THE WIFE OF BATH

                    Two houndes were accompanying the Wif
                    Who fed them kindly wastelbred and beef
                    And loved them above the many men
                    Who’d been her troubled husbands up till then,
                    For though her appetite for men was keen,
                    Her dogges she treated sweet, her husbands mean.

                    All five of them before long passed away
                    Depleted by the harshness of her sway,
                    And yet her little flock of dogs increased
                    Each time one of those harried men deceased.

                   A harridan she was indeed. Although at first
                   She could be charming, though once wed, the worst
                   Emerged, and her cursed husbands felt her wrath—
                   Such was the temper of this wife of Bath.

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