In "The Pardoner’s "Tale, part of Geoffrey Chaucer’s "The Canterbury Tales", a Pardoner tells a story to his fellow pilgrims. The Pardoner himself is a figure known for selling indulgences and relics, which he exploits for personal gain, demonstrating hypocrisy. The tale follows three rioters who set out to find and kill Death, whom they believe is responsible for the deaths of their friends and neighbors. Their quest is driven by greed. They encounter an old man who tells them that they will find Death under a large tree. Instead of finding Death, the rioters discover a large treasure hidden under the tree. They plot to keep the treasure for themselves. As the rioters wait to move the treasure, two of them conspire to kill the third rioter. Meanwhile, the third rioter plans to poison the others. In the end, their treachery results in all three rioters meeting their demise—one by poison, the others by stabbing. The tale is an allegory about the destructive nature of greed. It illustrates how greed leads to death and self-destruction.
The story concludes with a moral lesson about the consequences of avarice and the inevitable punishment for those who live a life of sin and corruption.