Thise clerkes beete hym weel and lete hym lye,
And greythen hem, and tooke hir hors anon,
And eek hire mele, and on hir wey they gon.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Reeve’s Tale. After the miller is clubbed to the ground by his wife, he receives a bad beating from the two clerks. They lay into him and leave him lying there, fetch their horse and meal and away they go.