Pyramus was a yong ientylman of the cyte of Babylonie, and ffro that he was but vii. yere olde loue woundede hym with his darte, and [he] was sore takyne with the loue of Tysbe the feyre yong ientylwoman, þe which was leke to hym in kyn and of age; and by þe grete hauntyng of þe twoo louers togedir þe grete loue was perseyuid and by a seruaunte accused to þe modir of þe yong gentylvoman, þe which tooke hir dougter and schette hir in hir chambre and she shulde kepe hir wele inowgh from the hauntyng of Piramus. And þerfor þer was grete woo betwyne þe two childyrne in full pitous complayntes and wepyng. That prison dured longe, but as they wexe in age þe sparke of loue encressed; for all ther longe absence it qwenchid neuer the more. Bytweyne þe places of ther kyne[309] was but a thynne wall. Thesbe perceyved the wall crassed,[310] where throw she saw brygnes[311] on the toþer side; than she toke the pendavnde of hir gyrdill[312] and put it throw the crevesse to þe entent þat hir loue myht perseyue it, as that he dede in schorte tyme. And there thei ii^o louers made ofte there assembles wiht full petous compleyntes. At the laste, as two sore constreynyd be loue, there acorde was sich that [that] nyte in the fryst qwarter of the nyght they shulde parte fro there kynne and mete withowte the cyte at a well vndir a qwythe thorne,[313] w[h]ere in there childehode they were wonte to pleye. When Thesbe was come to the welle all alone and ferefull, she harde a lyon come full rudly, ffor the which she, full of fere, fledde and layde hyr in a bosche fast by; but in the waye felle from hir a white wymple. Piramus come, the which by the moneshyne perseyuyd the wymple, but the lyon hade fylyd it and made it all blody, the[314] * * * * * In[315] as mych as the nutte is better than the shelle,[316] it is seyde [Sidenote: f. 35.] to the good knyght þat he shulde not sette his thowght in felicite, þat þe parseyvyng of worthines be leste therefor. To this purpose Hermes seith that it is better to haue pouerte in doyng goode dedys than riches lewdly or evyl getyn, standing worthines is euerlestyng and riches voide and dissauable.