Thise riotoures thre of whiche I telle,
Longe erst er prime rong of any belle,
Were set hem in a taverne to drynke,
And as they sat, they herde a belle clynke
Biforn a cors, was caried to his grave.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Tale. The three rioters are drinking in the tavern when they hear a bell clink and see a corpse being carried past on the way to the grave. So the tale begins with death, foreshadowing the death of the three revelers later.