Medieval Chaucer

About Theseus the Knight. 
He wants to avenge the women's husband's death - Creon killed them. 
He kills Creon an emprisons Arcite and Palamon. 
They both love Emily, Theseus' sister. 
Theseus organises a fight for her, Arcite dies and Palamon wins her. 

He talks about Nicholas, a student who is in love with Alison, his Lord's wife. 
He convinces his Lord that a flood is coming, and tells him to spend the night into a tube hanging from the ceiling of his barn. 
Another man, Absolon is also in love with her, he comes by night and asks for a kiss. But she presents her rear to her. Angry, he comes back with something that burns, and that time it's Nicholas who presents his butt. He thus was burnt and screams for water... The Lord believes it is the flood and cuts the rope... he thus breaks his arm. 

This story is a fabliaux = a comic tale, typical of the Medieval time. 

She first talks about her 5 husbands, and about the fact that she commanded them. 
Her tale is about king Arthur, she tells us that one of his knights raped a woman and she decided to send Arthur into a special quest as a punishment. 
He should travel and find what women want most. He finds a very old women who promises to tell him the answer if he accepts whatever she wants. He tells yes, she tells him to marry her. When the are married, she lets him choose: she can become beautiful but unfaithfull or stay ugly and faithfull. He tells her to choose herself, so the wife becomes beautiful and faithful!
Morality: he let the woman decide, he understood that what a woman wants more is the power in the couple, she wants to be able to decide everything. 

The Squire tells us a tale about the King of Arabia who comes with gifts in Mongolia. He comes with a horse, a ring, a mirror and a sword. Each object has magic powers. The mirror foresees mischance, the ring enables the wearer to understand the language of birds, the horse can transport the persons everywhere and the sword can cure any wounds inflicted by its edge. 

He tells the tale of Chanticleer and his hences. He is a rooster, there is a fox who comes and tricks him. He asks him to sing (flattery), he does, and then the fox captures him. But then he manages to escape. 

He talks about a woman, who's husband wants to test his fortitude. He pretends to kill her children, to divorce and even asks her to organise his next wedding. As she does everything, he tells her she will always be his only wife. 

He talks about the sins (gambling, drinking). 
He tells us about three flemish boys, whos friend dies, they thus want to find "death", to avenge. On their way, they discover a lot of money. But while two brothers send the third one in the city to buy wine, they plan to kill him when he comes back, in order to devide the money only in two. The third planned to put poison in the bottles of wine to keep the money fir him. When he comes back, they kill him and then drink the wine... they die too! 
Morality: the sins are bad for your life, they wanted to find death, they did!