Prologue to the Nun's Priest's Tale: The Knight tells the Monk that his tragedies are, well, too tragic. He says to stop telling his story because it's too sad. The Knight thinks that stories that talk about men's rise into fortune is better than fall to misery. The Host agrees. He says that the Monk should tell another story. The Monk doesn't want to play the game anymore. The Host asks the Nun's Priest to tell a tale. He begins his tale.
The Nun's Priest's Tale: Chaunticleer, a rooster, wakes up from a nightmare where he was being chased in a yard. The creature chasing him resembled a fox. Lady Pertelote, his wife, tells him to stop being a baby about it. Later, Chaunticleer sees a fox named Don Russel. Chaunticleer ran away, but the fox calls him over because he wants to hear Chaunticleer's beautiful voice. The vain rooster shuts his eyes and sings. At that moment, the fox grabs him by the neck and takes him. The hens are making such a racket that all the animals see the rooster being carried off. Chaunticleer suggests to the fox that he turn around and yell insults at the animals. The fox thinks this is a great idea, and does, dropping Chaunticleer out of his mouth. The fox tries to lure him out again by compliments and flattery, but he's learned his lesson.
Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale: The Host loves the tale. He says that if the Nun's Priest was an ordinary man, he would get a lot of ladies. The Host wishes the Nun's Priest well.
Prologue to the Canon's Yeoman's Tale: The group is nearing Canterbury as a man in black comes up to the group. He says he has ridden very quickly to catch up with them because he wants to hang out with such a happy group. The man's yeoman (apprentice) is very polite. He tells that group that he saw them and urged the Canon to join them. The Host is like, yeah, I know we're pretty cool. Why don't you tell a story? The Yeoman says that the Canon can tell amazing stories, and he has talents that would wow the group. The Host asks the Yeoman if his master is a clerk. He says nope, but he can make this road we're traveling on silver and gold. The Host says, cool story, but why are you guys wearing such poor clothes, then? The Yeoman says that the Canon is too smart, and he never actually completes what he does. The Host asks where they live, and the Yeoman says they live with criminals in alleys. The Host asks (he's inquisitive) why the Yeoman looks so pale, to which the Yeoman says, I've been working hard trying to turn things to gold. He says that they're able to convince people to give them money, promising they can double it but they never give it back. The Canon gets a little annoyed with the Yeoman telling everyone what they do. The Host says, no, keep talking. The Yeoman keeps talking, and the Canon rides away ticked off. The Yeoman tells the group that he's about to tell a good story.
The Canon's Yeoman's Tale: This story is a two-parter. The first part is autobiographical. The Yeoman explains that once he had fancy clothes and led a comfortable life. He explains that he and the Canon are alchemists. He says he's in debt because they can't get anything to turn into gold. He tries to explain what they do, failures, and their search for the Philosopher's Stone. Now comes the second part. A canon who practices alchemy borrows a mark from a priest. In three days, the cannon returns the mark back to the priest, and says he'll reveal a few things he discovered. He sends for some quick solver, and by trickery, makes the priest believe that he turned it into real silver. The priest is impressed, so impressed that he offers to buy the secret from the canon. The canon promptly disappears after he gets his money. That's it.
Prologue to the Manciple's Tale: At a town, the Host says that the Cook is drunk. He orders the Cook to come forward and tell a tale as a sort of punishment. The Cook says he's really sleepy. The Manciple asks the Host if he can tell a story instead. The Cook is a little offended by this, tries to hit the Manciple, but falls off of his horse instead. The group helps him back into the saddle. Eventually, after some arguing, the Manciple is allowed to tell his story.
The Manciple's Tale: When Phoebus, god of poetry, lived on earth, he was a player (if you know what I mean), an excellent archer, and everyone was jealous of his musical skills. Phoebus kept a white crow, who could imitate speech as well as sing better than a nightingale. Phoebus also had a wife, whom he loved, and did his best to treat her well. Problem, he was a jealous god. He guarded her closely. His wife did actually have another man, who wasn't as great at Phoebus. One day, Phoebus was away, and his wife sent for her lover. The white crow saw them together. When Phoebus came home, the crow kept singing, "Cokkow," which means he was actually saying cuckold. Phoebus didn't quite get the memo, but the crow cleared it up for him. Phoebus's heart was broken. He took his bow, planning to murder his wife, but he ended up snapping it in a rage. Then he got mad at the messenger--the crow. He pulled out all its white feathers, thinking that the crow was lying to him. He flung it out of the door, leaving it for the devil. That's why crows are black, fun fact. The Manciple then says never tell a man that his wife is cheating on him because he'll be mad at the messenger. Sweet story, Manciple.
Prologue to the Parson's Tale: The Host says that the game is almost over, except one more person needs to tell his story: the Parson. The Host asks the Parson to tell a fable. The Parson says he's not going to do that, but he'll try to tell a story that pleases everyone. The Host tells the Parson to hurry up because the sun is about to set.
The Parson's Tale: The Parson's tale is more of a sermon than a story. It's about penitence. It has been taken as a criticism of the not-so moral characteristics of many of the people in the group. The Parson splits his story into three parts: contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth, and satisfaction. The Parson also discusses the Seven Deadly Sins and offering how to combat them.
Think that's the end of the book? Nope. Chaucer had a retraction in his text.
Chaucer's Retraction: Chaucer tells his readers to give it up to the big man, JC: Jesus, if they liked something in the book it's all because of Him. He also asks everyone to forgive him for having to write things that they might not like. Chaucer says he tried to portray these people to help others. He thanks Jesus and Mary.
Next, why we should teach. Yay!
Cassy
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