"Sire Nonnes Preest," oure Hooste seide anoon,
"I – blessed be thy breche, and every stoon!
This was a murie tale of Chauntecleer.
But by my trouthe, if thou were seculer,
Thou woldest ben a trede-foul aright.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, Epilogue to the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. The Host Harry Bailly thanks the Nun’s Priest for his merry tale of Chanticleer. He then flatters the priest in sexual terms, by blessing his breeches and testicles and saying that if he were a layman he would have been a great rooster among hens.