Wife of Bath Prologue

"Experience, though noon auctoritee

Were in this world, is right ynought for me

To speke of wo that is in marraige;

For, lordynes, sith I twelve yeer was of age,

Housbondes at chirche dore I have had fyve-

And alle were men in hir degree

But me was toold, certeyn, nat longe agoon is,

That sith that Crist ne wente nevere but onis

To weddyng, in the Cane of Galilee,

That by the same ensample taughte he me

That I ne sholde wedded be but ones.

Herkne eek, lo, which a sharp word for the nones,

Biside a welle, Jhesus, God and man,

Spak un repreeve of the Samaritan;

"Thou hast yhad fyve housbondes ," quod he me

And that ilke man that now hath thee 

Is noght thyn housbonde," thus seyde he certeyn.

What that he mente therby, I kan nat seyn;

But that I axe, why that the fifthe man

Was noon housbonde to th Samaritan?

How manye myghte she have in mariage?

Yet herde I nevere tellen in myn age

Upon this nombre diffinicioun.

Men may devyne and glosen, up and doun,

But wel I woot, expres, withoute lye,

God bad us for to wexe and multiplye;

That gentil text kan I wel understonde.

Eek wel I woot, he seyd myn housbonde

Sholde lete fader and mooder and take to me.

But of no nombre mencion made he,

Of bigamye, or of octogamye;

Why sholde men thanne speke of it vileyne?

Experience, though all authority

Was lacking in the world, confers on me

The right to speak of marriage, and unfold

Its woes. For, lords, since I was twelve years old

-Thanks to eternal  God in heaven alive-

I've married at church door no less than five

Husbands, provided that I can have been

So often wed, and  all were worthy men.

I was told, indeed, and not long since,

That Christ went to wedding only once

At Cana, in a land of Galilee.

By this example he instructed me

To wed once only-that's what I have heard

Again, consider now what a sharp word,

Beside a well, Jesus both God and man,

Spoke in reproving the Samaritan:

'Five husbands thou hast had'-this certainly

He said to her-'and the man that now hath thee

Is not thy husband." True, he spoke this way,

But what he meant is more than I can say

Except that I would ask why the fifth man

Was not a husband to the Samaritan?

To just how many could she be a wife?

I've never heard this number all my life

Determined up to now. For round and round

Scholars may gloze, interpret and expound,

But plainly, this I know without a lie,

God told us to increase and multiply.

That noble text I can well understand.

My husband-this too I have well in hand-

Should leave both father and mother and cleave to me.

Number God never mentioned, bigamy,

No, nor even octomy;why do men

Talk of it as a sin and scandal then?

Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales