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The Reeve
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| 605 | The Reeve was old and choleric° and thin; |
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His beard was shaven closely to the skin, |
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His shorn hair came abruptly to a stop |
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Above his ears, and he was docked° on top |
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Just like a priest in front; his legs were lean, |
| 610 | Like sticks they were, no calf was to be seen. |
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He kept his bins and garners° very trim; |
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No auditor could gain a point on him. |
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And he could judge by watching drought and rain |
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The yield he might expect from seed and grain. |
| 615 | His master’s sheep, his animals and hens, |
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Pigs, horses, dairies, stores, and cattle-pens |
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Were wholly trusted to his government. |
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He had been under contract to present |
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The accounts, right from his master’s earliest years. |
| 620 | No one had ever caught him in arrears.° |
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No bailiff,° serf, or herdsman dared to kick, |
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He knew their dodges, knew their every trick; |
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Feared like the plague he was, by those beneath. |
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He had a lovely dwelling on a heath, |
| 625 | Shadowed in green by trees above the sward.° |
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A better hand at bargains than his lord, |
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He had grown rich and had a store of treasure |
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Well tucked away, yet out it came to pleasure |
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His lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods, |
| 630 | To earn his thanks and even coats and hoods. |
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When young he’d learnt a useful trade and still |
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He was a carpenter of first-rate skill. |
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The stallion-cob° he rode at a slow trot |
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Was dapple-gray and bore the name of Scot. |
| 635 | He wore an overcoat of bluish shade |
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And rather long; he had a rusty blade |
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Slung at his side. He came, as I heard tell, |
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From Norfolk, near a place called Baldeswell. |
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His coat was tucked under his belt and splayed. |
| 640 | He rode the hindmost of our cavalcade |