Copyright 2009 by Ronald L. Ecker
All Rights Reserved
FADE IN:
A CLOSED BOOK
The title on the cover is "The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey
Chaucer."
A hand opens the book to
AN ILLUSTRATION OF A MEDIEVAL WATER MILL
NARRATOR (V.O.)
A miller dwelt near Cambridge many
a day, / And he would steal much
corn and meal, the way / He'd give
short measure, charge too high a
toll -
INT. MILL (ENGLAND) - DAY (1400 A.D.)
The brawny miller SIMKIN, 45, stares menacingly. He runs a
finger lightly along the blade of a big knife he holds.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Then bluster and deny he ever stole.
EXT. UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE - DAY
20-ish college students JOHN and ALAN come happily out of a
building, Alan with a sack of wheat. They are followed out
by a 50-ish WARDEN of the school.
With thankful gestures to the warden, John and Alan go to a
tethered horse named Bayard. During this,
NARRATOR (V.O.)
One day two Cambridge students
dared to ask / If they might be
entrusted with the task / Of taking
to the mill the college corn / To
have it ground, both of them having
sworn / That Simkin wouldn't steal
one ounce.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY
John and Alan ride along on trotting Bayard, John with the
reins, Alan with the sack of wheat.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Agreed, / The two set out upon the
warden's steed.
EXT. MILL - DAY
Simkin sits cleaning his large knife as John and Alan arrive
on Bayard.
Simkin rises as John and Alan dismount.
JOHN
Hail, miller! Faith abound, sir!
INT. A MILL WINDOW - DAY
Simkin's wife ALICE, 40-ish and plump, looks out a window
at John and Alan. She looks pleasantly surprised.
SIMKIN (O.S.)
Welcome, by my life! You boys are
from Cambridge?
EXT. MILL - DAY
Simkin puts his knife in his belt as he speaks with John and Alan.
ALAN
Indeed, sir. I am Alan, this is
John. And we take it that you,
sir, are Simkin.
SIMKIN
At your service. I'm delighted to
see two fresh faces bring corn from
your fine university.
JOHN
We wanted so much to meet you. How
are you, Simkin, and --
Before John can finish, he and Alan both see, with clearly
pleasant surprise, the miller's pretty daughter MOLLY, 20,
washing clothes in the brook.
Molly stops work to smile at them coyly, while flaunting her
ample bosom.
JOHN
-- your lovely wife and daughter?
SIMKIN
They are both as fine as can be.
JOHN
I can see that they are. I mean,
where is the wife?
SIMKIN
Alice is tending to our sweet
little child. Go ahead and tether
your horse. We'll go in and start
with the grinding.
JOHN
That's what we're here for.
INT. MILL - DAY
John stands by the hopper above the millstone while Simkin
prepares to pour in the wheat. Alan stations himself below
by the trough.
JOHN
If you don't mind, Simkin, I'll
stand right here by the hopper.
I've never seen how this works.
ALAN
I'm as ill a miller as you are,
John. I'll watch the flour go into
the trough. I've never seen the
like.
INT. MILL - LIVING QUARTERS - DAY
The daughter Molly peeks through a door through which the
sound of the grinding is heard.
The wife Alice sits nursing a six-month-old baby.
MOLLY
Those are good-looking lads, aren't
they, Mum?
ALICE
That they are. But, Molly, those
Cambridge boys all become priests.
We must find you a merchant to
marry.
MOLLY
And when is the last time a merchant
was here?
EXT. MILL - DAY
Simkin comes out of the mill, glancing back inside as if
to be sure he's not being watched.
INT. MILL - DAY
John and Alan quickly confer to the sound of the grinding.
ALAN
We've got that corn thief outsmarted
for sure.
JOHN
My God, did you see that daughter
of his?
ALAN
There are no jugs like that in all
the town of Cambridge.
EXT. MILL - DAY
Simkin unbridles Bayard. He turns the horse to face a
neighboring field beyond the trees, and gives him a hard
slap on the rump.
Bayard takes off for the field. Simkin watches, then goes
back inside, leaving the bridle where Bayard was tethered.
INT. MILL - DAY
John and Alan watch as Simkin finishes sacking their flour.
SIMKIN
Here you go, mates -- every ounce
that you brought.
