Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

While Patch, disguised as Officer Trolley, occupies the guard birds, Cough approaches under the sand and creates a diversion by throwing stones. As a few of the birds investigate the noise, Bogie ambushes them, stuffing them in a sack and burying them in the sand. Patch, meanwhile, dispatches the lead guard. With the guards out of the way, Peter climbs through a narrow opening in the tower and creeps past thousands of sleeping ravens. When he reaches a larger opening, he lowers a rope for Twiddlesticks, who climbs up and joins him. At the top landing, they find the treasure room with a single locked door. Peter and Twiddlesticks work together to open the locks, and soon they are inside, searching for the magic eyes. Peter, however, cannot see that the other thieves have also climbed up into the tower and are tossing weapons out on to the sand.

Peter’s hands soon fall on the Haberdasher’s box, but thieves try to steal it for themselves. While Peter tries to make sense of the situation, they hear a loud shout outside—one thief has betrayed everyone to the ravens. As the birds awaken, Patch blows a loud blast from a foghorn, and hundreds of thieves rush the tower, grabbing the weapons that the others have tossed down. While the battle rages around them, Sir Tode suggests using the magic eyes. Unsure of which pair to use, they opt for the gold since Peter has used them safely once before. Just before Peter inserts the eyes, Captain Amos flies toward him, yelling, “Wait, stranger! […] There is something you must know! Justice has brought you to—” (158-59). Before he finishes, however, Peter places the eyes into his empty sockets. He feels himself falling over a vast chasm, lands on a rock, and is knocked unconscious.

Peter wakes up in a soft bed, the box of eyes clutched to his chest, his head bandaged. He is startled by the voice of woman, Mrs. Molasses, who tells Peter that she found him bleeding in the courtyard of the palace five days ago. Sir Tode, however, is not with him. Peter is distraught, imagining the knight still trapped in the raven’s nest.

Mrs. Molasses leads Peter through the immaculate palace, explaining that the king built this palace with his bare hands. Peter wonders if this is the Vanished Kingdom. He misses Sir Tode’s eyesight. Mrs. Molasses guides Peter to the Eating Hall, a vast courtyard surrounded by streams and footbridges, with a large table in the center. Birds sing from pedestals to which they’ve been shackled. The feast is sumptuous, but Peter detects a bitter tang underneath the rich flavors, a lingering aftertaste he can’t wash away. Like the food, the entire palace and its occupants are too perfect.

Suddenly, a massive clock chimes and the people scatter in terror. Mrs. Molasses rushes Peter out of the courtyard in a panic: “We must get home for tuck-in!” (174). They make it back to Mrs. Molasses’s home just as the clock strikes its final chime; deadbolts close, locking every resident in their home.

Lying in bed, Peter hears monstrous noises echoing down the corridors. He creeps out of bed and listens at the front door. The shuffling footsteps are actually many feet—several creatures rather than just one. Peter cannot pick the deadbolt, so he sneaks into a small courtyard outside. Free of Mrs. Molasses’s overpowering perfume, Peter can now smell Sir Tode. Following the scent trail, Peter reconstructs the scene: A third person has stolen his burgle sack with Sir Tode still inside. He finds a low wall which looks out over a steep chasm. The palace, he reasons, must be on the opposite side of the chasm from the Just Deserts. His suspicion is confirmed by a talking beetle, who also tells Peter he witnessed Sir Tode “snatched up by some other big ugly blokes. A real brawl that was” (180). Peter searches for more clues. He heads to the Eating Hall, but his path is obstructed by an iron gate. He considers using the golden eyes to teleport to the other side of the gate, but when he opens the box, his hand is drawn to the onyx.

Convinced the time is right, Peter inserts the onyx eyes, and he is instantly transformed into a black beetle. He scuttles under the bars of the gate, removes the eyes, and becomes Peter Nimble once again. Making his way into the Eating Hall, Peter finds the place in complete disarray, food spilled all over the floor. He wakes a bird to ask her about Sir Tode, but she will only talk if Peter sets her sisters free first. One by one, he unlocks the birds’ shackles and they fly away. Pickle Sparrow then explains everyone’s strange behavior: The birds are chained so they won’t fetch help; the king’s magic bell chimes after dinner to alert the citizens to take cover from the Night Patrol, the shuffling creatures Peter heard through the door. The Night Patrol is the king’s personal army, and he uses them to keep the population terrorized and submissive. The king also makes his subjects forget the Missing Ones. Before Pickle can tell Peter who the Missing Ones are, the Night Patrol enters the Hall, and she flies off.

Peter ducks into the shadows as the Night Patrol, several hulking beasts with whips and chains, enter the courtyard. They know he’s hiding, and they threaten to kill him “real slow…and real fun” (192). From their smell, he can tell they’re huge, horned apes. They haul slaves at the ends of their chains. As they close in on Peter, he has no choice but to use the onyx eyes again, but this time, they transform him into a sparrow. Before he can fly away, however, one of the apes grabs him and threatens to eat him if he doesn’t tell him who freed the other birds. Peter confesses it was a stranger. The apes shackle him to a pedestal and go off in search of the culprit, dragging their slaves behind them. With the courtyard finally clear, Peter removes the eyes, bursts his ankle chain, and retrieves the other eyes. He doesn’t see, however, that he is being watched. Unwittingly, he steps into a snare that pulls his legs out from under him. He hits his head on the hard floor and blacks out.

Peter awakens in chains, a flour sack tied over his head. Feigning unconsciousness, he listens to the voices around him—all children, who address one girl as Her Majesty. One of the kids—Scrape—unsheathes a knife and suggests killing Peter, suspecting him of being in league with the king, but an older voice belonging to someone named Simon orders Scrape to spare him. The children have found Peter’s sack, the note with the rhyme, and Sir Tode. Simon and Her Majesty leave, so Peter sets to picking his locks while eavesdropping on the others. Scrape pulls out his knife again, thinking to “get a little rough” (206), when Sir Tode charges in. Scrape snags the knight by the tail, but before he can harm him, Peter throws off his shackles, grabs Scrape’s knife and orders the children to release his friend. Sensing Peter is not an experienced fighter, Scrape attacks, but Peter is faster. He soon has all four children—Scrape, Trouble, Giggles, and Marble—wrapped in the chains.

Simon and Her Majesty come back. She orders Simon, her personal guard and “some kind of bird—a very deadly one” (209), to disarm Peter, which he does quickly and efficiently. Peter, however, senses he can trust them. He reveals his quest, in as much detail as he can, and Her Majesty pulls out the note, completing the rhyme: “Only a stranger may bring relief,/But darkness will reign, unless he’s…a thief” (210). The girl reveals that she is the author of the note.