The Miller's Prologue and Tale Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Miller's Prologue and Tale is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, told by a drunken miller to 'quite' The Knight's Tale. It is a vulgar and satirical fabliau.The Miller's Prologue is the first 'quite' that occurs in the tales (To 'quite' someone is to mock them in a satirical way).
The Miller's tale is about a carpenter/landlord and his wife. (The Reeve, another of the travellers, happens to be a carpenter, and urges the Miller not to joke about his profession; the Miller replies that he does not mean to insult carpenters in general, and tells his tale anyway. Thus, The Reeve's Tale follows, which quites the Miller and pokes fun at his profession)
The story is of a student (Nicholas) who persuades his landlord's wife (Alisoun/Alison) to spend the night with him, making that possible through an elaborate scheme in which he convinces the landlord the second flood is coming, causing him to wait overnight for it in a tub suspended from the barn rafters. This comic prank allows Nicholas and Alison the opportunity to be together.
While Nicholas and Alison lie together, another suitor, Absolon, appears and asks Alison for a kiss. She sticks her bottom out the window, and he kisses it. Absolon, enraged disappears to get a red hot poker. Returning, he asks for another kiss. This time Nicholas sticks his bottom out the window and farts, and gets branded by Absolon for his trouble. He cries for water, which awakens the landlord, who thinks that the second flood is come at last. He panics, and the rest of the town awakes to find him lying in the tub on the floor of the barn. After that, he is considered a madman by the whole town.
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