Those of you who, like me, haven’t cracked the spine of The Canterbury Tales since the tenth grade were probably as puzzled as I was when, in the wake of Jerry Falwell’s death last month, Christopher Hitchens repeatedly described him as a “Chaucerian fraud.” Well, I finally looked it up, so as a public service to my fellow illiterates: see “The Pardoner’s Tale.” Those of you who both haven’t cracked the spine of The Canterbury Tales since tenth grade and are perfectly happy to leave it that way can make do with this short summary.