The Pardoner’s Tale (page 141)
Prologue:
The Pardoner, quite drunk already, tells everyone that he uses his persuasiveness to tell others not to be greedy and give their money to him because he was greedy.
Line 2: haughty- lofty
Line 8: Radix malorum est cupiditas- greed is the root of all evil
Line 9: frown- serious face
Line 10: yokels- unsophisticated people
Line 12: mockeries- fake stories
Lin 17: he thinks very highly of himself to say that he’s funny
Line 18:avarice and cupidity- greed
Line 22:castigate- punish
Line 26: exordium- opening of a speech
Lines 32-41: in every town there’s always someone who does stuff wrong so he says he knows of a person who sins a lot in this town and everyone is so impressed that he knows but he really doesn’t know anyone in the town at all
Line 39: his venom- he’s snake-like- sinful, sly
Line 61: kirk- church
Line 65: he doesn’t want to be like the apostles because they were poor and worked hard
Line 69: he’d take money even if the lady had starving children right there, he didn’t care
Story:
Three men are drinking in a tavern and they hear funeral bells. They find out that Death has killed one of their friends. They decide to go find death and kill him. On the way they meet an old man and they’re very rude to him. They ask him to direct them to Death and he points them down a crooked path. They find money there and inside they all want it for themselves. One went to town to get supplies and while he was gone the other two plan to kill him and split the money between them. The man who went to town wanted to kill the other two and keep the money for himself. He brought back bottles of wine, two of which were poisoned. The first two stab the third when he returns. Happy with their success, they drink the poisoned wine and die as well.
Line 81: rioters- they were really revelers, people who like to party
Line 97: Death speared him in the heart- personification
Line 103: the serving boy said that his mother said always be prepared to die, meaning don’t sin
Line 112: right after they hear not to sin they swear and use god’s name in vain in every way possible
Line 133: old man- angel/ wandering Jew