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The Canterbury Tales: The Pardoner's Tale Lines 491 – 515 Summary

  • "Brothers," he says, "listen to me. I'm smart, even though I seem to be just a jokester.
  • Fortune has given us this treasure so that we can party for the rest of our lives. We'll spend it as easily as we found it.
  • By God's precious nobility! Who would've thought that we'd have such luck today?
  • If we can just carry this gold home to my house or yours—for of course you know that it belongs to all of us—then we'll be perfectly happy. Finders, keepers.
  • But we can't do this during the day; people will think we stole it, and hang us for stealing our own treasure.
  • We have to wait until it's dark, and secretly carry it home.
  • Meanwhile, I think we should draw straws to see who'll go to town to bring us bread and wine and who'll stay here to guard the treasure.
  • When it's night, we will carry this treasure to a place we all agree on."