1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Ask a Question

The Salior

There was a sailor, living far out west;
For aught I know, he was of Dartmouth town.
He sadly rode a hackney, in a gown,
Of thick rough cloth falling to the knee.
A dagger hanging on a cord had he(5)
About his neck, and under arm, and down.
The summer’s heat had burned his visage brown;
And certainly he was a good fellow.
Full many a draught of wine he’d drawn, I trow,
Of Bordeaux vintage, while the trader slept.(10)
Nice conscience was a thing he never kept.
If that he fought and got the upper hand,
By water he sent them home to every land.
But as for craft, to reckon well his tides,
His currents and the dangerous watersides,(15)
His harbours, and his moon, his pilotage,
There was none such from Hull to far Carthage.
Hardy, and wise in all things undertaken,
By many a tempest had his beard been shaken.
He knew well all the havens, as they were,(20)
From Gottland to the Cape of Finisterre,
And every creek in Brittany and Spain;
His vessel had been christened Madeleine.

• any
• riding-horse
• believe
• port city in northeast England
• city in Northern Africa
• island off the coast of Sweden
• in northwest Spain
• region of northwest France

1. Notes
2. Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights
3. The General Prologue
   1. The General Prologue
   2. The Knight
   3. The Squire
   4. The Yeoman
   5. The Prioress
   6. The Monk
   7. The Friar
   8. The Merchant
   9. The Clerk
   10. The Five Guildsmen
   11. The Cook
   12. The Salior
   13. The Physician
   14. The Wife of Bath
   15. The Parson
   16. The Plowman
   17. The Miller
   18. The Manciple
   19. The Reeve
   20. The Summoner
   21. The Pardoner
4. The Knight’s Tale
5. The Miller’s Prologue
6. The Miller’s Tale
7. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue
8. The Tale of the Wife of Bath
9. The Pardoner’s Tale
10. The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue
11. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
12. Copyright