Originally published in 1908 as a portion of the authors’ larger “Chaucer Story Book,” this Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 20 pages, retells, in simple, modern English prose, “The Knight’s Tale” (sometimes called “Palamon and Arcite”)—the first story from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” Written in Middle English at the end of the 14th century, “The Canterbury Tales” are a series of stories, mostly written in verse, told by a company of twenty-nine men and women, of every rank of life, who are about to set out on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, in Canterbury, England. To while away the time on the journey they plan to tell each other stories.
Sample passage:
Once upon a time there was a duke named Theseus who was lord of Athens. He was a great warrior, and one land after another had yielded to his sway. At length Scythia, too, fell into his hands; and there he found a wife as well as a kingdom, for he married Hippolita, the queen of the country. There was a great wedding, as you may imagine; and there was such pleasure at Athens that as the Duke and his beautiful bride drew near to the city walls, they could hear the shouts of rejoicing.
About the authors:
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342-1400) was the first great poet of England. Other works include “Troilus and Criseyde,” “The Legend of Good Women,” and “Parlement of Foules.” Eva March Tappan (1854-1930) was a college professor and author from Massachusetts who specialized in writing children’s books about famous characters in history. Other works include “In the Days of Alfred the Great,” “In the Days of William the Conqueror,” and “In the Days of Queen Elizabeth.”
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