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The Wife of Bath
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| 455 | A worthy woman from beside Bath city |
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Was with us, somewhat deaf, which was a pity. |
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In making cloth she showed so great a bent |
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She bettered those of Ypres and of Ghent.° |
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In all the parish not a dame dared stir |
| 460 | Towards the altar steps in front of her, |
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And if indeed they did, so wrath was she |
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As to be quite put out of charity. |
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Her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground;° |
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I dared have sworn they weighed a good ten pound, |
| 465 | The ones she wore on Sunday, on her head. |
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Her hose were of the finest scarlet red |
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And gartered tight; her shoes were soft and new. |
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Bold was her face, handsome, and red in hue. |
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A worthy woman all her life, what’s more |
| 470 | She’d had five husbands, all at the church door, |
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Apart from other company in youth; |
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No need just now to speak of that, forsooth. |
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And she had thrice been to Jerusalem, |
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Seen many strange rivers and passed over them; |
| 475 | She’d been to Rome and also to Boulogne, |
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St. James of Compostella and Cologne, |
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And she was skilled in wandering by the way. |
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She had gap-teeth,° set widely, truth to say. |
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Easily on an ambling horse she sat |
| 480 | Well wimpled° up, and on her head a hat |
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As broad as is a buckler or a shield; |
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She had a flowing mantle that concealed |
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Large hips, her heels spurred sharply under that. |
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In company she liked to laugh and chat |
| 485 | And knew the remedies for love’s mischances, |
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An art in which she knew the oldest dances. |