I was thinking this while reading The Canterbury Tales, which isn’t exactly the oldest I’ve read (I think that goes to Homer)
But The Canterbury Tales is just so delightful! Getting into the flow of the rhyming prose is very fun to read (I’ve just been reading the Penguin Classics Coghill translation which is fantastic)
I’ve already watched the Pasolini adaptation but I’m definitely going to revisit once I finish the book.
The Epic of Gilgamesh in a modern retelling, don’t remember which one though.
Original text would be some middle high german poems and parts of The Canterbury Tales. I love their rythm and sound, read aloud it feels closer to modern german than modern english.