داستان کشیش آمرزنده‌ی گناه

Chapter six

The Pardoner’s Tale

“And now I have a story for you,” said the Pardoner to the other people in the group. “It’s a story about three men. They were called Ames, Lucien and Morise. Ames talked a lot. The other two men didn’t talk very much. These men were very bad. They only thought about money. They were always together, but they weren’t friends. Friends help you. Friends listen to your problems. They were greedy, and they had no love in their hearts. I will begin my story in an inn. The three men were together at a table near the window.”

‘I’m hungry’ said Ames.

‘So am I,’ said Lucien. ‘I want something to eat.’ But then Ames saw something strange.

‘Look’ he said. ‘Look out of the window! What are those two men doing?’

‘Oh, yes’ said Lucien. ‘They’re carrying a man.’

‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Ames. ‘Who is he? I think we know him. Yes it’s Adranus Innkeeper’. said Ames: ‘Is that Adranus?’

‘Yes it is. Adranus died last night, Somebody killed him,’ said the innkeeper.

‘Who did this to Adranus’ asked Ames. ‘Death did it’ said the innkeeper.

‘Death That’s a strange name,’ said Ames. ‘Why is he called Death?’

‘Because of the things he does,’ said the innkeeper. ‘Last week he met five people. And he killed them all. Nobody can find him. Everybody is worried about Death.’

‘We’ll look for him’ said Ames. ‘It’ll be good fun. We’ll find him, and we’ll fight this strange man called Death.’

‘Don’t do it’ said the innkeeper. ‘He’s very dangerous.’

‘Don’t worry We know what to do,’ said Ames. ‘People say that Death lives near the mountain,’ said the innkeeper. ‘Don’t go near the mountain! Or you’ll be the next people to die.’

‘Well we’re going to the mountain. Nothing will stop us.’ And so the three men left the inn. And then they started walking to the mountain.

The three men walked for a long time. They often had to stop. After some hours, the three men met an old man.

‘Hey, old man’ said Ames.

‘What do you want’ said the old man.

‘Do you know a man called Death?’

‘Yes, I know about him,’ said the old man. ‘But why are you asking me this? Don’t go near that man! He’s dangerous.’

‘Tell us where we can find him,’ said Ames. ‘Nobody knows where he is,’ said the old man. ‘But people say he often goes to a place. They say that he puts his money there.’

‘Money’ said Ames. ‘Where is this place?’

‘Before you walk up the mountain; there’s a very old tree. It’s near the road that goes to the mountain. Sometimes he goes there. They say he’s got a lot of money.’

‘I think I know where this tree is,’ said Ames. ‘We can go there now!’

‘No Stop’ said the old man. But it was too late. The friends wanted to find the tree.

After two hours, they arrived at the place. And they saw the tree. ‘I want to look for the money now,’ said Ames. ‘Do you remember? The old man said that Death put it here.’ They looked for the money, and soon they found it. It was under a small rock. There was a lot of money in a big bag. The bag was very difficult to carry.

‘Here it is, Look how much there is, We’re rich,’ said Ames.

‘Hooray’ they said. ‘We’ve got a lot of money!’ They were very excited.

‘I want to get something to eat and drink,’ said Ames.

‘OK,’ said Lucien. ‘We can go to the town and buy something.’

‘But, wait,’ said Ames. ‘Two of us must wait here with the money. Morise, you go to the town. We’ll wait for you here.’

‘OK,’ said Morise. And he went to the town. The other two men waited under the tree. After an hour, Ames thought of something. ‘Listen’ said Ames. ‘There’s a lot of money in that bag.’

‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Lucien. ‘There’s about six hundred pounds. That’s two hundred pounds each.’

‘Yes, but I think we can have three hundred pounds each.’

‘How’ asked Lucien.

‘Well, we can kill Morise when he comes back. Then we’ll have more money.’

‘Yes , I want to do that’ said Lucien. And then the two men waited for Morise.

Morise was near the town. And he started thinking. ‘Well, there’s about six hundred pounds in that bag. That’s about two hundred pounds for me. Two hundred pounds is a lot of money. But six hundred pounds is much more. Six hundred pounds will change my life. I know what I’ll do. I’ll kill Ames and Lucien. Then I’ll have all the money.’

Ten minutes later, Morise arrived at the town. He bought some food and drink. But he also bought some poison. He put the poison in the drink. And then he went back to the tree. It was getting late when Morise arrived. Ames, Lucien, five got the food and.’ And they were the last words that Morise spoke. Because then Ames and Lucien killed him.

‘And now we have more money,’ said Ames. They didn’t worry about Morise.

The two men were happy. They drank together. Soon the poison was in their bodies. And after one minute, the poison killed them.

“That’s the end of my story,” said the Pardoner. “The three men wanted to fight Death. They were greedy. And that’s why they died. I want you to remember this story, when we arrive at Canterbury. And when we say our prayers.”

The others thought it was a very good story. And then the people in the group thought about all the stories. There were a lot of things to think about. And, after four days, Canterbury was very, very near.