Four Canterbury Tales: For venturesome readers only All in the original Middle English made reader-friendly with modern spelling and every possible aid right on the page. Not for those afraid of a little mental work or a lot of hearty laughter. The Miller's Tale: Bawdy, well-plotted, uproariously funny. The first great short story in English. The Pardoner's Tale: A professional televangelist before TV, the most dubious character on the pilgrimage boasts of his confidence tricks but tells a powerful tale of greed and treachery. The Wife of Bath's Tale: The first and funniest feminist manifesto and handbook in English. How to marry money and manage men for fun and profit. The Wife shows: 1. How to marry wealthy older men and how to deny them sex and overwhelm them with it in turn. 2. When they die of starvation or exhaustion, how to get new "husbands meeke, young and fresh a-bed." Your tutor: Alison Masterman, the Wife of Bath, veteran of five marriages and no divorces. The Nun's Priest's Tale: The delightful barnyard fable by that merry preacher the Nun's Priest will set you cheering as it does Harry Bailly, host of the tale-telling contest & Host of the Tabard Inn. About the Editor: Michael Murphy, Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York, has edited several editions of Chaucer.