Nick of the Woods The novel is set in Kentucky in the 1780s and revolves around the mysterious figure of "Nick of the Woods", dressed as a monster, who seeks to avenge the death of his family by killing numerous Indians, carving a cross on the body of all he slays. "Nick" is revealed to be Nathan Slaughter, a Quaker by day who should by nature and creed avoid all violence. Bird's brutal depiction of Native Americans (the Shawnee) was very hostile, and in part a reaction to the more positive representation of Indians by James Fennimore Cooper in the Leatherstocking Tales. The novel
The Canterbury Tales of Dante and Virgil in "The Divine Comedy". New research suggests that the General Prologue, in which the innkeeper and host Harry Bailey introduces each pilgrim, is a pastiche of the historical Harry Bailey's surviving 1381 poll-tax account of Southwark's inhabitants. "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