The Prologue: The General Prologue starts with a detailed account of how April's showers make flowers bloom, crops grow, birds sing, and people want to take journeys to holy places--pilgrimages. In England, people like to go to Canterbury to pray at the shrine of a saint who healed them while they were sick. The narrator tells how, in April, he is at a tavern in Southwark, preparing his pilgrimage to Canterbury. At the tavern, he runs into a large group of travelers also going to Canterbury. Soon, he has talked with each person and has become a member of their group as well. The narrator describes the physical and internal characteristics of each person in the group in great detail. The narrator promises to detail what happens to them that evening and throughout the rest of their pilgrimage. He asks the reader for forgiveness if he offends anyone (and back then, he probably offended some people). He says it's not really his fault because it's his job to detail the pilgrim's words and events exactly as they occur, even if they are offensive. The host serves dinner. The narrator describes the host. The Host says the group has been the happiest he has seen in a long time. He tells the pilgrims they should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back. Whoever has the best story, as judged by the Host, wins a free dinner when they get back to his tavern. Whoever argues with the Host's decision has to pay for the entire trip. The pilgrims promise they'll abide by his rules. They all go to bed. In the morning, they start their journey. Along the way, the Host says they should draw straws to see who tells the first story. The Knight draws the shortest straw, so he goes first.
The Knight's Tale: The Duke Theseus of Athens is heading home from his invasion of Scythia, where he won a wife, Hippolyta, and a sister-in-law, Emily. Along the way, Theseus and his group come across some crying women. They beg Theseus to exact revenge on Creon, King of Thebes. Why? Creon refused to allow the women to give their husbands' a proper burial. That's a slap in the face back in the day. Theseus agrees to help the women. In the process, he wins two noble Theban hostages: cousins Palamon and Arcite. Theseus puts Palamon and Arcite in a tower next to his garden, without ransom. In early May, Emily walks in the garden to gather flowers. Palamon sees her from the window and it's love at first sight. He yells to her. Hearing this yell, Arcite comes to his cousin's side. Guess what? He seems Emily too, and yes, falls for her. They argue about who gets her (like she's some object). Arcite eventually says that it's pretty silly to fight over a lady since they'll be in the tower forever. Lucky for Arcite, he gets out of the tower. He and Theseus have a mutual friend who got Arcite released on one exception: he can't come to Athens ever again. Arcite throws a fit, and thinks Palamon has a better deal than him because he gets to see Emily every day. Palamon thinks that Arcite has it off well because he can get an army together to fight for Emily. Arcite comes to Athens disguised as a servant. He works his way to Theseus's house, become Emily's manservant. Palamon has escaped from prison. He hides in a grove of trees close to the palace. You might have guessed, but Arcite comes by the same grove. Palamon doesn't recognize him at first, but then when Arcite starts babbling about his love for Emily, Palamon figures it out and leaps out from the trees. They trash talk. Arcite challenges Palamon to a duel, saying he'll bring weapons tomorrow for Palamon so it's a fair fight. The next day, the duel. Theseus and his gang come across the two men fighting. Theseus tells them to stop. When he finds out they're Arcite and Palamon, he wants to order them to be put to death. But Hippolyta and Emily beg for mercy, Theseus reconsiders. Theseus says he's done some crazy things for love, too. Theseus says the each of them will come back in a year with one hundred soldiers and fight a joust and whoever wins gets Emily. They agree and go home to Athens. Theseus spends the year building a huge arena for the fight. The arena is complete and dedicated to Venus, Mars, and Diana. When it's time for the fight, Palamon and Arcite return to Athens, and everyone is ready to watch what goes down. The night before, Palamon, Arcite, and Emily visit different temples. Palamon prays to Venus to grant him Emily, Arcite asks Mars for victory, and Emily prays to Diana for perpetual virginity. The houst starts and a bunch of guys become POWs. In the end, Palamon is taken captive, and Arcite wins. On his victory lap, an earthquakes happens and causes Arcite to fall on the ground headfirst. Everyone thinks Arcite will recover, and they get ready for the feast to celebrate Arcite and Emily's marriage. Well, Arcite doesn't recover. He dies with Emily and Palamon by his side, using his final breath to tell Emily how wonderful Palamon is. Theseus lets Palamon marry Emily so there can be an alliance between Thebes and Athens. Theseus gives a long speech about how death is a part of the circle of life (i.e. God's plan). The story ends with a happy wedding.
The Miller's Prologue: Once the Knight is done with his tale, the narrator depicts the positive reactions of the pilgrims to his story. The Host asks the Monk to share his story next. The Miller, who is drunk, calls out that he knows a better tale that will top the Knight's. The Host tells the Miller that someone will talk first. The Miller says he will leave if he doesn't get to talk. The Host finally lets the Miller talk. The Miller tells everyone he is drunk and it's not his fault, but the fault of the ale of Southwark. He proceeds to say that he's going to tell a story about a carpenter and his wife, and how a clerk makes a fool out of the carpenter. The Reeve (carpenter) tells the Miller it's a sin to make fun of another and to speak badly about wives. The Miller tells the Reeve that the only people who don't get cheated on are the ones who don't have wives. Sound advice. Although, he says, the Reeve hasn't been cheated on because there are also many good wives. The Miller says that he has a wife, but he believes she's cheated on him. He says a husband shouldn't question the relationship of God or of his wife. The narrator interrupts to talk about how the Miller won't stop talking, pretty much that he's rather annoying. The narrator says not to be mad at him for telling such a raunchy story and that you can turn the pages to find better stories.
