Thursday, July 7, 2011

215.

The Pardoner’s Tale is one of the stories found in the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The tale is based on a folk-tale of Oriental origin, although many variations exist. Three drunken and debauched men set out from a pub to find and kill Death, whom they blame for the passing of their friend, and all other people that previously have died, which they were told by the Landlord. An old man they brusquely query tells them that he has asked Death to take him but has failed. He then says they can find death at the foot of an oak tree. When the men arrive at the tree, they find a large amount of gold coins and forget about their quest to kill Death. They decide that they would sleep at the oak tree over night, so they can take the coins in the morning. The three men draw straws to see who among them should fetch wine and food while the other two wait under the tree. The youngest of the three men drew the shortest straw. The two plot to overpower and stab the other one when he returns, while the one who leaves for the town plots to lace the wine with rat poison. When he returns with the food and drink, the other two kill him and drink the poisoned wine, dying slow and painful deaths. All three have found death.

Now this tale has inspired something which is going to be talked about all over the world in a week. What?

2 comments:

raghav said...

the tale of the three brothers from harry potter and the deathly hallows

Unknown said...

J K Rowling's "The Tale of the Three Brothers" from The Tales of Beedle the Bard is loosely based on "The Pardoner's Tale"