The Canon Yeoman

When the story of Saint Cecilia finished, the company continues on its journey until two men overtake them. One was dressed  all in black but with a white gown underneath – a Canon – and his horse sweated as if it had ridden for three miles. The horse that rides next to the Canon’s Yeoman similarly sweated so much that it could hardly go further. The Canon (the first man) greets the company warmly, and explains that he had hoped to join them; his Yeoman too is extremely courteous.

The Host asks if the Canon can tell a tale, and his Yeoman responds that he knows more than enough about mirth and jollity – and adds that, if the Host knew the Canon as well as he does, he would wonder how he could do some of the things he can. The Host is quite amazed, but then asks why  he cares so little for his honour, and dresses so shabbily – if the Canon is so important – . The Host then turns to the Yeoman himself, asking why his face is so discoloured. The Yeoman explains that is because he spends his time blowing in the fire – and then reveals that the Canon and he spend most of their time doing “illusion”, borrowing money, promising profit and then slipping away.

While the Yeoman was talking, the Canon warned him that he was revealing things that should not be revealed. The Host bids the Yeoman to continue , and when the Canon realized that the Yeoman would not stop talking, he fled. Since his lord is gone, the Yeoman concludes, he will tell the company everything he knows.

He begins talking about this Canon: ”I have lived with him for seven years and yet I am no closer to understanding his science. The<< sliding science >> as he calls it, has made him  poor and anyone who applies himself to it will become poor.”
The narrator then turns on God, saying that though God had given them hope and they had worked hard to discover the philosopher’s stone, they had had no luck.

The Yeoman continues saying that alchemists are liars and despite countless attempts something always goes wrong and they fail. Finally, the narrator claims that nothing is what it seems : apples which look nice are not good, men that seem the wisest are the most foolish, and the man who seems most trustworthy is a thief.

This is the tale proper of the Canon’s Yeoman. In London there was a priest and one day he was visited by a false canon who begged him to lend him a certain amount of money. In three days, the canon gave it back and offered to reveal a couple of his discoveries.

The canon sent a priest’s servant to bring quick silver and, by tricks, made the priest believe that he could turned the quicksilver into real silver.  Three times the canon tricked the priest, each time “turning” a less valuable object (quicksilver, chalk, and then a twig) into silver. The priest offers to buy his secrets for 40 pounds and the canon agrees. The powder never works for the priest and the canon disappears.

The Yeoman ends his tale warning the company not to become involved in alchemy because clearly God dislikes the practice.