How we cite our quotes: (line)
Quote #4
Fetched in honey, milked the cows,
Aired and set to rights the house,
Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat,
Cakes for dainty mouths to eat,
Next churned butter, whipped up cream,
Fed their poultry, sat and sewed; (203-208)
This is the long catalogue of Laura and Lizzie's domestic chores. They seem to live all by themselves, but are well equipped to perform all the usual household tasks usually assigned to women during the period.
Quote #5
Talked as modest maidens should:
Lizzie with an open heart,
Laura in an absent dream (209-211)
The girls chat as they go about their work, but Laura's too busy obsessing about goblin fruit to pay much attention to her sister.
Quote #6
"For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather" (562-563)
Laura gets the last words in the poem. After telling the story of the goblin market to their children, she tells them that the moral of the story has to do with sisterly heroism. Does this really seem to be the moral of the poem?