A portly Miller, barely sober enough to sit on his horse, rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter and a scholar she takes as her lover. To get some time alone together, the scholar and the wife play various tricks that involve feigning madness, staging a biblical flood, and exposing themselves in public.
一個醉到快從馬上跌下去的肥胖磨坊主人，滔滔不絕地說著一個壞脾氣老木匠的輕浮老婆和一名學者外遇的故事。為了爭取兩人共處的時光，那名學者和木匠的老婆耍了不少花招，包括裝瘋賣傻、聲稱洪水即將襲來（註一）、公然裸露身體。
But the parish clerk is also lusting after the wife. He comes by every night to sing outside her house. This becomes so tiresome that she tries to scare him away by hanging her rear end out of the window for him to kiss. When this appears not to work, her scholar decides to try farting in the same position. But this time the clerk is waiting with a red hot poker.
但當地的教區執事也對木匠的老婆垂涎三尺。他每晚都會到她家外面唱歌。這讓她感到相當厭煩，於是就把屁股掛在窗外給他親，試圖把他嚇走。當這招沒效時，學者決定在同一個位置放屁。但這一次執事已經準備好一根燒紅的撥火棍了。
This might all sound like a bawdy joke, but it's part of one of the most esteemed works of English literature ever created—The Canterbury Tales, which seamlessly blends the lofty and the lowly. The work consists of 24 stories, each told by one of Chaucer's spirited characters. Narrators include familiar medieval figures, such as a Knight, a Clerk, and a Nun, and the less recognizable, Reeve, and Manciple, and others.
這也許聽起來就像是個低級的黃色笑話，但這故事其實出自於英國文學史上一部備受推崇的作品－－《坎特伯里故事集》，一部完美融合高雅和庸俗的著作。這部作品包含了 24 個故事，每個都是由喬叟筆下生動的角色敘說。敘事者包括大家比較熟悉的中世紀人物，像是騎士、學者、修女，除此之外還有管家、伙食經理等較不知名的人物。
The tales are written in Middle English, which often looks entirely different from the language spoken today. It was used between the 12th and 15th centuries and evolved from Old English. Due to increased contact with European Romantic languages after the Norman Conquest of 1066, most of the Middle English alphabet is still familiar today, with the inclusion of a few archaic symbols, such as yogh, which denotes the y, j, or gh sound.
這些故事是由中古英語撰寫，看起來跟現代英語很不一樣。中古英語用於 12 到 15 世紀間，由古英語演變而來。中古英語在 1066 年「諾曼征服」後與歐洲羅曼語族的接觸更為頻繁，也因此大部分的中古英語字母至今依舊可以辨識，其中包含了一些古老的符號，像是 yogh，代表 y、j 或是 gh 的音。
The loquacious cast of the tales first meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark. They have a journey in common, a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, a martyred archbishop, who was murdered in his own cathedral. Eager and nosy for some personal details, the host of the inn proposes a competition: Whoever tells the best tale will be treated to dinner.
故事中這些健談的角色第一次相遇是在倫敦南岸薩德克的泰巴客棧。他們正踏上一趟相同的旅程，也就是到坎特伯里朝聖，參訪聖徒 Thomas Becket 的聖堂，這位主教因為在自己的教堂被謀殺而殉道。為了探聽八卦，客棧主人提議來場比賽：誰能講出最棒的故事，誰就能獲得免費的晚餐。
If not for their pilgrimage, many of these figures would never have had the chance to interact. This is because medieval society followed a feudal system that divided the clergy and nobility from the working classes, made up of peasants and serfs.
如果不是因為這趟朝聖之旅，許多角色永遠不會有機會接觸。這是因為中世紀社會採用封建制度，將神職人員、貴族和由農夫、農奴組成的勞工階級區分開來。
By Chaucer's time, a professional class of merchants and intellectuals had also emerged.
Chaucer spent most of his life as a government official during the Hundred Years' War, traveling throughout Italy and France, as well as his native England. This may have influenced the panoramic vision of his work, and in the tales, no level of society is above mockery.
到了喬叟的時代，由商人和知識分子組成的技術階級也出現了。在百年戰爭期間，身為政府官員的喬叟大半輩子都在義大利、法國和祖國英國奔波遊走。或許是因為如此，他的作品視野廣闊，在故事中，沒有任何一個社會階級不被嘲諷。
Chaucer uses the quirks of the characters' language, the ribald humor of the Cook, the solemn prose of the Parson, and the lofty notions of the Squire to satirize their worldviews. The varied dialects, genres, literary tropes also make a work of a vivid record of the different ways medieval audiences entertained themselves.
喬叟運用不同角色各自的語言特色，如廚師的低俗幽默、牧師的莊嚴散文、鄉紳的崇高理念來諷刺他們的世界觀。同時以各種方言、文類、文學修辭，將中世紀形形色色的生活娛樂生動地記錄下來。
For instance, the Knight's tale of courtly love, chivalry, and destiny, riffs on romance,
while the tales of working-class narrators are generally comedies, filled with scatological language, sexual deviance, and slapstick. This variation includes something for everyone, and that's one reason why readers continue to delight in the work in both Middle English and translation.
譬如說，騎士敘述的故事圍繞在宮廷愛情、騎士精神、命運、浪漫愛情，而勞工階級敘說的故事則通常是喜劇，充滿粗俗的語言、怪異的性癖和荒謬的行為。故事的多樣性讓每個人都能產生共鳴，這也是為什麼讀者們始終熱愛這部作品，不論是中古英語還是翻譯版本。
While the narrative runs to over 17,000 lines, it's apparently unfinished, as the prologue ambitiously introduces 29 pilgrims, and promises four stories apiece, and the innkeeper never crowns a victor. It's possible that Chaucer was so caught up in his sumptuous creations that he delayed picking a winner, or perhaps he was so fond of each character that he just couldn't choose. Whatever the reason, this means that every reader is free to judge.
The question of who wins is up to you.
儘管這部作品長度超過一萬七千行，但顯然並未完成，故事序言野心勃勃地介紹了 29 個朝聖者，並承諾每個人會各說四則故事，但客棧主人卻沒有選出獲勝者。喬叟有可能過於沉溺在他精彩的故事創作中而遲遲沒選出贏家，也或許是他太喜愛每個角色而選不出來。不論原因是什麼，這代表每個讀者都能自行判斷。由你選擇誰才是贏家。
註一：這裡的英文用 biblical flood 是因為用到了舊約聖經中諾亞方舟的典故。故事中的學者聲稱比聖經中的大洪水還要大兩倍的洪水即將襲來，以欺騙老木匠。
