How we cite our quotes: (line)
Quote #4
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth. (lines 34-36)
Custom and tradition dictate that the apples that have fallen should be thrown into the apple heap, even if there is nothing else wrong with them. The apples are considered "dirty" and "corrupted," even though, as your mother would say, "There's nothing wrong with that apple! Just eat it!" Indeed, many of the fallen apples don't even have a bruise, so you could not tell them apart from the others. Still, the speaker reluctantly follows the custom – which seems to defy reason – and throws the apples in the cider-heap.