| | And that no wight may endure the ferthe | |
| 365 | O leue sire shrewe Ihesus short thy lif | |
| | Yet prechist thow and saist an hateful wyf | |
| | Rekenyd is for on of thyse myschaunsis | |
| | Ben ther now none othir resemblaunsis | |
| | That may be like your parablis vnto | |
| 370 | But yf a sely wyf be on of tho | |
| | Thow liknest eke a womannys loue to helle | |
| | To bareyn lond there watir may not dwelle | |
| | Thow liknest vs eek also to wilde fire | |
| | The more it brennyth the more it hath desire | |
| 375 | To consume euery thyng that brent wold be | |
| | Thow sayst right as wormys shendyn a tre | |
| | Right so a wyf destroieth her husbonde | |
| | This knowen they that been to wyuys bonde | |
| | Lordingis right thus as ye haue vnderstonde | |
| 380 | Bare I stifly myn olde husbondis on honde | |
| | And of other thinges both more and lesse | |
| | And al was fals but as I took witnesse | |
| | Of Iankyn our child and of myn nece also | |
| | O lord the pyne I dede hem and the woo | |
| 385 | Ful giltlees ofte by goddis swete pyne | |
| | For as an hors I coude both byte and whyne | |
| | I coude pleyne though I were in the gilt | |
| | Or ellis I hadde ofte tymes be spilt | |
| | Who so comyth first to the mylle first he grynt | |
| 390 | I pleyned first so were our werrys stynt | |
| | They were ful glad for to excuse hem blyue | |
| | Of thing whiche they neuer agiltid her lyue | |
