And but I be to-morn as fair to seene
As any lady, emperice, or queene,
That is bitwixe the est and eke the west,
Dooth with my lyf and deth right as yow lest.
Cast up the curtyn, looke how that it is.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The hag tells the Knight that if by tomorrow morning she has not been transformed into someone beautiful enough to be a queen or empress, then he can kill her if he likes. She invites him to pull up the curtain then to see for himself.