The Reeve
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605 | The Reeve was old and choleric° and thin; |
His beard was shaven closely to the skin, | |
His shorn hair came abruptly to a stop | |
Above his ears, and he was docked° on top | |
Just like a priest in front; his legs were lean, | |
610 | Like sticks they were, no calf was to be seen. |
He kept his bins and garners° very trim; | |
No auditor could gain a point on him. | |
And he could judge by watching drought and rain | |
The yield he might expect from seed and grain. | |
615 | His master’s sheep, his animals and hens, |
Pigs, horses, dairies, stores, and cattle-pens | |
Were wholly trusted to his government. | |
He had been under contract to present | |
The accounts, right from his master’s earliest years. | |
620 | No one had ever caught him in arrears.° |
No bailiff,° serf, or herdsman dared to kick, | |
He knew their dodges, knew their every trick; | |
Feared like the plague he was, by those beneath. | |
He had a lovely dwelling on a heath, | |
625 | Shadowed in green by trees above the sward.° |
A better hand at bargains than his lord, | |
He had grown rich and had a store of treasure | |
Well tucked away, yet out it came to pleasure | |
His lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods, | |
630 | To earn his thanks and even coats and hoods. |
When young he’d learnt a useful trade and still | |
He was a carpenter of first-rate skill. | |
The stallion-cob° he rode at a slow trot | |
Was dapple-gray and bore the name of Scot. | |
635 | He wore an overcoat of bluish shade |
And rather long; he had a rusty blade | |
Slung at his side. He came, as I heard tell, | |
From Norfolk, near a place called Baldeswell. | |
His coat was tucked under his belt and splayed. | |
640 | He rode the hindmost of our cavalcade |