The Wife of Bath’s Tale
In Verse
When good King Arthur ruled in ancient days
A king that every Briton loves to praise
This was a land brim-full of fairy folk.
The Elf Queen and her fairies would dance and joke.
Or so was the opinion in days of yore
But now no one sees fairies any more.
Now it so happened, I began to say
Long, long ago in good King Arthur’s day,
There was a knight who was a lusty liver.
He saw a maiden walking from the river.
She was walking alone and all forlorn
He hurt her virtue and her dress was torn.
The king condemned the knight to lose his head.
This was the law. He was as good as dead.
The Queen and other ladies in that place
Wanted the King to exercise his grace.
He granted her his life, and she could choose
Whether to show him mercy or refuse.
The Queen gave the king thanks with all her might
And then she said this to that lusty knight.
“You stand not certain of your life,” said she,
“Yet you shall live if you can answer me:
What is the thing that women most desire?
Beware the ax and say as I require.
A twelvemonth and a day you have to learn
Sufficient answer, then you shall return.”
Sad was the knight and sorrowfully sighed,
But there all other choices were denied.
He knocked at every house, searched every place
Yes, anywhere that offered hope of grace.
What could it be that women wanted most?
But all the same he never touched a coast,
Country or town in which there seemed to be
Any two people willing to agree.
Some said that women wanted wealth and treasure,
“Honor,” said some, some “flattery or pleasure.”
The knight that I am telling you about
Sadly he thought he never would find out
What it could be that women loved the best.
His soul was sad within his lonely breast
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Prose Translation
Back in the time of King
Arthur, Briton was full of fairies.
The Fairy Queen and her fairies
would dance and play jokes, but
no one sees fairies anymore.
Long ago in King Arthur’s day,
there lived a lusty and wild
knight. This knight saw a young
woman walking all alone by the
river. He attacked her and tore
her dress. The law said he had to
have his head cut off as
punishment.
The Queen and the other
ladies did not want the knight to
die, so they begged the King to
let the Queen punish the wild
knight. The Queen thanked the
king and asked the knight a
question. She asked him what it
was that women wanted most,
but he didn’t know the answer.
She gave him a year and a day to
find the correct answer or he
would be put to death. The
knight was scared and sad, but
had no other choice.
The knight searched all over
from coast to coast, but there
were not two people who could
agree on the correct answer. No
one anywhere knew what women
wanted most. Some people said
they wanted honor. Some people
said they wanted compliments or
good times, but no two people
could agree. The knight was
now sad and lonely. He was
worried he would never find out
what women wanted most.
As home he went, he dared no longer stay;
His year was up and now it was the day.
On his way home he passed near a wood and green
With one ugly old woman to be seen.
She said, “Sir knight, there’s no way out from here.
Tell me what you are looking for my dear,
For I may know just what is best for you;
We old, old women know a thing or two.”
“Promise to do the thing I desire.”
Said the crone, “if it be within your might,
And you shall know the answer before night.”
And then she told the secret in his ear
And told him to be glad and not to fear.
He did not have any more
time to try and find the answer. He
had used up an entire year, and it
was his last day. On his way home,
he came across a very old and ugly
woman sitting near the woods. She
saw the knight looked lost and asked
if she could help him in any way.
The knight explained his problem to
the old, ugly woman and asked if she
knew what it was that women
wanted most. To the knight’s
surprise, the old ugly woman said
she would help him, but first he had
to promise to do whatever she asked
him to do next. He promised, and
she gave him the answer and told
him not to worry.
They found the queen who was ready to hear
And judge their answer, so the knight drew near.
He gave his answer with a ringing word
Of a man’s voice, and everyone there heard.
“A woman wants her own power to rule
Her life over husband, lover, or fool.”
In all the court not one that shook her head
Could contradict what the knight had just said.
Every woman there cried, “He saved his life!”
And on that word, up stood the old, old wife.
She said, “I taught this answer to the knight,
And he swore to do what I asked that night.
To keep your word sir, take me as your wife
For you know well that I have saved your life.”
The old woman and the
knight went to the castle and told the
Queen and all her ladies the answer.
A woman wants to have her own
way and make her own decisions no
matter what her husband or lover
thinks. Everyone in the court agreed
this was the correct answer, and the
knight no longer needed to die. The
old woman told the Queen how she
helped the Knight and how he
promised to do whatever she asked.
Then, she asked the knight to marry
her.
With nothing but heaviness and sorrow,
He married her in private on the morrow.
All day long he stayed hidden like an owl
It was such torture that his wife looked foul.
At last she said, “Bless us! Is this, my dear,
How knights and wives get on together here?
I am your own beloved and your wife,
And I am she, indeed, that saved your life;
And certainly I never did you wrong.
Then why, this first of nights, so sad a song?
You’re carrying on as if you were half-witted.
Say, for God’s love, what sin have I committed?
The knight was very sad and
unhappy. He married the old, ugly
woman in a secret service and then
hid from her the rest of the day like
an owl. He was so upset his wife
was ugly. That night, the old woman
asked him why he was treating her
so badly. She had saved his life, and
she had never been mean to him. He
was acting stupid, and she wanted to
know what she did wrong to have
him be so rude.
