The Wife of Bath’s Tale
An Arthurian knight commits a dreadful crime against a woman, and is sent by Queen Guinevere on a fitting errand.
1387–1400
King Richard II 1377-1399
An Arthurian knight commits a dreadful crime against a woman, and is sent by Queen Guinevere on a fitting errand.
1387–1400
King Richard II 1377-1399
This post is number 3 in the series The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ include a story told by a much-married lady from Bath named Alison. She prefaces it by complaining at great length that she has been made to feel guilty for marrying five times, and still more so for demanding some equality in the home. Yet, she says, sometimes that works out rather well.
ONCE upon a time, one of King Arthur’s knights robbed a girl of her maidenhood. For such a breach of chivalry, said the King, the punishment was death; but he would resign the final judgment to Queen Guinevere.*
The Queen decreed that the knight would have a year and a day to discover the answer to a question that troubled her mightily: What do women really want? If he could provide no convincing answer, then the King’s sentence of death would be carried out.
So the knight went his way, asking England’s women what they most wanted in life. Some said riches, some flattery or fine clothes; others demanded to do whatever they pleased. After a year and day, the knight felt none the wiser.
Just when he was ready to despair, he saw twenty-four pretty young girls dancing in a field; but even as he galloped towards them, the dancers vanished like mist – leaving behind one, ugly old maid.
Note that this story, which in the surface is about women obeying their husbands, begins with Arthur deferring to his wife.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What sentence did King Arthur pass on the knight?