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“I was young, strong and well-nourished and God gave me so much milk that it filled my breasts to overflowing. Sometimes I’d feed two at one time, with the third waiting, and when one had had its fill, I’d put the third to my breast. But it was God’s will that I should nurse these little girls and bury my own child before he was two years old.”

Explanation and Analysis:

These lines occur in the middle of Marya’s story about how she came to be the twins’ adoptive mother. She has just explained that the men of the town asked her to nurse the orphaned twins temporarily since she was the only woman in the village ...

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Original

Romeo

(aside) She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art though Romeo?
Deny they father and refuse they name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Modern

Romeo

(to himself) She speaks. Speak again, bright angel! For tonight you are as glorious, there up above me, as a winged messenger of heaven who makes mortals fall onto their backs to gaze up with awestruck eyes as he strides across the lazy clouds and sails through the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Why must you be Romeo? Deny your father and give up your name. Or, if you won’t change your name, just swear your love to me and I’ll give up being a Capulet.

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