apere,
For[481] the grene bare thredes 60
Loke lyke sere wedes,
Wyddered lyke hay,
The woll worne away;
And yet I dare saye
She thynketh herselfe gaye
Vpon the holy daye,
Whan she doth her aray,
And gyrdeth in her gytes[482]
Stytched and pranked with pletes;[483]
Her kyrtel Brystow red, 70
With clothes vpon her hed
That wey[484] a sowe of led,
Wrythen in[485] wonder wyse,
After the Sarasyns gyse,
With a whym wham,
Knyt with a trym tram,
Vpon her brayne pan,
Lyke an Egyptian,
Capped[486] about:
Whan she goeth out 80
Herselfe for to shewe,
She dryueth downe the dewe
Wyth a payre of heles
As brode as two wheles;
She hobles as a gose[487]
With her blanket[488] hose
Ouer the falowe;[489]
Her shone smered wyth talowe,
Gresed vpon dyrt
That baudeth her skyrt. 90
Primus passus.
And this comely dame,
I vnderstande, her name
Is Elynour Rummynge,
At home in her wonnynge;
And as men say
She dwelt[490] in Sothray,
In a certayne stede
Bysyde Lederhede.
She is a tonnysh gyb;
The deuyll and she be syb. 100
But to make vp my tale,
She breweth noppy ale,
And maketh therof port sale[491]
To trauellars, to tynkers,
To sweters, to swynkers,
And all good ale drynkers,
That wyll nothynge spare,
But drynke tyll they stare
And brynge themselfe bare,
With, Now away the mare, 110
And let vs sley care,
As wyse as an hare!
Come who so wyll
To Elynour on the hyll,
Wyth, Fyll the cup, fyll,
And syt there by styll,
Erly and late:
Thyther cometh Kate,
Cysly, and Sare,
With theyr legges bare, 120
And also theyr fete
Hardely full vnswete;
Wyth theyr heles dagged,
Theyr kyrtelles all to-iagged,
Theyr smockes all to-ragged,
Wyth tytters and tatters,
Brynge dysshes and platters,
Wyth all theyr myght runnynge
To Elynour Rummynge,
To haue of her tunnynge: 130
She leneth them on[492] the same,
And thus begynneth the game.
Some wenches come vnlased,[493]
Some huswyues[494] come vnbrased,
Wyth theyr naked pappes,
That flyppes and flappes;
It wygges and it[495] wagges,
Lyke tawny saffron bagges;
A sorte of foule drabbes
All scuruy with scabbes: 140
Some be flybytten,
Some skewed as a kytten;
Some wyth a sho clout
Bynde theyr heddes about;
Some haue no herelace,
Theyr lockes about theyr face,
Theyr tresses vntrust,
All full of vnlust;
