'I not,' quod she, 'wherof it serveth, thy question to assoyle. Me thinketh thee now duller in wittes than whan I with thee first mette. Although a man be leude, commenly for a fole he is nat demed but-if he no good wol lerne. Sottes and foles lete lightly out of mynde the good that men techeth hem. I sayd therfore, 90 thy stocke must be stronge, and in greetnesse wel herted: the tree is ful feble that at the firste dent falleth. And although frute fayleth oon yere or two, yet shal suche a seson come oon tyme or other, that shal bringe out frute that [is parfit]. *Fole, have I not seyd toforn this, as tyme hurteth, right so ayenward tyme heleth 95 and rewardeth; and a tree oft fayled is holde more in deyntee whan it frute forth bringeth. A marchaunt that for ones lesinge in the see no more to aventure thinketh, he shal never with aventure come to richesse. So ofte must men on the oke smyte, til the happy dent have entred, whiche with the okes owne swaye 100 maketh it to come al at ones. So ofte falleth the lethy water on the harde rocke, til it have thorow persed it. The even draught of the wyr-drawer maketh the wyr to ben even and supple-werchinge; and if he stinted in his draught, the wyr breketh a-sonder. Every tree wel springeth, whan it is wel grounded and 105 not often removed.'
'What shal this frute be,' quod I, 'now it ginneth rype?'
'Grace,' quod she, 'in parfit joy to endure; and therwith thou begon[ne].'
'Grace?' quod I; 'me thinketh, I shulde have a reward for my 110 longe travayle?'
'I shal telle thee,' quod she; 'retribucion of thy good willes to have of thy Margarite-perle, it bereth not the name of mede, but only of good grace; and that cometh not of thy desert, but of thy Margarytes goodnesse and vertue alone.' 115
Quod I, 'shulde al my longe travayle have no reward but thorow grace? And som-tyme your-selven sayd, rightwisnesse evenliche rewardeth, to quyte oon benefit for another.'
'That is sothe,' quod Love, 'ever as I sayde, as to him that doth good, which to done he were neyther holden ne yet 120 constrayned.'
'Trewly,' quod she, 'al that ever thou doest to thyne Margaryte-perle, of wil, of love, and of reson thou owest to done it; it is nothing els but yelding of thy dette in quytinge of thy grace, which 125 she thee lente whan ye first mette.'