This is just the opening lines of the General Prologue, designed to introduce students to Chaucerian Middle English. The text itself is cobbled together from a number of public domain sources and minimally edited. I’ve regularized the use of uppercase letters a bit to aid comprehension. The notes are my own.
| Whan that Aprill with his° shoures° soote° | its — showers — sweet, fresh |
| The droghte° of March hath perced° to the roote, | drought — pierced |
| And bathed every veyne in swich licour° | such liquid |
| Of which vertu° engendred° is the flour;° | power — created — flower |
| Whan Zephirus° eek° with his sweete breeth [5] | the gentle west wind — also |
| Inspired° hath in every holt° and heeth | breathed into — field |
| Tendre croppes,° and the yonge sonne | shoots |
| Hath in the Ram° his halve cours yronne,° | the constellation Aries — gone half its course |
| And smale foweles° maken melodye, | birds |
| That slepen al the nyght with open ye° [10] | eye |
| (So priketh° hem° nature in hir corages°); | spurs — them — their hearts |
| Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, | |
| And palmeres° for to seken straunge strondes,° | pilgrims — shores |
| To ferne halwes,° kowthe° in sondry londes; | distant shrines — known — various |
| And specially from every shires ende [15] | |
| Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, | |
| The hooly blisful martir for to seke, | |
| That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.° | has helped them when they were sick |
| Bifil° that in that seson on a day, | it happened |
| In Southwerk at the Tabard° as I lay [20] | Tabard Inn in Southwark, London |
| Redy to wenden° on my pilgrymage | go |
| To Caunterbury with ful° devout corage,° | very — hearts |
| At nyght was come into that hostelrye° | inn |
| Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye, | |
| Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle° [25] | by chance fallen together |
| In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle, | |
| That toward Caunterbury wolden° ryde. | would |
| The chambres° and the stables weren wyde, | bedrooms |
| And wel we weren esed atte beste.° | taken care of |
| And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,° [30] | sun was about to go down |
| So hadde I spoken with hem everichon° | every one |
| That I was of hir felaweshipe° anon,° | their company — at once |
| And made forward° erly for to ryse, | agreement |
| To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse.° | describe to you |
| But nathelees,° whil I have tyme and space, [35] | nevertheless |
| Er° that I ferther in this tale pace,° | before — proceed |
| Me thynketh it acordaunt to° resoun | it seems to me consistent with |
| To telle yow al the condicioun° | nature, state |
| Of ech of hem,° so as it semed me, | them |
| And whiche they weren, and of what degree,° [40] | social rank |
| And eek° in what array° that they were inne; | also — dress |
| And at a Knyght than wol I first bigynne. |