And for now, on with Chapter 11 of The Vile Village.
What Happens?
Klaus is able to figure out the hidden message in the couplets
which tells them the Quagmires are in the Fountain. Violet then comes up with a
new plan to help them escape from the cell. This works and soon they our at Fowl
Fountain trying to work out how the Quagmires could be in there. It’s Sunny who
inadvertently triggers the button which opens the bird’s beak enabling the
Quagmires to climb out, just as Olaf shows up in the distance.
Thoughts as I read:
This chapter image is, I think the brownies that Hector mentioned in the last chapter. They look like chocolatey yummy goodies and they’re still steaming hot. Actually just looking at this picture made me crave chocolate so much I had to get Mr Click to bring me a Ruffle Bar (they’re yummy raspberry coconut chocolate bars). I think I have a bit of a chocolate problem. Anyway, on with the chapter!
We’ve got another couplet:
Inside these letters, the eye will see
Nearby are your
friends, and V.F.D.
And Klaus has figured out just what the couplets are trying to
tell them. He’s all pleased about this though his sisters haven’t read ahead in
the book so they don’t know what he’s so happy about. “Wibeon” says Sunny,
meaning “It’s more confusing than superlative – we still don’t know where the
Quagmires are.” But Klaus does!
So we get yet another recap of all the couplets thus far, with the
latest one tacked on at the end. Can you tell where the Quagmires are yet?
Violet’s not so hot on the whole poetry analysis thing so Klaus
spells it out to her. The first line of each couplet spells out FOUNTAIN. It
takes us about three pages to get to this point. And even then the children
aren’t sure how the Quagmires could be in the fountain and how the messages were
transported, but it’s more of a lead than they’ve had in a while.
Things are looking up for them at last. Now they just have to
escape from jail and avoid the villagers who want to burn them to death. Sunny
says “Mush!” meaning “The mortar is almost dissolved – just a little bit
longer!” reminding them that it’s about time they get back on task. This prompts
Violet to tie up her hair again, she’s got to come up with something else to
help them get out of there quicker.
The new plan is to use the bench, which until now has been used as
a ramp, as a battering ram. “Honz?” Sunny asks, after all, she’s just a baby and
doesn’t know what a battering ram is. They’re going to ram the bench into the
wall where they’ve been dissolving the mortar and hopefully burst out of the
cell. It’s while they’re doing this we learn that Sunny counts by saying “One,
two, minga!” That’s quite cute.
After a few shots at it a brick falls on Klaus’s foot, which is
cause for celebration, despite the whole pain thing. Bricks falling onto
people’s feet obviously proves that the wall is beginning to give. Meanwhile
outside they can hear the crows beginning to move to their afternoon nesting
spot. Sunny tells her siblings to hurry, except it comes out as “Hurol!”
A huge cloud of dust is not a beautiful thing to look at.
Very few painters have done portraits of huge clouds of dust or included them in
their landscapes or still lifes. Film directors rarely choose huge clouds of
dust to play the lead roles in romantic comedies, and as far as my research has
shown, a huge cloud of dust has never placed higher than twenty-fifth in a
beauty pageant.
The dust cloud romantic lead is definitely a missed opportunity.
Why has Hollywood never realised this?!
The reason this is raised here is the fact that the dust cloud
created by the falling wall is a beautiful thing for the Baudelaires to see,
coming as it does to herald the wall of the Deluxe Cell collapsing. Violet
immediately starts to celebrate but her brother points out that she may be
getting ahead of herself. They still have to get the Quagmires out and get away
before the villagers show up.
“Wock!” Sunny says “The fountain looks as solid as can be” which
suggests that it will be very difficult for anyone to be hidden inside the
fountain but that’s the only place they could possibly be. It’s Sunny who tries
to shed some light on this for them. “Jidu!” meaning “Surely Isadora has given
us a hint about how to rescue her!”
And so it’s back to the couplets again. This time Violet spots it,
“this sad beak” must be the way in and out of the fountain, after all, that’s
where the water comes from. By this point they’re at the fountain so they stand
on each others’ shoulders to enable Sunny to peer in at the top of the beak.
This is neither particularly comfortable nor safe for any of the children
involved. When Klaus asks Sunny what she can see she replies “Shize!” which I’m
guessing means nothing.
It’s at this point that Klaus realises that Isadora wrote ‘inside
these letters the eye will see’ which prompts him to wonder what this could
mean. Sunny says “Sabisho!” which seems to mean something about the fact that
she can’t hold on anymore and is about to fall. Things are heating up too, there
are the shapes of some of the Elders starting to get close. Just after she’s
spotted them they all end up collapsing, just as Sunny yells “Took!” which I
don’t think means she’s just seen a hobbit.
They all fall down, apart from Sunny who is left clinging onto the
fountain with her teeth. Now she’s saying “Heni!” as she slides down the
fountain. She’s very little and she’s got quite a way to fall, she’s obviously a
little bit worried about this. Luckily as she slips down she manages to find the
little hidden button that makes the bird statue’s beak open and as this opens it
helps Sunny drop safely into Violet’s arms. Phew!
And guess who climbs out of the statue?
Yup, it’s the Quagmires.
And this would be a good time to start celebrating, if it wasn’t
for the figure of Olaf/Dupin walking towards them with a torch!
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