What Type Of Story Does The Nun’S Priest Tell?

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, a compilation of stories in a frame story, between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury (England). One of the stories is a fable told by The Nun’s Priest. The Nun’s Priest’s tale is about a rooster named Chauntecleer who lives with seven chickens and other animals in the yard of a poor old widow. This tale is an example of a bestiary, which is a literary style in which animals act like humans, implying that humans often act like animals. The mock-heroic technique is used to elevate a trivial event into something of great importance. This is seen when the Nun’s Priest describes the capture of the Don Russel and refers to the fox as a traitor, and when the barnyard animals discuss philosophical and theological questions. Lady Pertelote and Chaunticleer’s discussion of divine foreknowledge is a comic irony, as it was caused by her thinking that Chaunticleer’s dream was due to constipation. Throughout the mock-heroic, mankind is reduced to animal values.