The Cook’s Tale

The Cook’s Tale, an incomplete story in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, published in 1387–1400.

This 58-line fragment of a tale of “harlotrie,” as the poet described it, tells of a womanizing, gambling apprentice cook who is dismissed from his job. He moves in with a fellow reveler and his wife, a shopkeeper by day and prostitute by night. Scholars are uncertain how Chaucer intended the story to end, and some manuscript versions of The Canterbury Tales omit this fragment altogether.