The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale is part of the 24 stories of The Canterbury Tales ,published 1387–1400, which is divided in two part.

The story starts in the summary of the tale were we start to known our charters: a canon and his servant, a yeoman that is part of the peasant class.

Many thinks that the prologue and tale were written well after The Prologue because  neither the Canon nor the Canon’s Yeoman is presented in it.

Character Description

The Knight’s Yeoman is described as dressed in a green coat and hood with a bracer on his arm.

He has short hair, a brown face, wears a Christopher medal and has a hunter’s horn.

He has peacock arrows that are not droopy and a bow.

He also has a sword and a dagger.

The two catch up with a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims (pellegrini) to Canterbury (England) and ask the Host( the leader of the group, that posses a quick temper and has the task of mediates and to facilitates the flow of the pilgrims’s tales) to permit them to join the company.

The Host welcomes them and asks whether either has a tale to tell. The Yeoman answers immediately  bus as he talks  the Canon starts to  slips away in shame.

The first part  explains that once he had good clothes and a comfortable living, that he and the Canon are alchemists, and that he is so in debt because their attempts at alchemy always fail, and about their elusive search for the Philosopher’s Stone.

During the Middle Ages, people believed that certain base metals lay in the ground for many years and, ultimately, became purer higher metals.

They also believed that an alchemist could accelerate this process, turning a base metal into a precious metal  in moments

Alchemy was considered a science by which this transmutation occurred. In truth, alchemy was pure charlatanism with the alchemist being the ultimate charlatan.

The second part tells about a canon who  fools  practicing  alchemy a poor, credulous priest and mike him borrow marks.

In three days time, the canon returns the mark and offers to reveal a couple of his discoveries.

He sends for some quick silver and, by tricks, makes the priest believe that he turned the quick silver into real silver.

Unaware of the trick, the priest is very pleased.

Three times the canon tricks the priest, each time “turning” a less valuable object into silver.

The priest buys the secret from the canon for 40 pounds but the canon disappears.