The Manciple's Tale - Revision history

User: Correct tale sequence and Phoebus response; add primary-text references and reading context

2026-10-07T10:40:02Z

Correct tale sequence and Phoebus response; add primary-text references and reading context

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User: Created page with "==The Manciple's Tale Summary == "The Manciple's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is a fable that concerns a white crow that could sing and talk like a hu..."

2023-07-14T15:12:21Z

Created page with "==The Manciple's Tale Summary == "The Manciple's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is a fable that concerns a white crow that could sing and talk like a hu..."

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==The Manciple's Tale Summary ==

"The Manciple's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is a fable that concerns a white crow that could sing and talk like a human. The Manciple, a shrewd man in charge of buying provisions for a law court, tells this tale.

'''Here's a summary in modern English:'''

::The Manciple begins with a lesson about the perils of speaking too much, and then he introduces the story of Phoebus Apollo, who had a white crow. This crow could mimic any human voice and was capable of speaking like a human.

::Phoebus also had a beautiful wife whom he loved dearly, but he was extremely jealous and kept a close eye on her, not trusting her alone. Despite his watchfulness, his wife managed to have an affair with a man.

::The white crow observed the wife's infidelity and, when Phoebus returned home, revealed the wife's betrayal. Furious and heartbroken, Phoebus murdered his wife.

::However, Phoebus turned his anger towards the crow for telling him such terrible news. He cruelly plucked it and then cursed it and all its descendants to be black and have harsh voices as punishment for telling him the painful truth.

::The Manciple ends his tale with a moral for the other pilgrims: be careful with your words, because the truth can sometimes cause more harm than good.

"The Manciple's Tale" explores themes of jealousy, betrayal, and the power of speech. It also serves as a warning against reckless honesty and the potential harm that words can bring, even if they're the truth.

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:21, 9 September 2026
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	"The Manciple's Tale" explores themes of jealousy, betrayal, and the power of speech. It also serves as a warning against reckless honesty and the potential harm that words can bring, even if they're the truth.		"The Manciple's Tale" explores themes of jealousy, betrayal, and the power of speech. It also serves as a warning against reckless honesty and the potential harm that words can bring, even if they're the truth.
		+
		+	== Related pages ==
		+	* [[The Canterbury Tales]]
		+
		+	== Browse the library ==
		+	[[:Category:Stories and literature\|Stories and literature]]
		+
		+	[[Subject index]] \| [[Stories and literature]] \| [[Special:AllPages\|All articles A-Z]]
		+
		+	[[Category:Stories and literature]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:59, 16 August 2026
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−	==The Manciple's Tale Summary ==	+	== The Manciple's Tale Summary ==
−
	"The Manciple's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is a fable that concerns a white crow that could sing and talk like a human. The Manciple, a shrewd man in charge of buying provisions for a law court, tells this tale.		"The Manciple's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is a fable that concerns a white crow that could sing and talk like a human. The Manciple, a shrewd man in charge of buying provisions for a law court, tells this tale.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 '''Here's a summary in modern English:'''
-::The Manciple begins with a lesson about the perils of speaking too much, and then he introduces the story of Phoebus Apollo, who had a white crow. This crow could mimic any human voice and was capable of speaking like a human.
+::The Manciple begins his tale with Phoebus Apollo, an accomplished archer and musician, who kept a white crow. [https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/manciples-prologue-and-tale Chaucer, Fragment IX, lines 105-138.] This crow could mimic any human voice and was capable of speaking like a human.
 ::Phoebus also had a beautiful wife whom he loved dearly, but he was extremely jealous and kept a close eye on her, not trusting her alone. Despite his watchfulness, his wife managed to have an affair with a man.
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ::The white crow observed the wife's infidelity and, when Phoebus returned home, revealed the wife's betrayal. Furious and heartbroken, Phoebus murdered his wife.
-::However, Phoebus turned his anger towards the crow for telling him such terrible news. He cruelly plucked it and then cursed it and all its descendants to be black and have harsh voices as punishment for telling him the painful truth.
+::Phoebus then regretted killing his wife, called her innocent, and accused the crow of lying. He cursed the crow and its descendants, plucked its white feathers, made it black, and deprived it of song and speech. The accusation is Phoebus's response; earlier the narrator has described the affair as taking place. [https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/manciples-prologue-and-tale Lines 196-204 and 258-308.]
-::The Manciple ends his tale with a moral for the other pilgrims: be careful with your words, because the truth can sometimes cause more harm than good.
+::The Manciple ends by warning the pilgrims against reporting a wife's infidelity to her husband, then repeats his mother's advice to restrain one's tongue. [https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/manciples-prologue-and-tale Lines 309-362.]
-"The Manciple's Tale" explores themes of jealousy, betrayal, and the power of speech. It also serves as a warning against reckless honesty and the potential harm that words can bring, even if they're the truth.
+"The Manciple's Tale" explores themes of jealousy, betrayal, and the power of speech. The warning against disclosure is the Manciple's stated lesson. Readers can also examine Phoebus's violence, remorse and transfer of blame to the messenger.
 == Related pages ==