The Manciple's Tale
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 his tale with Phoebus Apollo, an accomplished archer and musician, who kept a white crow. 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.
- 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.
- 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. Lines 196-204 and 258-308.
- 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. Lines 309-362.
"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.
Source and reading notes
Read the tale in Harvard's Middle English text and interlinear translation, Fragment IX, lines 105-362. The preceding prologue concerns the drunken Cook and the Manciple's dealings with him. The extended lesson about guarded speech comes at the end of the tale.
The crow's changed colour supplies an origin story, while the disagreement between what the narrator reports and what Phoebus later claims complicates the lesson. A useful comparison is between the events, the character's accusation and the storyteller's concluding advice.