In The Canterbury Tales from The Nun's Priest's Tale, use your own words to paraphrase what Chauntecleer is telling the Fox."Nay thanne," quod he,...

This interesting quote comes at the resolution of
Chanticleer's misadventure in The Nun's Priest's Tale, which is the
twentieth tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. In order
to paraphrase the quote in one's own words, one must first know what Chaucer's words
mean. Some Middle English words are fairly easily sorted out. For instance, "thou shalt
namoore" is fairly easy to sort out to a Modern English "you shall no
more."

But some Middle English really requires a Middle
English Dictionary or a The
Canterbury Tales Glossary online. For instance, Middle English
"thee" seemes pretty straightforward and one would expect it to be the same as the
Colonial period "thee," which is a form of address. However, in Middle English, "thee"
actually means "to thrive; prosper" (Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Part
2; Glossary, Walter W. Skeat).

Now--what is the
meaning of the quotation so an acceptable paraphrase can be written for
it?:

"Nay
thanne," quod he, "I shrewe us bothe two,
And first I shrewe myself bothe
blood and bones,
If thou bigyle me ofter than ones.
Thou shalt
namoore, thurgh thy flaterye,
Do me to synge and wynke with myn
ye;
For he that wynketh whan he sholde see,
Al wilfully, God lat him
nevere thee."

What it means
is that Chanticleer is rejecting the fox's suggestion by saying that he curses (shrewe)
both of them and that he will curse himself "blood and bones" before he lets the the fox
trick (bigyle) him more than once. He goes on to say that never more shall the fox use
flattery to make Chanticleer sing (at dawn) and not take heed of danger, because anyone
who fails to take heed of danger--wholly willfully--when he should be alert, God should
never let prosper.

This is what it means. Now I'll attempt
a paraphrase that can be a model for your own paraphrase in your own words:  "No," said
he, "I'd sooner curse both of us. And I'll curse myself completely before I let you
beguile me one more time. Your flattery will never again make me sing and close my eyes
to danger; for anyone who willfully closes their eyes to danger, God should never let
thrive."

Thanne: then, than, sooner,
before
Shrewe: n. scoundrel, accursed, wretch
adj. evil, wicked

prp: beshrew, curse
Bothe: both
Bigyle: beguile, trick,
dupe
Ones: once
Namoore: never more, no more
Thurgh:
through
Flaterye: flattery
Synge: sing
Ye:
eye
Al: all, every, wholly, in every respect, entirely, all the day, all in
all
Thee: thrive, prosper