She koude muchel of wandrynge by the weye.
Gat-tothed was she, soothly for to seye.
Upon an amblere esily she sat,
Ywympled wel, and on hir heed an hat
As brood as is a bokeler or a targe;
A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large,
And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe.
In felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe.
Of remedies of love she knew per chaunce,
For she koude of that art the olde daunce.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. The final lines describing the Wife of Bath are very sexually suggestive. She is gap-toothed, sits easily on her horse, wears a wimple overskirt over her broad hips, and sharp spurs on her feet. She is able to give first hand advice on matters of love, Chaucer tells us, going on to describe her sexual expertise with a dance metaphor: For she knew the old dance of that art.