Canterbury tales question
 

I was reading the prologue to the canterbury tales when i came across a small anomaly. The narrator mentions that he meets 29 people that will travelling with him, but going through his accounts of all the people he met I came up with 31 including the host.

Can anyone account for this?

Strange. I always understood that the Canterbury Tales was unfinished.

Mr Mephisto

it was unfinished...but in the prologue, chaucer names everyone going on the pilgramage. if you count all the names he says, you get 31. yet he says 29 people he met going along with him.

I haven't read this since I was in drama in HS.. but I think only 29 went with him.. I know he met a few more people a long the way.. but there were some that did not go on his travels.

If I am wrong, please let me know. I will have to pick this up again just to get a refresher... an interesting question though :)

I believe that it's just from other people he met, and not neccesarily people who traveled with him.

Double check that you're not over-counting people, too. It's been a while, but I seem to remember being confused about how some people on the pilgramage get more than one title.

Well, I know that Chaucer himself is the narrator for the prologue, but when the actual stories start, the host is the narrator. I guess if the host meets 29 people, then it would be 30, but if Chaucer says that he met 29 people, then it would be 31 with the host. Hell if I know; I remember there being an argument about this in my 12th grade English class.

-Lasereth