‘And see that your tale’s a good one – you’ve let many a pasty bleed out all its gravy and sold many a Jack of Dover that’s been reheated twice and allowed to cool down you’ve earned Christ’s curse from many a pilgrim who’s had to run back and forth to the bog all day after eating the parsley that came with your fatted goose, your shop’s so full of flies! But tell on, gentle Roger. If you will all condescend to hear a tale from me, a poor man, I will describe, as best I can, a little escapade that happened once in London.’ What a malicious joke to play on someone! But God forbid that we should stop now. What did Solomon say? – “Don’t let every man into your house.” So letting someone stay the night must be fraught with danger! You should be careful who you allow in, mate! I pray to God, so give me sorrow, that as truly as my name is Roger of Ware, I’ve never heard a better tale about a miller in all my life. ‘By Christ’s crucifixion, this bloody miller got his comeuppance. The Cook of London, whyl the Reve spak, for joye, him thoughte, he clawed him on the bak – All the while that the reeve had been speaking, the London cook had been slapping him on the back and roaring with laughter. This unfinished tale from the cook follows the tale from the reeve in all versions of the sequence, and is another of Geoffrey’s Canterbury Tales – a collection of short stories each recounted from the mouth of a pilgrim on the way to Saint Thomas Becket’s shrine in Canterbury Cathedral.Īvailable also to view/download in PDF and DOCX When the cook reappears in the narrative, in the prologue to the Manciple’s Tale, they are getting near to Canterbury and he still owes a tale, but is the worse for drink, so the manciple tells a story in his place.

The Canterbury Tales, however, is an unfinished work and only a few lines of this tale exist. Like Harry Bailey of the Tabard Inn, Southwark, the cook on this pilgrimage was a well-known contemporary figure known to Chaucer, by the name of Roger of Ware. Geoffrey Chaucer Huntington Library, San Marino, California MS EL 26 C 9, the Ellesmere Manuscriptīritish Library, Harley MS 7334, and many other manuscripts and printed editions From The Canterbury Tales

The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain.

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle.

The cook's tale canterbury tales