The falcon tells Canace that she has been abandoned by her false lover, a tercelet (male hawk), who left her for a kite. Eagerly rising the next morning, she goes on a walk and discovers a grieving falcon.
After much learned talk of the gifts, digressing into astrology, the first part of the tale ends.Ī subplot of the tale deals with Canace and her ring. These are a brass horse with the power of teleportation, a mirror which can reveal the minds of the king's friends and enemies, a ring which confers understanding of the language of birds (as some legends say King Solomon owned), and a sword which deals deadly wounds that only its touch can heal again (both the spear of Achilles and the Holy Lance have these powers). At the twentieth anniversary of his reign, he holds a feast, and a strange knight sent from "the kyng of Arabe and of Inde" approaches him bearing gifts, a motif common in Arthurian legends. Genghis Khan ("Cambyuskan" in Chaucer's version) leads the Mongol Empire with two sons, Algarsyf and Cambalo, and a daughter, Canace.
According to some critics the source of the tale is The Arabian Nights. The original source of the tale remains unknown.
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