[Illustration: THE SQUIRE.]

The _Knightes Tale_, which is the first, is also the best. It is a
very interesting story of love and chivalry. Two young Theban
nobleman, Palamon and Arcite, sworn friends, are prisoners of war at
Athens. Looking through the windows of their dungeon, they see walking
in the garden the beautiful sister of the queen. Each one swears that
he will have the princess. Arcite is finally pardoned on condition
that he will leave Athens and never return, on penalty of death; but
his love for Emily lures him back to the forbidden land. Reduced
almost to a skeleton, he disguises himself, goes to Athens, and
becomes a servant in the house of King Theseus. Finally, Palamon
escapes from prison, and by chance encounters Arcite. The two men
promptly fight, but are interrupted by Theseus, who at first condemns
them to death, but later relents and directs them to depart and to
return at the end of a year, each with a hundred brave knights. The
king prescribes that each lover shall then lead his forces in mortal
battle and that the victor shall wed the princess.

[Illustration: THE CLERK OF OXFORD.]

On the morning of the contest, Palamon goes before dawn to the temple
of Venus to beseech her aid in winning Emily, while Arcite at the same
time steals to the temple of Mars to pray for victory in war. Each
deity not only promises but actually grants the suppliants precisely
what they ask; for Arcite, though fatally wounded, is victorious in
the battle, and Palamon in the end weds Emily. Although Boccaccio's
_Teseide_ furnished the general plot for this _Knightes Tale_,
Chaucer's story is, as Skeat says, "to all intents, a truly original
poem."