At the beginning of the tale, the narrator introduces us to Symkyn's wife, telling us she is the illegitimate daughter of the town parson who nevertheless likes to claim a certain nobility for herself.
In the middle of the tale, Symkyn instructs his wife to bake a cake from the bushel of corn he has stolen from the clerks; she does so.
Symkyn's wife mistakes the clerks' bed for her own after John moves the cradle to it; she gets into bed with John by accident.
John has sex with Symkyn's wife all night long.
When she awakes to find the clerk's fighting on top of her, Symkyn's wife finds a staff with which to strike them.
Mistaking Symkyn's bald head for the white cap of a clerk, Symkyn's wife knocks her husband over the head with the staff by mistake.