The Wife Of Bath's Riddles
(
CANTERBURY PUZZLES)
The frolicsome Wife of Bath, when called upon to favour the company, protested that she had no aptitude for such things, but that her fourth husband had had a liking for them, and she remembered one of his riddles that might be new to her fellow pilgrims: "Why is a bung that hath been made fast in a barrel like unto another bung that is just falling out of a barrel?" As the company promptly answered this easy conundrum, the lady went on to say that when she was one day seated sewing in her private chamber her son entered. "Upon receiving," saith she, "the parental command, 'Depart, my son, and do not disturb me!' he did reply, 'I am, of a truth, thy son; but thou art not my mother, and until thou hast shown me how this may be I shall not go forth.'" This perplexed the company a good deal, but it is not likely to give the reader much difficulty.
Answer:
The good lady explained that a bung that is made fast in a barrel is like another bung that is falling out of a barrel because one of them is in secure and the other is also insecure. The little relationship poser is readily understood when we are told that the parental command came from the father (who was also in the room) and not from the mother.
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