Canterbury Tales Overview--A Story-Telling Contest

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In the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer introduces the speaker of the poem as a man named Chaucer, who is traveling from London with a group of strangers on a PILGRIMAGE to Canterbury, to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket. After a brief description of the setting and the introductions of the pilgrims, the Host, who owns the inn that they gather at, suggests that they should each tell two stories while walking--one on the way to Canterbury and one on the way back, to pass the time more quickly. He offers the person telling the best story a free supper at the tavern when they return.