Take on the role of an editor who is putting together an anthology of literature. You must select one story from "The Monk's Tale" for students to read, and write an introduction that prepares them to understand it. The introduction will explore the story's plot, its related themes, and its rhyme scheme and meter.

comfort   in their suffering

  this riddles' answer is library.

  the "leaves" are a reference to the books' pages that the library contains; the branches are a network of libraries that connect multiple libraries' collections, resources, and items in a system of a common database, integrating them; the branches' organization are a useful management tool for coordinating the multiple collections many libraries have.