The Corn King and the Spring Queen Quotes

“A time came when all the riches in the State belonged to scarcely more than a hundred families, and of these many were unbelievably rich, though some had mortgaged their land and were deep in debt, and had nothing but the appearance of riches. The rest of the people worked for them, and were humbl and slavish through debt and anxiety and poverty, and there was no happiness.”
― Naomi Mitchison, The Corn King and the Spring Queen

“The baby girl was quite still except for her cheeks and lips sucking at her finger, and a rhythmical curving and straightening of her toes, as if some current of thick air were passing over them.”
― Naomi Mitchison, The Corn King and the Spring Queen

“As between Marob and Sparta or Alexandria, it is very doubtful whether, at a distance of more than two thousand years, one can ever get near to the minds of, or even to the details of the actions, of the people one is writing about, although they are in a way nearer to one than one's living friends; it is scarcely possible that Kleomenes of Sparta was really at all like the Kleomenes I have made, though I doubt whether, in the present state of knowledge, anyone else's idea is inherently more probable -- it is all a game of hide-and-seek in the dark and if, in the game, one touches a hand or a face, it is all chance; so Marob is just as likely, or as unlikely, as the rest of the world.”
― Naomi Mitchison, The Corn King and the Spring Queen