Aside from being part of a seriously important larger work, "The Reeve's Tale" is also significant because it's one of the first written pieces to use a local dialect in text. But chances are your students aren't going to give a flyin' flip about any type of dialect…to use the timeless lang of "flyin' flip," obviously.

So what else? Simple enough: "The Reeve's Tale" is significant to your students because it's funny and contains sex. Is there a better combination out there? Teaching the tales of the Miller and Reeve demonstrates that people back in the medieval times didn't just go romping about in tights, spouting off poetry, and pining for their lost love. They were basic people who worked hard and had some pretty fundamental desires: to love, to laugh and to have a good time. The fact that story is short and talks about some bed-hopping college students who don't want to be made to look like fools by some pretentious miller will hopefully draw your students in to this fantastic piece of literature. Consider it "gateway" reading of sorts.