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The Miller's Tale: Modern English Translation
"Chaucer made easy!"
Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale”, from The Canterbury Tales, clearly translated into Modern English, while faithfully interpreting and preserving the flowing structure of the original medieval text.
On a journey with his fellow pilgrims to Canterbury Cathedral, Robin, a drunken miller, tells an earthy but imaginative story of how the beautiful young wife of a middle-aged carpenter is seduced by Nicholas, a clever but cunning scholar.
To continue their sexual relationship, Nicholas devises a ludicrous plan to keep the affair secret from not only the suspicious husband but also his rival, a well-mannered but equally lecherous parish clerk.
“The Miller’s Tale” is stuffed with drama, crudeness and hilarity, and is Chaucer at his most outrageous.
Contains strong language.
Reviews
“The perfect introduction to Chaucer, brilliantly capturing his unique style for the modern reader.” JS Hayer, The Supplement.
“Chaucer’s masterpiece clearly translated and easily understood. Ideal for students.” M. Collins PhD.
Penbury Press, 2013.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale”, from The Canterbury Tales, clearly translated into Modern English, while faithfully interpreting and preserving the flowing structure of the original medieval text.
On a journey with his fellow pilgrims to Canterbury Cathedral, Robin, a drunken miller, tells an earthy but imaginative story of how the beautiful young wife of a middle-aged carpenter is seduced by Nicholas, a clever but cunning scholar.
To continue their sexual relationship, Nicholas devises a ludicrous plan to keep the affair secret from not only the suspicious husband but also his rival, a well-mannered but equally lecherous parish clerk.
“The Miller’s Tale” is stuffed with drama, crudeness and hilarity, and is Chaucer at his most outrageous.
Contains strong language.
Reviews
“The perfect introduction to Chaucer, brilliantly capturing his unique style for the modern reader.” JS Hayer, The Supplement.
“Chaucer’s masterpiece clearly translated and easily understood. Ideal for students.” M. Collins PhD.
Penbury Press, 2013.
79 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1372
26 people are currently reading
514 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Chaucer
1,207 books1,344 followersGeoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
March 13, 2025
Suddenly I realize what a manic kid I was turning into in the 10th Grade!
I loved this one back then.
But now, with an inviolable backstop of neuroleptic meds which has calcified my will for the past 50 years (Holy Crow, I musta been an obdurate young man - FIFTY years to Smarten Up!?) I see my reaction as sadly chthonic.
Relax, kids. Cheap laughs arouse small minds.
It's just too bad that our modern non-stop media three ring circus encourages silliness while suppressing our infinitely more positive gift of natural Wonder.
For great poetry is nothing without Wonder.
Wonder could save the world, if we let it!
We've gotta graft the enlightened Wisdom of Wonder at it All - onto our rigid 24/7 connectedness with our trashy newsfeed - unchanged over the millenium since Chaucer loved his dirty jokes.
What's the point of being in constant contact with such sickos? There is none.
God’s Wonder obviates such silly glitter, and is content with the air that we breathe.
We should be the same.
Honestly - have we learned NOTHING since tenth grade?
I loved this one back then.
But now, with an inviolable backstop of neuroleptic meds which has calcified my will for the past 50 years (Holy Crow, I musta been an obdurate young man - FIFTY years to Smarten Up!?) I see my reaction as sadly chthonic.
Relax, kids. Cheap laughs arouse small minds.
It's just too bad that our modern non-stop media three ring circus encourages silliness while suppressing our infinitely more positive gift of natural Wonder.
For great poetry is nothing without Wonder.
Wonder could save the world, if we let it!
We've gotta graft the enlightened Wisdom of Wonder at it All - onto our rigid 24/7 connectedness with our trashy newsfeed - unchanged over the millenium since Chaucer loved his dirty jokes.
What's the point of being in constant contact with such sickos? There is none.
God’s Wonder obviates such silly glitter, and is content with the air that we breathe.
We should be the same.
