Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part B

Chaucer Source: Canterbury Tales

• The Priest who Learned to be a Philosopher
• In this story, a canon pulls a trick on a priest by pretending he has a recipe to create silver in a crucible. 
• He claims that this recipe is philosophy
• This story reminded me so much of the beginning of the Disney animated movie Robin Hood (when Robin Hood pretends to be able to see the future and is stealing his money), that I started watching it on Hulu.
• I thought that priests would have been the more educated of society at this time?
• How did he not recognize that magical recipes are not "philosophy"
• This priest is far too trusting of people. 

Quick aside: Watching Disney's Robin Hood, I actually thought about the part where John cries about his "mommy" not loving him as much. Then I thought "Richard? John? Their mother?" Sure enough, Eleanor of Aquitaine was the mother mentioned in Disney's Robin Hood as the mother who loved Richard best. How funny that a character mentioned in a movie I watched as a kid that I never thought much of, I am now studying and writing about. 

The Priest who Learned to be a Philosopher: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).