A Similar Iranian Legend:

Torabi, Zadmehr

doi:10.22091/slic.2025.14245.1009

A Similar Iranian Legend: "The Story of the Chaplain Nun" by Geoffrey Chaucer

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Zadmehr Torabi

English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Vali-e Asr university of Rafsanjan

10.22091/slic.2025.14245.1009

Abstract

This article investigates the thematic parallels between Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales and a similar Persian folktale found in collections of proverbs. Following a discussion of Chaucer's seminal role in establishing English as a literary language and a review of prior scholarship identifying similarities between other Chaucer tales and Persian narratives, this study focuses on a comparative analysis of the two fables. Both stories feature a nearly identical plot in which a fox uses flattery to capture a rooster, only for the rooster to later escape by exploiting the fox’s vanity, concluding with the same proverbial moral. The central research question is to determine the nature of this connection: whether it constitutes a case of direct literary influence or a typological similarity arising from shared international narrative motifs. While acknowledging the historical context of East-West cultural exchange, particularly during the Crusades, the paper concludes that, in the absence of a clear historical-geographical transmission path, the resemblance is more accurately classified as a "wandering story" or typological similarity rather than direct influence. The study highlights the value of comparative literature in tracing the migration and adaptation of universal narrative themes across cultures.

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