Cicero, one of the authors in the cockerel's "library"

"The Nun's Priest's Tale of the Cock and the Hen, Chanticleer and Partlet" (Middle English: The Nonnes Preestes Tale of the Cok and the Hen, Chauntecleer and Pertelote) is one of The Canterbury Tales by the 14th century Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. This vigorous and comical 625-line narrative poem is a beast fable and a mock epic which may have existed before Chaucer but was at the very least popularized by him.

[edit] Framing narrative

The prologue to the tale clearly links it with the previous Monk's Tale, a relentless and starkly told series of short accounts of toppled despots, criminals and fallen heroes which prompts an interruption from the knight. The host upholds the knight's complaint and orders the monk to change his story. The monk refuses, saying he has no lust to pleye, and so the Host calls on the Nun's Priest to give the next tale. The new tale, however, treats of a very similar theme, but in the form of a parody with a happy ending. It also has other ideas in common with various tales in the collection; for instance, the marriage between Chanticleer and Partlet echoes the domestic lives depicted in The Franklin's Tale and The Tale of Melibee. These different themes help to unify several tales.

There is no substantial depiction of the nun's priest in Chaucer's General Prologue, but in the tale's epilogue, the Host is moved to give a highly approving quick portrait which highlights his great physical strength and presence. "The Nun's Priest's Tale" offers a lively and skilfully told story from a previously almost invisible character.

[edit] Composition

As with many of the tales, the particular date for its composition cannot be fixed with any accuracy, though the year 1392 has been one suggestion. Professor J Leslie Hotson of Harvard believed the work to be an allegory for the murder in 1397 of Thomas of Woodstock by Nicholas Colfox on behalf of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk and the cause of the subsequent duel between Mowbray and Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) described by Froissart in his Chronicles and Shakespeare in Richard II.^[1] This would suggest a date after the Parliamentary "outing" of Colfox (1398).

Chaucer based his adaptation on Del cok e del gupil, the work of the 12th century French poet Marie de France, and the 13th century French epic Le Roman de Renart. There are also echoes of several of Aesop's fables. This blend of fable and beast epic gives the tale much of its liveliness, but the extent to which Chaucer meant it to be an allegory or to satirise allegorical animal stories (or even, perhaps, narrative in its own right) is open to interpretation.

[edit] Plot

Hector visiting his wife before being slain in battle, one of the scenes cited by Chanticleer in his defence of dreams.

The fable concerns a world of talking animals who reflect both human perception and fallacy. Its protagonist is Chanticleer, a proud rooster who dreams of his approaching doom in the form of a fox. Frightened, he awakens Partlet, the only hen among his seven wives with whom he is infatuated. She assures him that he only suffers from indigestion and chides him for paying heed to a simple dream. Chanticleer recounts stories of prophets who foresaw their deaths, dreams that came true, and dreams that were more profound (for instance the Dream of Scipio). Chanticleer is comforted by Partlet and proceeds to greet a new day.

Unfortunately for Chanticleer, his own dream was also correct. A col-fox, ful of sly iniquitee (line 3215) who has tricked Chanticleer's father and mother to their downfalls lies in wait for him in a bed of wortes. When Chanticleer spots this daun Russell,^[2] the fox plays to his prey's inflated ego and overcomes the cock's instinct to escape by insisting he would love to hear Chanticleer crow just as his amazing father did, with neck outstretched, eyes closed and standing on his tiptoes. When the cock sticks his neck out and closes his eyes, he is promptly snatched from the yard in the fox’s jaws.

As the fox flees through the forest, the captured Chanticleer, thrice described as being carried on the fox's back,^[3] suggests that the fox should pause to tell his pursuers to give up their chase. The predator's own pride is now his undoing: as the fox opens his mouth to taunt his pursuers, Chanticleer escapes from his jaws and proceeds to fly up the nearest tree. The fox tries in vain to convince the wary rooster, who now prefers the safety of the tree and refuses to fall for the same trick a second time.

The Nun's Priest elaborates his slender tale with epic parallels drawn from ancient history and chivalry and spins it out with many an excursus, giving a display of learning which, in the context of the story and its characters, can only be comic and ironic, then he wraps up with a moral, admonishing his audience to be careful of reckless decisions and of truste on flaterye, ending with an Amen!

[edit] Adaptations

• Robert Henryson used The Nun's Priest Tale as a source for his Taill of Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe, the third poem in his Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian composed in or around the 1480s.
• The Nun's Priest's Tale was put to music in 1951 by Gordon Jacob.
• The poem was made into a book titled Chanticleer and the Fox by Barbara Cooney that won the 1959 Caldecott Medal.
• Michael Hurd again put it to music in 1976 as "Rooster Rag."
• Walter Wangerin, Jr. used the characters of Chanticlere and Pertelote in The Book of the Dun Cow (1978) .
• Chanticlere and the Fox - A Chaucerian Tale is a book produced by Disney, based on the cartoon that was never completed.
• Chanticlere is the name of the protagonist rooster of the 1991 animated film, "Rock-a-Doodle" by Don Bluth.
• Around 2007, the playwright Dougie Blaxland wrote the comic play "Chauntecleer and Pertelotte", which is inspired by the Nun's Priest's Tale.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Canterbury Tales/The Nun's Priest's Tale

• Read "The Nun's Priest's Tale" with interlinear translation
• Modern Translation of the Nun's Priest's Tale and Other Resources at eChaucer