The Cook's Tale Prologue:

The cook talks about how much he enjoyed the Reeve's tale and how people should be careful about who they let in their house. To prove his point he quotes Solomon, "Bring not every man into thine house." The host of the party warns the cook to tell a fair and decent tale with quality content. He doesn't want the tale to be like the cook's various pastries and pies that are a week old and covered in flies. The cook says that he has a good story but it is about an innkeeper and he asks the host not to take offense.

The Cook's Tale:

There was a prentice who lived in the same city as the cook. He was strong, handsome and incessantly happy. He loved to sing, dance and gamble his way through the city. However, a problem arose with his employers. They took his outings as thievery because they were essentially the ones to pay for his gambling excursions. Near the end of the man's apprenticeship his master told him to leave. The thought being that the man could not persuade the other men to follow his nightly outings. The Tale ends with the man finding a female companion to gamble and spend his days with. The catch being that she was a prostitute and that was the only match the man was fit for.

Intro to the Sergeant-At-Law's Tale:

Based on the sun's position in the sky, the host determines that it is the eighteenth of April. He asks the Sergeant-At-Law to fulfill his promise and to begin his story. The lawyer says that there is no tale he could tell that has not already been written by Chaucer, the writer in their company. The host says that Chaucer does not write tale's associated with anything that is grotesque or sinful. To that, the lawyer says that he will tell a tale of poverty and speak in prose, leaving the formation of poetry to Chaucer.

The Sergeant-At-Law's Tale Prologue:

The lawyer talk of poverty and how it is the worst condemnation that God could give. He says that poverty reduces a man to become a beggar and diminishes any sort of self-respect due to the need to survive. Poverty causes a man to steal and commit other sinful crimes. He quotes the wise as saying that it is "better to be dead than poor." He then transitions into talking about the rich and how God created a world in which men could be so disproportionately wealthy.