The Reeve

The Reeve in the Ellesmere Manuscript (early 15th century)

## Physical description

### Clothing

wears a long outer coat of dark blue that is hitched up and belted, like a friar, and he carries a rusty sword

### Actual Name

Osewold

**The Reeve** is a pilgrim in *The Canterbury Tales*.

*Note: The version of* The Canterbury Tales *that is cited here is "Interlinear Translations of Some of The Canterbury Tales". A link is provided in the bibliography.*

## Appearances

### The General Prologue

The reeve is from Northfolk near a town called Bawdeswelle. He is an old man and formerly a carpenter.

Chaucer describes the reeve as "a slender choleric [hot-tempered] man" (line 587). Both his hair and clothing suggest a misguided cleric aspiration, as his hair is cut in front like a priest and his coat is worn like a friar, even though he isn't a clergyman. The reeve manages his lord's land, e.g. livestock, herdsmen, grain, servants. His lord is relatively young (20 years old) and the reeve appears to have a good deal of power, at least in the area he comes from, because of his cleverness.

### The Miller's Prologue

The miller announces his intention to tell a tale about a clerk who sleeps with a carpenter's wife. The reeve immediately protests, saying the the miller is drunk and that it's a sin to slander anyone, both men and their wives.

### The Reeve's Prologue

The reeve is annoyed by "The Miller's Tale" and intends to tell a nasty tale about the miller. He describes old age and how, despite their feebleness, old men still possess the desire and ability to boast, lie, get angry and be greedy, like young men. The host then criticises the reeve for preaching because he is not a clergyman and preaching isn't his job, and he urges him to get on with his tale.

### The Reeve's Tale

Two students, John and Aleyn, go to get their grain ground by the local miller, Symkin, who is known for stealing grain from his customers. They attempt to outwit him, but fail, and Symkin steals some of their flour. The students end up staying the night at the miller's and use the cover of darkness to take revenge by tricking the miller's wife and daughter into having sex with them.A fight ensues, and the miller is knocked unconscious while the students escape with a cake baked from their stolen flour.

## The Reeve's Tale

A miller, Sympkin, lives in Trumpyngtoun, near Cambridge. He plays the bagpipe, is a bully and steals grain from his customers. He has a wife who is the daughter of a parson and as a result is well-educated. No one would dare flirt with her out of fear for their life. They have a 20-year-old daughter, Malyne, and a 6-month-old son.

Two students, Aleyn and John, live at a college in Cambridge, Soler Hall. The college gets its grain ground at Symkin's mill because he is the only local miller. One day, the manciple is ill, possibly dying, and people are worried that if he dies, Symkin will start to steal a lot more grain from them than he did before. Aleyn and John make a bet that they can get the grain ground without Symkin stealing any of it.

They go to the mill to get the college's grain ground. At the mill, John intends to stand next to the hopper and watch the grain go in, telling Symkin that he's just curious to see how the process works. Aleyn intends to watch the trough where the flour will land. However, Symkin sees through their attempt to stop him from stealing their grain, declaring students to be stupid. He goes outside and unties the students' horse, letting it run free. When the grain is ground and the students go outside, they panic and chase after the horse, leaving the flour behind. Symkin takes some of their flour while they are gone and his wife bakes it into a cake.

By the time the students catch the horse, night has fallen. They end up having to stay the night at Symkin's house in the same room where Symkin and his family sleep. Symkin and his wife are in one bed, with the baby's cradle being at the foot of their bed. The daughter is in a second bed, and Aleyn and John are in a seperate bed. Symkin and his family all snore very loudly while Aleyn and John lie awake, plotting their revenge.

Under the cover of darkness and the snoring, Aleyn jumps onto the daughter, Malyne, and "and shortly to speak, they were together" (line 4197). Later, the miller's wife gets up to relieve herself. John moves the baby's cradle to the foot of his own bed while she is gone, and when she returns, she feels for the cradle to identify which bed is hers. As a result, she accidentally gets into bed with John and they have sex.

At dawn, Aleyn decides to go. Malyne, seemingly having fallen in love with him, tells him that the stolen flour was baked into a cake and where he can find this cake. Aleyn tries to go back to his own bed, but, confused by the position of the cradle, accidentally gets into bed with Symkin and, mistaking him for John, tells him about what he did in the night. Symkin is furious and punches Aleyn. In the ensuing struggle, Symkin falls onto his wife. His wife, mistakingly her husband's bald head for a student's night cap, beats Symkin on the head with a staff while the students escape with the cake.

## Role in *The Canterbury Tales*

The reeve's role in the framing story is to be part of the first bit of drama that happens among the pilgrims, specifically between himself and the miller. He responds to "The Miller's Tale" with his own tale that both mirrors and escalates the drama of "The Miller's Tale". Its differences when compared to "The Miller's Tale" reflect the reeve's values and ideas of what a better story would look like.

Both "The Miller's Tale" and "The Reeve's Tale" lead directly to "The Cook's Tale" because the cook is inspired by the scandalous tales to tell another, even cruder scandalous tale.

## Bibliography

Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury Tales”. 1400. *Interlinear Translations of Some of The Canterbury Tales*, edited by Larry D. Benson, Harvard University, sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/tr-index.htm. Last modified 21 Sept 2006.

1. ↑ Soler Hall is a real college in Cambridge University. "King's Hall, Cambridge". *Mapping Chaucer*, mediakron.bc.edu/mappingchaucer/the-canterbury-tales-1/the-canterbury-tales-1/the-reeves-tale/kings-hall-cambridge/northumbria. Accessed 2 May 2021.