Following the

(

)

Chaucer’s

(

) constitutes Fragment IX and the penultimate story in the

, preceding the didactic sermon of the

. The dating of the tale is contested, as those critics who think it a poor tale consider it a product of Chaucer’s early years. For critics who see the tale as a more accomplished work or a parody of John Gower’s version of the story in the

, it suggests a date post-1390; Baker argues for a date between 1388 and 1399 (11-13). Opening with a sordid interchange between the Manciple and the Cook in the

, it is presumably a short retelling of Ovid’s

etiology of how the once white crow was turned black. Earlier scholarship has often…

2555 words

Citation: Obermeier, Anita. "Manciple's Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34224, accessed 25 November 2024.]