John takes some coins from a purse, while Alan proceeds
outside.
JOHN
Here is your fee, sir.
EXT. MILL - DAY
Alan discovers that Bayard is gone. Seeing the bridle, he
looks desperately around.
ALAN
John! The horse is gone!
John comes out of the mill with the sack, Simkin following.
JOHN
What's that, Alan?
ALAN
Bayard! The warden's horse! He's
gone!
John drops the sack and looks around with Alan.
SIMKIN
You didn't bridle him very well,
lads.
Molly and Alice come out of the living quarters.
ALICE
What's all the commotion?
SIMKIN
The lads' horse has run off. He
wasn't properly bridled.
John points toward the neighboring field.
JOHN
He must have gone that way.
WIFE
There are horses in yonder field.
If he finds a good mare, you may
have trouble getting him back.
ALAN
Come on, John, let's go look for
him.
John and Alan go running for the field. Simkin and the women
watch. Simkin laughs.
SIMKIN
They'll be gone for a while. For
all of their learning, two students
let a miller outwit them! You two
take some of their flour, half a
bushel. Go bake us a cake with it.
DAUGHTER
But, Father, it isn't our flour.
SIMKIN
Half a bushel of it is, if I say
so. Go do as I say.
EXT. THE FIELD - DAY
John and Alan chase Bayard, as he trots around with a mare.
Bayard obviously doesn't want to be caught.
INT. MILL - LIVING QUARTERS - DAY
Alice kneads dough for the cake. Simkin gestures for Molly to
hand him the sack of remaining flour, which she does.
SIMKIN
I shall return their sack where
they dropped it. I wonder how
the chase goes.
EXT. FIELD - DAY
John and Alan wearily chase Bayard, who follows the frolicking
mare.
INT. LIVING QUARTERS - DAY
Alice rocks the baby's cradle while Molly bakes the cake.
MOLLY
I might as well be in a nunnery.
ALICE
I was raised in a nunnery, dear.
It is a good and proper place.
MOLLY
How did you wind up with Father?
ALICE
No matter how well we are raised,
we have no control over natural
disasters.
EXT. MILL - NIGHT
Simkin sits singing by a fire with a jug of ale,
SIMKIN
"Now pretty lady, if your will
it be, / It is my prayer that
you will pity me."
John and Alan come trudging out of the night with Bayard
in tow.
SIMKIN
Ah! You caught him, lads. After
he caught him a mare, I'll bet.
JOHN
We are in a fix, Simkin. If we
head back for Cambridge tonight,
we could be set on by robbers.
SIMKIN
Yes, lads, it's true the woods are
full of thieves.
ALAN
Could you put us up for tonight?
We'll pay you in the morning, for
the lodging and something to eat.
SIMKIN
Of course. Alice will cook us a
goose. There's plenty of ale, and
we'll make enough room for an extra
bed you can share.
INT. LIVING QUARTERS - NIGHT
In the one-room, candlelit quarters, Simkin, Alice, Molly,
John and Alan dine on goose, bread, and ale.
The two students and two women, sitting across from each
other, exchange thinly veiled looks of desire as they sup.
Simkin swills ale, getting happily drunk. Alice drinks heartily
too.
LATER
John and Alan deposit Simkin, passed out, on Simkin's and
Alison's bed. It's a straw mattress, its head to the wall,
across from the front door.
ALICE
Thank you, lads, he's a load when
he's drunk like that.
JOHN
Yes, Simkin is one heavy fellow.
ALICE
Don't I know it. And mostly dead
weight.
John and Alice smile at each other. As Alice averts her
eyes,
ALICE
Now to bed, you two, and I'll blow
out the candles.
John goes to a second bed by the wall, a few feet away from
the miller's. John looks across the room at Molly, already
in her bed near the door. She gives him a pretty smile.
Alan lingers by Alice to watch her remove Simkin's shoes.
ALICE
(confidentially, to Alan)
He has rather small feet for a
man his size, does he not? I could
comment more on proportions, but
I shan't.
ALAN
(suggestively)
Did you know, madam, that feet is
used in the Bible as a euphemism
for the sexual organs?
ALICE
Why, no. A what for the organs?
ALAN
Euphemism. That's the kind of
thing we learn while at Cambridge.
ALICE
How to use feet on your organs?
