Disappearing Fairies in the Wife of Bath's Tale

Author / Editor
Salla, Sandra M.

Title
Disappearing Fairies in the Wife of Bath's Tale

Published
Mediaevalia 21 (1997): 281-93.

Description
In WBT, the first mention of fairies--the Wife's lament for their disappearance--is linked to and introduces the other fairy scenes. The knight's experience demonstrates that even in her first mention of fairies the Wife associates them with happiness, sexual satisfaction, and education--notions supported by numerous medieval ballads and romances.

Chaucer Subjects
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.