Difference between revisions of "The Reeve's Tale"

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== The Reeve's Tale Summary ==
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'''The Reeve's Tale''' is part of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''.
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"The Reeve's Tale" is another one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, featuring a bawdy story of trickery and revenge. The Reeve, an old and thin man named Oswald, tells this tale in response to "The Miller's Tale" as he himself used to be a carpenter and didn't appreciate the foolish carpenter character in that tale.
 
  
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'''Here is a summary in modern English:'''
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== Summary ==
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The miller Symkyn steals grain from two Cambridge students, Aleyn and John, after distracting them by releasing their horse. The students stay overnight in his crowded house.
  
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::The story is set in the town of Cambridge, where two students, John and Aleyn, study at a college known as Soler Hall. Both of them are from northern England, and they are known for their cleverness. They are poor and decide to try and outwit a local miller, Symkyn, who is notorious for his own cunning and for stealing grain from his customers.
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Aleyn goes to the bed of the miller's daughter, Malyne. John moves the baby's cradle so that the miller's wife, returning in the dark, mistakes John's bed for her own. Later Aleyn uses the displaced cradle to orient himself and mistakenly gets into the miller's bed. His boast provokes a fight, during which the miller is beaten.
  
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::They take a horse and some grain to be milled and tell Symkyn that they will watch the milling process to ensure that he doesn't steal from them. However, Symkyn, realising their intent, unties their horse, which runs off into the countryside. While the students chase after their horse, the miller takes a portion of their flour and instructs his wife to bake it into a cake.
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The tale links theft, retaliation and sexual deception. Its comic treatment of these events should not obscure questions of coercion and consent. The moved cradle is especially relevant to the study of spatial description: the same reference point produces different mistakes when its location changes.
  
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::When John and Aleyn return, they find that some of their grain is missing, but they can't prove the theft. They request to stay the night at the miller's house, planning to stay awake and guard the rest of their grain. They are given a bed in the same room as the miller, his wife, and his daughter. The miller's baby also sleeps in a crib in the room.
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== Source ==
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[https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/reeves-tale Harvard's Geoffrey Chaucer Website: synopsis, context and link to the text.]
  
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::In the night, John and Aleyn enact their revenge. Aleyn sleeps with Symkyn's daughter, who mistakes him in the dark for her lover. Meanwhile, John moves the baby's crib to his own bed and tricks the miller's wife into thinking he is Symkyn, leading her to sleep with him.
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== Related pages ==
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* [[The Canterbury Tales]]
  
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::In the morning, Aleyn, eager to share his escapade with John, accidentally wakes Symkyn. A fight breaks out when Symkyn realises what has happened. However, the miller's wife, thinking that Symkyn is attacking their guests, knocks him out with a staff. The students make a quick escape, taking their flour with them and leaving the miller disgraced and unconscious.
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== Browse the library ==
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[[:Category:Stories and literature|Stories and literature]]
  
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"The Reeve's Tale," like "The Miller's Tale," relies on crude humour and bawdy scenarios, featuring the theme of trickery and deception but with a focus on poetic justice.
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[[Subject index]] | [[Stories and literature]] | [[Special:AllPages|All articles A-Z]]
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[[Category:Stories and literature]]

Latest revision as of 11:21, 23 September 2026

The Reeve's Tale is part of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Summary

The miller Symkyn steals grain from two Cambridge students, Aleyn and John, after distracting them by releasing their horse. The students stay overnight in his crowded house.

Aleyn goes to the bed of the miller's daughter, Malyne. John moves the baby's cradle so that the miller's wife, returning in the dark, mistakes John's bed for her own. Later Aleyn uses the displaced cradle to orient himself and mistakenly gets into the miller's bed. His boast provokes a fight, during which the miller is beaten.

The tale links theft, retaliation and sexual deception. Its comic treatment of these events should not obscure questions of coercion and consent. The moved cradle is especially relevant to the study of spatial description: the same reference point produces different mistakes when its location changes.

Source

Harvard's Geoffrey Chaucer Website: synopsis, context and link to the text.

Related pages

Browse the library

Stories and literature

Subject index | Stories and literature | All articles A-Z

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