+ There was a mayde stode by a reuers syde in her smoke,[45] wasshynge clothes, and as she stouped ofttymes, her smocke cleued betune her buttockkes. By whome there cam a frere, seynge[46] her and sayde in sporte: mayde, mayde, take hede: for Bayarde bytes on the brydell.[47] Nay, wys [I], master frere, quod the mayden, he doth but wype hys mouthe, and wenyth ye wyll come and kysse hym. By thys ye may se that womans answer is neuer to seke. + _Of the thre wyse men of Gotam._ xxii. + A certayn man there was dwellynge in a towne called Gotam that went to a fayre iii myle for to bye shepe; and as he cam ouer a bryge he met with one of hys neyghbours and told hym whether[48] he went, and askyd hym whych way he wold bryng them. Whyche sayd he wolde brynge them ouer the same bryge. Nay, quod the other man, but thou shalt not, by God! quod _4 lines of the original are wanting._ _Presently there came a milner, who bore a sack of_[49] mele vpon a horse, a neybour of theyrs, and paciently askyd them what was the cause of theyr varyaunce; which than she_wyd to hym_ the mater and cause, as ye haue harde. Thys thyrde man, the mylner, _beganne_ for to rebuke them by a famylyer example, and toke his sacke of mele _from_ his horse backe and openyd it, and pouryd all the mele in the sacke ouer the brydge into the ronnynge ryuer; wherby all the mele was lost, and sayde thus: by my trouthe, neybours, because ye stryue for dryuynge ouer the brydge those shepe which be not yet boughte, nor wotte not where they be, me thynketh therfore there is euen as moche wytte in your hedes as there is mele now in my _sacke_. Thys tale shewyth you, that som man takyth _upon him for to teche_ other men wysdome, when he is but a fole hymselfe. FOOTNOTES: [45] smock. [46] _i.e._ who saw her. [47] An unregistered proverb, perhaps. The meaning is tolerably clear. See _Tarlton's Newes Out of Purgatarie_ (1590). edit. Halliwell, p. 93. [48] Whither. + _Of the graye frere that answered his penytente._ xxiii. + A man there was that cam to confesse hym to a _prest and tolde_ hym, that he had layne with a yonge gentyll woman. The _prest then_ asked hym in what place; and he sayde it was in * * * all nyght longe in a soft warme bed. The frere herynge that * * * thys and sayd: Now, by swete seynt Francys, then, wast thou very[50] * * * FOOTNOTES: [49] I am myself responsible for these few words in italic, which I have supplied from conjecture. + _Of the gentylman that bare the sege borde on hys necke._ xxiv.