The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life is a popular science book by Professor Richard Dawkins, with contributions from Dawkins' research assistant Yan Wong. It follows the path of humans backwards through evolutionary history, meeting humanity's cousins as they converge on common ancestors. It was published September 2004 by Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated; ISBN 0297825038

The narrative is structured as a pilgrimage, with all modern animals following their own path through history to the origin of life. Humans meet their cousins at rendezvous points along the way, the points at which species diverged. At each point Dawkins attempts to infer, from molecular and fossil evidence, the probable form of the ancestor and describes the modern animals that join humanity's growing travelling party. Lastly, a tale is presented on behalf of one such cousin, each one presenting a different aspect of evolutionary biology. This structure is inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

The pilgrimage visits a total of forty 'rendezvous points' from rendezvous zero, the most recent common ancestor of all of humanity, to rendezvous 39, eubacteria, the ancestor of all surviving organisms.

The book is dedicated to Dawkins' friend and mentor, population geneticist John Maynard Smith.