Sik lay the maunciple of a maladye;
Men wenden wisly that he shoulde dye.
For which this millere stal bothe mele and corn
An hundred tyme moore than biforn;
For therbiforn he stal but curteisly,
But now he was a theef outrageously.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Reeve’s Tale. Oswold the Reeve gives an insight into really unscrupulous Symkyn the miller is when he reveals how he steals from the dying. A manciple lies ill in bed and is expected to die and Symkyn steals large amounts of meal and grain from him – a hundred times more than he stole from anyone before. From this point on the miller, who previously was cautious in his thieving, steals outrageously.