In "Of the Churl that Won Paradise," it is first important to define the term "churl." A churl, according to Dictionary.com, is a "rude, boorish, or surly" peasant, someone who does who does not know his place and is not pleasant to others. We can see in the story that the churl is a churl because he is not afraid to talk back to Peter, Thomas, and Paul, even though they are saints in heaven. He doesn't talk to them pleasantly. Instead, when they each tell him that he is not qualified for heaven, he rudely throws back in their faces that they too are not fit for heaven because of their own sins. His persistence—and what the story calls his "wit" (his ability to think on his feet and twist words to his own advantage)—earns him his place in heaven. 

The story ends with this moral:

Wit hath falsified justice, and falsity hath conquered nature; wrong goeth before right and right falleth behind. Wit is mightier than force.

In other words, quick thinking and twisting the truth can be more important than being right—they can make a wrong seem right. They are stronger than violence.

Can you think of examples in your own life in which someone (or maybe you) was able to talk their way out of a tight jam? Or can you think of somebody in politics who is very good at this? Or a figure from literature? I think of Tom Sawyer, who talked other people into whitewashing his fence, in other words, doing his chore for him, because he managed to convince them that this chore was a privilege. His "wit" in persuading them to help was much more effective than trying to force or threaten them into helping. Has anyone in your life ever persuaded you into doing something that was wrong or that you didn't want to do? Have you persuaded someone to do something they didn't want to, maybe a friend or younger brother or sister?

A strong thesis would state what the moral of the story is in your own words, then link it to your personal experience: The moral of "Of the Churl that Won Paradise" is X, and it relates to an experience I had of Y.

You will then have to tell your story, explain how it is like the fable, and then link your thesis statement to ideas in assigned readings you mention that are outside of the three you list here.

How does the message or moral of one fabliaux in Tales from the Old French relate to your life?

"The Divided Blanket" is an interesting tale among the three fabliaux. In this tale, a father gives his son everything he owns so that the son can marry the sister of three knights. Later, when the wife tells the son to throw his father out, the son agrees. The son is only stopped by his own son, who feigns miserliness and pretends to give his grandfather only half a blanket. This act on the part of the grandson reminds the son that his father sacrificed everything for him and that he must be generous towards his father. The moral of the story is that a father, or anyone, must not give everything to someone else and must reserve something for him or herself.

The way you apply the moral of this story is up to you. Perhaps you have witnessed parents who give their children everything without asking for anything in return. Does this make the children generous or selfish? Or perhaps you have given everything you had (such as time, possessions, or money) to a friend, without reserving anything for yourself. Do you think this makes the friend better or worse towards you? There are several ways to apply this fable to real life.