Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part A

Unit: Canterbury Tales by Chaucer and retold in The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March

The Pilgrims from Canterbury Tales

Overview: a group of seven pilgrims have a storytelling contest to pass the time on their pilgrimage to Canterbury
The seven pilgrims: The Wife of Bath, Friar, Franklin, the Pardoner, the Prioress, the Nun's Priest, and the Canon's Yeoman

Observations so far: a good idea to have each of the pilgrims tell their own story. A story within another story

The Wife of Bath's Tale: The Unknown Bride

• setting is olden times, many hundred years ago
• the land was full of fairies
• elf-rings (where the fairy queen dances)
• a knight's life was spared if he could tell the queen what women wish for most
• the knight asked all the women in the kingdom, however no two answers were the same
• the knight met an old woman who told him that all women wish to rule over their husbands
• the knight owed a favor to the old woman--to make her his wife
• the knight refused, but to spare his life, he married her. After the woman spoke noble words, he kissed her and revealed her face
• The woman was actually young, fair, and charming
• now, there are no fairies, but you will see a begging friar roaming around

Friar's Tale: The Story of the Summoner

• corrupt summoner
• trick people into paying them for their silence
• the fiend and the summoner
• the fiend tricked the summoner and took him away after tricking him to summon an old and poor woman to court even though she did nothing wrong