Summary and Analysis The Friar's Prologue and Tale
Summary
At the end of the wife of Bath's narration, the Friar wonders whether such heavy academic problems concerning authority and the scriptures shouldn't be left to the proper authorities and offers to tell a tale about a summoner. The Host admonishes the Friar to tell something else, but the Summoner interrupts and says that, if the Friar tells an uncomplimentary tale about a summoner, he will in turn tell an uncomplimentary tale about a friar. The tale the Friar tells is, indeed, uncomplimentary
An archdeacon (a church official who presided over church courts) uses a crew of spies, including whores, to seek out information about the people living in the parish. With the derogatory information in hand, the archdeacon calls upon the sinners and miscreants and squeezes exorbitant tribute from them so that their names do not appear among those doing evil.
In the employ of the Archdeacon is a summoner who makes his rounds blackmailing the rich and the poor alike. One day, the summoner meets a debonair young yeoman. Discovering that they are both bailiffs, the two men swear to be brothers to their dying day. They each reveal the underhanded means they use to extort money from their victims and agree to enter into a partnership. After exchanging further information, the summoner inquires about the yeoman's name. The yeoman reveals that he is "a fiend, my dwelling is in hell." The summoner says that he made a bargain to join forces with the yeoman, and even if the yeoman is really a fiend, he (the summoner) will honor his word. The two seal the bargain and begin their journey.
The summoner and the demon come upon a farmer whose cart is stuck in the mud. In exasperation, the farmer shouts for the devil to take all — cart, horse, hay, everything. The summoner urges the fiend to do as he is bid, but the fiend explains that, because the curse was not uttered from the heart and in sincerity, he has no power to do so. Later, they go to the home of a rich widow who refuses to pay the summoner's bribes. Again the summoner demands his money; again the woman refuses. When the summoner threatens to take her new frying pan, she cries, "The devil take you and the frying pan." The fiend asks whether she means these words, and she says she does, unless the summoner repents. The summoner refuses, and the fiend drags the summoner off to hell, where all summoners have very special places. The Friar ends his tale by hoping that summoners can someday repent and become good men.