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| 1. Đā Isaac ealdode and his ēahan þystrodon, þæt hē ne mihte nān þinh hesēon, þā clypode hē Ēsau, his yldran sunu, 2. and cwæð tō him: "þū hesihst þæt ic ealdihe, and ic nāt hwænne mīne dahas āhāne bēoþ. 3. Nim þīn hesceot, þīnne cocur and þīnne bohan, and hanh ūt; and þonne þū ænih þinh behite þæs-þe þū wēne. 4. þæt mē lycihe, brinh mē, þæt ic ete and ic þē blētsihe, ær-þām-þe ic swelte". 5. þā Rēbecca þæt hehīrde and Esau ūtāhān wæs, 6. þā cwæð hēo tō Īacobe, hire suna: "Ic hehīrde þæt þīn fæder cwæð tō Ēsauwe, þīnum brēðer: 7. "Brinh mē of þīnum huntoþe, þæt ic blētsihe ðē beforan drihtne, ær ic swelte". 8. Sunu mīn, hlyste mīnre lāre: 9. far tō ðære heorde and brinh mē twā þā betstan tyccenu, þæt ic macihe mete þīnum fæder þæ-of, and hē ytt lustlīce. 10. Ðonne ðū ðā in brinhst, hē ytt and blētsaþ þē, ær hē swelte". | 1. When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son, and said to him, "My son"; and he answered, "Here I am". 2. He said, "Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me, 4. and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that I may bless you before I die". 5. Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6. Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7. "Bring me game and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat it, and bless you before the Lord before I die. 8. Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. 9. Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves; 10. and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies." | |
| 11. Ðā cwæð hē tō hire: "þū wāst þæt Ēsau, mīn brōður, ys rūh, and ic eom smēþe. 12. hif mīn fæder mē handlaþ and mē hecnæwð, ic ondræde þæt hē wēne þæt ic hine wylle beswīcan and þæt hē wirihe mē, næs nā blētsihe". 13. Ðā cwæð sēo mōdor tō him: "Sunu mīn, sih sēo wirihnys ofer mē! Dō swā ic þē seche: far and brinh þā þinh þe ic þē bēad". | 11. But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing". 13. His mother said to him, "Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me [5. P. 2223]. |
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Comments
1. The 2 and the 3 pers. sg. Pres. Indic. forms often display a mutated root vowel: h esihst (cf. h esēon), h ecn æ wþ (cf. cnāwan), ytt (cf. etan).
2. One of the peculiarities of late WS texts is the appearance of the letter y in place of the original i, as in ys, lyci h e, wiri h nys, ytt, etc.
3. This text, like other late OE manuscripts, shows the confusion of vowels in unstressed inflexions: bētsaþ, not blētseþ (s. 10); handlaþ, not handleþ (s. 12)
THE CANTERBURY TALES
Prologue
Original Version
1 Whan that Aprille with his1 shoures soote2
The droughte2 of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour3,
Of which vertu3 engendred is the flour;
5 Whan Zephirus4 eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne5
Hath in the Ram6 his halve cours y-ronne.
And smale foweles maken melodye,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
So priketh hem nature in here courages
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes7,
To ferne halwes8, couthe in sondry londes;
15 And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende9.
The hooly, blisful martir10 for to seke,
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke;
Bifil that in that seson on a day
20 In Southwerk11 at the Tabard12 as I lay,
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght were come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
25 Of sondry folk by aventure y-falle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
The chaumbres and the stables weren wyde,
And wel we weren esed atte beste13.
30 And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon,
That I was of her felaweshipe anon,
And made forward erly for to ryse,
To take oure wey ther, as I yow devyse.
Comments
1. his the neuter gender, corresponds to modern English its.
2. In speech the final - e was dead or dying in Chaucer's time, but it continued to be used in verse. Hence in reading Chaucer's verse you have to pronounce many of the final - e sounds of words, but not all. The final - e is not pronounced if it occurs before a vowel or before an h. It is often dropped after an unstressed syllable and in two-syllable unstressed words (were [wer], hire [hir] etc). Otherwise the final - e is usually pronounced. In the following passage we have marked all the cases where to our opinion - e should be dropped:
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With hym ther was his son e, a yong Squier,
A lovyer e, and a lusty bacheler,
With lokkes crull e, as they wer e leyd in presse.
3. When the French words were first borrowed into English they retained a French pronunciation but gradually they were adopted to the English speech habits. The words of more than two or three syllables kept their original stress longer. In Chaucer's poetry the pronunciation of such words often fluctuates, they may be stressed one way or the other. Here is the pronunciation of some French loanwords you meet in the text as they must have sounded in Chaucer's days: licour [li'ku:r], nature [na'tju:r], corages [ku'ra:dZqs], specially [spesi'ali], seson [se'zON].
4. Zephirus (from Greek) 'the west wind known as the messenger of spring'.
5. the yonge sonne the sun runs one half course in the sign of the Ram in March, and the second half course in April;
6. Ram 'The Ram, or Aries; one of the zodiacal constellations, and the zodiacal sign entered by the sun on 21 March'.
7. strange strondes 'foreign lands'.
8. ferne halwes 'distant shrines'.
9. they wende 'they go' Present plural of wendan.
10. the holy blisful martir refers to Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, He opposed the king's measures against the privileges of the church and was slain in Canterbury by the king's knights. He met his death with splendid courage in his own cathedral. His shrine became the most famous in Christendom. Thomas à Becket was canonized in 1173 and his festival is observed on 7 July.
11. Southwerk a central borough of London on the south bank of the Thames.
12. The Tabard an inn in Southwerk; A tabard was a short surcoat open at the sides and having short sleeves or none, worn by a knight over his armour, and emblazoned with his armorial bearings.
13. weren esed atte beste 'were very well lodged'.
