‘Let me not like a worm go by the way.’
The first outline given of the character is inimitable:
‘Nought fer fro thilke paleis honourable,
Wher as this markis shope his mariage,
Ther stood a thorpe, of sighte delitable,
In which that poure folk of that village
Hadden hir bestes and her herbergage,
And of hir labour toke hir sustenance,
After that the earthe yave hem habundance.
Among this poure folk ther dwelt a man,