The Hidden Meaning of the Nun's Priest's Tale It has been suggested that a "Chaucer's tale exploits the nature of its genre but also draws attention to ideological prejudices and on the exclusions inherent to the genre story"2. In my opinion The Nun's Priest's Tale is a wonderful example of how Chaucer tests the limits of his chosen genre, in this case the beast fable. What is a fable about the beast? Obviously a story about animals, but in which "animals are used as incarnations or caricatures of human virtues, vices, prudences and follies... and other typical qualities of humanity. These are generally short cautionary anecdotes that they use the obvious similarities between humans and animals to express a moral or push a proverb in a humorous way"3. Chaucer can be seen making full use of the fable nature of the beast in The Nun's Priest's Tale. It contains all the traditional elements mentioned above: the central characters are the chickens Chauntecleer and Pertelote and the fox Russell; the characters' guilt, gullibility, cunning and vainglory are examined; the story is short, about 650 verses; and several moral principles are offered. The story is also funny, but not only for the caricatures of human traits. The tale contains numerous subgenres such as romance, rhetorical debate, and Christian misogyny, and it is the interaction of these subgenres with the beast fable that creates much of the humor. In The Nun's Priest's Tale Chaucer displays some of the worst excesses of these medieval folk traditions by contextualizing them with his animal characters. The incongruity of a hen taking part in a debate about the meaning of dreams, for example, is intrinsically comical, but is not limited to...... middle of paper ......9), 251-270 . This from page. 266.8. F. Anne Payne, “Foreknowledge and Free Will: Three Theories in the Priest's Tale of the Nuns,” The Chaucer Review 10 (1975), 201-219. This from page. 2089. Ian Bishop, "The Nuns' Priest's Tale and the Liberal Arts," Review of English Studies NS30 (1979), 257-267. This from page. 17.10. Payne, p. 205.11. Walter Scheps, “Chaucer's Anti-Fable: Reductio ad absurdo in the Priest's Tale of the Nuns,” Leeds Studies in English 4 (l970), 1-10. This from page. 7.12. Bishop, p. 266.13. Payne. P. 218.14. Payne. P. 210.15. Payne. P. 211.16. 0wen, p. 26717. Jill Mann, "The Speculum Stultorum and the Priest's Tale of the Nuns," The Chaucer Review 9 (1975), 262-282. This from page. 275.18. Friedman. P. 253.19. 0erlemans, p. 318.20. Scheps. P. 8.21. Payne, p. 214.22. Mann, p. 277.