The Pardoner’s Tale

Some years ago, there was a group of young men who lived very badly. One Sunday they were sitting in a tavern instead of going to church. A man was killed by a thief called Death. The young men weren’t afraid and made a promise: if one of them was killed the other two will kill the murder.

One day they met an old and poor man who said to them that they could find Death under an oak. The three men ran down the crooked path towards the tree. When they found the oak he saw a huge pile of new gold coins. They immediately forgot all about Death.

The leader said that he must made a plan: they must take the gold away to his house as soon as possible. But they must take it away secretly at night. Therefore, one of the young men, went to the town to get bread and wine for them. When it was dark they carried the gold to one of their houses.

When the youngest had gone, the leader said to the other that he would kill him. The other agree. But the youngest was also thinking about the gold as he ran to the town. He would poison his two companions. He puts the poison in two bottles of wine, but not in the third and went back to the tree.

The story finishes with the youngest stabbed and the other two poisoned.