downward from an hill under a bent*                           *slope\n"
-"There stood the temple of Mars Armipotent,\n"
-"Wrought all of burnish'd steel, of which th' entry\n"
-"Was long and strait, and ghastly for to see.\n"
-"And thereout came *a rage and such a vise*,       *such a furious voice*\n"
-"That it made all the gates for to rise.\n"
-"The northern light in at the doore shone,\n"
-"For window on the walle was there none\n"
-"Through which men mighten any light discern.\n"
-"The doors were all of adamant etern,\n"
-"Y-clenched *overthwart and ende-long*         *crossways and lengthways*\n"
-"With iron tough, and, for to make it strong,\n"
-"Every pillar the temple to sustain\n"
-"Was tunne-great*, of iron bright and sheen.     *thick as a tun (barrel)\n"
-"There saw I first the dark imagining\n"
-"Of felony, and all the compassing;\n"
-"The cruel ire, as red as any glede*,                          *live coal\n"
-"The picke-purse<45>, and eke the pale dread;\n"
-"The smiler with the knife under the cloak,\n"
-"The shepen* burning with the blacke smoke                   *stable <46>\n"
-"The treason of the murd'ring in the bed,\n"
-"The open war, with woundes all be-bled;\n"
-"Conteke* with bloody knife, and sharp menace.       *contention, discord\n"
-"All full of chirking* was that sorry place.     *creaking, jarring noise\n"
-"The slayer of himself eke saw I there,\n"
-"His hearte-blood had bathed all his hair:\n"
-"The nail y-driven in the shode* at night,         *hair of the head <47>\n"
-"The colde death, with mouth gaping upright.\n"
-"Amiddes of the temple sat Mischance,\n"
-"With discomfort and sorry countenance;\n"
-"Eke saw I Woodness* laughing in his rage,                       *Madness\n"
-"Armed Complaint, Outhees*, and fierce Outrage;                   *Outcry\n"
-"The carrain* in the bush, with throat y-corve**,       *corpse **slashed\n"
-"A thousand slain, and not *of qualm y-storve*;        *dead of sickness*\n"
-"The tyrant, with the prey by force y-reft;\n"
-"The town destroy'd, that there was nothing left.\n"
-"Yet saw I brent* the shippes hoppesteres, <48>                    *burnt\n"
-"The hunter strangled with the wilde bears:\n"
-"The sow freting* the child right in the cradle;          *devouring <49>\n"
-"The cook scalded, for all his longe ladle.\n"
-"Nor was forgot, *by th'infortune of Mart*        *through the misfortune\n"
-"The carter overridden with his cart;                             of war*\n"
-"Under the wheel full low he lay adown.\n"
-"There were also of Mars' division,\n"
-"The armourer, the bowyer*, and the smith,                 *maker of bows\n"
-"That forgeth sharp swordes on his stith*.                         *anvil\n"
-"And all above depainted in a tower\n"
-"Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honour,\n"
-"With thilke* sharpe sword over his head                            *that\n"
-"Hanging by a subtle y-twined thread.\n"
-"Painted the slaughter was of Julius<50>,\n"
-"Of cruel Nero, and Antonius:\n"
-"Although at that time they were yet unborn,\n"
-"Yet was their death depainted there beforn,\n"
-"By menacing of Mars, right by figure,\n"
-"So was it showed in that portraiture,\n"
-"As is depainted in the stars above,\n"
-"Who shall be slain, or elles dead for love.\n"
-"Sufficeth one ensample in stories old,\n"
-"I may not reckon them all, though I wo'ld.\n"
-"\n"
-"The statue of Mars upon a carte* stood                          *chariot\n"
-"Armed, and looked grim as he were wood*,                            *mad\n"
-"And over his head there shone two figures\n"
-"Of starres, that be cleped in scriptures,\n"
-"That one Puella, that other Rubeus. <51>\n"
-"This god of armes was arrayed thus:\n"
-"A wolf there stood before him at his feet\n"
-"With eyen red, and of a man he eat:\n"
-"With subtle pencil painted was this story,\n"
-"In redouting* of Mars and of his glory.                 *reverance, fear\n"
-"\n"
-"Now to the temple of Dian the chaste\n"
-"As shortly as I can I will me haste,\n"
-"To telle you all the descriptioun.\n"
