The Wife of Bath beings her tale by describing the setting. The tale takes place in Britain during King Arthur’s rule. Britain used to be full of fairies and elves and incubi, but those creatures are gone because their spots have been taken by evil friars that are everywhere. A young, lusty knight from King Arthur’s court comes across a beautiful young maiden walking alone one day. Driven by lust, he rapes her. The people are scandalized and angered by the crime, that they petitioned for King Arthur to sentence the knight to death. However, Arthur’s queen and other ladies of the court intercede on his behalf and ask the king to give the queen the choice on what to do with the knight. King Arthur conceded and the queen challenges the knight: …show more content…
The knight then begins his journey, and he quickly loses hope because every woman he questions answers differently. Some claim that women love money and treasure best, some honor, some jolliness and happiness, some gorgeous clothes, some sex, some remarriage, some flattery, and some say that women want to be free to do as they wish. Lastly, some women say that they want to be considered discreet and secretive. However, Lady Bath argues that such an answer is clearly untrue, since no woman can keep a secret. As proof, she retells Ovid’s story of Midas. After she tells the story, she continues her story of the knight. After relentless searching and conflicting answers, the knight heads home. He approaches a forest and sees twenty four women dancing and decides to ask them his question. When he gets too close, the group vanishes, and all that is left is an ugly old woman. The old woman asks if the knight needs any help because old women know a lot of things. The knight explains his situation and tells her he would reward her if she can help him. The old woman tells the knight that he must swear to do anything she asks of him in return for her help, and the knight gladly