"Hooste," quod I, "ne beth nat yvele apayd,
For oother tale certes kan I noon,
But of a rym I lerned longe agoon."
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Prologue to Sir Thopas. The Host asks Chaucer the Pilgrim to tell them a tale of mirth. Chaucer tells him he knows no other tale except for a riming romance he learned long ago.