The Pardoner's Tale

These three tales from The Canterbury Tales are read in the original Middle English by Richard Bebb under the direction of Britain's foremost Chaucer scholar, Derek Brewer. The tales and their story-tellers display extraordinary variety and come from different sections of The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer's portrait of the Pardoner himself, laced with hostile satire, is as entertaining and revealing as the tale itself -- a search for a pot of gold during the plague. The Nonne Preestes Tale is different again and concerns faithfulness, love and magic. They are presented here in the original Middle English, but with the sense of drama and storytelling intact. Richard Bebb (1927-2006) was educated at High-gate School, London and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became an actor in 1947 in Michael Redgrave's Macbeth and then spent two years in repertory at Buxton and Croydon, where he met his future wife, the late Gwen Watford. They married in 1952 and had two sons.