The story is set in Tottenham, at that time a rural community north of London. During a drinking fest, Perkyn boasts to Rondal, the localreeve, that he is the most worthy among the men to marry Tyb, Rondal's attractive daughter. The boast brings about responses from the others, who equally boast of their worthiness, whereupon Perkyn challenges anyone to a joust to settle the issue. Rondal elects to settle the matter by agreeing with Perkyn's idea of a joust, and schedules a jousting tournament to be held seven days later, open to any and all potential suitors. The winner of the tournament will be granted Tyb's hand in marriage as well as a "dowry". At the tournament, the suitors arrive riding old mares as horses, brandishing farm implements for jousting lances, and wearing bowls and pottery as armor. Tyb arrives at the tournament and watches the proceedings on a mare, with a feather-filled bag for a saddle and a hen on her lap. After each worker makes his overblown boast of bravery, the "tournament" commences. Notwithstanding the lack of professional jousting attire, the participants engage in a lively battle which results in several serious injuries and one attempt to prematurely end the battle by abducting Tyb. At the end of the tournament, the women of Tottenham and the nearby communities arrive to drag them home. Perkyn ends up being the last combatant standing and is thus declared the winner and given Tyb. After they spend the night together, she agrees the next day to marry him. Upon the announcement of the marriage, the warriors gather for a feast.
Criticism
The poem is evidently meant to be humorous, as the weapons are totally unsuited to war; the combatants fight with farm tools on old horses more given to passing wind than battle. The martial seriousness of the men's vows is immediately undermined by comic touches such as the banners made from old hides and a trumpet made of wood, fighting for a dowry of an old horse and a spotted pig. The poem does not explain why some of the warriors are fighting for Tyb's hand in marriage when they currently have wives. Critics do not agree on the subject of or audience for the parody. The poem may be satirizing knightly conventions such as the jousting tournament, or it may be mocking the country bumpkins who try to imitate these courtly rituals. Or, as with Chaucer's Reeve's Tale, the poet may be making fun of speakers of northern English, who were often stereotyped by southerners as backward.
