A fox, a cockerel and a hen are the main characters of the nuns’ priest’s tale. A fable with a lesson about arrogance, pride and selfishness. Read it careful and you will probably learn useful in life.
good luck.
A fox, a cockerel and a hen are the main characters of the nuns’ priest’s tale. A fable with a lesson about arrogance, pride and selfishness. Read it careful and you will probably learn useful in life.
good luck.
the equinoctial wheel imaginary band encircling the earth and aligned with the equator. The equinoctial wheel, like the earth, makes a 360-degree rotation every 24 hours: Thus, fifteen degrees would be the equivalent to one hour. It was a popular belief in the time of Chaucer that cocks crowed punctually on the hour.
azure a semi-precious stone, today called lapis lazuli. In the description of Chaunticleer, the use of azure reinforces his courtly appearance.
humors (humours) in Chaucer’s time and well into the Renaissance, “humors” were the elemental fluids of the body — blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile — that regulated a person’s physical health and mental disposition.
Cato Dionysius Cato, the author of a book of maxims used in elementary education (not to be confused with the more famous Marcus Cato the Elder and Marcus Cato the Younger, who were famous statesmen of ancient Rome).
tertian occurring every third day.
lauriol, centaury, and fumitory herbs that were used as cathartics or laxatives.
Kenelm a young prince who, at seven years old, succeeded his father but was slain by an aunt.
Macrobius the author of a famous commentary on Cicero’s account of The Dream of Scipio.
Daniel See Daniel vii.
Joseph See Genesis xxxvii and xxxix–xli.
Crosus (Croesus) King of Lydia, noted for his great wealth.
Andromache wife of Hector, leader of the Trojan forces, who one night dreamed of Hector’s death.
In principio / Mulier est hominis confusio a Latin phrase meaning “Woman is the ruin of man.” Chaunticleer plays a trick on Lady Pertelote and translates the phrase as “Woman is man’s joy and bliss.”
Taurus, the bull the second sign of the zodiac.
Lancelot of the lake the popular knight of King Arthur’s legendary Round Table.
Iscariot, Judas the betrayer of Jesus to the Romans.
Ganelon, Geeniloun the betrayer of Roland, nephew of Charlemagne, to the Moors in the medieval French epic The Song of Roland.
Sinon a Greek who persuaded the Trojans to take the Greeks’ wooden horse into their city, the result of which was the destruction of Troy.
Physiologus a collection of nature lore, describing both the natural and supernatural.
Don Brunel the Ass a twelfth-century work by the Englishman Nigel Wireker. The tale refers to a priest’s son who breaks a rooster’s leg by throwing a stone at it. In revenge, the bird declines to crow in the morning of the day when the priest is to be ordained and receive a benefice; the priest fails to wake up in time and, being late for the ceremony, loses his preferment.
Geoffrey reference to Geoffrey de Vinsauf, an author on the use of rhetoric during the twelfth century.
Pyrrhus the Greek who slew Priam, the king of Troy.
Hasdrubal the king of Carthage when it was destroyed by the Romans. His wife screamed so loudly that all of Carthage heard her, and she died by throwing herself upon Hasdrubal’s funeral pyre. The comparison to Lady Pertelote is apropos.
Nero A tyrant who, according to legend, sent many of the senators to death accompanied by the screams and wailing of their wives. Thus, Lady Pertelote will be similar to the Roman wives if she loses her husband, Chaunticleer.
Jack Straw a leader of the riots in London during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
Read more: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Canterbury-Tales-Summary-and-Analysis-The-Nun-s-Priest-s-Tale.id-52,pageNum-116.html#ixzz0bACL1eVh
A very poor widow lives in a small cottage with her two daughters. Her main possession is a noble cock called Chaunticleer. This rooster is beautiful, and nowhere in the land is there a cock who can match him in crowing. He is the master, so he thinks, of seven lovely hens. The loveliest of these is the beautiful and gracious Lady Pertelote. She holds the heart of Chaunticleer and shares in all his glories and all his problems.
One spring morning, Chaunticleer awakens from a terrible dream of a beast roaming in the yard trying to seize him. This beast’s color and markings were much the same as a fox. Lady Pertelote cries out, “For shame … . Fie on you / heartless coward” (“Avoi (coward) … fy on you, herteless”) and tells him that being afraid of dreams is cowardly and that, by showing such fear, he has lost her love. She tells him he dreamed because he ate too much and that it is well known that dreams have no meaning; he simply needs a laxative. Chaunticleer graciously thanks Lady Pertelote, but he quotes authorities who maintain that dreams have a very definite meaning and insists that he does not need a laxative.
