Reeve’s tale

Symkyn is a miller who has a daughter and two children: a twenty-year-old daughter and a six-month-old son. People bring to his mill their grain to make him grind it. Symkyn usually cheats their customers and steals their grain.

When John and Alan, two students from Cambrige university, bring their wheat to the mill, they have the specific intention of not be cheated so they pretend to be interested in the process of grinding grain into flour and watch Symkyn working. Symkyn wants to prove his astuteness so he frees students’ horse. When the students go to search for their horse, Symkyn steals their grain.

When Alan and John go back to the mill, it’s late and they ask the miller if they can stay with he and his family for the night. The miller and his wife sleep in one bed, Symkyn’s daughter, Malyne, sleeps in another bed and John and Alan sleeps in the third bed; baby’s cradle is near the miller’s bed.When everyone goes to bed, John and Alan decide to avenge their selves. Alan insinuates in Malyne’s bed who is very drunk and starts having sex with her. When Symkyn’s wife gets up to relieve herself, John moves the cradle near his bed, so when the wife comes back, he mistakes John’s bed for her own bed so she lies down near John and the two have sex.

Meanwhile, Alan leaves Malyne’s bed and goes to the miller’s bed, deceived by the cradle in the other bed. So mistakenly Alan wakes Symkyn telling him that he had sex with Malyne. The miller is very angry and his shouts wake everyone.

Eventually John and Alan run away taking their horse and the bread made with their stolen grain.