But hennes-forth I wol my proces holde To speke of aventures and of batailles, That never yet was herd so grete mervailles. First wol I telle yow of Cambinskan, That in his tyme many a citee wan; And after wol I speke of Algarsyf, How that he wan Theodora to his wyf, For whom ful ofte in greet peril he was, Ne hadde he ben holpen by the steed of bras; And after wol I speke of Cambalo That faught in listes with the brethren two For Canacee, er that he mighte hir winne, And ther I lefte I wol ageyn beginne. It is here that the Franklin breaks in, and in the most courteous and charming manner succeeds in checking the story, of which the pilgrims have evidently had as much as they want, and in skilfully leading up to his own tale. Nothing could give a more vivid impression of youth and exuberance than the Squire's naïve enjoyment of the marvellous adventures which he describes: the story is exactly suited to the teller, and his sublime unconsciousness of the fact that any one else can possibly find it long or quail before the prospect of a tale which bids fair to last all the way to Canterbury and back, is just what we should expect of this ... lusty bacheler With lokkes crulle,[51] as they were leyd in presse. Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse * * * * * Embrouded[52] was he, as it were a mede Al ful of fresshe floures, whyte and rede. Singinge he was, or floytinge[53] al the day; He was as fresh as is the month of May. No wonder he tells of enchanted steeds and magic rings, of joust and tourney. And in showing the charm and youthfulness of the Squire, Chaucer also contrives to show us the charm, and we might almost add the youthfulness, of the popular romance. It is difficult to believe that the _Squieres Tale_ was left unfinished by chance. The manner in which it is cut short not only lights up the characters of the Squire and the Franklin in a manner eminently characteristic of Chaucer, but also gently satirises the long-windedness and absurdity of the romance-writers; and that Chaucer was keenly alive to their faults is shown by the rollicking burlesque of _Sir Thopas_. The _Squieres Tale_ forms, as it were, a half-way house between the serious treatment of romance in _Troilus and Criseyde_ and the _Knightes Tale_, and the pure parody of Chaucer's own "tale of mirthe." _Sir Thopas_ parodies not only the matter but the manner of the romance writers. It out-Herods Herod in the intolerable jingle of its verse and the absurdity of its extra syllables, while the adventures of Sir Thopas and the fairy queen prove too much even for the pilgrims, ready as they are to be interested in a story of any kind. Sir Thopas wex a doghty swayn, Whyt was his face as payndemayn[54] His lippes red as rose; His rode[55] is lyk scarlet in grayn, And I you telle in good certayn He hadde a semely nose,