But Albeit That They Be Without Peril, Yet, Natheles,
Ne Be They Not Without Dread, When That They See The Devils Visibly
And Bodily All About Them, That Make Full Many Diverse Assaults And
Menaces, In Air And In Earth, And Aghast Them With Strokes Of
Thunder-Blasts And Of Tempests.
And the most dread is, that God
will take vengeance then of that that men have misdone against his
will.
And ye shall understand, that when my fellows and I were in that
vale, we were in great thought, whether that we durst put our
bodies in adventure, to go in or not, in the protection of God.
And some of our fellows accorded to enter, and some not. So there
were with us two worthy men, friars minors, that were of Lombardy,
that said, that if any man would enter they would go in with us.
And when they had said so, upon the gracious trust of God and of
them, we let sing mass, and made every man to be shriven and
houseled. And then we entered fourteen persons; but at our going
out we were but nine. And so we wist never, whether that our
fellows were lost, or else turned again for dread. But we saw them
never after; and those were two men of Greece, and three of Spain.
And our other fellows that would not go in with us, they went by
another coast to be before us; and so they were.
And thus we passed that perilous vale, and found therein gold and
silver, and precious stones and rich jewels, great plenty, both
here and there, as us seemed. But whether that it was, as us
seemed, I wot never. For I touched none, because that the devils
be so subtle to make a thing to seem otherwise than it is, for to
deceive mankind. And therefore I touched none, and also because
that I would not be put out of my devotion; for I was more devout
then, than ever I was before or after, and all for the dread of
fiends that I saw in diverse figures, and also for the great
multitude of dead bodies, that I saw there lying by the way, by all
the vale, as though there had been a battle between two kings, and
the mightiest of the country, and that the greater part had been
discomfited and slain. And I trow, that unnethe should any country
have so much people within him, as lay slain in that vale as us
thought, the which was an hideous sight to see. And I marvelled
much, that there were so many, and the bodies all whole without
rotting. But I trow, that fiends made them seem to be so whole
without rotting. But that might not be to mine advice that so many
should have entered so newly, ne so many newly slain, with out
stinking and rotting. And many of them were in habit of Christian
men, but I trow well, that it were of such that went in for
covetise of the treasure that was there, and had overmuch
feebleness in the faith; so that their hearts ne might not endure
in the belief for dread. And therefore were we the more devout a
great deal. And yet we were cast down, and beaten down many times
to the hard earth by winds and thunders and tempests. But evermore
God of his grace holp us. And so we passed that perilous vale
without peril and without encumbrance, thanked be Almighty God.
After this, beyond the vale, is a great isle, where the folk be
great giants of twenty-eight foot long, or of thirty foot long.
And they have no clothing but of skins of beasts that they hang
upon them. And they eat no bread, but all raw flesh; and they
drink milk of beasts, for they have plenty of all bestial. And
they have no houses to lie in. And they eat more gladly man's
flesh than any other flesh. Into that isle dare no man gladly
enter. And if they see a ship and men therein, anon they enter
into the sea for to take them.
And men said us, that in an isle beyond that were giants of greater
stature, some of forty-five foot, or of fifty foot long, and, as
some men say, some of fifty cubits long. But I saw none of those,
for I had no lust to go to those parts, because that no man cometh
neither into that isle ne into the other, but if he be devoured
anon. And among those giants be sheep as great as oxen here, and
they bear great wool and rough. Of the sheep I have seen many
times. And men have seen, many times, those giants take men in the
sea out of their ships, and brought them to land, two in one hand
and two in another, eating them going, all raw and all quick.
Another isle is there toward the north, in the sea Ocean, where
that be full cruel and full evil women of nature. And they have
precious stones in their eyen. And they be of that kind, that if
they behold any man with wrath, they slay him anon with the
beholding, as doth the basilisk.
Another isle is there, full fair and good and great, and full of
people, where the custom is such, that the first night that they be
married, they make another man to lie by their wives for to have
their maidenhead: and therefore they take great hire and great
thank. And there be certain men in every town that serve of none
other thing; and they clepe them cadeberiz, that is to say, the
fools of wanhope. For they of the country hold it so great a thing
and so perilous for to have the maidenhead of a woman, that them
seemeth that they that have first the maidenhead putteth him in
adventure of his life.
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