How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"The chain? It binds me to the stall. I am the personal slave of the witch-woman who owns the stall. She caught me many years ago […] luring me on and on in the form of a pretty frog always but a moment out of my reach, until I had left my father's lands, unwittingly, whereupon she resumed her true shape and popped me into a sack." (1.137)
This is Lady Una's story of how she became a slave. It stinks that she never got to have a real childhood, and instead was captured at a young age and forced into a life of servitude. The only good news is that it's not going to last forever.
Quote #2
"I gain my freedom on the day the moon loses her daughter, if that occurs in a week when two Mondays come together. I await it with patience." (1.139)
When the slave girl describes the conditions of her freedom to Dunstan, it probably sounds like nonsense to him (it sure does to us). But that's part of the magic of Faerie: Even nonsensical things might manifest magically or metaphorically someday. She's not doomed to be a slave forever, even if it'll take a while for these things to come about.
Quote #3
"I should not mind it, for it is a long, long chain; but the knowledge of it irks me, and I miss my father's land. And the witch-woman is not the best of mistresses […]" (1.187)
Here, the slave girl confesses to Dunstan that she's really unhappy as a slave (surprise, surprise). She lets down her guard enough to start crying around him, which is a surprise since otherwise she seems pretty in control of herself and her feelings. Being a slave for so long must help her keep up a convincing act.