The Franklin's Tale is from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Dorigen and Averagus fall in love. Averagus leaves on a boat to defend his country. Aurelius falls in love with Dorigen, who refuses his love unless he can make the rocks, that she fears her husband's ship will crash on, disappear. Aurelius pays a magician/philisopher to make a flood come and cover the rocks with water. This happens as Averagus returns. Dorigen is confronted by both men claiming her hand. Averagus claims that love is less important that someone's word so he tell Dorigen to marry Aurelius. (Averagus mirrors the Franklin who is from the rich working class who is trying to act nobel. The most nobel thing to do in that case is to obey your word. Nobels and the rich working class are falling into each other's roles as Chaucer depicts in his works.) Aurelius does the nobel thing and sees that the couple's love is true and retracts his request to marry her. The magician is so pleased that he cancels the debt that Aurelius owes him.