Through the vales to my love!
To the happy small nest of home
Green from basement to roof;
Where the honey-bees come
To the window-sill flowers,
And dive from above,
Safe from the spider that weaves
Her warp and her woof
In some outermost leaves.

Through the vales to my love!
In sweet April hours
All rainbows and showers,
While dove answers dove, –
In beautiful May,
When the orchards are tender
And frothing with flowers;
In opulent June,
When the wheat stands up slender
By sweet-smelling hay,
And half the sun’s splendour
Descends to the moon.

Through the vales to my love!
Where the turf is so soft to the feet,
And the thyme makes it sweet,
And the stately foxglove
Hangs silent its exquisite bells;
And where water wells
The greenness grows greener,
And bulrushes stand
Round a lily to screen her.

Nevertheless, if this land,
Like a garden to smell and to sight,
Were turned to a desert of sand,
Stripped bare of delight,
All its best gone to worst,
For my feet no repose,
No water to comfort my thirst,
And heaven like a furnace above,
The desert would be
As gushing of waters to me,
The wilderness be as a rose,
If it led me to thee,
O my love!

In a village far from here,
Lived a miller named Symkyn, oh dear,
He was known for his cheating ways,
Stealing corn for countless days.

Oh, the miller's gonna get his due,
With students John and Alan, too,
A tale of tricks and bedlam, oh,
In the Reeve's tale, let the laughter flow!

John and Alan, students bright,
Set off to set the miller right,
To catch him in his sneaky game,
And make him feel a bit of shame.

They watched him steal their corn away,
Then planned to make him rue the day,
With beds all swapped and tricks so sly,
They laughed and winked and then went by.

At night the miller snored so loud,
While his wife and daughter proud,
In beds were laid and soon were swapped,
With John and Alan, oh how they hopped!

In the dark, the chaos spread,
As everyone swapped around in bed,
The miller’s wife with Alan lay,
While John and daughter had their way.

Come morning light, what a sight,
The miller raged with all his might,
But John and Alan laughed with glee,
They'd had their fun and got off free.

So if you cheat and steal away,
Remember this tale, it’s here to stay,
For tricksters may be tricked as well,
In tales like this we love to tell!