"It was and is becoming, I thought, that Emmanuelson should have sought refuge with the Masai, and that they should have received him. The true aristocracy and the true proletariat of the world are both in understanding with tragedy…They differ in this way from the bourgeoisie of all classes…"

The narrator makes this statement at the end of the "A Fugitive Rests on the Farm" segment, which is located in the third section of the book, "Visitors to the Farm." It highlights Dinesen's belief that the primitive and the aristocrat share an innate nobility that allows them to transcend cultural differences. Dinesen strongly believes in the idea of the "noble savage." Although African natives may not have been exposed to the ideas of the Renaissance that inform Europeans, they still possess a gentle dignity than can equal or even be greater than that of Europeans. Evidence of this dignity can be seen as Emmanuelson and the Masai meet. Both the Masai and the Emmanuelson share human qualities that allow them to transcend their cultural differences. In this case, they become friends even though they cannot speak the same language. The narrator emphasizes this idea of aristocracy many times within her text. As this quote suggests, her theory of aristocracy actually is essentially elitist idea, which excludes the middle class as undignified and lacking in nobility.

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