The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

The Wife of Bath's Tale is a tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

The Wife of Bath's Tale's quick summary.

A knight in King Arthur's Court rapes a woman. He is to be judged by the king, but the queen wishes to forgive him. She punishes the knight by giving him a quest to find out what women want. He searches and eventually finds that every woman wants something different. He meets an old hag. She says she'll tell the queen and save him if he marries her. He agrees. They go back to the court and he is pardoned. The old hag and the knight converse about the knight's happiness. He is unhappy because she is ugly. She says he can choose between her being ugly and faithful or beautiful and unfaithful. He tells her to chose. She says he made the right choice and she becomes beautiful and faithful.