Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales (Part A)

Canterbury Pilgrims by Thomas Stothard
via WikiMedia Commons

1-2. The Unknown Bride

• Synopsis:
• A knight fails to uphold his vows
• Should be out to death
• The ladies of court save him from punishment by their favor
• He shall not be put to death fi, in a year, he can discover what it is that women want most
• He travels the country asking women what they want most
• No two answers are the same
• He happens upon a group of young women dancing in a field
• They Scatter
• When he reaches the clearing there is only an old hag there
• She tells him the answer to his question in exchange for a promise to do the first thing asked of him
• He agrees
• All women want to rule over their husbands
• The knight returns to the queen's castle with his answer
• It is correct
• The old lady demands he fulfill his promise to her in front of the whole court
• She wishes to marry him
• At first, the knight protests, but gives in
• There isn't much happiness at the wedding
• His new wife calls him out for being inna bad mood
• The old women asks him if he would rather have an old, but faithful wife or a young, but cheating one
• The knight realizes that maybe things aren't so bad afterall
• He kisses his bride and she transforms into a beautiful young women
• The ones he had first seen in the field?
• They live happily ever after
• Possibilities
• Told from the woman's point of view
• Who are her friends?
• What were they doing in that forest?
• Why did she want to marry the knight?

9-11. The Revelers

• Synopsis:
• Three men were drinking in a tavern when they heard a bell outside
• The bell was for a funeral
• The squire and bar keep told them that death had been running around killing people
• The three men swore to go hunt death down and kill him
• On the way, they ran into an old man
• He pointed them in the direction of death
• Death was not by the tree, but a pile of gold was
• The youngest was sent back into town for bread and wine
• While he was gone the other two devised a plan to kill him so they wouldn't have to share the gold
• Along the way, the lone man came up with a plan to poison the other two
• All three men ended up dead, so no one got the gold
• Possibilities
• Was the old man death?
• Was the gold even real?
• What if it was the magician from stories 6-8?

Story Source:

Canterbury Tales, Eva March Tappan