1.
In Venice town not long ago
A cruel Jew did dwell,
Which lived all on usury,
As Italian writers tell.
2.
Gernutus callèd was the Jew,
Which never thought to die,
Nor ever yet did any good
To them in streets that lie.
3.
His life was like a barrow hog,
That liveth many a day,
Yet never once doth any good,
Until men will him slay.
4.
Or like a filthy heap of dung,
That lieth in a hoard;
Which never can do any good,
Till it be spread abroad.
5.
So fares it with the usurer,
He cannot sleep in rest
For fear the thief will him pursue,
To pluck him from his nest.
6.
His heart doth think on many a wile
How to deceive the poor;
His mouth is almost full of muck,
Yet still he gapes for more.
7.
Within that city dwelt that time
A merchant of great fame,
Which being distressèd in his need,
Unto Gernutus came:
8.
Desiring him to stand his friend
For twelvemonth and a day;
To lend to him a hundred crowns;
And he for it would pay.
9.
Whatsoever he would demand of him,
And pledges he should have:
‘No,’ quoth the Jew, with hearing looks,
‘Sir, ask what you will have.
10.
‘No penny for the loan of it
For one year you shall pay;
You may do me as good a turn,
Before my dying day.
11.
‘But we will have a merry jest,
For to be talkèd long:
You shall make me a bond’, quoth he,
‘That shall be large and strong.
12.
‘And this shall be the forfeiture, –
Of your own flesh a pound:
If you agree, make you the bond,
And here is a hundred crowns.’
13.
‘With right good will’, the met chant says.
And so the bond was made.
When twelve month and a day drew on,
That back it should be paid.
14.
The merchant’s ships were all at sea,
And money came not in;
Which way to take, or what to do,
To think he doth begin.
15.
And to Gernutus straight he comes
With cap and bended knee;
And said to him, ‘Of courtesy,
I pray you bear with me.
16.
‘My day is come, and I have not
The money for to pay;
And little good the forfeiture
Will do you, I dare say.’
17.
‘With all my heart,’ Gernutus said,
‘Command it to your mind:
In things of bigger weight than this
You shall me ready find.’
18.
He goes his way; the day once past,
Gernutus doth not slack
To get a sergeant presently,
And clapt him on the back.
19.
And laid him into prison strong,
And sued his bond withall;
And when the judgment day was come,
For judgment he did call.
20.
The merchant’s friends came thither fast,
With many a weeping eye,
For other means they could not find,
But he that day must die.
21.
Some offered for his hundred crowns
Five hundred for to pay;
And some a thousand, two or three,
Yet still he did deny.
22.
And at the last ten thousand crowns
They offered, him to save:
Gernutus said, ‘I will no gold,
My forfeit I will have.
23.
‘A pound of flesh is my demand,
And that shall be my hire.’
Then said the judge, ‘Yet, good my friend,
Let me of you desire
24.
‘To take the flesh from such a place,
As yet you let him live:
Do so, and lo! an hundred crowns
To thee here will I give.’
25.
‘No, no,’ quoth he, ‘no, judgment here;
For this it shall be tried;
For I will have my pound of flesh
From under his right side.’
26.
It grieved all the company
His cruelty to see,
For neither friend nor foe could help
But he must spoiled be.
27.
The bloody Jew now ready is
With whetted blade in hand,
To spoil the blood of innocent,
By forfeit of his bond.
28.
And as he was about to strike
In him the deadly blow,
‘Stay,’ quoth the judge, ‘thy cruelty;
I charge thee to do so.
29.
‘Since needs thou wilt thy forfeit have,
Which is of flesh a pound,
See that thou shed no drop of blood,
Nor yet the man confound.
30.
‘For if thou do, like murderer
Thou here shalt hangèd be:
Likewise of flesh see that thou cut
No more than ’longs to thee.
31.
‘For if thou take either more or less,
To the value of a mite,
Thou shalt be hangèd presently,
As is both law and right.’
32.
Gernutus now waxed frantic mad,
And wots not what to say;
Quoth he at last, ‘Ten thousand crowns
I will that he shall pay;
33.
‘And so I grant to set him free.’
The judge doth answer make;
‘You shall not have a penny given;
Your forfeiture now take.’
34.
At the last he doth demand
But for to have his own;
‘No,’ quoth the judge, ‘do as you list.
Thy judgment shall be shown.
35.
‘Either take your pound of flesh,’ quoth he,
‘Or cancel me your bond:’
‘O cruel judge,’ then quoth the Jew,
‘That doth against me stand!’
36.
And so with griping, grieved mind
He biddeth them farewell:
Then all the people praised the Lord,
That ever this heard tell.
37.
Good people, that do hear this song,
For truth I dare well say,
That many a wretch as ill as he
Doth live now at this day;
38.
That seeketh nothing but the spoil
Of many a wealthy man,
And for to trap the innocent
Deviseth what he can.
39.
From whom the Lord deliver me,
And every Christian too,
And send to them like sentence eke
That meaneth so to do.