Honestly - have we learned NOTHING since tenth grade?
October 11, 2021
cheating trope in the 1300s
September 27, 2025
2.5⭐️
Another book for my Lit. class. This was another story with a cheating trope in it, which has been in all of the other stories we’ve read so far in class. I kinda don’t know what fully happened because it is written in Middle English and it is hard for me to understand it fully. I thought that the writing style was really good, I just personally don’t really like these kinds of books.
Another book for my Lit. class. This was another story with a cheating trope in it, which has been in all of the other stories we’ve read so far in class. I kinda don’t know what fully happened because it is written in Middle English and it is hard for me to understand it fully. I thought that the writing style was really good, I just personally don’t really like these kinds of books.
March 31, 2018
Wow - not at all what I was expecting. Funny, vulgar, and morally disturbing... all undoubtedly Chaucer's aim. Marvelously framed by the crass words of a drunk, which you then have to step back and reframe thru the reporter's words. This is story-telling at its absolute best, folks.
Full disclosure: I listened to 3 modern poetic translations to bypass Chaucer's Middle English :)
.
Full disclosure: I listened to 3 modern poetic translations to bypass Chaucer's Middle English :)
.
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February 12, 2025highlights:
"Go fro the wyndow, Jakke fool" :-)
"Tehee!" said she, and clapped the window to,
This Nicholas immediately let fly a fart
As great as if it had been a thunderbolt,
So that with the stroke he was almost blinded;
And he was ready with his hot iron,
And he smote Nicholas in the middle of the ass.
"Go fro the wyndow, Jakke fool" :-)
"Tehee!" said she, and clapped the window to,
This Nicholas immediately let fly a fart
As great as if it had been a thunderbolt,
So that with the stroke he was almost blinded;
And he was ready with his hot iron,
And he smote Nicholas in the middle of the ass.
April 5, 2008
"I am dronke, I know it by my sound." Who could have put it better? This vibrant tale of swyving, farting, and waking up your blacksmith friend in the middle of the night to get your back was the slap in the face -- or, if you prefer, across the ass with a hot poker -- that made me realize that people were alive and real in the Middle Ages, just like they are today.
February 16, 2016
This actually was nearly a two star... but I couldn't handle of the erotic stuff. The ending was kind of funny, though.
CONTENT WARNING:
Lots of sexual/erotic content. Not recommended.
CONTENT WARNING:
Lots of sexual/erotic content. Not recommended.
Read
October 10, 2022“it would have been hidden in sock drawers if people in the fourteenth century had worn socks.” i only barely understood this but the dirty bits were really funny. and dirty
March 18, 2009
Scandalously hilarious! Chaucer so cleverly undermines the pomposity of the Knight . . . . Students are a bit squeamish, but once they understand the nature of the fabliau, they're fine with the bawdiness.
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October 10, 2022lol
September 28, 2024
Very carnivalesque in its humour with a lot of slapstick and quite characteristic of the lower classes.
I did find it quite fascinating to see how English has developed and adapted throughout time, with words that were common at the time completely having lost their original connotations in modern day English.
I did find it quite fascinating to see how English has developed and adapted throughout time, with words that were common at the time completely having lost their original connotations in modern day English.
Read
October 30, 2025Guys my prof laughed at me saying something wrong #embarrassed
March 1, 2024
Ngl this was one of the funniest things I’ve ever had to read at uni
October 15, 2013
The Miller's tale deals boldly with a thorny problem which is the motivational human need, Sexual appetite, along with cunning and folly.
On the one hand, it focuses on the nature of good and evil, how an impoverished student named Nicholas who is depicted as a very good man is in reality a shrewd devious devil. How this man deceives others by pretending to be a man with morals ...etc
On the other hand the writer wrote this tale in a very humoristic way and the main sources of human consists of tricking the carpenter into believing the flood is coming and the business of the bare bottom too...
