100 word stories: The Canterbury Tales (Part 5)

Here are four more of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, each told in a highly abbreviated form – i.e. 100 words exactly. Chaucer himself is the only pilgrim who tells two tales, both of which are included here.

Here are the links for the previous parts:

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Prioress’s Tale

<a href="http://www.wikiwand.com/en/General_Prologue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>

A young Christian boy has to walk through the Jewish quarter on his way to school. As he walks he sings a Christian hymn that so annoys the Jews that they murder him and throw his body into a cesspit. His mother finds his body, which is still singing despite him being dead. He is taken to the abbey for burial and the Jews are condemned and executed. The boy says that he can only go to Heaven if a seed, placed on his tongue by the Virgin Mary, is removed. This is done and his body is then buried.

Chaucer’s Tale of Sir Thopas

<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Chaucer_-_Portrait_and_Life_of_Chaucer_(16th_C),_f.1_-_BL_Add_MS_5141.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>

Sir Thopas rides out to meet a fairy queen along a route lined with flowers and with birds singing, but the giant Sir Oliphant stands in his way. He offers to fight the giant but says that he has not got his proper armour and so must go home and get it. The giant throws a few stones at him. Once back home, Sir Thopas tells his men about the giant, who now has three heads. At this point the Host tells Chaucer that he can’t stand any more of this nonsense and would he please stop – which he does.

Chaucer’s Tale of Melibee

<a href="http://www.lacooltura.com/2015/04/canterbury-tales-la-poesia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>

Melibee comes home to discover that three men have broken in and attacked his wife, Prudence, and Sophie their daughter, leaving the latter very badly injured. Melibee and Prudence then debate what action Melibee should take, and they call in a number of friends to offer advice, much of which is conflicting. Melibee is all for meeting violence with violence, but Prudence is not so sure. She advises patience, making peace, and the rule of law. Eventually he calls in the three attackers and forgives them after they apologise. Does Sophie recover? We are not told, but it seems unlikely!

Monk’s Tale

<a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Conte_du_moine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>

This is not one tale but seventeen short ones, all telling how various people from history and mythology have come a cropper. Some of them are well-known characters, such as Nero and Alexander the Great, some are from the Bible or Apocrypha, such as Samson, Belshazzar and Antiochus, and some are characters that were better known in the 14th century than they are now, such as Bernabo Visconti and Ugolino of Pisa. Eventually the Knight has had enough and tells the Monk to stop because he would prefer to hear stories of rises to greatness rather than falls from it.