The Cook’s Tale: Prologue
THE Cook of London, while the Reeve thus spake,For joy he laugh’d and clapp’d him on the back:“Aha!” quoth he, “for Christes passion,This Miller had a sharp conclusion,Upon this argument of herbergage.Well saide Solomon in his language,Bring thou not every man into thine house,For harbouring by night is perilous.Well ought a man avised for to beWhom that he brought into his privity.I pray to God to give me sorrow and careIf ever, since I highte Hodge of Ware,Heard I a miller better set a-work;He had a jape of malice in the derk.But God forbid that we should stinte here,And therefore if ye will vouchsafe to hearA tale of me, that am a poore man,I will you tell as well as e’er I canA little jape that fell in our city.”
Our Host answer’d and said; “I grant it thee.Roger, tell on; and look that it be good,For many a pasty hast thou letten blood,And many a Jack of Dover hast thou sold,That had been twice hot and twice cold.Of many a pilgrim hast thou Christe’s curse,For of thy parsley yet fare they the worse.That they have eaten in thy stubble goose:For in thy shop doth many a fly go loose.Now tell on, gentle Roger, by thy name,But yet I pray thee be not wroth for game;A man may say full sooth in game and play.”“Thou sayst full sooth,” quoth Roger, “by my fay;But sooth play quad play, as the Fleming saith,And therefore, Harry Bailly, by thy faith,Be thou not wroth, else we departe here,Though that my tale be of an hostelere.But natheless, I will not tell it yet,But ere we part, y-wis thou shalt be quit.”And therewithal he laugh’d and made cheer,And told his tale, as ye shall after hear.
Words in this poem 17
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- herbergage n.
- Harborage; lodging; shelter; harbor. [See Harborage.]
- solomon n.
- One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- privity n.
- Privacy; secrecy; confidence. [From Privy, a.: cf. F. privauté extreme familiarity.]
- jape v. i.
- To jest; to play tricks; to jeer. [Prob. from the same source as gab,influenced by F. japper to yelp. See Gab to deceive.]
- vouchsafe v. t.
- To condescend to grant; to concede; to bestow. [Vouch + safe, that is, to vouch or answer for safety.]
- roger n.
- A black flag with white skull and crossbones, formerly used by pirates; -- called also Jolly Roger.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- wroth a.
- Full of wrath; angry; incensed; much exasperated; wrathful. [OE. wroth, wrap, AS. wraedh wroth, crooked, bad; akin to wriedhan to writhe, and to OS. wreedhangry, D. wreed cruel, OHG. reid twisted, Icel. reiedhr angry, Dan]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- quad a.
- Evil; bad; baffling; as, a quade wind. [Akin to AS. cwæd, cwead, dung, evil, G. kot, dung, OHG. quat.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- harry v. i.
- To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- therewithal adv.
- Over and above; besides; moreover. Daniel.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cook’s Tale: Prologue is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Canterbury Tales, Project Gutenberg ebook #2383; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Cook’s Tale: Prologue, in The Canterbury Tales (1400), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2383, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/canterbury-tales/the-cook-s-tale-prologue.html, id L15838.
Form and metre
The Cook’s Tale: Prologue is 40 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 65% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ------AA--BBCCDDEE- spake · back · passion · conclusion · herbergage · language · houseA · perilousA · be · privity · careB · wareB · workC · derkC · hereD · hearD · manE · canE · city
- 2 -AABBCCDDEEFFGGH---HH thee · goodA · bloodA · soldB · coldB · curseC · worseC · gooseD · looseD · nameE · gameE · playF · fayF · saithG · faithG · hereH · hostelere · yet · quit · cheerH · hearH
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE Cook of London, while the Reeve thus spake, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For joy he laugh’d and clapp’d him on the back: | 10 | ·········· |
| “Aha!” quoth he, “for Christes passion, | 8 | ·/····/˘ |
| This Miller had a sharp conclusion, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Upon this argument of herbergage. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Well saide Solomon in his language, | 10 | ···/˘˘··/˘ |
| Bring thou not every man into thine house, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For harbouring by night is perilous. | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘˘ |
| Well ought a man avised for to be | 10 | ····/˘˘··· |
| Whom that he brought into his privity. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| I pray to God to give me sorrow and care | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| If ever, since I highte Hodge of Ware, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Heard I a miller better set a-work; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| He had a jape of malice in the derk. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But God forbid that we should stinte here, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| And therefore if ye will vouchsafe to hear | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| A tale of me, that am a poore man, | 9 | ········· |
| I will you tell as well as e’er I can | 10 | ·········· |
| A little jape that fell in our city.” | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Our Host answer’d and said; “I grant it thee. | 10 | /·/˘······ |
| Roger, tell on; and look that it be good, | 10 | /˘········ |
| For many a pasty hast thou letten blood, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| And many a Jack of Dover hast thou sold, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| That had been twice hot and twice cold. | 8 | ········ |
| Of many a pilgrim hast thou Christe’s curse, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| For of thy parsley yet fare they the worse. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That they have eaten in thy stubble goose: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For in thy shop doth many a fly go loose. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Now tell on, gentle Roger, by thy name, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But yet I pray thee be not wroth for game; | 10 | ·········· |
| A man may say full sooth in game and play.” | 10 | ·········· |
| “Thou sayst full sooth,” quoth Roger, “by my fay; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But sooth play quad play, as the Fleming saith, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And therefore, Harry Bailly, by thy faith, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Be thou not wroth, else we departe here, | 10 | ·········· |
| Though that my tale be of an hostelere. | 10 | ·········· |
| But natheless, I will not tell it yet, | 10 | ·········· |
| But ere we part, y-wis thou shalt be quit.” | 10 | ·········· |
| And therewithal he laugh’d and made cheer, | 10 | ·········· |
| And told his tale, as ye shall after hear. | 10 | ·········· |
Notes from the edition 2
Glosses from the Purves edition of 1870, printed beside the lines (Project Gutenberg #2383).
- Stanza 1 lodging · Well ought a man avised for to be: a man should take good heed · was called · handled · trick · stop
- Stanza 2 angry with my jesting · part company · innkeeper · assuredly
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.