The Miller's Tale, the second tale introduced to us in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales brings us the saga of a carpenter named John, and his young wife Alison, whom he is very possessive of, afraid that if he let her out of her `cage', she would fly away. Nicholas, an Oxford student whose talent involved "making love in secret", was a boarder at John and Alison's home, and had taken quite a liking to Alison. Also included in the tale, Absalon, a parish clerk serving the church and best described as a `pretty boy', was in love with Alison too, and took daily nighttime strolls outside her window, singing love songs and strumming an old guitar.

This tale of sexual adventures contains similarities and differences when compared to the first installment in Chaucer's book, The Knight's Tale. The Knight's Tale also included a pair of love-birds, though this...