949. _rake-stele_, the handle of a rake. The word _stele_ is still in use
provincially. '_Stale_, any stick, or handle, such as the stick of a mop or
a fork'; _South Warwickshire_; E. D. S. Gl. C. 6. '_Stale_ [stae·ul], s.
handle; as, _mop-stale_, _pick-stale_, _broom-stale_'; Elworthy's West
Somerset Words. And see _Steal_ in Ray's Glossary; _Stele_ in Nares;
_Steale_ in Halliwell; &c. Cf. A. 3785; P. Plowman, C. xxii. 279. Golding
translates Ovid's _hastile_ (Metam. vii. 676) by 'Iaueling-_steale_.' The
_e_ is 'open'; cf. A. S. _stela_; hence the rime with _hele_ (A. S.
_helan_) is perfect.
950. 'Car fame ne puet riens celer'; Rom. de la Rose, 19420. See also the
same, 16549-70.
952. _Ovyde_; see Metamorph. xi. 174-193. But Chaucer seems to have
purposely altered the story, since Ovid attributes the betrayal of the
secret to Midas' _barber_, not his _wife_; and again, Ovid says that the
barber dug a hole, and whispered it into the pit. Chaucer's version is an
improved one. Cf. Troil. iii. 1389.