As she shoos him away like he's a naughty boy,
ALICE
To bed with you.
Alan goes to get in bed with John.
MOLLY
Good night, John and Alan.
JOHN & ALAN
(simultaneously)
Good night, Molly.
Alice leans down to the baby in the cradle at the foot of her
and Simkin's bed.
ALICE
Good night, little one. Sweet
dreams till the morning.
Alice goes about to blow out the candles.
ALICE
Good night, all.
MOLLY
Good night, Mum.
JOHN
Good night, madam.
ALAN
Good night.
Alice blows out the last candle, leaving the room in total
darkness.
ALICE
Now if I can just find the cradle,
I know where my bed is.
EXT. MILL - NIGHT
Dark but for moonlight. Bayard stands tethered in front.
INT. LIVING QUARTERS - NIGHT
In the total darkness, Simkin and Alice can be heard loudly
SNORING, in alteration as if choreographed.
A circle of normal lighting opens up on the screen, so that
John and Alan can be seen, lying awake in their bed.
JOHN
Have you ever heard such a sound?
They hear Simkin BREAK WIND.
ALAN
I've heard that sound before.
JOHN
I didn't know you could fart in
your sleep.
ALAN
Don't try it tonight.
JOHN
Tonight I'm going to try something
else. You know that miller stole
some of our flour. We'll be called
fools by the warden, and all of our
friends will find out. Well I'm
going to get some satisfaction.
And I'm going to get it over there
in Molly's bed.
ALAN
You better think twice, John. That
miller is a dangerous man.
JOHN
What's he going to know? He's dead
to the world until morning. Well,
here goes, Alan. Wish me luck.
The circle of light closes, leaving all again in darkness.
After a pause, a circle of light again opens, this time on
Molly's bed. Lying awake, Molly looks alarmed as someone
joins her.
JOHN
It's me, Molly. John.
Molly looks relieved.
MOLLY
John, what are you doing?
JOHN
You're so lovely. Molly, how would
you like to be... exposed... to the ways
of a Cambridge man?
MOLLY
What ways are those?
JOHN
I'll be happy to show you, one by one.
The circle of light closes.
EXT. SKY - NIGHT
Full moon at midnight.
INT. LIVING QUARTERS - NIGHT
Pitch black. The circle of light opens on John and Molly
making love.
The circle closes, then opens on waking Alice, Simkin snoring
beside her. Alice groggily gets out of bed.
Finding the cradle with her groping hand, Alice leans down
to the sleeping baby.
ALICE
Sleep tight, little one. I'm just
going out to piss.
The circle of light closes, then opens again on John and
Molly making love. They stop, John hiding under the covers,
as Alice comes by, feeling her way to the door.
ALICE
Molly, you're breathing so heavily.
Are you all right?
MOLLY
Yes, Mum. I had to go outside, and
just got back.
Alice proceeds out the door, the circle of light closing.
The circle of light opens on Alan in his bed. He looks
frustrated, then seems to get an idea.
Alan gets out of bed and feels his way to the cradle a few
feet away. He picks up the cradle and carries it to the foot
of his bed. He gets back in bed.
The circle of light closes. There is the sound of Alice
BUMPING her way back toward bed in the total darkness.
ALICE
Ah, here is my baby's cradle.
The circle opens as Alice unwittingly gets in bed with Alan,
who is lying on his side facing her. She tiredly plops her
hand down by Alan -- and feels something unexpected.
ALICE
My God, what is that?
ALAN
Does the miller have anything
like it?
ALICE
Not by a good five inches.
The circle closes, darkness returning.
ALAN
I never go grinding without it.
EXT. THE HORIZON - DAY (EARLY DAWN)
The first glow of sunrise.
INT. LIVING QUARTERS - DAY (EARLY DAWN)
Very dim light. Simkin wakes up, but only momentarily. He
covers his head to go back to sleep.
In the neighboring bed, Alan and Alice grind away, as quietly
as possible, under the covers.
John lies relaxed with Molly in her bed across the room.
JOHN
The sun is coming up. I better go
get back with Alan before your
parents wake up. Sweet Molly,
farewell. It's been wonderful.
MOLLY
Farewell, Johnny. I'll never forget
you. Listen, my father stole part
of your flour. He made me and Mum
bake a cake. I'll hand it to you
out the mill's back door when you
leave. Then I'll tell him you must
have stolen it.
