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The Sompnour, or
Summoner, who, according to
Chaucer, joined
the party of
pilgrims, was an officer whose duty was to summon delinquents to appear
in ecclesiastical courts.
In later times he
became known as the
apparitor.
Our particular
individual was a somewhat quaint
though
worthy
man.
"He was a gentle hireling and a kind; A better fellow should a man
not find."
In order that the
reader may understand his
appearance in
the
picture, it must be explained that his peculiar headgear is duly
recorded
by the poet.
"A garland had he set upon his head, As great as if it
were
for an ale-stake."
One
evening ten of the company
stopped at a
village inn and
requested to
be put up for the night, but mine host could only accommodate five of
them.
The Sompnour suggested that they should draw lots, and as he had
had experience in such matters in the summoning of juries and in other
ways, he arranged the company in a circle and proposed a "count
out."
Being of a chivalrous nature, his little plot was so to arrange that
the
men should all fall out and leave the ladies in possession.
He
therefore
gave the Wife of Bath a number and directed her to count round and
round
the circle, in a clockwise direction, and the person on whom that
number
fell was immediately to step out of the ring.
The
count then began
afresh
at the next person.
But the lady misunderstood her instructions, and
selected in mistake the number eleven and started the count at
herself.
As will be found, this resulted in all the women falling out in turn
instead of the men, for every eleventh person withdrawn from the circle
is a lady.
"Of
a truth it was no fault of
mine," said the
Sompnour next
day to the
company, "and herein is methinks a riddle.
Can
anyone tell me what number
the good Wife should have used withal, and at which pilgrim she should
have begun her count so that no other than the five men should have
been
counted out?"
Of course, the point is to find the smallest number that
will have the desired effect.
See
answer
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