shulde springe.'
'Therof, lady,' quod I, 'hertely I you pray; for than leve
I †wel, that right sone after I shal ataste of the frute that I so
long have desyred.'
'Thou hast herd,' quod she, 'in what wyse this tree toforn this
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have I declared, as in grounde and in stocke of wexing. First,
the ground shulde be thy free wil, ful in thyne herte; and the
stocke (as I sayde) shulde be continuaunce in good service by
long tyme in traveyle, til it were in greetnesse right wel woxen.