‘The Merchant’s Tale’ is part of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a medieval collection of stories in which the Host of the Tabard Inn in Southwark proposes to a group of 30 pilgrims heading for the shrine of St Thomas at Canterbury that they each tell two stories on the way and two on the way back. It’s unfinished as a text — we only have 24 stories.
In this tale from the Merchant, January, an old and wealthy knight, chooses a young and beautiful wife, May. Damian, January’s young squire, languishes in bed, sick for love of May. When January is struck blind, he becomes jealous and controlling, creating a garden to enjoy her alone. But May arranges a duplicate key, allowing Damian access. The climax of the tale involves sex up a tree, a dispute and a clever compromise.
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