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Summary and Analysis of The Squire's Tale
Fragment V Epilogue to the Merchant's Tale and Prologue to the Squire's Tale: The Host laments the Merchant's tale, praying that he would never find such a terrible wife. The Host admits that he also has a wife that he laments marrying. He advises the Squire to tell a tale next. The Squire's Tale is not complete, ending after only six hundred lines. The Squire's Tale: The Squire tells the tale of Cambyuskan, the king of Sarai in Tartary. With his wife Elpheta he had two sons, Algarsyf and Cambalo, and a daughter Canacee. In the twentieth year of his reign on the Ides of March his subjects celebrated his nativity. During a great feast with the king and his knights, a knight with a gold ring and a sword entered the hall. He was sent from the king of Arabia and India, and offers him a steed of brass that can, within twenty-four hours, transport a person safely anywhere on the globe. He also presence to Canacee a mirror that foresees impending mischance and can determine the character of friends and foes, a ring that enables the wearer to understand the language of any bird, and the healing properties of all herbs. He also offers a sword whose edge will bite through any armor but whose flat will cure the wounds inflicted by the edge. The knight was led to a chamber and the ring given to Canacee, but the brass steed would not move until the knight taught people how to move it. The horse was a source of wonder for the people, compared alternately to the Pegasus and the Trojan horse. All one needed to do to move the brass horse was to twirl a peg in its ear, according to the knight. After the revelry of the night before, the next morning everybody but Canacee remained asleep until late. She had dreamed of the mirror and the ring and thus had her first satisfying rest in a very long time. As she went out walking that morning with her maids, she came across bleeding peregrine falcon that cried in anguish. It had maimed itself. Canacee picked up the falcon and spoke to it, a power she had gained from the ring the knight had given her. The falcon told her a tale of a handsome tercelet as treasonous and false as he was beautiful. Yet the tercelet fell in love with a kite as well as with the falcon, but could not choose between the two. Canacee healed the bird with herbs. The tale then returns to King Cambyuskan, but the tale abruptly ends. AnalysisSince the Squire's Tale exists only in a fragmented form, it is difficult to determine certain aspects of the tale. The tale may be a fragment because Chaucer never finished the tale or because the later section of the tale was lost in the manuscripts from which the Canterbury Tales were taken. What remains of the Squire's Tale gives only minor indication of the structure and themes of the tale. The tale is an adventure with elements of fantasy similar to the Knight's Tale not surprising, for the Squire is the son of the Knight but with a less bombastic tone and elements of magic instead of the divine intervention that drives the later sections of the Knight's Tale. Part of the difficulty in deciphering where the tale may continue lies in its loose structure. There are a hodgepodge of plotlines that the story could follow, including the mysterious knight, the mechanical horse, and the injured falcon.
ClassicNote on The Canterbury Tales
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