The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, by Geoffrey Chaucer

This Canterbury Tale has several features that set it apart from all the others

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale is one of the Canterbury Tales told by Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340–1400). As with many of the tales in the collection, it is accompanied by the story of its telling; it has features that set it apart from the other tales.

The Canon and his Yeoman servant

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale is the only one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales that is not told by one of the original pilgrims who set out from Southwark. It is also unique in that the tale, at least in part, is told at first hand, meaning that the teller is part of the tale.

After the Second Nun has finished her tale, Chaucer relates that the pilgrims have journeyed on for another five miles when two horsemen, who have been riding very fast, catch up with them. These are a canon, in other words a person in holy orders attached to a cathedral as opposed to being a parish priest, and his servant, who is referred to as a yeoman.

It turns out that they had seen the pilgrims as they left their previous night’s lodgings and decided to join them, because they looked like an amusing bunch of people. The Host asks the Yeoman if the Canon can tell a good…