Classic Poem

Sometime in Fraunce dwelled a plowman,
Which was mighty, bold, and strong;
Good skill he coude in husbandry,
And gat his living full merily.
He coude eke sowe and holde a plow,
Both dike, hedge, and milke a cow,
Threshe, fane, and geld a swine,
In every season and in time;
To mow and repe both grass and corn
A better labourer was never born;
He coude go to plowe with oxe and hors —
With which it were he dide no fors;
Of shepe the wolle off for to shere
His better was founde no where;
Strip hemp he coude to cloute his shone,
And set geese a-broode in season of the mone,
Fell wode, and make it as it sholde be;
Of fruite he graffed many a tree;
He coude theche a hous, and daube a wall,
With all thinge that to husbandry dide fall.
By these to riches he was brought,
That golde ne silver he lacked nought;
His hall roof was full of bacon flitches;
The chambre charged was with wiches
Full of egges, butter, and chese,
Men that were hungry for to ease;
To make good ale, malte had he plentye;
And Martilmas befe to him was not deintye;
Onions and garlike had he ynow,
And good creme, and milk of the cow.
Thus by his labour riche was he in dede;
Now to the mater will I procede.
Grete good he gat and lived yeres fourty,
Yet coude he neither Pater Noster nor Ave .
In Lenten time the parson dide him shrive;
He said: " Sir, canst thou thy Beleve?"
The plowman said unto the preste:
" Sir, I beleve in Jesu Criste,
Which suffred deth and harowed hell,
As I have herde mine elders tell."
The parson said: " Man, lete me here
Thee say devoutely thy Pater Noster ,
That thou in it no word do lack".
Then said the plowman: " What thing is that
Which ye desire to here so sore?
I herde never therof before."
The preest said: " To lerne it thou art bound,
Or elles thou livest as an hound:
Without it saved canst thou not be,
Nor never have sight of the Deite;
From chirche to be banished aye
All they that can not their Pater Noster saye.
Therfore I mervail right gretly
That thy Beleve was never taught thee.
I charge thee, upon pain of deadly sinne,
Lerne it, heven if thou wilt winne."
" I wolde thresh", said the plowman, " ten yere,
Rather than I it wolde lere.
I pray thee, sir parson, my counseil kepe;
Ten wethers will I give thee of my best shepe,
And thou shalt have in the same stounde
Fourty shilinges in grotes rounde
So ye me shewe how I may heven reche."
" Well!", said the preest, " I shall thee teche;
If thou do by my counsell,
To heven shalt thou come right well."
The husband said: " If ye will so,
Whatever ye bid me, it shall be do."
" Well!", said the parson, " sith thou hast graunt
Truly to kepe this covenaunt,
To do as I shall warn thee shortly,
Mark well the wordes that I say to thee:
Thou knowest that of corn is grete scarsnesse,
Wherby many for hungre dye, doubtlesse,
Because they lack their daily brede —
Hundredes this yere I have sene dede;
And thou hast grete plentye of whete,
Which men for money now can not gete;
And if thou wilt do after me,
Fourty poore men I shall sende thee,
And to eche of them give more or lasse
Or they away fro thee passe.
I shall thee double for thy whete pay
So thou bere truly their names away,
And if thou shewe them all and some,
Right in ordre as they do come,
Who is served first and who last of all."
" In faith!", said the plowman, " so I shall!
Go when ye will and send them hider;
Fain wold I see that company togider."
The parson wente to fetch the route,
And gadred poore people all aboute;
To the plowmans hous forth he wente.
The husbandman was well contente
Because the parson was their surety:
That made his herte muche more mery.
The preest said: " See here thy men echone,
Serve them lightly that they were gone."
The husbandman said to him again:
" The lenger they tary, the more is my pain."
First wente pater , feble, lene, and olde —
All his clothes for hungre had he solde:
Two bushelles of whete gat he there;
Unethe for age might he it bere.
Then came noster ragged in array:
He had his back-burden, and so wente his way.
