A medieval carpenter works in his shop.
A carpenter’s story
Once there was a carpenter, who lived with his wife Alison and a student, Nicholas, who rented a room in their house. Nicholas fell in love with Alison, and she fell in love with him. But how could they spend the night together, without Alison’s husband knowing about it?
The Knight’s Tale
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
More about Chaucer
More medieval European literature
All our Medieval Europe articles
A story about Noah’s Flood
Well, Nicholas convinced the carpenter that in his studies he had found out that there was a second Flood coming, like Noah’s Flood. He said that to be safe from the Flood, all of them should sleep in wooden tubs, hauled up to the ceiling with ropes. They could take knives with them, and when the Flood came they would cut the ropes and float on the water.
What was Noah’s Flood?
The carpenter agreed to this silly plan, and that night he and Alison and Nicholas each went to sleep in their own wooden tub, up near the ceiling of the house. After the carpenter fell asleep, Nicholas and Alison sneaked out of their tubs and … you know, on second thought, I think you’d better wait until you’re older to read the Miller’s Tale…
Older versions of this story
You might compare the Miller’s Tale to the Greek tale (which may be true) of the murder of Eratosthenes, but there are many older stories that involve the young couple tricking the old man.
The Knight’s Tale
The Miller’s Tale
The Clerk’s Tale
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Bibliography and further reading about Chaucer:
The first of these Chaucer books has some stories about farts and naked bottoms in it; don’t buy it if you don’t want that. The second one has been cleaned up for children.
