But first I make a protestation
That I am drunk; I know it by my sound
And therefore, if that I misspeak or say,
Wit it the ale of Southwark, I you pray
For I will tell a legend and a life
Both of a carpenter and of his wife
The spelling isn't even that different (though the pronunciation is more so); compare the fifteenth-century spelling from www.chaucermss.org (multitext edition):
But first I make a protestacioun
That I am dronke / I knowe it by my sown
And therfore / if รพ I mysspeke / or seye
Wite it / the ale of Southwerk I preye
For I wol telle a legende and a lyf
Bothe of a Carpenter / and of his wyf
(The slashes appear in the fifteenth-century text; I'm not sure what they indicate.)
Modern English and Middle English aren't quite mutually intelligible, but if you were somehow dropped into England in 1420, you'd probably be conversational inside of a month.
Modern English and Middle English aren't quite mutually intelligible, but if you were somehow dropped into England in 1420, you'd probably be conversational inside of a month.