Why Does Chaucer’s Manciple Tell a Tale About a Crow?

This article examines possible links between the fictional teller of the Manciple’s Tale and its plot, the story of a crow whose message is unwelcome. It suggests links with proverbs about careless servants or unreliable messengers as crows, and with medieval biblical tradition which underlies this proverbial use: a tradition that the raven which Noah sent out failed to return to the ark because it was feasting on carrion floating in the sea. Allusions to this cluster of associations occur in several medieval texts, English and Welsh, and the widespread familiarity with it that these indicate make it likely that Chaucer had the ideas in mind both when he portrayed the General Prologue manciple as an untrustworthy servant cheating his masters over their catering and also in linking such a character to a tale about a crow-messenger.