<P> The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio contains more parallels to The Canterbury Tales than any other work . Like the Tales, it features a number of narrators who tell stories along a journey they have undertaken (to flee from the Black Death). It ends with an apology by Boccaccio, much like Chaucer's Retraction to the Tales . A quarter of the tales in The Canterbury Tales parallel a tale in the Decameron, although most of them have closer parallels in other stories . Some scholars thus find it unlikely that Chaucer had a copy of the work on hand, surmising instead that he must have merely read the Decameron at some point, while a new study claims he had a copy of the Decameron and used it extensively as he began work on his own collection . Each of the tales has its own set of sources that have been suggested by scholars, but a few sources are used frequently over several tales . They include poetry by Ovid, the Bible in one of the many vulgate versions in which it was available at the time (the exact one is difficult to determine), and the works of Petrarch and Dante . Chaucer was the first author to use the work of these last two, both Italians . Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy appears in several tales, as the works of John Gower do . Gower was a known friend to Chaucer . A full list is impossible to outline in little space, but Chaucer also, lastly, seems to have borrowed from numerous religious encyclopaedias and liturgical writings, such as John Bromyard's Summa praedicantium, a preacher's handbook, and Jerome's Adversus Jovinianum . Many scholars say there is a good possibility Chaucer met Petrarch or Boccaccio . </P> <P> The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories built around a frame narrative or frame tale, a common and already long established genre of its period . Chaucer's Tales differs from most other story "collections" in this genre chiefly in its intense variation . Most story collections focused on a theme, usually a religious one . Even in the Decameron, storytellers are encouraged to stick to the theme decided on for the day . The idea of a pilgrimage to get such a diverse collection of people together for literary purposes was also unprecedented, though "the association of pilgrims and storytelling was a familiar one". Introducing a competition among the tales encourages the reader to compare the tales in all their variety, and allows Chaucer to showcase the breadth of his skill in different genres and literary forms . </P> <P> While the structure of the Tales is largely linear, with one story following another, it is also much more than that . In the General Prologue, Chaucer describes not the tales to be told, but the people who will tell them, making it clear that structure will depend on the characters rather than a general theme or moral . This idea is reinforced when the Miller interrupts to tell his tale after the Knight has finished his . Having the Knight go first gives one the idea that all will tell their stories by class, with the Monk following the Knight . However, the Miller's interruption makes it clear that this structure will be abandoned in favour of a free and open exchange of stories among all classes present . General themes and points of view arise as the characters tell their tales, which are responded to by other characters in their own tales, sometimes after a long lapse in which the theme has not been addressed . </P> <P> Lastly, Chaucer does not pay much attention to the progress of the trip, to the time passing as the pilgrims travel, or to specific locations along the way to Canterbury . His writing of the story seems focused primarily on the stories being told, and not on the pilgrimage itself . </P>

Who tells the first story in canterbury tales