# The Horse Fair and the Gypsy Encounter explained — Lavengro > Chapter companion for Lavengro by George Borrow. ## What happens The narrator attends a horse fair on Castle Hill, observing the various horses and the crowd. He feels watched and eventually encounters Jasper Petulengro, who recognizes him. Jasper takes him to a gypsy encampment where he meets Tawno Chikno and his jealous wife. ## Themes in this chapter ### The Gypsy and the Outsider The chapter highlights the gypsy community as outsiders, living apart from towns and maintaining their own customs and language. ### Adventure and Roving The narrator's wandering life and the gypsies' nomadic existence are central to the chapter's events. ## Character check-ins ### Lavengro The narrator, attending the horse fair and later visiting the gypsy encampment. ### Jasper Petulengro The gypsy who recognizes the narrator at the fair and leads him to the encampment. ### Tawno Chikno A tall, handsome gypsy man, described as the beauty of the world, who performs horsemanship at the fair. ### Mrs. Chikno Tawno Chikno's wife, described as lame, ugly, and jealous. ## Key lines > Your blood beat when mine was near, as mine always does at the coming of a brother; and we became brothers in that lane. Jasper claims that their shared blood connection made them recognize each other as brothers. _Jasper explains the mystical bond between them._ > The best in mother England, said the very old man, taking a knobbed stick from his mouth, and looking me in the face, at first carelessly, but presently with something like interest; he is old like myself, but can still trot his twenty miles an hour. An old man praises the horse Marshland Shales as the best in England, noting its age and speed. _The narrator's admiration for the horse is shared by the crowd._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xvi - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters