Each time I pick up The Canterbury Tales, I can't remember which tale is which any more, so here's a summary of each in 5 sentences or less (a work in progress):
The Knight's Tale
Knights Arcite and Palamon fall madly in love with Emily, duel to the death, for the noble cause of following their hearts and choosing the one they love. She nobly accepts the winner--but interestingly without any say of her own.
The Miller's Tale
Nicolas, boarding at old John the carpenter's house, falls in love with John's young wife Alison. He convinces gullible John that if he acts quickly and without questions, he will save him from a new Biblical flood, but it's just a ruse to get him alone with Alison. Absalom, the amorous parish, clerk interrupts their escapade and awakes John, who runs amok thinking the flood has begun. Poor gullible John becomes a laughing stock and branded insane by the villagers.
The Steward's Tale (or The Reeve's Tale)
Scholars John and Allen are cheated by a corrupt miller. It gets late so they spend the night in his 1-bedroom house. Through a combination of drunkenness, mischief, and mistakes in the dark, they sleep with his wife and daughter, fight the miller, and the wife knocks him out with a board. They escape at dawn with their silver and grain--and prove that cheaters will get cheated themselves in the end.
The Man of Law's Tale
The Emperor of Rome, trying to spread Christianity, gives his daughter, Constance, to the Sultan of Syria, but the Sultan's jealous mother has her banished to sea. With God's protection, however, as with Daniel, Jonah, David, and others before her, she arrives years later in Northumberland, where she marries the King and spreads Christianity there. The King's mother, however, also jealous, manages to get her banished again. This time she's found by a Roman Counselor, who takes her back to Rome, where he unwittingly reunites her with her father, the Emperor, and her husband, the King of Northumberland, who--thinking she was dead--was in Rome to see the Pope.
The Wife of Bath's Tale - coming soon
The Friar's Tale
A summoner, enforcing laws on morality, supplements his income by extorting "fines" from peasants for concocted accusations. Over-confident in himself, he joins up with the devil. On their way to extort a widow, they meet a peasant cursing his horses stuck in a rut. The devil ignores the peasant because he doesn't really mean his curses. Then they meet the widow, whom the summoner accuses of made-up crimes. When she responds with real curses, the devil takes the summoner's soul immediately!
The Summoner's Tale
A lying and conniving friar visits sick Thomas, the peasant, eats his food, molests his wife, and begs for gold. After making the friar promise he'll share it equally with his brothers, Thomas offers him any gold hidden in his pants, but all he has is a fart! Incensed, the friar visits a lord to complain, but all the lord offers is his servant's suggestion that a fart can be shared by passing it between the spokes of a wagon wheel.
The Cleric's Tale
Walter, the Italian Marquis, takes Griselda, the peasant girl, as his wife but only after making her vow obedience. Then he tests for deceptively for 12 years before finally confessing his cruelty was just a test and then they live happily ever after! The cleric then advises women to respect Griselda but not be so meek.
The Merchant's Tale
January, the old knight marries May, a young and beautiful girl. Then Fate makes January blind. After some discussion on the relationship between a husband and wife, Pluto restores January's sight in time for him to catch May in a fling with Damian, the squire, but Proserpine, Pluto's wife, gives May, and all women, the ability to talk her way out of any wrongdoing!
The Landowner's Tale - next
Reference:Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. ca. 1390. Trans. Burton Raffel. Modern Library. 2008.
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