“Nobody Cain’t Die”: An Appalachian Analogue to the Old Man in Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proposes a heretofore unidentified analogue to the old man in Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale. A similar figure appears as an old woman in the traditional Appalachian Jack Tale known as “Soldier Jack.” Dating to the fifteenth century in England, Jack Tales arrived in the United States sometime before 1800 and in Appalachia shortly thereafter. In “Soldier Jack,” Jack captures and keeps Death in a sack until he encounters an old woman who tells him that, because of his actions, no one has been able to die. In Chaucer’s tale, the old man, as a figure who cannot die, provides a similar warning about the folly of trying to control death.