The Miller's Prologue and Tale

The Miller's Tale Summary

The Miller's Tale is one of the more bawdy and humorous of the Canterbury Tales, full of slapstick comedy and ribald humour. It is a fabliau, a short comical story, often filled with lewd situations and sexual innuendos.

Here is a modern English summary:

In the town of Oxford, a rich but somewhat foolish carpenter named John lives with his much younger wife, Alison. John is overly protective of Alison, concerned that her beauty will attract other men. He rents a room in his house to a poor but clever student named Nicholas, who studies astrology.

Nicholas becomes attracted to Alison and manages to convince her to have an affair with him while the carpenter is away. Meanwhile, Absolon, a local parish clerk, is also smitten with Alison, but his advances are rebuffed.

Nicholas devises a plan to spend a night with Alison without arousing John's suspicion. He tells John that he has seen a vision in the stars of a great flood, similar to Noah's flood, which will engulf the world. He convinces John to hang three tubs from the roof of their house, each stocked with supplies. When the flood comes, they will cut themselves free and float until the water subsides.

John believes the story and prepares the tubs. That night, they each climb into a tub to sleep, but as soon as John is asleep, Nicholas and Alison climb down and spend the night together in John's bed.

Meanwhile, Absolon comes to the house in the dead of night, hoping to steal a kiss from Alison. At the window, Alison tricks Absolon into kissing her buttocks. Realising he's been made a fool, Absolon acquires a hot iron from a blacksmith with the intention of burning Nicholas. He returns to the window, asking for another kiss. This time, Nicholas, wanting to trick Absolon in his turn, sticks his backside out the window, and Absolon brands him with the hot iron. In pain, Nicholas cries for water.

Hearing the cry for water, John wakes up and cuts his tub loose, thinking the flood is here. He falls down and is severely injured. The townsfolk gather around the commotion, laughing at the ridiculous scene. In the end, John is made a laughingstock, Nicholas is painfully branded, and Alison gets away without blame. The tale ends in laughter at the expense of the gullible carpenter and the pretentious student.

The Miller's Tale is often seen as a satirical response to the preceding Knight's Tale, replacing high romance and courtly love with bawdy humour and deception.