THE PARLIAMENT OF FOWLS

By Geoffrey Chaucer
The life so short, the craft so long to learn,
The assay so hard, so sharp the conquering,
The fearful joy that slips away in turn,
All this mean I by Love, that my feeling
Astonishes with its wondrous working
So fiercely that when I on love do think
I know not well whether I float or sink.
For although I know not Love indeed
Nor know how he pays his folk their hire,
Yet full oft it happens in books I read
Of his miracles and his cruel ire.
There I read he will be lord and sire;
I dare only say, his strokes being sore,
‘God save such a lord!’ I’ll say no more

EXCERPTS FROM ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (ARAB)

The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shahzaman:

IT is related—but Allah is all wise and all knowing, all powerful and all beneficent—that there was, in the
tide and show of ancient time and the passage of the age and of the moment, a king among the kings of
S&s&n, in the isles of India and China. He was master of armies and auxiliaries, of slaves and of a great
following; and he had two sons, one tall and the other small. Both were heroic horsemen; but the taller
was the greater in this exercise and reigned over lands and governed with justice among men, so that
the peoples of the land and of the kingdom loved him. His name was King Shahry&r. The smaller brother
was called King Shahzam&n and ruled over Samarkand al-Ajam. Both lived in their countries and were
just rulers of the people for a space of twenty years; by the end of which time each was at the height of
his splendour and his growth. This was the way with them until the tall king was seized by a violent
longing to see his brother. Then he commanded his Waz(r to depart and return with him: and the Waz(r
answered: ‘I hear and I obey.’ The Waz(r set out and, arriving in all security by the grace of All&h,
entered the presence of the brother, wished him peace, and told him the purpose of his journey. King
Shahzam&n answered: ‘I hear and I obey.’ Then he made preparations for his departure and for the
going out of his tents, his camels, and mules; his slaves and fighting-men. Lastly he raised his own Waz(r
to the governorship, and departed to seek the lands of his brother.
The Fable of the Ass, the Bull and the Husbandman:

KNOW, my daughter, that there was once a merchant, master of riches and cattle, married and the
father of children; to whom Allah had also given understanding of the tongues of beasts and birds. The
place of this merchant’s house was in a fertile land on the bank of a river, and in his farm there were an
ass and a bull. One day the bull came to the stable where the ass was lodged and found it well swept
and watered, with well-winnowed barley in the manger and on the ground well-sifted straw, and the ass
lying there at his ease. (For when his master mounted him it would only be for some short ride that
chance demanded, and the ass would quickly return to his rest.) Now on that day the merchant heard
the bull say to the ass: ‘Give you joy of your food, and may you find it healthy, profitable, and of a good
digestion! I myself am weary; but you are rested. You eat well-winnowed barley and are cared for; and
if, on occasion, your master mounts you, he brings you quickly back. As for me I am but used to labor
and to work the mill.’ And the ass said: ‘When you go out into the field and they put the yoke upon your
neck, throw yourself to the earth and do not rise, even if they beat you; also, when you do get up, fall
down again immediately. And after, if they let you back to the byre and give you beans to eat, leave
them, as if you were ill. Force yourself in this way not to eat or drink for a day or two or even three. Thus
you will rest from your labor and your weariness.’

Texts Confessio amantis (The lover's shrift)

by Gower, John

Prologue

Of those who wrote in days of yore,

The books remain, and we therefore
May learn by what was written then.
Thus it is fit that living men
Should also in this latter age
Find some new subject for their page,
(Though copied from the tales of old)

If it be cast in such a mould

That when we die and go elsewhere
It lingers on the wide world's ear
In times to follow after this.
Only, men say - and truth it is -
That works of wholly solemn kind

Will often dull a reader's mind,

Who studies in them every day;
So I will walk the middle way,
If you advise me so to do,
And write a book between the two -
Something to please, something to profit -
So that the most or least part of it
May give some readers some delight.
And furthermore, since few men write
In our English, I think to make
One book at least for England's sake.

King Richard's sixteenth year it is;

And what will happen after this,
God knows - for men see nowadays,
Whichever way they turn their gaze,
The world so changed and overthrown
That it is well-nigh upside down
Compared with days of long ago.

CUPID AND YOUTH

When Venus had done speaking, and

I had begun to understand;

Beyond all doubt, I knew for sure,

I could not hope for any cure;

And as a man puts out a fire

With water, thus died my desire:

For grief of heart, my senses failed;

As if in death, my visage paled;

Swooning, I fell to earth. Straightway

It seemed, as helpless there I lay 245 o

Neither alive nor fully dead,

That I could see, beside my head,

Where Cupid stood, his bow all bent:

And, as it were, a parliament

Expressly summoned for the nonce,

And seeming all the world at once,

Of gentle folk who formerly

Were lovers. Many a company

Came forth with Cupid, on that ground.

And as I cast my glance around 2460

To learn of them who might be who,

There vigorous Youth stood in my view:

Leader and captain, he stood out

Before all others of that rout

Upon the plain in seemly row.

Their locks were sleek, and all aglow

With many-coloured diadems

Of leaves and flowers and of gems,

Or huge and orient pearls - the while,

All in the new Bohemian* style, 2470

With many a skilful ornament

Made gay and curious, they went

Proudly and joyfully along.

Nor did they miss a single song

About the loves of maid and man,