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Little Hans
The Miller is the antagonist in the Linnet’s tale. He is a rich, exploitative merchant who manipulates Hans into performing labor in the name of friendship. The Miller is an incredibly wealthy man—“he had a hundred sacks of flour stored away in his mill, and six milch cows, and a large flock of woolly sheep”—but he doesn’t share his wealth with his so-called friend. While little Hans suffers through the winter with very little to eat, the Miller stays in his comfortable home with his wife and son, with a pinewood fire and plenty of food and drink. The Miller not only freely takes flowers and produce from Hans’s garden, but also requests Hans to perform difficult chores for him throughout the story. And though he offers Hans a broken wheelbarrow—openly applauding himself for his generosity—this object never manifests in the story. The Miller’s requests grow more and more unreasonable as the story progresses, showing there is no limit to how much he is willing to exploit little Hans. The Miller’s final request is for Hans to fetch the doctor for the Miller’s son during a storm in the middle of the night. Despite the already preposterous nature of this request, the Miller refuses to give Hans his lantern for guidance during the storm, indirectly causing Hans’s death.
Hugh the Miller Quotes in The Devoted Friend
The The Devoted Friend quotes below are all either spoken by Hugh the Miller or refer to Hugh the Miller. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Devoted Friend Quotes
“Little Hans had a great many friends, but the most devoted friend of all was big Hugh the Miller. Indeed, so devoted was the rich Miller to little Hans, that he would never go by his garden without leaning over the wall and plucking a large nosegay, or a handful of sweet herbs, or filling his pockets with plums and cherries if it was the fruit season.”
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“‘You are certainly very thoughtful about others,’ answered the Wife, as she sat in her comfortable armchair by the big pinewood fire; ‘very thoughtful indeed. It is quite a treat to hear you talk about friendship. I am sure the clergyman himself could not say such beautiful things as you do, though he does live in a threestoried house, and wear a gold ring on his little finger.’”
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“‘Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘I will give you my wheelbarrow. It is not in very good repair, indeed, one side is gone, and there is something wrong with the wheel-spokes, but in spite of that I will give it to you. I know it is very generous of me, and a great many people would think me extremely foolish for parting with it, but I am not like the rest of the world. I think that generosity is the essence of friendship, and, besides, I have got a new wheelbarrow for myself. Yes, you may set your mind at ease, I will give you my wheelbarrow.’”
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“‘My dear friend, my best friend,’ cried little Hans, ‘you are welcome to all the flowers in my garden. I would much sooner have your good opinion than my silver buttons, any day.’”
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“So little Hans worked away for the Miller, and the Miller said all kinds of beautiful things about friendship, which Hans took down in a notebook, and used to read over at night, for he was a very good scholar.”
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“‘As I was his best friend,’ said the Miller, ‘it is only fair that I should have the best place,’ so he walked at the head of the procession in a long black cloak, and every now and then he wiped his eyes with a big pocket-handkerchief.”
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Hugh the Miller Character Timeline in The Devoted Friend
The timeline below shows where the character Hugh the Miller appears in The Devoted Friend. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Devoted Friend
...his flowers are known for their exceptional beauty. Hans’s “most devoted friend” is a rich Miller, named big Hugh. The Miller regularly walks by Hans’s cottage and takes flowers from the...
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...has no flowers to sell at the market, Hans suffers from cold and hunger. The Miller never visits Hans and instead sits in his warm home with his wife and son,...
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“How well you talk!” the Miller’s wife declares. The Miller affirms that talking well is much harder and “finer” than “acting...
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Spring comes, and the Miller goes to visit Hans. When Hans admits that he thought the Miller had forgotten him,...
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The next day, the Miller visits Hans’s cottage and asks Hans to take a sack of flour to the market...
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The following day, the Miller visits Hans again early in the morning. When he sees Hans sleeping, he accuses him...
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One night, during a storm, the Miller visits Hans and tells him to fetch the doctor, as the Miller’s son hurt himself...
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...is brought back the village, the villagers hold a funeral. As the chief mourner, the Miller laments that he has no one to give his broken wheelbarrow now that Hans is...
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After a pause, the Water-rat asks what became of the Miller, and the Linnet responds that the Water-rat did not understand the moral of the story....
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