# The Nun's Priest — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> The Nun's Priest in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** this priest, the priest

**First appearance:** 0065-the-nun-s-priest-s-tale

## Snapshot

A poor priest riding with the Prioress who tells the mock-heroic tale of Chanticleer the rooster and the fox.

## Who they are

The Nun's Priest is a modest, unremarkable cleric in the Prioress's company, but his tale of Chanticleer, Pertelote, and the flattering fox Daun Russell is one of the wittiest in the whole collection. He turns a barnyard fable into a meditation on dreams, flattery, and free will, complete with mock-epic rhetoric and a chase scene. His humble station and his brilliant storytelling make him the pilgrimage's quietest surprise.

## In the story

### [The Nun's Priest's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-nun-s-priest-s-tale)

The narrator of the tale, a humble priest who tells a lively beast fable.

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

Called upon by the Host to tell a merry tale; agrees to do so.

### [The Nun's Priest's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-tale)

Tells the tale of Chanticleer and Partelote.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters/nun_priest
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters