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Re: NATLANG: Middle English Stories

From:Joe <joe@...>
Date:Monday, October 13, 2003, 18:34
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Bleackley" <Peter.Bleackley@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: NATLANG: Middle English Stories


> Staving Arthaey Angosii: > > > >What are some common themes in Middle English period stories? > > Swiving. The most famous text of the ME period is the Canterbury Tales,
and
> from what I've read of them, they're seriously bawdy. > > > We're > >supposed to try to make the subject matter, as well as the language, as > >authentic to period as we can. I don't know anything about what was > >written during that time -- all I know is I probably can't write about my > >conculture, ne? ;) > > The Knight's Tale - two knights fall in love with the same woman, and > organise a huge mock battle for her hand. One prays to Mars that he will > win the battle, the other to Venus that he will get the girl. The first > wins the battle, but is mortally wounded falling from his horse, and so
the
> girl marries the second. > > The Miller's Tale. An astrologer, Nicholas, lodging with an old carpenter > John, devises an evil scheme to distract the carpenter's attention so that > he can sleep with his much younger wife, Alison. He tells the carpenter > that he has foreseen a repeat of Noah's flood, and that to prepare for it, > he must build three boats, one for each of them, in the roofspace of his > house. They will sleep in the boats and when the flood comes, escape > through the roof. The effort of building the boats exhausts the carpenter, > and he falls fast asleep in his boat. Alison and Nicholas sneak downstairs > for their night of passion. However, Alison has another admirer, Absalom, > who comes around to serenade her in the middle of the night. Annoyed by > this, Alison promises to give him one kiss if he'll go away. She then > sticks her backside out of the window so he ends up kissing that. Later,
he
> comes back seeking revenge. When he asks for another kiss, Nicholas sticks > his backside out of the window, but Absalom sticks a red hot poker up it. > His cries of "Water!" wake John, who, thinking the flood has come, starts > hacking his way through the roof with an axe and rambing on about Noah's > flood, and thus ends up a local laughing stock. > > The Reeve's Tale. Two Cambridge students go to buy flour for their
college,
> but are cheated by the miller. That night they set out to get their > revenge. One sneaks into the miller's duaghter's bed and seduces her. The > other moves a cot from the end of the miller's bed to the end of his own, > so that when the wife gets up in the night she will get into his bed when > she comes back. He seduces her, and she tells him where the miller has put > the flour he has stolen from them. However, when the other student leaves > the daughter's bed, the rearrangement of the furniture leads to him
getting
> into bed with the miller. > > That's as much of the Canterbury Tales as I've read.
And If you're in the UK, you can see a kind of modern adaptation on Thursdays on BBC 1 at 9PM. I'm not sure if they're any good or not, I haven't actually seen them.
> Pete >