Two peckes were given to qui es in celis ;
No wonder if he halted, for kibed were his heles.
Then came sanctificetur , and nomen tuum :
Of whete amonge them gat an hole tunne —
How muche was therin I can not say;
They two laded a carte, and wente their way.
In ordre folowed them other three,
Adveniat, regnum, tuum , that was dead nye;
They thought to longe that they abode,
Yet eche of them had an hors-lode.
The plowman cryed: " Sirs, come away!"
Then wente fiat, voluntas, tua, sicut, in, celo, et, in, terra ,
Some blere-eyed, and some lame, with botell and bagge —
To cover their arses they had not an hole ragge:
Aboute ten bushelles they had them amonge,
And in the way homeward full merily songe.
Then came panem, nostrum, cotidianum, da nobis, hodie ;
Amonge them five they had but one peny
That was given them for Goddes sake;
They said therwith that they wold mery make:
Eche had two bushelles of whete that was goode;
They songe going homeward a gest of Robin Hoode.
Et, dimitte, nobis, debita, nostra , came than,
The one sunburned, another black as a pan;
They pressed in the hepe, of corne to finde —
No wonder if they fell, for they were all blinde:
Ech of them an hole quartre they had,
And straight to the ale-hous they it lad.
Sicut, et nos, dimittimus, debitoribus, nostris,
Came in anon, and dide not miss;
They had ten bushelles, withouten faile,
And laide five to pledge for a kilderkin of ale.
Then came et, ne, nos, inducas, in, temptationem :
Amonge them all they had quarters ten;
Their brede was baken in a tankard,
And the residue they played at the hazard.
By and by came sed libera nos a malo ;
He was so wery he might not go.
Also Amen came renning in anone;
He cryed out: " Spede me, that I were gone!"
He was patched, torn, and all to-rente;
It semed by his langage that he was born in Kente.
The plowman served them everichone,
And was full glad when thy were gone.
But when he saw of corn he had no more,
He wished them at the devil ther-fore.
So long had he meten his corne and whete,
That all his body was in a swete.
Then unto his hous dide he go;
His herte was full of pain and wo
To kepe their names and shew them right,
That he rested but litel that night.
Ever he patred on their names faste,
That he had them in ordre at the laste.
Then on the morowe he wente to the parson,
And said: " Sir, for money am I come;
My corn I delivered by the counseil of thee;
Remember thy promis, thou art their suretye."
The preest said: " Their names thou must me showe."
The plowman rehersed them on a rowe;
How they were called he kepte in minde;
He said that Amen came all behind.
The parson said: " Man, be glad this day,
Thy Pater Noster now canst thou say."
The plowman said: " Give me my moneye!"
The preest said: " I owe none to thee to paye;
Though thou dide thy corn to poore men give,
Thou mayst me blisse while thou dost live;
For by these may ye pay Crist His rente,
And serve the Lord omnipotente."
" Is this the answer", he said, " that I have shall?
I shall summon thee afore the officiall."
So to the courte wente they both in dede;
Not beste of all dide the plowman spede!
Unto the officiall the parson tolde all
How it betwene them two dide fall,
And of this Pater Noster lerning.
Many to his wordes gave herkening;
They laughed and made sport ynow.
The plowman for anger bended his brow,
And said: " These poor men have away all my corn,
And for my labour the parson doth me scorn."
The officiall praised gretly the parson,
And said right well that he had done;
He said: " Plowman, it is shame to thee
To accuse this gentilman before me."
He badde him go home, foole as he was,
And ask God mercy for his trespas.
The plowman thought ever on his whete,
And said: " Again I shall it never gete."
Then he wente and to his wife said
How that the parson had him betrayd;
And said: " While that I live, certain,
Preest shall I never trust again!"
Thus for his corn that he gave there,
His Pater Noster dide he lere;
And, after, long he lived withouten strife,
Till he went from his mortal life.
The parson deceased after also:
Their soules I truste to heven dide go;
Unto the which He us bringe
That in heven reigneth eternal Kinge!