376-377. Though the sense is clear, the grammar is incurably wrong. Chaucer
_says_--'These old women, that would fain seem wise, just as did her
governess, answered her at once.' What he _means_ is--'This governess, that
would fain seem wise, as such old women often do, answered her,' &c. The
second part of this tale seems to have been hastily composed, left
unfinished, and never revised. Cf. l. 382.