The Cook’s Tale

1. The Cook’s Tale Nancy Umana and Amanda Fiorellino A Moral Tale

2. Prologue • The Cook praises both the Reeve and the Miller for their own tales • He promises that his own tale will be just as great • But it won’t be up to their standards, because he is dishonest in his work.

3. Tale Summary • New apprentice starts living in the cooks town, who is known as Perkin Reveler • He loves to sing and dance • But he also loves to gamble and drink

4. Summary continued • He would gamble everyday • He was the best apprentice in town who, “rattled dice and threw them down” • His master saw how easily he spent his money and became aware of his problems • “He often found his box bare”

5. Summary Continued • “When a prentice takes to vice… his master in the shop shall be the one who pays though having no part in the fun” • The apprentice’s master was sick of his terrible behavior • He thought about an old proverb, “ A rotten apples better thrown away before it spoils the barrel.”

6. Summary Continued • The master let the apprentice go • The apprentice then left and found refuge with his friend, “a chap of his own sort” • His friend’s wife owned a store, but it was only for public appearances to mask her prostitution.

7. Literary Devices • Irony: At first the Cook comes across as a nice, cheery man. In the prologue, we find out he serves old food to people and gets pilgrims poisoned by his rotten food. For example, “There’s many a pilgrim wishes you Christ’s curse; Your parsley has them feeling all the worse (They ate it with your stubble-nourished goose), For in your shop so many flies are loose”.

8. Literary Devices Continued • Figurative language: • Simile: “ The Reeve’s Tale pleased the London cook as much as a back-scratching” and “He was as full of love, as is the beehive full of honey sweet.” • Alliteration: “And play at dice at such-and-such a street”

9. Our Reflection • We didn’t like the plot of the tale because it doesn’t advance and the characters don’t develop • The tale is left unfinished by Chaucer, we don’t know if it was purposely left unfinished or if the pages were possibly lost • Both the Cook and the apprentice have similar characteristics and it is possible that the tale might actually be an autobiography • The cook came across like a honest man, but was very hypocritical.