Lat brynge a man in a boot, · amydde the brode watre;
The wynd and the water · and the boot waggyng,
Maketh the man many a tyme · to falle and to stonde;
For stonde he never so stif, · he stumbleth if he meve,
Ac yet is he saaf and sound, · and so hym bihoveth;
For if he ne arise the rather, · and raughte to the steere,
The wynd wolde with the water · the boot over throwe;
And thanne were his lif lost, · thorough lackesse of hymselve[32].
And thus it falleth," quod the frere, · "by folk here on erthe;
The water is likned to the world · that wanyeth and wexeth;