Conclusion?

Elizabeth

Now, back to the story! But then, where was I?

I was distracted by that, I won't lie.

I think Edelweiss had just lost his horse.

From that starting place, let us go forth!

The Actress's Tale, continued

Now for Roy, the two men began to look

Across the fields, up a rise, past a brook.

They found poor Roy shivering near a hill.

“Get back up on that hoss,” advised Bill.

“We’ve got to find dat cow, we’re wastin’ daylight.

Looks like we’ll be sleeping in a field tonight.

We’ll get to the north pasture and meet the men.

They'll have the mess truck ready and then

we’ll lay out our bedrolls and get some shut-eye.

Tomorrow we’ll ride before the sun reaches the sky.”

“Roy doesn’t sleep outside and neither do I!"

Edelweiss cried. Bill just gave a sigh.

They found all the others setting up camp

A farm truck parked and Russ came down the ramp.

“Hey, Bill this is yers.” And threw him two small sacks.

“And yers are there.” He pointed to elven packs.

Edelweiss boot sunk into something foul

“What's that?” he cried. Hank grinned. “That’s from a cow!”

Edelweiss looked comical running around

rubbing his boot all over the ground.

Slamming his things, obviously in a mood,

He asked for some water to mix Roy’s food.

The cowboy named Russ pointed and said,

"Over there yonder, down in the creek bed."

In horror, he cried, “What did you say?

Roy likes Pellegrino or Perrier.

Creek water is not good for digestion

To use it is quite out of the question.”

Meanwhile, Lil’ Joe had been pawing about,

In all the sacks and he pulled something out.

“What’s in this ‘ere bottle?” asked Lil’ Joe.

"Omega Horseshine to make Roy’s coat glow."

Doubled over with laughter, Lil’ Joe bent.

The rest joined in when they saw joint supplement.

Tired to the bone, Edel gave up the fight,

fed Roy dry food, and tied him for the night.

Went to the chuck wagon and dished a plate

Had no clue what it was but still, he ate.

Feeling annoyed Edelweiss gave a growl,

“I am a cowboy and I’ll prove it now!”

He pulled from his pack a trophy or two

And a handful of ribbons, all of them blue.

“I got these for Pole Weaving,” said Edelweiss,

“And my barrel racing sure is done nice.

In Cowboy Dressage I am number One”

“Trinkets don’t mean you’re a real cowboy son,”

Hank replied. “Real cowboys don’t get trophies.

They get stiff backs, bent legs and scars like these.”

He lifted his shirt, his skin had been torn.

“I once got this working with a Longhorn.

And Bill can spit further than all the rest,

And Russ’s lassoing skills are the best!”

“I can play the geetar.” added Lil’ Joe,

Not wanting to be left out of the show.

“That don’t make you no cowboy,” Russ complained

“So I’m not a cowboy,” Edel sounded strained.

“Did you bring me here to make fun of me?”

“Son, no you ain’t,” Hank was quick to agree,

“I didn’t drag you here to tell you that.

We can make a cowboy out of you yet.

After all pole weaving can be right tough,

And at times barrel racing gets a bit rough,

Cowboy dressage could git a fella hurt.

All you need do is get rid of that dern shirt!

Yer a part of the family now,” Hank said,

"From here on out we’ll be callin’ you Ed.”

Her story ended. We were all delighted.

"What a great tale! I was so excited,"

Sue remarked, "to see how it would end.

And I can't wait to see what you intend!"

She added and they all looked my way.

Before I could begin my own display,

The train slid to a stop and the brakes screeched,

For we had arrived, Canterbury we reached.

Author's Note

This is my final story for my project. Since the last story was so long, I didn't have much room for a conclusion. The final story will remain untold and I guess it will be up to the reader to decide which of the three stories was best. Chaucer never actually finished the Canterbury Tales so perhaps this ending is fitting.

This project was really fun to work on. It was quite a challenge to write in verse and I was worried it would be hard to read but I think it turned out pretty well. I loved having stories within a story. It was fun to create the different settings and consider what each storyteller would be most concerned with. I felt Sue, the old secretary would be a cautious cat lover and so her story reflected that. While Howie was a carefree teenager, so I added some more modern words to his vocabulary and gave him a fitting topic. Finally, I wanted Elizabeth to have more fun with her own story. Unlike Howie and Sue, she wasn't trying so hard to come up with a story with a serious moral. It was just meant to be fun and silly. As far as the narrator, that character is more mysterious. I decided not to really go into a background there. I guess, any reader could insert themselves into the narrator's role.

I mentioned the stories I used for inspiration for the Actress's Tale in the previous Author's Note.

Thank you so much for reading my stories, I hope you liked them!

Bibliography

This is a link to the section about the Canterbury Tales on wikipedia. The first part talks about how the story seems to be unfinished.

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