The Lady Prioress

The Minstrel's Prologue

O glorious God, our governer,
who delights in every good undertaking,
give joy to all who are willing to hear
at what I am about to say or sing.

I would hate to be criticised
by those who lack understanding;
for there are many kinds of people
who meddle in everything,
offering ten or twelve opinions.

Many are quick to find fault,
though they know no more than my own heel.
They think nothing can be good
unless it comes from themselves.

Yet whatever comes from themselves,
they imagine to be entirely right.
Many people are so accustomed to this
that such talk comes naturally to them.

Simple is their understanding
when it is brought to light.

So I have resolved
to present you with a story,
to tell you of an affair,
and to entertain you all together...

The Nun

I shall tell you of a nun,
the fairest creature beneath the sun,
who was the prioress of a religious house.

This lovely lady
was the daughter of a great lord,
she was most noble and most virtuous,
and honoured wherever she was known.

Lords, laymen, and churchmen alike
sought to have her,
as her great beauty
was a too powerful temptation to resist.

Too try and win her love
many men and brought her great gifts.

This left the nun wondering
how she could keep herself from the shame,
these attentions would bring upon her
but she did not know where to start.

The Three Suitors

One of her suitors was a young knight,
a fresh noble lord and a handsome man.

Another was the priest of a parish,
a learned cleric without peer,

The third was a wealthy burgess
from a nearby town.

Listen now,
and you shall hear
how each had secretly set their love
upon the dear lady,
while none knew of the others love.

Again and again they came to visit her,
each longing for her love.
They swore by the sun and the moon
that they would have their desire.

The young knight,
tormented by love for the lady,
could scarcely rest.

He sent her many fine books
and gifts.

The parish priest,
hoping to advance his cause,
secretly presented her
with prayer books,
brooches,
and bottles of wine.

The merchant,
using his wealth,
brought her gifts
purchased with his gold and rents.

Thus they troubled her greatly.

She did not know
how she might conduct herself
so as to keep her soul pure,
until at last she thought of a plan.

The Knight's Tale

The young knight
longed above all things
to lie with the lady.

He flattered her constantly,
He flattered her with many false tales,
and his tongue spoke swiftly.
Lies slipped out among his words

"Lady," he said,
"unless I may have my desire of you,
I shall surely kill myself.

Grant me your love.

In battle, I would boldly stand,
and there I would strike down the heads of the Jews,
deal mighty blows and bloody wounds,
and slay many great giants.”

all for your sake, my lady.

I would risk my very life,
if only you would grant
what I have desired
through many winters."

"Beneath your fair cowl
I might fulfil my desire."

“Sir,” she said,
"you are our lord,
our patron,
and our protector.

Your will must be obeyed

provided that you will go tonight
to the chapel beneath the wood  hillside
and do exactly
as I tell you."

"Gladly," said the knight.

"Down in the wood there stands a chapel.

There you if you lay all night,
you will win my love.

You must lay there
like a corpse,
sewn up in a burial shroud.

Then tomorrow,
when daylight comes,
you shall have my love,
my own sweet honey."

"Lady," replied the knight,
"for love of you
it shall certainly be done.

Whoever says otherwise,
here is my glove
I will fight him over it."

The knight kissed the gentle lady,
and their bargain was made.

Never had he entered into an agreement
that pleased him half so much.

He went to the chapel
exactly as the lady commanded.

When he arrived,
he lay there upright
between two brightly burning candles.

There he sewed himself
into a burial shroud,
he felt no fear,
nor thought of any sorrow.
expecting to remain there all night
and kiss the lady on the morrow.

The Priest's Tale

As soon as the knight had gone,
the lady sent for Sir John

He wasted no time,
but came to her at once.

"Lady," he asked,
"What would you have me do?"

She replied,

"Sir,
I shall quickly tell you my secret,
for it has spread too widely.

A cousin of my own blood
lies dead in the chapel in the wood.

Because he owed a sum of money,
his burial has been forbidden.

We are unable
to pay what is demanded.

Therefore we have sent for you,
to preserve our honour.

Sing his dirge and his funeral Mass,
and lay him in his grave.

Afterwards,
you shall have my love

but keep this matter secret."

At these words
his heart leapt for joy.

He eagerly agreed to do all she asked.

He swore,
by Heaven and by Hell,
that he would faithfully perform
the funeral rites.

"Do your duty,"
said the lady,
"as well as ever you can.

Then you shall have
your will with me."

Sir John was as glad
as a rooster at daybreak.

Taking a mattock
and a shovel,
he set off
towards the woodland chapel.

When he arrived,
he began to dig the grave.

Standing at the knight's feet,
he chanted the wake dirge.

The knight lay perfectly still,
dreaming only
how the Prioress herself
would soon be his reward.

The Merchant

As soon as the priest had gone
to bury the young knight,
the lady sent for the merchant.

He came to her
full of merriment.

She said,

"In the wood
there stands a chapel
beneath a fair pear tree.

A dead body lies there,
and you must help us.

The dead man owed us
a great sum of money.

I have therefore forbidden
his burial.

But now,
I am told,
a priest has gone there
to bury him this very night."

"If that body is buried
before our money is repaid,
it will bring great shame upon us
to be cheated in such a way.

