the miller’s tale

by BEATRICE MALATESTA

Artwork: Beatrice Malatesta

Joined Feb 2019
Published Books 2

Prologue to the Miller’s Tale

The story begins with the pilgrims who applaud the knight’s tale and the guest asks the monk to match it. Before the monk can say a word, the miller interrupts him. Drunk and rickety promises to tell a “noble” story. The guest tries to convince the miller to let a “better” man tell the next story. When the miller threatens to leave, the guest decides to listen to his story. The miller is keen to point out that he is drunk and that therefore what he will say will not be his fault. It intrudes his story like a legend: the life of a carpenter, his wife and how an employee made fun of the carpenter, everyone understands the employee went to bed with the carpenter wife. So the Reeve cries out his objection to the ridiculous story, but the miller insists on proceeding with his story. He points out that he is married himself, but does not care if some other man is sleeping with his wife, because it is none of his business.

Start of the story

The miller begins his story: once upon a time there was an Oxford student named Nicholas, who studied astrology and knew the art of love well. Nicholas embarked with a wealthy but poorly educated old carpenter named John, who was very jealous and possessive of his young wife, Alisoun. One day the carpenter leaves and Nicholas and Alisoun start flirting. Nicholas grabs her, but she starts to cry, and only after a few sweet words, she agrees to sleep with him. She is worried that John finds out, but Nicholas is confident that he can outsmart the carpenter.

Nicholas isn’t the only that loves Alisoun, also a parochial employee named Absolon. He serenades her every evening, buys her gifts and gives her money, but in vain: Alisoun loves Nicholas. Nicholas devises a plan that will allow him and Alisoun to spend an entire night together. Alisoun tells John that Nicholas is sick. John sends a servant to check on his boarder, who finds him motionless, staring at the ceiling. When the servant reports what he has seen, John is not surprised. John also says that madness is what is obtained by investigating “Goddes pryvetee”, and which he believes is equivalent to Nicholas’ astronomy studies.

Nicholas tells John that he has had a vision of God and offers to tell him about it. Explain that he predicted a terrible event. Next Monday, the waters will flood the earth, exterminating all life. The carpenter believes him and fears for his wife, just what Nicholas had hoped would happen. Nicholas orders John to secure three tanks, each loaded with provisions and an ax, on the roof of the barn. On Monday night they will sleep in the tanks, so that when the flood arrives, they can free the tanks, cross the roof and float until the water has subsided. Nicholas also warns John that it is a commandment from God that they can do nothing but pray once inside the tanks.
Monday evening arrives and Nicholas, John and Alisoun climb stairs in suspended tubs. As soon as the phlegname begins to snore, Nicholas and Alisoun come down, run home and sleep together in the bed. At dawn, Absolon passes. Hoping to stop for a kiss from Alisoun, Absalon approaches the window and calls her. She replies harshly to love another. Absolon persists as long as Alisoun offers him a quick kiss in the dark.

Absolon leaps forward, received another kiss. But it is not his lips that find the window, but his “bare ass”. She and Nicholas collapse with laughter as Absolon tries to clean her mouth. Determined to avenge Alisoun’s joke, Absolon rushes back to town to the blacksmith and gets a red-hot iron club. Return with it to the window and knock again, asking for a kiss and promising Alisoun a gold ring. This time, Nicola, having got up, comes out of the back window and farting loudly in Absolon’s face. Absolon marks Nicholas’ buttocks with poker. Nicholas leaps to his feet and shouts. Giovanni, still hanging on the roof, wakes up and assumes that Nicola’s shout means that the flood has come. He grabs the ax, frees the tub and crashes to the ground, breaking his arm. Noise and confusion attract many citizens. The carpenter tells the story of the expected flood, but Nicholas and Alisoun pretend ignorance, telling everyone that the carpenter is crazy and citizens laugh that everyone.

End

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