 The
quotes at the top of each page are from "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey
Chaucer, written around 1400. It is the story of a group of people from
all walks of life who travel as pilgrims on their way to the Shrine of
Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury, England. In the Middle Ages,
people believed that a pilgrimage to a holy place would help purge them
of their sins. Islamic law still requires devout Muslims to make a pilgrimage,
or Haj, to the holy city of Mecca at least once in their lifetimes.
As they travel, Chaucer's pilgrims tell stories to each other to kill time on their journey. The stories have various themes, from romance to humor to drama. Some of the stories are told in what seems to be a response to an earlier story. What was unique was that Chaucer's characters were average, everyday people, speaking as everyday people spoke. (Some translations vary slightly in content. The quotes are reproduced here in Modern English, but still retain their original flavor.) Many of the tales seem to be fragments of longer stories. According to his General Prologue, Chaucer intended for each pilgrim to tell two tales on their way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. That would have been over a hundred little stories. He never finished his enormous project. Scholars aren't even sure what order the tales are supposed to be in. Nevertheless, "The Canterbury Tales" remains one of the classics of English literature. It is also one of the few classics of English literature that has fart jokes. I'd never read it before. I thought it would be interesting to read about a journey while going on a journey. |
