"By God, right by the hopur wil I stande,"
Quod John, "and se howgates the corn gas in.
Yet saugh I nevere, by my fader kyn,
How that the hopur wagges til and fra."
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Reeve’s Tale. When Symkyn is grinding their corn, John plans to watch it going into the hopper and Alan will stand guard below to inspect it coming out. In that way they aim to stop the miller stealing their corn or padding their flour with cheaper bran flour.