Or ellis make yow seme that we ben schapeIt seem to you
Somtyme like a man, or like an ape;
Or lik an aungel can I ryde or go;
It is no wonder thing though it be so.
“Or else we make you think we have a shape,
Sometimes like to a man, or like an ape;
Or like an angel I can ride or go;
It is not wondrous that it should be so.”
“Why, a common conjurer can deceive you any day, and I have tenfold more cunning than a conjurer!”
“Why,” said the Summoner, quite interested, “do you have several shapes, and not only one?”
“We borrow whatever shape is best to catch our prey,” said the evil one.
“What makes you take all that trouble?” says the Summoner.
Ful many a cause, lieve sir Sompnour,dear
Sayde this feend. But al thing hath a tyme;
The day is schort, and it is passed prime,[125]
And yit ne wan I nothing in this day;won
I wol entent to winning, if I may,attend
And not entende our thinges to declare.
“Full many a cause, my good sir Summoner,”
Replied the fiend. “But all things have a time;
The day is short, and it is now past prime,
Yet have I not won anything to-day;
I’ll give my mind to winning, if I may,
And not our privy doings to declare.”
For you see the fiend was more intent upon his business than even the Summoner. However, he goes on to say, that sometimes he is obliged to work under the great God, without whose sufferance he could never have any power at all.
For somtyme we ben Goddis instrumentesGod’s
And menes to don his comaundementes,means
When that Him list, upon His creatures,He chooses
In divers acts and in divers figures.various
“Sometimes God uses us as instruments
And means, to work out His all-wise intents:
When on us this divine command He lays,
We serve in divers forms and divers ways.”
“But you needn’t be in such a hurry,” he says to the Summoner. “You’ll know more than you like perhaps before long.”
But oon thing warne I the, I wol not jape,one, jest
Thou wilt algates wite how we ben schape.always know
Thou schalt herafterward, my brother deere,
Com wher the nedith not of me to leere,[126]come, learn
For thou schalt by thin oughn experienceown
Conne,[127] in a chayer, reden of this sentencebe able, to counsel, meaning
Bet than Virgile[128] when he was on lyve,better, alive
Or Daunt also. Now let us ryde blyve,quickly
For I wol holde companye with the
Til it be so that thou forsake me.
“But of one thing I warn thee, not in play,
That thou shalt know what we are like, some day.
Thou shalt hereafter come, my brother dear,
Whither thou wilt not need of me to hear;
For thou shalt learned be—nay, specially wise
By self-experience—in these mysteries:
Wiser than Virgil ere from earth he past,
Or Dante either. Let us now ride fast,
For I will keep companionship with thee
Till thou desirest to depart from me.”