The Miller's Tale: The carpenter, John, lives in Oxford with his much younger wife, Alisoun, who is beautiful. To make a little more money, John rents out a room in his house to a poor, but smart, scholar named Nicholas, who obviously wants to have sex with Alisoun. Another scholar, Absolon, the parish clerk, also wants to have sex with her. John takes a day trip to a nearby town. While he's gone, Nicholas convinces Alisoun to have sex with him. The affair begins. Soon after, Alisoun goes to church, where Absolon is. He tries to get Alisoun to have sex with him by singing love songs under her window during the full moon. He even joins the local play to get her attention. Alisoun says no, no, no, not because she's married, but because she's having sex with Nicholas. Nicholas wants to spend a whole night with his lady, instead of a few moments when John isn't around. With Alisoun's help, he comes up with a plan. He convinces John that God is about to sent a flood, kind of like he did with Noah. He says that God told him they could be saved by hanging three huge buckets from the ceiling to sleep in. When the water rose, they would cut the ropes down and float away. John believes him and climbs into the bucket. He thinks Nicholas and Alisoun are doing the same thing, but they're obviously not. They're sleeping in John's bed. That night, Absolon comes to the window and begs Alisoun for a kiss. At first she refuses, but then supposedly gives in. Instead of sticking her lips out the window, she sticks her butt out. Absolon proceeds to kiss her butt. Angered, Absolon gets a hot poker so he can brand Alisoun. When he comes back, Nicholas sticks his butt out the window because he thinks that'd be funny, too. Absolon brands Nicholas, who yells, "Water!" because he needs something to fix the pain. John, hearing this and thinking the flood is here, buts the rope, which sends him to the floor. The townspeople hear the noise and check to see what's going on. Nicholas recites the story and they laugh at John.
The Reeve's Prologue: The narrator discusses how everyone is laughing and having a good time because of the Miller's tale, except the Reeve. The Reeve is upset because he's a carpenter. He thinks the Miller's tale is an insult to him. The Reeve says he can top the Miller's tale with a story about how a miller gets tricked, but he's too old for the sexual jokes in his story. The Reeve talks about how old he is. He says the four powers of the elderly are bragging, lying, anger, and jealousy. He says his life is almost over. The Host tells the Reeve that he's preaching too much and not story-telling enough. The Reeve asks the others to forgive him because he's going to have a raunchy tale like the Miller's. The Reeve promises to have a better story than the Miller.
The Reeve's Tale: A miller named Symkyn lives on some land by a bridge close to Cambridge. He likes to fight, carry weapons, and wrestle. Most of the townspeople avoid him, even though he cheats his customers. Symkyn married the illegitimate daughter of the local cleric, who is a proud woman. When a worker of a school in Canterbury who grinds its corn and wheat with Symkyn gets sick, Symkyn decides to cheat the school even more. Two students, Aleyn and John, ask their headmaster if they can ground the corn, thinking they can stop Symkyn from cheating them. The headmaster agrees. When they arrive at the mill, Aleyn and John tell Symkyn that they will watch the corn being ground. Symkyn realizes what they're up to and accepts the challenge. He unties the boys' horse. They have to spend the entire day looking for them, giving Symkyn the opportunity to steal flour from them. His wife bakes it into a cake and hides. Having spent the day getting their horse, the two boys spend the night at Symkyn's house. That night, Aleyn decides to have sex with Symkyn's daughter, Malyne. He thinks he deserves this since he has been cheated. John does the same thing with Symkyn's wife. John moves the cradle at the foot of her bed to his so she will mistakenly go to bed with him. At dawn, Aleyn tries to go back to his bed, but the cradle causes him to go to Symkyn's bed. Thinking that Symkyn is John, Aleyn brags how he had sex with Malyne all night. Angered, Symkyn punches Aleyn in the nose, then falls to the bed where John and his wife are sleeping. When she wakes up, she tries to help Symkyn by hitting the boys, but mistakes Symkyn's bald head for the white caps the boys wear, and hits Symkyn in the head. The boys proceed to beat Symkyn up, then pick up the cake made of stolen flour, because Malyne told Aleyn where it was.
The Cook's Prologue: The Cook loves the Reeve's tale. He talks about a moral from Proverb which says not to bring stranger's into your house. The Cook says he's never heard of a miller tricked quite like the one in the Reeve's story. The Cook says he's going to tell a story about a funny thing that happened in his city. The Host tells him it better be a good story. The Host says the Cook has been a part of dishonest cooking practices such as selling old meat pies, giving the travelers food poisoning, and keeping a dirty kitchen. The Host says, "Haha, I'm joking, don't be angry." The Cook is like, "Actually, everything you say is true, so it's not a good joke." He then tells a short, unfinished story.
The Cook's Tale: An apprentice lived in his city and his job was setting food. He was a short man, with dark skin and black hair. He was a great dancer. He loved the bar more than he did his shop, so much so, he would run out of his shop to the tavern and begin dancing, forgetting his work. One day, his master decided to fire him. The apprentice found a place to stay with a man who loved to do the same things he did. This man had a wife, who kept a shop, and had sex for a living. Then, the Cook's tale ends.
**This is obviously a fragment; it finishes before it really starts. No one really knows if Chaucer meant to leave it this way, if he didn't complete it, or if the rest has been lost.
Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow, more fun tales!
Cassy
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