“Light filtered down through the water to the bed where the frilly pearl oysters lay fastened to the rubbly bottom…this was the bed that had raised the king of Spain to be a great power in Europe, had helped to pay for his wars, and had decorated his churches for his soul’s sake…“Kino lifted the flesh and there it lay, the great pearl perfect as the moon. It captured the light and refined it and gave it back in silver incandescence…on the surface he could see dreams form.”
John Steinbeck, The Pearl 1944
