| | And if a rethour coude faire endite | |
| | He in a cronycle myghte sauely wryte | |
| | As for a souereyn notabilyte | |
| 390 | Now euery wyseman herkyn to me | |
| | This story is al so trewe I vndertake | |
| | As is the book of launcelot delake | |
| | That wommen holden in ful gret reuerence | |
| | Now wol I turne ayen to my sentence | |
| 395 | Acol fox ful of sleyghte and iniquite | |
| | That in the groue hadde woned yeris thre | |
| | Be high ymaginacion aforn cast | |
| | The same nyght thorough the hegge brast | |
| | Into the yerd there chauntecleer the faire | |
| 400 | Was wont and eke his wyuys to repaire | |
| | And in a bed of wortis stille he lay | |
| | Tyl it was passid vndren of the day | |
| | Waytinge his tyme on chauntecleer to falle | |
| | As gladly doon thise homicides alle | |
| 405 | That in a wayte ligge to murdre men | |
| | A fals murderour ruckyng in thy den | |
| | O newe Scariot and newe Genylion | |
| | Fals dissimilour o greek Synon | |
| | That broughtist troye vttirly to sorow | |
| 410 | O chauntecleer acursid be the merow | |
| | That thou in thy yerde fley fro the bemys | |
| | Thow were ful wel warnyd be thy dremys | |
| | That ilke day was perilous to the | |
| | But that god afore woot muste nedis be | |
| 415 | Aftir the oppinion of certeyn clerkis | |
