The Sea-Captain's Tale:

There is a merchant and his wife who live in St. Denis. The merchant is very good friends with a visiting monk from Paris named Brother John. The merchant is preparing to leave for a business trip to Bruges, so before his departure he counts his income and takes stock of his items. He locks himself away in his office because it is time consuming work that requires a lot of attention. While the merchant is tucked away in his office, the wife approaches Brother John and tells him of her woes. She thinks her husband to be too stingy, and says that he never gives her money to buy any clothes, making her look lik a serving wench at best. She is to host a dinner party while the merchant is away but she has no money to buy a proper outfit. Her husband refuses to give her money because he believes her to be properly equipped. She asks Brother John for a hundred francs so she can buy a dress. Because the wife talked openly of her husband and told him a secret concerning her views on his manner, the monk tells her that he loves her. He says that he will give her the money if she were to spend the night with him in exchange. Brother John then goes to the merchant and discreetly asks for a hundred francs to pay a debt, which the merchant gratefully loans. Both the merchant and the monk leave to Bruges and Paris respectively. The next day Brother John returns and gives the wife the hundred francs, along with accepting his reward. Upon his return to Paris, the monk meets up with the merchant, who he tells that he returned the money to his wife in full and that his debt and loan are now clear. When the merchant returns home and the wife does not mention the payment he asks the wife why she has not yet told him. She says she spent the money on clothes and though it was a gift rather than a payment and apologizes.. but she is secretly very angry that Brother John tricked her.

The Sergeant-At-Law's Tale: Part 3

King Alla returns to his country to find his wife and child gone. The governor tells him what he had commanded and realized the treachery of the King's mother. The King has her killed and is distraught over the loss of his wife and son. Meanwhile, the emperor of Rome hears of what has happened to his daughter in Syria and sends a senator and an army to kill the Sultan's mother and her accomplices. On their journey back to Rome they come across a ship, the very ship that Constance and her son are on. They bring the disoriented woman and child back to Rome where the Senator takes her in and provides her with food and shelter. King Alla, feeling sinful for having killed his mother, goes on a pilgrimage to  Rome. He is greeted by the Senator who houses Constance, who unbeknownst to him is the man's wife. He invites the King to dinner, which the King gratefully accepts. When the King arrives he recognizes Constance and his son and they are happily reunited (after, of course, Constance finds out that it was not on the King's orders that she was sent away). Constance asks her husband to invite the emperor to meet. The emperor recognizes his daughter and they too happily reunite. Constance and her son then go with the King to England where they live for a year until the King dies. She then returns with her son to Rome to live with her father. Her son, Maurice, eventually becomes emperor of Rome.

The Sergeant-At-Law's Tale: Part 2

Upon Constance's arrival, a huge welcoming is arranged. She rides to the Sultan's Kingdom with the Sultan himself and his mother. The mother plays her part well, and pretends to love Constance and treats her as a daughter. However, that night at the feast, the mother hosts Constance and her party and kills them all, including the Sultan's advisors. She spares Constance and sends her on a ship with provisions, ordered to never come back. Constance wanders the sea for three years until she arrives at the tip of Gilbatar, a formerly Christian kingdom but one that has now been taken over by Muslims. Constance arrives delirious and forgetful of her past. The governor of the castle near where she comes ashore greets her and takes her in. He and his wife treat her as a daughter and she is well loved throughout the kingdom. A young knight sees her and falls in love but she rejects all his advances. Bitter, the knight devises a plan to destroy Constance. He slips into the castle when everyone is sleeping and slits the governor's wife's throat. He lays the knife next to Constance and she is thus accused of murder. She is brought before the King and makes her plea. The whole kingdom believes her plight and the King pities her. He asks the Knight to swear witness to the murder, which he does before God and is then smote on the back of his neck. He dies because of his lie and the King asks Constance to marry him. After a little while she bears a son, but the King is not present because he is off in Scotland. She sends word to the King's mother, who then gets the courier drunk and forges a letter to her son telling him that the child is deformed and is the Devil's spawn. The King writes back and tells the mother to keep the child safe until he returns, but the mother forges another letter in the King's name telling the governor to send Constance and the baby to sea within four days on the very same ship she arrived. The governor and the rest of the kingdom are shocked by the demand and regretfully force Constance to leave. She climbs aboard the ship with her baby and enough provisions to last her many years.