For all my other Canterbury Tales reviews see CHAUCER, GEOFFREY - THE CANTERBURY TALES (INDEX OF LINKS TO THE FULL SET)
BOOK REVIEW - GEOFFREY CHAUCER – THE CANTERBURY TALES – THE SQUIRE’S TALE
The most sprawling and
lightly set out story in The Canterbury Tales, told by the Squire, son of The
Knight who gave us the opening tale. It tells of the feast to celebrate the
twentieth anniversary of the coronation of the well-loved king, Cambuskan, who
has two sons, and a daughter, called Canace.
At the height of the
feast, a travelling knight arrives with gifts from his own land. The gifts
include a brass horse able to teleport its owner to anywhere in the world in an
instant (a devise seemingly in advance of modern fantasy works), a magic mirror
that reveals the true intentions of anyone looking into it, and thus exposing
whether someone loves or hates another, and exposes enemies, a sword that not
only cuts through the strongest of armour and stone, but also proves capable of
healing the very wounds it inflicts. . There is also a magical ring, which
gives any who wear it the gift of being able to understand and be able to speak
to the birds.
After much marvelling at
the fine rare gifts, the first section of the story ends. Part two concerns
Canace making use of the magic ring, which she wears while taking a walk in the
forest. There, she meets a sad Peregrine Falcon who has injured herself trying
to commit suicide. Her lover, another falcon, has jilted her and flown off with
a Kite-bird, and left her in despair.
Canace heals the bird,
and builds it a beautiful Mew,
decorated with birds regarded as honest and deceitful.
The indication is now
that The Squire plans to tell an undisciplined, endlessly rolling open ended
tale, with various uses of the gifts. He starts telling a third story strand
now in which one of Canace’s brothers, Cambalo, seeks her hand in marriage,
despite this obviously being an incestuous passion. The story ends now when the
Franklin, teller of THE
FRANKLIN’S TALE interrupts in mid sentence – clearly indicating that Chaucer
planned to end it here too.
For all my other Canterbury Tales reviews see CHAUCER, GEOFFREY - THE CANTERBURY TALES (INDEX OF LINKS TO THE FULL SET)
© Copyright. Arthur
Chappell
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