Publisher's Synopsis
The Canterbury Tales begin with the introduction of a group of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas Becket. The pilgrims include a knight, his son (the Squire) the knight's yeoman, a prioress (a kind of nun), a second nun, a monk, a friar, a merchant, a clerk, a man of law, a franklin, a weaver, a dyer, a carpenter, a tapestry-maker, a haberdasher, a cook, a shipman, a physician, a parson, a miller, a manciple, a reeve, a summoner, a pardoner, the wife of Bath, and the author of the Canterbury tales, himself, Geoffrey Chaucer! They meet at the Tabard Inn and decide to tell stories to pass the time on the way to Canterbury. The host of the Tabard Inn sets the rules for the tales. Each pilgrim is to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two stories on their return. The host will decide whose tale is best for meaningfulness and for fun. They draw lots to decide who will tell the first tale, and the knight wins. The trip and the tales follow, and the interesting thing is that many of the sayings we use so often today come straight from "The Canterbury Tales" and Geoffrey Chaucer. Penelope Dyan and John D. Weigand traveled to Canterbury, UK so that you could see the destination of these pilgrims. Now while the original tales are told in old English, there is now a version of them everyone can easily understand. The importance of these tales and knowing all about them is that this is the foundation that actually began English literature, and if you know about Chaucer. you will be ahead in your future studies. It is also important to know these tales as a stepping stone for telling and writing stories of your own, because the creation of stories is what Dyan, an award winning writer, former teacher and attorney, wants you to do! Every kid should use his or her imagination to its fullest! Everyone has a story to tell, and this is the whole point of Chaucer's Canterbury tales as well!
