Nou herk hierafter hou it stod[430] Of wofull auntres that befelle: Thes Sostres, that ben bothe felle,--[431] 5880 And that was noght on hem along, Bot onliche on the grete wrong Which Tereüs hem hadde do,-- Thei schopen forto venge hem tho. This Tereüs be Progne his wif A Sone hath, which as his lif He loveth, and Ithis he hihte: His moder wiste wel sche mihte Do Tereüs no more grief[432] Than sle this child, which was so lief.[433] 5890 Thus sche, that was, as who seith, mad Of wo, which hath hir overlad, Withoute insihte of moderhede Foryat pite and loste drede, And in hir chambre prively This child withouten noise or cry [Sidenote: =P. ii. 325=] Sche slou, and hieu him al to pieces: And after with diverse spieces The fleissh, whan it was so toheewe, Sche takth, and makth therof a sewe, 5900 With which the fader at his mete Was served, til he hadde him ete; That he ne wiste hou that it stod, Bot thus his oughne fleissh and blod Himself devoureth ayein kinde, As he that was tofore unkinde. And thanne, er that he were arise, For that he scholde ben agrise, To schewen him the child was ded, This Philomene tok the hed 5910 Betwen tuo disshes, and al wrothe Tho comen forth the Sostres bothe, And setten it upon the bord. And Progne tho began the word, And seide, ‘O werste of alle wicke, Of conscience whom no pricke Mai stere, lo, what thou hast do! Lo, hier ben nou we Sostres tuo;[434] O Raviner, lo hier thi preie, With whom so falsliche on the weie 5920 Thou hast thi tirannye wroght. Lo, nou it is somdel aboght, And bet it schal, for of thi dede The world schal evere singe and rede In remembrance of thi defame:[435] For thou to love hast do such schame, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 326=] That it schal nevere be foryete.’ With that he sterte up fro the mete, And schof the bord unto the flor,[436] And cauhte a swerd anon and suor 5930 That thei scholde of his handes dye. And thei unto the goddes crie Begunne with so loude a stevene, That thei were herd unto the hevene; And in a twinclinge of an yhe The goddes, that the meschief syhe,[437] Here formes changen alle thre. Echon of hem in his degre Was torned into briddes kinde; Diverseliche, as men mai finde, 5940 After thastat that thei were inne, Here formes were set atwinne. And as it telleth in the tale, The ferst into a nyhtingale[438] Was schape, and that was Philomene, Which in the wynter is noght sene, For thanne ben the leves falle And naked ben the buisshes alle. For after that sche was a brid, Hir will was evere to ben hid, 5950