How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #1
The burial took place amongst the other paupers' graves in the walled cemetery behind our church. It was there the priest and I dug her grave, in water-laden clay. There was no coffin. (1.6)
As if a funeral weren't already depressing enough, Asta doesn't even get a coffin. And it's raining. Because of course it is.
Quote #2
Aycliffe stared at me for a long while as if in search of something. All he said, however, was "With your mother gone you're required to deliver your ox to the manor house tomorrow. It will serve as the death tax."
"But… sir," I said—for my speech was slow and ill formed—"if I do… I… I won't be able to work the fields."
"Then starve," he said and rode away without a backward glance. (1.14-16)
Ah, the death tax, another of the glories of life in Medieval England. As Crispin tells us later, he and his mother aren't technically slaves, but they aren't technically free, either. One of the responsibilities of free people they have, though, is the responsibility of paying taxes. No wonder this is the culture that gave us Robin Hood.
Quote #3
It would have been a rare man who would want so frail and impoverished a woman for a wife. For in the entire kingdom of England there could have been no poorer Christian souls than my mother and I.
Crispin and his mom have it pretty rough. Even among peasants, there were varying degrees of wealth, and Crispin and Asta are right at the bottom.