The Nuns Priests Tale

Genre: Beast Fable

A short story containing an evident moral. In a beast fable,
characters are animals and they portray human feelings
and motives.

Beast Fable Example:
Aesops Fable
The Tortoise and the Hare
Historical Background
Chaucer took the idea for this tale from Aesops
Fable: The Cock, the Dog, and the Fox.
In the original story, a cock and a dog go on a
journey together. At night, the cock roosts in a
tree while the dog curls up at its roots. When the
cock crowed in the morning, it attracted a fox
who appeared friendly and tried to lure the bird
down from the tree. The cock agrees, telling it to
ask the porter to open the door so that it can
come out. The fox stumbles on the sleeping dog
and is killed.
Summary
An elderly woman lives, with her two daughters, on a
small farm. In the barnyard lives a rooster and several
hens.
Chaunticleer, the rooster, dreams of an attack by a large,
furry, red animal, and is advised by his wife not to worry
because dreams rarely predict reality. The rooster, proud
of his learning, decisively defeats his wife's argument by
citing classical authors who suggest that dreams do
indeed predict what is to come. The rooster then goes to
the barnyard where he encounters the fox, who has been
planning an attack for some time. The fox, asks the
rooster to sing so he can experience the rapture of
hearing him, grabs the rooster by the throat, and is
chased by the entire household. The rooster, thinking
quickly, tells the fox that if he were in the fox's position, he
would turn and shout in victory at the pursuers. The fox,
proud of his success, does so and the rooster flies away
into a tree. The fox tries to trick him again, but the bird
does not give in to flattery a second time.
Moral of the Story




Flattery has the ability to blind those who are
prideful and lead them down a road of
destruction.
Dont trust those who attempt to flatter you!
Significant Passage


Lo, such it is not to be on your guard
Against the flatterers of the world, or yard.
And if you think my story is absurd,
A foolish trifle of a beast and bird,
A fable of a fox, a cock, a hen,
Take hold upon the moral, gentlemen.
St. Paul himself, a saint of great discerning,
Says that all things are written for our learning;
So take the grain and let the chaff be still.
And, gracious Father, if it be thy will
As saith my Saviour, make us all good men,
And bring us to his heavenly bliss.
Amen (Chaucer 231).
Significance to The Canterbury
Tales
Relationship of the story teller to the tale-
Chaucer is commenting on the Nuns Priests
role in the church and in relation to the nun
whom he is accompanying.
Since Beast Fables are stories in which animals
are used to comment on the behaviors of
humanity, it seems that Chaucer is using the
Nuns Priests Tale as a way of communicating a
message specific pilgrims on this journey- most
likely the other clergy members.
Bibliography

http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/n
unspri/
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucernuns_p
riest.htm