The Friar’s Tale

work by Chaucer
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The Friar’s Tale, one of the 24 stories in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Friar relates the comeuppance of a corrupt summoner—an ecclesiastical court officer—in a story based on a medieval French fabliau. The summoner befriends a bailiff, who is the devil in disguise, and the two agree to share the proceeds of their extortions. In one of several humorous scenes, the summoner hears a frustrated man mutter, “The devil take all, cart, horse, and hay in one!” and urges the devil to take up the offer, but the devil declines, explaining to his overeager friend that it ...(100 of 149 words)