She is to be loving, humble, obedient, careful and thoughtful for his person, silent regarding his secrets, and patient if he be foolish and allow his heart to stray towards other women.

The whole section is illustrated by a series of stories (known as _exempla_ in the Middle Ages), culled from the Bible, from the common stock of anecdotes possessed by jongleur and preacher alike, and (most interesting of all) from the Menagier's own experience.

Among the Menagier's longer illustrations is the favourite but intolerably dull moral tale of Melibeu and Prudence, by Albertano of Brescia, translated into French by Renault de Louens, whose version the Menagier copied, and adapted by Jean de Meung in the _Roman de la Rose_, from which in turn Chaucer took it to tell to the Canterbury Pilgrims.

Here also are to be found Petrarch's famous tale of patient Griselda, which Chaucer also took and gave a wider fame, and a long poem written in 1342 by Jean Bruyant, a notary of the Chatelet at Paris, and called 'The Way of Poverty and Wealth', inculcating diligence and prudence.[3] The second section of the book deals with household management and is far the most interesting.

The range of the Menagier's knowledge leaves the reader gasping.