Ruth, “the gleaner-maid, meek ancestress” of David the psalmist for Dante, model for Christiana’s youthful companion Mercy for Bunyan, chooser of the better part, and thus, like Mary, the paradigm for Milton’s virtuous young lady—is a woman beloved by all who read her story. Some have found more in her than perhaps they ought; Keats had his nightingale singing to her homesickness as she “stood in tears amid the alien corn,” and we will leave unsaid what Hollywood has made of her. But what a story!