-"Depainted be the walles up and down\n"
-"Of hunting and of shamefast chastity.\n"
-"There saw I how woful Calistope,<52>\n"
-"When that Dian aggrieved was with her,\n"
-"Was turned from a woman to a bear,\n"
-"And after was she made the lodestar*:                         *pole star\n"
-"Thus was it painted, I can say no far*;                         *farther\n"
-"Her son is eke a star as men may see.\n"
-"There saw I Dane <53> turn'd into a tree,\n"
-"I meane not the goddess Diane,\n"
-"But Peneus' daughter, which that hight Dane.\n"
-"There saw I Actaeon an hart y-maked*,                              *made\n"
-"For vengeance that he saw Dian all naked:\n"
-"I saw how that his houndes have him caught,\n"
-"And freten* him, for that they knew him not.                     *devour\n"
-"Yet painted was, a little farthermore\n"
-"How Atalanta hunted the wild boar;\n"
-"And Meleager, and many other mo',\n"
-"For which Diana wrought them care and woe.\n"
-"There saw I many another wondrous story,\n"
-"The which me list not drawen to memory.\n"
-"This goddess on an hart full high was set*,                      *seated\n"
-"With smalle houndes all about her feet,\n"
-"And underneath her feet she had a moon,\n"
-"Waxing it was, and shoulde wane soon.\n"
-"In gaudy green her statue clothed was,\n"
-"With bow in hand, and arrows in a case*.                         *quiver\n"
-"Her eyen caste she full low adown,\n"
-"Where Pluto hath his darke regioun.\n"
-"A woman travailing was her beforn,\n"
-"But, for her child so longe was unborn,\n"
-"Full piteously Lucina <54> gan she call,\n"
-"And saide; \"Help, for thou may'st best of all.\"\n"
-"Well could he painte lifelike that it wrought;\n"
-"With many a florin he the hues had bought.\n"
-"Now be these listes made, and Theseus,\n"
-"That at his greate cost arrayed thus\n"
-"The temples, and the theatre every deal*,                     *part <55>\n"
-"When it was done, him liked wonder well.\n"
-"\n"
-"But stint* I will of Theseus a lite**,          *cease speaking **little\n"
-"And speak of Palamon and of Arcite.\n"
-"The day approacheth of their returning,\n"
-"That evereach an hundred knights should bring,\n"
-"The battle to darraine* as I you told;                          *contest\n"
-"And to Athens, their covenant to hold,\n"
-"Hath ev'reach of them brought an hundred knights,\n"
-"Well-armed for the war at alle rights.\n"
-"And sickerly* there trowed** many a man,         *surely <56> **believed\n"
-"That never, sithen* that the world began,                         *since\n"
-"For to speaken of knighthood of their hand,\n"
-"As far as God hath maked sea and land,\n"
-"Was, of so few, so noble a company.\n"
-"For every wight that loved chivalry,\n"
-"And would, *his thankes, have a passant name*,        *thanks to his own\n"
-"Had prayed, that he might be of that game,               efforts, have a\n"
-"And well was him, that thereto chosen was.              surpassing name*\n"
-"For if there fell to-morrow such a case,\n"
-"Ye knowe well, that every lusty knight,\n"
-"That loveth par amour, and hath his might\n"
-"Were it in Engleland, or elleswhere,\n"
-"They would, their thankes, willen to be there,\n"
-"T' fight for a lady; Benedicite,\n"
-"It were a lusty* sighte for to see.                            *pleasing\n"
-"And right so fared they with Palamon;\n"
-"With him there wente knightes many one.\n"
-"Some will be armed in an habergeon,\n"
-"And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon*;                  *short doublet.\n"
-"And some will have *a pair of plates* large;     *back and front armour*\n"
-"And some will have a Prusse* shield, or targe;                 *Prussian\n"
-"Some will be armed on their legges weel;\n"
-"Some have an axe, and some a mace of steel.\n"
-};
-
-void setup() {
-  int i=0;
-  uint8_t c;
-  Serial.begin(9600);
-  do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
-    i++;
-  } while (c);
-  do {
-    c = pgm_read_byte(knightsTale2+i);
-    if (c) Serial.print(c,BYTE);
-    i++;
-  } while (c);
-}
-void loop() {
-}