> The Friar's Tale, the Merchant's Tale, and the Miller's Tale are stories fromwhich collection?And the answer: The Canterbury Tales. Photo credit: Chaucer Myth via Bandcamp[https://chaucerianmyth.bandcamp.com/album/the-canterbury-tales].Written byGeoffrey Chaucer between the years 1387 and 1400, The Canterbury Tales is acollection of 24 stories told in Middle English. The vast number of charactersand stories help to paint a sometimes amusing and critical portrait of Englishsociety at the time.Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are written in Middle English, a language thatdespite its name hardly resembles the English of today. Used between the 12thand 15th centuries, Middle English evolved out of increased contact withEuropean romantic languages following the Norman Conquest of 1066. Most of theMiddle English alphabet would still be familiar today, give or take a fewarchaic symbols (next time you spell a complex word, be thankful there's no"yogh"). Each of Chaucer's 24 stories contains a narrator from a different walk of life.His colorful cast of characters include a clerk, a knight, and a nun, as well asthe less recognizable reeve and mancible (to name a few). The unsuspecting groupmeets at the Tabard Inn, bonded by their shared pilgrimage to Canterbury. If itweren't for the journey they share, this cast of characters would never have hadthe occasion to interact. This is due to the fact that in Medieval society, afeudal system divided the clergy and nobility from the lower classes. However,in the tales, no level of society is above mockery. Chaucer used the quirks ofeach character's language to satirize their world views. Today, The Canterbury Tales is still widely studied as a masterpiece of earlyEnglish literature. Check out the video below to learn more.