The jilted lady falcon in her remorse has wandered

● The jilted lady falcon, in her remorse, has wandered over the earth.
● She is so weak, in fact, that she faints in the tree, and Canace catches her and nurses her back to health.
● The Squire plans to tell other stories involving the victories of his family and the magic gifts, but the
Franklin interrupts.

The Franklin’s Prologue
● The Franklin interrupts the Squire's tale in order to compliment him on his eloquence, gentility, and
courtesy.
● He compares the squire to his own son, who spends his time in reckless gambling with worthless youths.
● The Host is not interested and tells the Franklin to get on with his tale, which he does.
The Franklin’s Tale
Franklin: A medieval English landowner of free but not noble birth.
● Arveragus, a noble, prosperous, and courageous knight, desires a wife.
● He finds and marries a beautiful young maiden, Dorigen, and the two vow that they will always respect
each other and practice the strictest forbearance towards one another's words and actions.
● Sometime after the wedding, the knight goes to England and is gone for two years. While her husband is
away, Dorigen weeps, fasts, and laments his absence. In her grief, she often sits on the shore.
● Looking at the bare rocks near the shore, where so many lives have been lost, she becomes apprehensive
for her own husband's safety.
● One day, Dorigen consents to join friends on a picnic where a dance is staged. At the dance is Aurelius,
"the most handsome man alive, young, strong, and wealthy . . . discreet and popular," who has secretly
loved Dorigen for two years.
● Finally, Aurelius reveals his love, but Dorigen repudiates his advances. Aurelius becomes so despondent
that Dorigen, trying to raise him from his despair, half jokingly says that she will agree to his love and
embraces if he removes all the rocks from the coast of Brittany.
● But the task is impossible, and Aurelius returns home, elapses in despondency, and is cared for by his
brother.
● Aurelius remains sick for two years. Finally, his brother comes upon a way to solve the dilemma: He
remembers a student who claimed to have deciphered the secret codes of magic found in rare books.
● Aurelius goes to the student-magician and promises payment of 1,000 pounds if his magic clears the coast
of rocks. The student-magician agrees, and the deed is performed. Aurelius then asks Dorigen to keep her
promise: "You made a promise which you know must stand / And gave your plighted troth into my hand/
To love me best." Dorigen, horrified and contemplating suicide, recalls for the reader twenty-one women,
most of whom had taken their lives rather than disgrace themselves.
● Meanwhile, Arveragus returns and finds his wife prostrate with grief. Dorigen tells him the story of her
bargain, and he says she must keep her promise, even though it sorely grieves him.