JOHN
Thank you so much, my sweet. I can
go back to Cambridge triumphant.
John kisses her, then gets out of bed.
John looks distracted by bliss and lack of sleep as he walks
quietly toward the other two beds. The only light is from
the dawn outside the windows.
John stops, looking confused by the location of the cradle.
JOHN
(to himself)
I could swear that...
John looks at the amorous play under the covers of the bed
where the cradle sits. Then he looks at the smallish foot
sticking out from under the covers of the other bed.
JOHN
(amused, to himself)
Poor little Alan. He completely
missed out tonight.
Squatting down to the foot, John tickles the bottom of it.
Its owner, whose head is under the covers, GRUNTS and shakes
the foot.
John chuckles and gets in the bed. Simkin is sleeping on his
side, his back to John.
John pokes the covered-up Simkin.
JOHN
Hey Alan, it looks like Simkin over
there woke up from his stupor.
No response. John grabs Simkin and shakes him.
JOHN
Listen, you poor sack of meal.
Tonight I screwed his daughter
three times.
Simkin's eyes are open wide as he pulls the covers from his
face, which John can't see.
SIMKIN
Huh?
JOHN
I had Molly three times. I was
hoping that you'd have that damn
miller's wife. But she's busy.
Simkin turns and looks at John, whose jaw drops.
SIMKIN
You've screwed my daughter, you say?
JOHN
No, I was joking.
Simkin looks at the bed where Alan and Alice play under the
covers.
SIMKIN
And what's going on over there?
John starts to get up, but Simkin grabs him.
SIMKIN
Molest my daughter, will you? I'll
kill you and that Alan both.
John struggles mightily, but Simkin holds on to him.
SIMKIN
You wait till I get my knife, you
Cambridge curs.
John slugs Simkin in the nose. Simkin turns loose of him.
John hurries to the other bed and yanks the covers off of
Alan and Alice. Simkin, nose bleeding, grabs his knife by
his bed.
JOHN
Alan, let's go! He's after us!
John turns to see Simkin charge with the knife.
John grabs the wrist of the hand holding the knife. John and
Simkin fall on top of Alan and Alice, who screams.
John and Simkin roll around wrestling on the floor. Alan
jumps up to help John. Alice covers up in a quandary.
ALICE
Simkin, I thought that boy was you!
I've been tricked!
Simkin wields the knife as John and Alan try to subdue him.
John bites Simkin's hand and he drops the knife.
Simkin throws Alan against a wooden counter, smashing it,
pots and pans CRASHING, one hitting Alan in the head.
John tries to run for it, but Simkin grabs him. Alan gets up
rubbing his head.
Alice is up, half-clothed, and grabs a long staff as John and
Simkin wrestle. Molly watches in distress.
ALICE
Hold him, Simkin, while I club the
young wretch!
Alice raises the staff to strike. John ducks, Alan stands
clear, and Alice clobbers Simkin on top of the head.
Simkin falls semiconscious. Alan grabs their sack of flour
that sits by the door.
ALAN
John, I've got the flour. Let's go!
John and Alan run out the door.
EXT. MILL - DAY (SUNRISE)
John and Alan quickly mount Bayard.
JOHN
Molly will have us some cake at the
mill's back door.
ALAN
This is no time to eat cake!
They ride around the mill to the back. Molly comes out the
back door and hands John the cake.
JOHN
Farewell again, sweet Molly!
MOLLY
Goodbye.
Simkin, holding his bleeding head, staggers out the front
door of the living quarters.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
And so that thieving miller took
a beating, / And didn't keep one
ounce for all his cheating.
John and Alan come riding by from the back of the mill.
Simkin grabs for the horse's reins, but Alan clubs him in
the head with the sack of flour, knocking him down, as
John and Alan ride past.
Alice and Molly hurry to Simkin's aid.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
His wife was lain with, Molly too.
That's how / It is for millers who
are false! And now / ....
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY
John and Alan ride on their merry way with their cake and
flour.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
This proverb's truly said and
understood: / ...
EXT. MILL - DAY
Alice and Molly comfort bleeding Simkin as he sits on the
ground.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
"Who does bad things should not
expect some good."
FADE OUT.
THE END
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