Interpretation of Poem [written as a story]
The Nun's Priest's Tale constitutes as a part of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which a group set out on a pilgrimage amuse themselves by sharing stories that provide special knowledge or lessons learned by each of the individuals. Our poem, we realized, is the tale told by the "Nun's Priest" and therefore it is the priest who also acts as the narrator.
A poor elderly widow, lives in a cottage beside a grove located on a small farm. After her husband died, she and her two daughters lived a simple life, with hardly any assets and little income. Her few possessions on the farm included three sows, three cows, a sheep, and some chickens. In the yard which she kept, enclosed all around with wooden fencing and with a ditch outside of it, there was a cock named Chanticleer - a French word meaning “sings clearly.” Serving as an appropriate name, he crows more accurately than any church clock and would continue to crow even in hot weather. There is not a cock in the land who can match him in crowing; he is the master of all roosters. Chaunticleer was also an extremely attractive bird, built very strong and beautifully coloured, with a “comb redder than coral” and “a beak as black as jet.” Understandably, such a handsome rooster would be desirable, and Chaunticleer did in his service, have seven lovely hen-wives. However, the loveliest of these is the stunning and gracious Mistress Pertelote, who has taken hold of Chaunticleer’s heart and is as glamorous as he is magnificent. Their singing together when the sun rose brought many joy.
One morning, while all the chickens are roosting, Chaunticleer begins to groan in his throat, similar to how a man experiencing a nightmare would. Horrified, Pertelote asks him what is the matter and he tells her of the terrible dream about an orange hound/dog-like beast who meant to kill him while he was in the yard. The Mistress "For shame . . . . Fie on you / heartless coward," and chastises him for letting a dream get the better of him, for it is well known dreams have no meaning. Using references to Cato to illustrate her point, she says that being afraid of dreams is cowardly and that his alarm at such a silly matter meant that she had lost her love for him. As a solution, Pertelote figures the dreams were a result of eating too much and believes he simply needs a laxative - a purgative herb. Chaunticleer insists he does not need a laxative and responds that while Cato was known for his wisdom, there were plenty of other writers both older and wiser than he that argued the opposite. In order to convince his love that the dream was important, he refers to stories in which dreams have a very definite meaning; about men who dreamed of murder and it later happened in reality. One example was a man who dreamt his friend had been murdered for his gold in an ox’s stall, and that his body was put in a dung cart. After the man woke up, he remembered his “vision” and went to the dung cart at the west gate of the town, finding the body of his friend hidden there. The second story describes involves two men preparing to cross the sea. One of the men dreams that, if he crossed the sea the next day, he would drown and so he tells his companion, who laughs at him and decided to go anyway. Inevitably, the ships bottom somehow broke in two and his companion drowned. Chaunticleer also references tales of Macrobius, Croesus and Andromache, whose dreams all held prophecies., and uses this as proof that something bad is bound to happen to him. However, he changes the subject to happier matters, asking Pertelote to speak of “mirth” and praises her beauty and grace, claiming it makes him feel fearless. Chaunticleer then flies down from his beam, calling all his wives to him after he found some corn in the yard and went to bed with Pertelote.
One day in March, a proud Chanticleer declares his perfect happiness, as he walks around the yard with his seven hens and looks up at the sun - telling them to remember this day. Then a wave of sadness passes over him, as he realizes that at the latter end of joy is always misery. That very same night, a fox breaks through the hedges to enter the yard, and waits hiding in a bush, watching the chicken’s every move. The narrator then goes into an aside, addressing Chaunticleer and criticizing him for not taking his dream seriously - God said it was so and therefore it would happen. He blames women’s counsel for steering Chaunticleer wrong and says that women’s advice is more harmful than good. It was the reason Adam got kicked out of Eden, where he’d been happy and content. Alas, he says he’s only joking and doesn’t want to offend anyone by saying that women are full of foolishness - only that he was recounting what the rooster thinks and he personally doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with women. The narrator then moves back into the tale, reminding us that his story is the “tale of cock.”
The next day, Chaunticleer is singing in the yard and a butterfly catches his eye. As he’s watching it, he notices the fox sees the fox and starts to raise alarm. The fox gently calls out says to calm the rooster down, declaring he only wished to hear Chaunticleer’s beautiful voice. He claims he knew Chaunticleer’s mother and father, who was also an excellent singer. In fact, the fox describes how Chanticleer’s father sang so proudly he would close his eyes, stand on in his tip toes and outstretch his neck to hit the right nots. The fox then asks Chaunticleer if he would kindly sing for him, and Chaunticleer - so flattered he doesn’t recognize the treachery in the fox’s voice - proceeds to beat his wings with pride, stand on his toes, crane his neck, close his eyes and crow loudly. The narrator speaks again in aside, warning listeners of being a fool to people’s praise and compliments, and that the Bible warns us to watch out for those trying to trick you. As Chaunticleer begins to sing, the fox seizes his opportunity and grabs the rooster by the throat, slinking away back into the woods. The narrator comments, oh why did Chaunticleer have to fly down from his rafter this morning, and why did he listen to his wife to not pay attention to his dream? As the hen’s in the yard saw the fox carry Chaunticleer away, they cried out, alerting the whole farm of what had happened, including the poor old widow and her two daughters, who commanded everyone around to catch the fox. And so, the result was neighbors and farm animals alike, all rushing after the fox to save their beloved Chaunticleer.
Despite Chaunticleer’s fear, he cleverly suggests to the fox to stop and boast to his pursuers that they’ll never get your rooster back. The fox thinks this is a good idea, but as soon as he opens his mouth to say “yeah that’s a good idea,” Chaunticleer frees himself and flew high up into a tree. The fox tries to convince Chaunticleer that he wasn’t really planning on hurting him and that he may explain himself if only Chaunticleer would come back down. However, Chaunticleer has learned his lesson and replies flattery will work on him no more: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!” which concludes the animals story.
In the last stanza, the narrator addresses everyone who believe the tale is merely about a fox and a rooster, and calls them fools, as it is more a story of morality. As Saint Paul says, we can all learn from the words and experiences others have shared, and hopefully you may understand this was a story about naivety and good character, rather than barnyard animals.
Now God, if it is your will, make us all into good men and allow us to be joyful. Amen.