Reading boundaryStart: There was also a Reeve, and a Millere,Stop after: Therefore he sang full merrily and loud.
Summary
The massive, red-bearded Miller wrestles, breaks doors, tells coarse stories, steals grain, and leads the riders from town with his bagpipe. The unlearned Manciple buys provisions so shrewdly that he outwits more than thirty legally trained masters. The thin, irritable Reeve accounts perfectly for his lord’s estate, knows every servant’s fraud, secretly enriches himself, and rides last on a gray horse.
The diseased, frightening Summoner knows only scraps of Latin, becomes loud when drunk, and uses church discipline for profit while controlling young people’s secrets. His friend the Pardoner arrives with conspicuous hair, a high voice, and a wallet of purported relics—including a pillowcase, metal cross, and pig bones—with which he extracts more in a day than a poor parson earns in two months. Yet his polished church reading, singing, and preaching make him an effective collector.
Who’s who
The Miller — A powerful, coarse entertainer and dishonest grain-taker.
The Manciple — A temple’s purchasing agent who surpasses learned employers in practical finance.
The Reeve — A feared estate manager, skilled carpenter, and covert accumulator of wealth.
The Summoner — A corrupt officer of an archdeacon’s court and companion to the Pardoner.
The Pardoner — A persuasive church performer who sells pardons and exploits counterfeit relics.