Fragment 6, lines 287–968
Summary: Introduction to the Pardoner’s Tale
The Host reacts to the Physician’s Tale, which has just
been told. He is shocked at the death of the young Roman girl in
the tale, and mourns the fact that her beauty ultimately caused
the chain of events that led her father to kill her. Wanting to
cheer up, the Host asks the Pardoner to tell the group a merrier,
farcical tale. The Pardoner agrees, but will continue only after
he has food and drink in his stomach. Other pilgrims interject that
they would prefer to hear a moral story, and the Pardoner again
agrees.
Summary: Prologue to the Pardoner’s Tale
My theme is alwey oon, and evere was—
Radix malorum est Cupiditas.
After getting a drink, the Pardoner begins his Prologue.
He tells the company about his occupation—a combination of itinerant
preaching and selling promises of salvation. His sermon topic always remains
the same: Radix malorum est Cupiditas, or “greed
is the root of all evil.” He gives a similar sermon to every congregation and
then breaks out his bag of “relics”—which, he readily admits to the
listening pilgrims, are fake. He will take a sheep’s bone and claim it
has miraculous healing powers for all kinds of ailments. The parishioners
always believe him and make their offerings to the relics, which
the Pardoner quickly pockets.
The Pardoner admits that he preaches solely to get money,
not to correct sin. He argues that many sermons are the product
of evil intentions. By preaching, the Pardoner can get back at anyone
who has offended him or his brethren. In his sermon, he always preaches about
covetousness, the very vice that he himself is gripped by. His one
and only interest is to fill his ever-deepening pockets. He would rather
take the last penny from a widow and her starving family than give
up his money, and the good cheeses, breads, and wines that such
income brings him. Speaking of alcohol, he notes, he has now finished
his drink of “corny ale” and is ready to begin his tale.
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Prologue to the Pardoner’s Tale →
Summary: The Pardoner’s Tale
The Pardoner describes a group of young Flemish people
who spend their time drinking and reveling, indulging in all forms
of excess. After commenting on their lifestyle of debauchery,
the Pardoner enters into a tirade against the vices that they practice.
First and foremost is gluttony, which he identifies as the sin that
first caused the fall of mankind in Eden. Next, he attacks drunkenness,
which makes a man seem mad and witless. Next is gambling, the temptation
that ruins men of power and wealth. Finally, he denounces swearing.
He argues that it so offends God that he forbade swearing in the
Second Commandment—placing it higher up on the list than homicide.
After almost two hundred lines of sermonizing, the Pardoner finally
returns to his story of the lecherous Flemish youngsters.
As three of these rioters sit drinking, they hear a funeral
knell. One of the revelers’ servants tells the group that an old
friend of theirs was slain that very night by a mysterious figure
named Death. The rioters are outraged and, in their drunkenness,
decide to find and kill Death to avenge their friend. Traveling
down the road, they meet an old man who appears sorrowful. He says
his sorrow stems from old age—he has been waiting for Death to come
and take him for some time, and he has wandered all over the world.
The youths, hearing the name of Death, demand to know
where they can find him. The old man directs them into a grove,
where he says he just left Death under an oak tree. The rioters
rush to the tree, underneath which they find not Death but eight
bushels of gold coins with no owner in sight.
At first, they are speechless, but, then, the slyest of
the three reminds them that if they carry the gold into town in
daylight, they will be taken for thieves. They must transport the
gold under cover of night, and so someone must run into town to
fetch bread and wine in the meantime. They draw lots, and the youngest
of the three loses and runs off toward town. As soon as he is gone,
the sly plotter turns to his friend and divulges his plan: when
their friend returns from town, they will kill him and therefore
receive greater shares of the wealth. The second rioter agrees,
and they prepare their trap. Back in town, the youngest vagrant
is having similar thoughts. He could easily be the richest man in
town, he realizes, if he could have all the gold to himself. He
goes to the apothecary and buys the strongest poison available,
then puts the poison into two bottles of wine, leaving a third bottle
pure for himself. He returns to the tree, but the other two rioters
leap out and kill him.
