Question: what type of tale is the pardoner's tale?
Answer: an extended exemplum, a moral tale

The tale itself is an extended exemplum . Setting out to kill Death , three young men encounter an Old Man who says they will find him under a nearby tree . When they arrive they discover a hoard of treasure and decide to stay with it until nightfall and carry it away under cover of darkness . Out of greed , they murder each other . The tale and prologue are primarily concerned with what the Pardoner says is his '' theme '' : Radix malorum est cupiditas ( '' Greed is the root of ( all ) evils '' ) .