[102] i.e. By God's blood and His nail.
[103] Fetch.
+ _Of the man that had the dome wyfe._ lx.
+ There was a man that maryed a woman whiche
had great ryches and beautie; howe be it she had
suche an impedyment of nature, that she was
domme and coulde nat speke. Whiche thinge
made him to be ryght pensyfe and sadde; wherfore,
vpon a day as he walked alone ryght heuy in
harte, thynkynge vpon his wyfe, there came one to
him and asked hym, what was the cause of his
heuynesse; whiche answered that it was onely
because his wife was borne domme. To whome
this other sayde: I shall shewe the sone a remedye
and a medecyne therfore, that is thus: go take an
aspen lefe and laye it vnder her tonge this nyght,
she beynge a slepe; and I warante the that she
shall speke on the morowe. Whiche man, beynge
glad of this medycyne, prepared therfore and
gathered aspyn leaues; wherfore he layde thre of
them vnder her tonge, when she was a slepe. And
on the morowe whan he hymselfe awaked, he, desyrous
to knowe howe his medecyne wrought,
beynge in bedde with her, he demaunded of her
howe she dyd; and sodenly she answered and
sayd: I beshrowe your harte for wakenynge me so
erly; and so by the virtue of that medycyne she
was restored to her speche. But in conclusyon
her speche so encreased day by day, and she was
so curste of condycyon, that euery daye she brauled
and chydde with her husbande so moche, that at
the laste he was more vexed, and hadde moche
more trouble and disease with her shrewde wordes,
than he hadde before whan she was dome. Wherfore,
as he walked another tyme abrode, he happened
to meate agayne with the same persone that
taughte _hym howe to make his wyfe speke_[104]
_2 or 3 lines wanting._
and more wery of her nowe than I was before, whan she was domme;
wherfore I praye you teche me a medycyne to modefye her, that she speke
nat so moche. This other answered and sayd thus: syr, I am a deuyll of
hell; but I am one of them that haue leste power there. All be it yet I
haue power to make a woman to speke, but and if a woman begyn ones to
speke, I, nor all the deuyls in hell that haue the more power, be nat
able to make a woman to be styll, nor to cause her to leaue her
spekynge.
By thys tale ye may note, that a man ofte tymes desyreth and coueteth
moche that thynge, that ofte turneth to his displeasure.