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The Canterbury Tales in bite-sized chunks. Part 6

John Welford @indexer (4852) • Leicester, England 31 Jul 19

Here are the final five 100-word Canterbury Tales: Nun’s Priest’s Tale Chauntecleer the cockerel has a long debate with Pertelote, one of his hens, about the power of dreams and how they can be portents of disaster, with...

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The Canterbury Tales in bite-sized chunks. Part 5

John Welford @indexer (4852) • Leicester, England 31 Jul 19

Prioress’s Tale A young Christian boy has to walk through the Jewish quarter on his way to school. As he walks he sings a Christian hymn that so annoys the Jews that they murder him and throw his body into a cesspit. His...

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The Canterbury Tales in bite-sized chunks. Part 4

John Welford @indexer (4852) • Leicester, England 31 Jul 19

Here are four more of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, each reduced to 100 words: Franklin’s Tale The lady Dorigen fears that her husband Arviragus will be shipwrecked on the Brittany rocks when he returns to her...

canterbury tales

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The Canterbury Tales in bite-sized chunks. Part 3

John Welford @indexer (4852) • Leicester, England 31 Jul 19

Here are four more of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, each reduced to 100 words: Summoner’s Tale A friar visits Thomas and his wife, who have recently lost their child. Thomas is lying on a couch. He complains that they have...

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canterbury tales

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The Canterbury Tales in bite-sized chunks. Part 1

John Welford @indexer (4852) • Leicester, England 31 Jul 19

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales take a bit of reading, even in a modern translation. However, the gist can be whittled down to only 100 words per Tale. Here is the Prologue, plus the first three tales. Prologue Farewell March,...

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canterbury tales

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Diary 21st and 22nd June 2018

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 25 Jun 18

Back from my long weekend away which went well though it was very exhausting. Going to Canterbury by train was way too expensive. An overnight coach ride was less than a quarter of the train fair so I went that way. It meant an...

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Diary Thursday 21st June 2018

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 21 Jun 18

I am glad today is the longest of the year as it has been very busy for me. My welfare hearing was at noon, so I got some vital shopping in, including a dear friend's birthday card on my way to see my new welfare officer. He...

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Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Parsons Tale And Chaucers Retraction

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 31 May 18

The last, and longest story in the collection, and disgracefully, the second Canterbury tale which Penguin classics translator Nevill Coghill refused to include in his collection, as he did with The Tale of Melibee. As a result, I...

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Short Story Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Manciples Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 29 May 18

Pologue The Pilgrims are slowed down by a drunken cook, who is in danger of falling from his horse, as he is half asleep. The Host tries to get him to tell the next story, but is too inebriated to even begin, so the Host offers...

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Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Canons Yeomans Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 25 May 18

Prologue - The Canon and his Yeoman were not with the rest of the Canterbury pilgrims when they first set off on their journey, but dramatically catch up with the party at this point in the narrative. The Yeoman boasts that the...

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Short Story Review Chaucer The Second Nuns Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 23 May 18

We have not had a story by the first Nun, who may be the one accompanying the priest who told The Nun’s Priest’s Tale. She is not mentioned in The Prologue introduction to the main characters at all. The Second Nun is fervently...

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Short Story Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Franklins Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 21 May 18

Spoiler alerts The Franklin, (a medieval land owner), has become impatient with the Squire’s Tale and has interrupted its endless narrative in mid-flow. He is now invited to tell a story himself. He quickly offers a romantic...

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Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Squires Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 8 May 18

Spoiler alerts The most sprawling and lightly set out story in The Canterbury Tales, told by the Squire, son of The Knight who gave us the opening tale. It tells of the feast to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the...

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Book Review Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Merchants Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 24 Mar 18

The Merchant appreciates the preceding Clerk’s Tale though he feels as if he cannot relate to it, as while Walter is cruel to Griselda in the story, the Merchant finds that it is his wife who is cruel to him. He talks as if he...

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Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Clerks Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 14 Mar 18

Spoiler alerts A quiet, unassuming Clerk who has not spoken at all since the Pilgrims embarked on their journey to Canterbury is now called upon to give a story for the entertainment of his fellow travellers. He offers one of...

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4 people

Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Pardoners Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 9 Mar 18

In direct reprisal for The Friar’s Tale about a corrupt Summoner being cast into Hell, The Summoner tells a story about a foolish Friar (monk). It I the rudest, most vulgar tale in the collection. In a Yorkshire village in a...

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Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Friars Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 5 Mar 18

The drunken Friar has not been happy with the Wife Of Bath’s moralising against men and also against clergymen. He sees morality as for God to offer, not for mortals. He states from the outset that his story has no important moral...

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Book Review – Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales - The Wife Of Baths Tale

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 28 Feb 18

Following The Wife Of Bath’s Prologue Alison, (Alis) The Wife, begins her Tale in earnest, with a few drunken interruptions from the Pardoner and the Friar. She offers a story set in Arthurian legend, when fairies still...

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Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales - The Wife Of Baths Prologue

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 28 Feb 18

Unusually, the Wife Of Bath’s Prologue is much longer than her story itself, and therefore it gets full page to itself here. The Wife, Alyson (or Alis), is one of Chaucer’s most likeable characters, and her Prologue and the...

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The Miller's Tale in exactly 100 words

John Welford @indexer (4852) • Leicester, England 28 Feb 18

Are Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales too long-winded for you? Would you prefer them to be a bit shorter? Here is a 100-word version of the second of the Tales, a bawdy romp that is told by the Miller: Elderly carpenter John...

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miller s tale

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