Reading Notes: Reading B: Canterbury Tales

For the second part of the reading in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales retold by Eva March Tappan, there were only three tales. Two of the tales kept along with the “happy ending” like the first part of the reading. However, in the tale of ThePrioress’s Tale: Little Hugh, I was very surprised to read how discriminatory the tale was about Jewish people. The tale is about a little Christian boy who sings “O Alma Redemptoris” in a Jewish neighbor so they kill the little boy. When the mother finds the little boy by a miracle from Mother Mary he is still alive singing the song, and the provost goes out to kill all of the Jewish people involved. This tale could be retold by not selecting a race to be the “bad guy” in the scenario. The last tale of the reading, The Canon’s Yeomen’sTale: The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher was the first tale where the ending was not happy. A priest gets tricked into believe he can turn liquid quicksilver and cooper into silver plates. The priest even pays the man for teaching him how to make the silver plates. Sadly, the other man gets away and when the priest tries to make the silver on his own it does not work. This story reminds me of a crook tricking a child out of his money. I could rewrite this tale to a more modern theme where a child, not a priest gets tricked out of his money by a crook that comes into the small town. Readers will be more sympathetic of a small, sweet child being tricked. The story also reminds me of the saying “It is as easy as taking candy from a baby”. However, I would like to change the tale to have a happier ending to where the crook gets caught and the little boy still learns a lesson.

A little kid shopping for candy in a candy store. Source: Flickr by rumpleteaser