"Avoy!" quod she, "fy on yow, hertelees!
Allas," quod she, "for, by that God above,
Now han ye lost myn herte and al my love!
I kan nat love a coward, by my feith!
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale. Chauntecleer gets short shrift from Pertelote when he recounts his terrible, frightening dream to her of a beast roaming in the yard trying to seize him. Far from offering him sympathy, the judgmental hen shames and belittles him. She sternly rebukes him for making so much of a dream, brands him a coward, and says that he has lost all her love for she cannot love a coward!