Besides, infidelity and greed seem to be the main problems indicated in this tale, while we find that John has married the young Alison mainly because she is beautiful, young and seductive and (HE)keeps her folded at home like an estimable ornament. We find that she has married him because he is a rich man and when she didn't find him a good companionship she betrays him with Nicholas the meek, chivalrous young man.
On the one hand, it focuses on the nature of good and evil, how an impoverished student named Nicholas who is depicted as a very good man is in reality a shrewd devious devil. How this man deceives others by pretending to be a man with morals ...etc
On the other hand the writer wrote this tale in a very humoristic way and the main sources of human consists of tricking the carpenter into believing the flood is coming and the business of the bare bottom too...
Besides, infidelity and greed seem to be the main problems indicated in this tale, while we find that John has married the young Alison mainly because she is beautiful, young and seductive and (HE)keeps her folded at home like an estimable ornament. We find that she has married him because he is a rich man and when she didn't find him a good companionship she betrays him with Nicholas the meek, chivalrous young man.
November 12, 2023
Who doesn't love a good fart joke from a fella straight out the Middle Ages?
March 7, 2016
Where the hell this come from??
I was like WHAAAT? like 3 times. HAHAHA
5 surprising stars.
April 5, 2020
Of çok güzel :D
July 13, 2021
Fart jokes from the the 1300’s.
April 6, 2022
literally just a smuttier version of the merchant's tale
February 14, 2023
2 men try to fuck an 18 year old girl who is married to an old man (ft. farts)
January 31, 2020
https://opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu/
Should one want context.
Now THIS is better. Very funny, very silly, very crude and entertaining. Funny how «Below the belt» jokes are so universal, through all times and places they will be understood. Not appreciated by all, but what is.
I also like the way the pilgrims use their stories to mock each other.
I also liked the reeve’s (stewart’s in my edition) tale. It was even meaner than the miller’s. Actually I think I liked that one even better. It shouldn’t be a surprise that medieval folks could have a dark sense of humour, but... Idk. I am surprised by the «lack of good morale», I guess. Post-1970ies it’s hard to shock with anything, but this was six hundred years earlier and I kind of expect everyone being so afraid of sinning that they’d keep their mouths shut. Not so, least not with Chaucer.
Should one want context.
Now THIS is better. Very funny, very silly, very crude and entertaining. Funny how «Below the belt» jokes are so universal, through all times and places they will be understood. Not appreciated by all, but what is.
I also like the way the pilgrims use their stories to mock each other.
I also liked the reeve’s (stewart’s in my edition) tale. It was even meaner than the miller’s. Actually I think I liked that one even better. It shouldn’t be a surprise that medieval folks could have a dark sense of humour, but... Idk. I am surprised by the «lack of good morale», I guess. Post-1970ies it’s hard to shock with anything, but this was six hundred years earlier and I kind of expect everyone being so afraid of sinning that they’d keep their mouths shut. Not so, least not with Chaucer.
October 18, 2018
3/5 Stars
Chaucer is brilliant. His work can be difficult to read, but it is so worth it. I really love how he uses satire and creates his characters. It’s amazing as always. I read a different version of the tale, but I’m counting it for this one.
Chaucer is brilliant. His work can be difficult to read, but it is so worth it. I really love how he uses satire and creates his characters. It’s amazing as always. I read a different version of the tale, but I’m counting it for this one.
February 5, 2019
Me encantó. Lo recomiendo en inglés que, pese a ser un poco complicado, sostiene toda la magia de la obra. Me ha gustado mucho la manera que ofrece Chaucer de ilustrar el triángulo amoroso y en su mayoría me ha parecido bastante cómica la trama.
Lo recomiendo.
Lo recomiendo.
February 3, 2020
reading it for a medieval module. much better than I thought it was gonna be.
April 30, 2024
This was so unhinged for what?
September 13, 2024
Who knew they were getting down like that in 12th century England
October 8, 2024
Extreme respect for drunkenly shouting down the monk to tell your story first. The story is okay.
October 9, 2024
Crude and a lil gross🫶🏻
Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews