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The
frolicsome Wife of Bath, when called upon to
favour the
company,
protested that she had no aptitude for such things, but that her fourth
husband had had a liking for them, and she remembered
one of his riddles
that might be new to her fellow pilgrims:
"Why
is a bung that hath been
made fast in a barrel like unto another bung that is just falling out
of
a barrel?"
As
the company promptly answered this easy
conundrum, the
lady
went on to say that when she was one day seated sewing in her private
chamber her son entered.
"Upon
receiving," saith she, "the parental
command, 'Depart, my son, and do not disturb me!' he did reply, '
I
am,
of
a truth, thy son; but thou art not my mother, and until thou hast shown
me how this may be I shall not go forth.'"
This
perplexed the company a
good deal, but it is not like to give the reader much difficulty.
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