Household Tales · Chapter
Our Lady's Little Glass explained
A wagoner's cart is stuck fast, and Our Lady asks for a glass of wine in exchange for freeing it.
What happens
A wagoner's cart is stuck fast, and Our Lady asks for a glass of wine in exchange for freeing it. The wagoner has no glass, so she plucks a field bindweed flower that looks like a glass, fills it with wine, drinks, and instantly the cart is freed. The flower is thereafter called Our Lady's Little Glass.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the sisters, driven by envy of the Queen’s beauty and their o…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Magic and the Supernatural
Our Lady's miraculous intervention frees the cart instantly after drinking the wine.
- Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
The wagoner's willingness to help is rewarded by the freeing of his cart.
Characters to notice
- the Virgin Mary
Appears as Our Lady, helps the wagoner by requesting wine and freeing his cart.
- the servant
The wagoner, whose cart is stuck and who provides wine to Our Lady.
Key passages
“Then Our Lady plucked a little white flower with red stripes, called field bindweed, which looks very like a glass, and gave it to the wagoner.”
Our Lady picked a small white flower with red stripes, known as field bindweed, which resembles a glass, and handed it to the wagoner.
Describes the origin of the flower's name and its use as a makeshift glass.
“He filled it with wine, and then Our Lady drank it, and in the selfsame instant the cart was set free, and the wagoner could drive onwards.”
He filled the flower with wine, Our Lady drank it, and immediately the cart became unstuck, allowing the wagoner to continue.
Highlights the miraculous cause-and-effect of the event.
