And right anon thanne comen tombesteres
Fetys and smale, and yonge frutesteres,
Syngeres with harpes, baudes, wafereres,
Whiche been the verray develes officeres
To kyndle and blowe the fyr of lecherye,
That is annexed unto glotonye.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Tale. After enjoying eating, drinking and gambling to excess, we don’t have to wait too long for the girls to make an entrance to spice things up for the young debauchees. But why is it that girls who dance, sell fruit and wafers, and perform music, get the rap for stoking the (metaphorical) fire of lechery in the young men, to join onto their gluttony? OK, they’re graceful and slim, but that’s no justification for the Pardoner to portray them as the Devil’s officers and temptresses.