“Old woman,” said the knight, “Help me today.
I am as good as dead if I cannot say
What thing it is that women most desire.”
I’ll put things right if you will tell me how.”
“Put right?” he cried. “That never can be now!
Nothing can ever be put right again!
You’re old, and so abominably plain,
So poor to start with, so low-bred to follow;
It’s little wonder if I twist and wallow!
God, that my heart would burst within my breast!”
“Is that,” said she, “the cause of your unrest?”
“Yes, certainly,” he said, “and can you wonder?”
“I could set right what you suppose a blunder,
That’s if I cared to, in a day or two,
If I were show more courtesy by you.”
“Just now,” she said, “you spoke of gentle birth,
Such as descends from ancient wealth and worth.
But Christ wills we take gentleness from Him,
Not from a wealth of ancestry long dim.
You are no gentleman, thought duke or earl,
Vice and bad manners are what make a churl.
“As for my poverty which you reprove,
Almighty God himself in whom we move,
Believe and have our being, chose a life
Of poverty, and every man or wife,
Nay, every child can see our Heavenly King
Would never stoop to choose a shameful thing.
“Lastly you taxed me, sir, with being old.
Yet even if you never had been told
By ancient books, you gentlemen engage,
Yourselves in honor to respect old age.
You say I’m old and fouler than a fen.
You need not fear to be cheated on then.
“You have two choices; which one will you try?
To have me old and ugly till I die,
But still a loyal, true, and humble wife
That never will displease you all her life,
Or would you rather I were young and pretty
And yet take your chances in a city
Where friends will visit you because of me,
Yes, and in other places too, maybe.
She asked him if there was anything
she could do to make him feel better,
but he said he could never be happy
again. She was just too old and ugly,
too poor, and too low class.
“Is that really why you are so
upset?” she asked. He said it was and
wondered how she could be so
surprised that he didn’t love her.
She said she could fix it if she
wanted to and he was nicer to her.
She said it was not a bad thing that
she was not a gentlewoman by birth.
She said people are good and gentle
because they follow Christ and not
because they have important
ancestors and family members. She
explained that people with good
manners and values are noble and
cruel people are not gentle even if
they have a royal title.
She explained that being poor was
also not a bad thing, because Jesus
Christ was poor and God would
never let his son do something
shameful.
She said it was not a bad thing that
she was old and ugly. People should
be kind and respectful to older
people and ugly people are not
sexually wild because no one else
wants them.
She gave the knight a choice. He
could have her as a kind and faithful
wife even though she was old and
ugly or he could have her be
beautiful and important but someone
cruel who would cheat on him with
his friends.
Which would you have: The choice is all your own.”
“The knight thought long, and with a pathetic groan
At last he said, with all he care in life,
“My lady and my love, my dearest wife,
Whatever pleases you suffices me.”
“And have I won the master?” said she,
“Since I am to choose and rule as I think fit?”
“Certainly, wife,” he answered her, “that’s it.”
“Kiss me,” she cried. “No quarrels! On my oath
And word of honor, you shall find me both
That is, both fair and faithful as a wife,
Now look at me, my husband and my life.”
And when indeed the knight had looked to see,
Now she was young and lovely, rich in charms.
With great delight, he caught her in his arms,
His heart frolicked in a bath of blisses
And melted in a hundred thousand kisses.
So they lived ever after to the end
In perfect bliss; and may Christ Jesus send
Us husbands meek and young and fresh in bed,
And grace to overbid them when we wed.
And –Jesu hear my prayer!—cut short the lives
Of those who won’t be governed by their wives.
The knight had to choose which kind
of wife he wanted. He groaned and
thought about it for a while. At last,
he decided to let his wife choose, and
said he would be happy with the
choice that made her happiest.
The wife asked him if he was sure he
wanted to give her the power to
make her own choices, and he said
yes.
The wife then asked the knight to
kiss her, and she promised to be both
beautiful and faithful. When, the
knight finally looks at her, he is
surprised to see she is young, lovely,
and charming. He holds her in his
arms, is very happy, and kisses her a
hundred thousand times. They both
live happily ever after.
The Wife of Bath then wishes every
woman a humble, young, and sexy
husband who will let them make
their own choices and have their own
way. She also prays that all the
husbands who do not let their wives
make their own choices will die
young.
Answer the following questions on your own sheet of paper.
Questions
1. What is the setting of this tale?
2. Why is the knight in trouble with the King and Queen?
3. What change does the Queen make in the knight’s punishment?
4. What information does the ugly old woman give the knight?
5. What must the knight do to repay the ugly old woman?
6. Name three reasons the knight is not happy with his new wife.
7. What choice does the knight’s wife give him?
8. What does the young knight choose?
9. What theme or message about marriage does the knight learn?
10. What elements of the supernatural are there in this tale?
Thinking Question
How is the question the queen asks the knight related to the crime he has committed?