Gučrin (French fabliau, early 13th century): “The Priest Who Peeked”

 

Text Box: And the priest immediately Answered, "What do you think? Don't you see? I have sat down To eat at this table." "By the heart of God, this is like a fabliau," Said the peasant; "I would certainly have believed-- If I had not heard you say otherwise -- That you were screwing my wife!" "I am not, sir, hush! By my soul, It seemed the same to me just now." Said the peasant, "Indeed, I believe you." Thus was the peasant tricked And so deceived and befuddled Both by the priest and by his own weak wit That he never felt any pain; And because the door had a hole in it, It is said to this day: "One hole satisfies many fools." Here ends the fabliau of the Priest. Explicit. Amen. From Larry D. Benson and Theodore M. Andersson, The Literary Context of Chaucer's Fabliaux. Indianapolis and NewYork, 1971. Pp. 269-73

In what follows I want to tell you,

If you will hear me out,

A courtly little fabliau,

As Gučrin relates it and tells

About a peasant who had a fine wife --

Wise, courteous, and well bred;

She was beautiful and came from a good family.

He deeply loved her,

This peasant, and he served her well,

But she loved a priest;

To him she had given her heart completely.

 

The priest was so smitten by her

That one day he decided

He would go talk to her.

He proceeded to the house,

But before he arrived there,

The peasant, as I have heard,

Had sat down to dinner with his wife.

 

The two were all alone,

And the priest did not delay;

He came rapidly to the door,

But it was closed and locked.