The Nun's Priest's Tale
You will meet a poor widow who lives in a small house with her daughters. She has a rooster named Chanticleer. He is her prize possession. Chanticleer has seven hens to oversee, and his heart belongs to the most beautiful, Lady Pertelote. Chanticleer has a bad dream of a beast such as a fox coming to get him. Lady Pertelote says that he should be ashamed to be such a coward.
Dreams
Do you think dreams have warnings for us? Look at Dream Moods to see what it means to dream of a fox.
Do you think Lady Pertelote should read this entry?
Important Vocabulary
Words to Know:
Repletion - gluttoney
Temperate diet - the character's medicine
Apothecary - pharmacist
Tarry - delay
Ague - illness
Bane - death
Paragon - model of excellence
Purificatory - serving, tending, or intended to purify
Auspices - a divine or prophetic token
Indite - to give literary or formal expression; to put down in writing
The Nun's Priest's Tale
Read and listen to "The Nun's Priest's Tale." You may fast forward through the prologue. Pay attention to the fable characteristics:
- they are fictitious,
- they are meant to entertain,
- they have symbolic or allegorical references,
- they are moral tales, usually with animal characters,
- they are short, and usually have no more than two or three main characters.
Read: "The Nun's Priest's Tale"
Listen: "The Nun's Priest's Tale"
Did you agree with Pertelote when she told Chanticleer that he just needed a homemade remedy for laxatives to help him stop having the nightmares?
What is the moral of the fable?
Flattery will get you nowhere.
Know when to keep your mouth shut.
Don't be easily persuaded.