Sorry if that last post came off as aggressive, it wasn't meant to be. I'm not offended at all by what you saying, i was merely stating a fact that human in general have a greater capacity than animals to accomplish things if they wish to do so. I'm not saying that human are superior in any sense, simply that we have the ability to impact this world in a much greater scope than any animal can. A large a part of this is due to our ability to recognize and understand abstract concepts.

In that sense then, the ability to choose to suffer and die for an abstract idea has certain merits.

Which goes back to what i feel the maid really presented them with, a choice. Before her proposal, their only course of action was to continue stealing and hiding out until they reach the capital and somehow create a life for themselves. This course of action is solely for the purpose of survival with little regards for anything else, so in a sense this is the same line of thought an animal would use. I'm pretty sure that the older sister had no idea they would be treated so well. I think they she must've had a fairly good opinion of them after how well they were treated up to that point. The older sister choice then become an unstable future on the run or what could be a fairly stable life as maids. Up to this point, they lived as serfs so a life as servant is a step up (from what i know of medieval culture anyways). The important thing i took away from that scene wasn't so much the job offer at the end. What stood out was when the maid admonish them for their actions. This created a choice for the two to choose between accepting abstract concept such as wrong and right (the human thing to do) or continue focusing on surviving (the life of an insect).