The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, one of the 24 stories in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, published 1387–1400. A humorous description of a roguish canon and alchemist, as told by his assistant, the tale pokes fun at both alchemy and the clergy. After describing failed alchemical processes in detail, the canon’s yeoman tells his tale of a canon who swindled a priest by selling him powders to transmute mercury into silver, then escaped before his scheme was discovered.