Later, Chaunticleer catches sight of a fox named Don Russel, who is hiding near the farmyard. Chaunticleer begins to run, but the fox gently calls out that he only came to hear Chaunticleer’s beautiful voice. Hearing this, the vain cock shuts his eyes and bursts into song. At that moment, the fox races to the cock, grasps him about the neck, and makes off with him. The hens in the barnyard make such a terrible commotion that they arouse the entire household. Soon the widow, her two daughters, the dogs, hens, geese, ducks, and even the bees, are chasing the fox.
Chaunticleer suggests to the fox to turn around and shout insults at his pursuers. The fox, thinking Chaunticleer’s idea a good one, opens his mouth, and Chaunticleer nimbly escapes to a treetop. The fox tries once again to lure Chaunticleer down by compliments and flattery, but the rooster has learned his lesson.
At the conclusion of the tale, the Host praises the Nun’s Priest. Observing the Priest’s magnificent physique, he comments that, if the Priest were secular, his manhood would require not just seven hens, but seventeen. He thanks “Sir Priest” for the fine tale and turns to another for the next tale.
This story takes place in the farmyard of a widow and her two daughters.
Here lives a cock called Chaunticleer who was a magnificent beast and was renowned for his crowing – no other cock could match him. He watched over seven hens, the leader of which was a gracious hen named Lady Pertelote. Chaunticleer and the Lady were in love.
One day, the Lady noticed that Chaunticleer was not his usual self. He tells her that he has had a terrible dream, that some kind of beast came into the yard and seized him. His color was similar to a fox. The Lady scolds him for being cowardly and that dreams are nothing to be afraid of. He probably ate too many worms – that is what causes bad dreams.
The Lady quotes Cato who said that dreams have no consequence, but Chaunticleer thinks differently. He has heard that dreams can foretell the future.
Now there was a fox named Daun Russel who had been hiding near the farmyard, and suddenly Chaunticleer notices the fox and immediately begins to run around, but the fox calls out saying don’t be afraid, I have only come to hear your beautiful voice. He believes that Chaunticleer’s voice is even better than his father, and he was a good crower. The vain cock shuts his eyes and bursts into song, demonstrating his prowess to the fox. The fox grasps him about the neck and makes off into the countryside.
The hens, seeing what has happened, make a terrible din that arouses the entire household. The widow and her two daughters, plus all the farmyard animals, dogs, geese, ducks and even the bees, chase the fox.
Chaunticleer says to the fox, “Why don’t you turn round and throw them a few insults?” The fox thinks this is a good idea and as soon as he opens his mouth Chaunticleer escapes and flies into the trees.
http://www.bookwolf.com/Free_Booknotes/Canterbury_Tales_by_Geoffrey_C/Nun_s_Priest_s_Tale-Canterbury/nun_s_priest_s_tale-canterbury.html
“The Nun’s Priest’s Tale of the Cock and the Hen, Chanticleer and Partlet” (Middle English: The Nonnes Preestes Tale of the Cok and the Hen, Chauntecleer and Pertelote) is one of The Canterbury Tales by the 14th century Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. This vigorous and comical 625-line narrative poem is a beast fable and a mock epic which may have existed before Chaucer but was at the very least popularized by him.
The fable concerns a world of talking animals who reflect both human perception and fallacy. Its protagonist is Chanticleer, a proud rooster who dreams of his approaching doom in the form of a fox. Frightened, he awakens Partlet, the only hen among his seven wives with whom he is infatuated. She assures him that he only suffers from indigestion and chides him for paying heed to a simple dream. Chanticleer recounts stories of prophets who foresaw their deaths, dreams that came true, and dreams that were more profound (for instance the Dream of Scipio). Chanticleer is comforted by Partlet and proceeds to greet a new day.
Unfortunately for Chanticleer, his own dream was also correct. A col-fox, ful of sly iniquitee (line 3215) who has tricked Chanticleer’s father and mother to their downfalls lies in wait for him in a bed of wortes. When Chanticleer spots this daun Russell,[2] the fox plays to his prey’s inflated ego and overcomes the cock’s instinct to escape by insisting he would love to hear Chanticleer crow just as his amazing father did, with neck outstretched, eyes closed and standing on his tiptoes. When the cock sticks his neck out and closes his eyes, he is promptly snatched from the yard in the fox’s jaws.
As the fox flees through the forest, the captured Chanticleer, thrice described as being carried on the fox’s back,[3] suggests that the fox should pause to tell his pursuers to give up their chase. The predator’s own pride is now his undoing: as the fox opens his mouth to taunt his pursuers, Chanticleer escapes from his jaws and proceeds to fly up the nearest tree. The fox tries in vain to convince the wary rooster, who now prefers the safety of the tree and refuses to fall for the same trick a second time.
The Nun’s Priest elaborates his slender tale with epic parallels drawn from ancient history and chivalry and spins it out with many an excursus, giving a display of learning which, in the context of the story and its characters, can only be comic and ironic, then he wraps up with a moral, admonishing his audience to be careful of reckless decisions and of truste on flaterye, ending with an Amen!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nun's_Priest's_Tale