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The story tells of a young knight named Arveragus and a young woman named Dorigen , who fall in love. Arveragus then leaves for Britain to improve his martial skill.
While he is gone, a squire, Aurelius, falls in love with Dorigen, who refuses his love because of her great devotion to her husband. However, she says in jest that she will love him if he can make the rocks in the sea, upon which she fears her dearest's ship will crash, disappear. Aurelius pays a magician/philosopher to make a flood come and cover the rocks with water.
The flood issues forth just as Arveragus returns safely, and Dorigen is promptly confronted by both men claiming her hand. Arveragus insists that Dorigen keep her word, demanding that she go to Aurelius. (In this, Arveragus mirrors the Franklin, who aspires to a idealistic standard of nobility and "gentilesse").
However, Aurelius himself defers to nobility when he recognizes that the couple's love is true, and Arveragus noble; he releases Dorigen from her oath. The magician is so pleased that he cancels the debt that Aurelius owes him.
At the end of the Tale, the Franklin asks the rhetorical question, "Which was the mooste fre?"
| The Canterbury Tales |
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| The Knight's Tale - The Miller's Tale - The Reeve's Tale - The Cook's Tale - The Man of Law's Tale - The Wife of Bath's Tale - The Friar's Tale - The Summoner's Tale - The Clerk's Tale - The Merchant's Tale - The Squire's Tale - The Franklin's Tale - The Physician's Tale - The Pardoner's Tale - The Shipman's Tale - The Prioress' Tale - Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topas - The Tale of Melibee - The Monk's Tale - Chanticleer and the Fox - The Second Nun's Tale - The Canon's Yeoman's Tale - The Manciple's Tale - The Parson's Tale - Chaucer's Retraction |