So, if you will do
as I ask you,
the priest shall be frightened away.

Dress yourself
in the garments of a devil.

Go there quietly as you can

When you see the priest
preparing to bury the corpse that lies on the bier,

leap through the choir door
like one of the fiends of Hell."

The merchant replied,

"Lady,
for love of you
I shall do it,

only if you will grant me
what I have so often desired."

She answered,

"Sir, you shall have it,

but first
I must be certain
that you will keep our secret,

Until tomorrow, when it is daylight,
if you leave your post or flee,
you shall lose my love forever."

"I agree, lady," he then replied,
and put on his disguise.

A Cunning Plan Comes Together

The merchant dressed himself in a devil's disguise
and set off.

He entered the church
just as the funeral dirge was finished.
Running, roaring, and rattling his chains,
as devils were thought to do,
he burst inside.

The priest looked up from his book.
His heart almost failed him.
He thought himself as good as dead.
He feared he was about to be slain.

He sprang to his feet, scarcely knowing how,
burst out through a window,
and badly split his head.

The knight,
hearing his own funeral service
and watching his grave being dug,
thought to himself,

"I believe
my lady has cursed me.
I would have been better off
begging my bread,
for now I am utterly lost,
unless I can somehow escape."

At that moment
he rose from the shroud.

When the merchant, disguised as the devil,
saw the corpse stand up,
his own heart began to tremble.

"I fear
we are none of us very wise,"
he thought,
and he turned
and ran in terror.

The merchant had forgotten
all his devil's rags
and his rattling chains.

So too had the young knight,
who had been sewn inside the shroud.

The priest believed
both of them were devils,
and would not go near either one.

He spared
neither hill nor hollow,
bush, thicket, nor briar,
as he scarpered .

Lord,  how badly he was scratched!

The other two
were no less afraid.

Neither of them paused
for style or boundary.

 Each would rather have gone without Middle Earth
than meet the other again.

The priest took a side path,
so not to meet them.
His head was badly split,
and blood ran
down to his feet.

He ran until his fur-lined gown
his body soaked with sweat.
Then he threw off
all his clothes
until he was naked,
as he wished to run
more lightly.

Imagining
that he heard the devil laughing,
he leapt into a thorn bush,
where the thorns tore the skin
from his body.

The knight ran into the forest
as fast as he could.
He fell upon a stake
and badly gashed  his leg.

Yet he cared nothing
for the wound,
being so frightened
of the devil.

Therefore he took no care,

for he was afraid of the devil.

He thought it was a long way

to the end of the paths,

but then all his trouble came upon him:

as he rushed in through an opening,

he was suddenly caught by the middle,

and up into the treetop he went,
trapped like a bird in a snare. 

The merchant
ran across an open field
where no thorn grew,
and fell upon the back of a great bull,
which tossed him
upon its horns.

"Alas!"
he cried.
"Why was I ever born?

for now I go to the devil
because I mocked him…
and will be dragged into the pit of Hell."

The bull  ran straight
into a muddy bog.
There the merchant lay,
covered in filth,
too terrified, to move
until he heard the ringing of a church bell.

The aftermath

The next morning
the merchant rejoiced  that he had escaped.

So too did the priest,
though he was  almost naked.

The knight
was in a treetop,  shaking with fear.

He would gladly have given away
his finest jewel
if only he could safely
come down to the ground. 

Grasping at the topmost branches,
he caught a thorn
fell to the ground,
and split open his forehead.

Thus all three men
left the game
deceived and humiliated
They went home cursed.

Each knowing nothing about the two men.

The next morning
the priest told the lady
what misfortune had happened,
how,  for love of her,
he had nearly lost his life.

"When I was about to bury the corpse,
the Devil appeared, and then
the body rose from his bier.
to see all this my heart grew cold;
I scarcely escaped
alive."

The lady replied,
"See now, what mischief  comes from such love."

“By that Lord,”said the priest,"
“who created both ale and mead,
you shall never be wooed by me
while I have speech or breath,
while I may see or hear.”

So they made their boasts
and the priest
left without burying
the corpse.

Then came the knight for his purpose
and told her of his experience.

“Now I hope to have your love
that I have served you for,
for I never bought love so dear
since I was born a man.”

“Hold your peace,” the lady said,
“speak no more of that,
for by the new bargain
you have lost my love
for a hundred years.”

She answered him; he went his way.

 The merchant came the same day;
he told her of his great fright
and of his high adventure.

"Until the corpse was to be buried,
I kept keeping our bargain.
But when the corpse arose,
and a grim ghost appeared.
It was time for me to flee.

There was no style was too high to leap,
nor any water too broad to cross,
if only I might have my will of you"
your love."

The lady answered,

"Peace!
Never,  so long as you live.
If you continue
I shall epose you to your wife
and the whole country.
I will proclaim it in the market town,
so that your shame will be greater still.”

At these words,  the merchant
gave her twenty marks
to keep her silence.

Thus the burgess of the town,
after all his distress, endowed the religious house
with a perpetual gift,  to continue forever.

In this way the lady acted wisely.
She preserved her virginity,
and enriched the convent
with the merchant’s money.

Thus she saved all
from their trouble.