# Endymion Leer Prescribes for Ranulph explained — Lud-in-the-Mist

> Chapter companion for Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.

## What happens

Master Nathaniel, grappling with the disgrace of Ranulph having eaten fairy fruit, summons the enigmatic physician Endymion Leer. Despite his personal antipathy toward Leer, Nathaniel hopes for a cure. Leer examines Ranulph and insists on being alone with him, but when Nathaniel hears Leer singing a song that triggers the Note—a sound of dangerous, otherworldly significance—he bursts in, violently shakes Leer, and accuses him of foul play. Ranulph, however, claims the doctor was making him well.

## Themes in this chapter

### Repression and Taboo

The eating of fairy fruit is treated as an 'unmentionable crime' that would socially ruin Ranulph, reflecting the town's deep-seated taboo against fairy influences.

### Fatherhood and Responsibility

Nathaniel's newfound love for Ranulph forces him to confront the disgrace and take action, even though he is tempted to treat reality as a 'plastic toy.'

### Reality vs. Delusion

Nathaniel's belief that 'facts were only plastic toys' clashes with the harsh reality of Ranulph's condition, and the Note he hears blurs the line between the mundane and the magical.

## Character check-ins

### Master Nathaniel Chanticleer

Awakens with a new, possessive love for his son Ranulph, but is torn between denial of reality and a sense of responsibility. He reluctantly calls in Endymion Leer, and later flies into a rage upon hearing the Note, physically attacking the doctor.

### Ranulph Chanticleer

Lying ill after eating fairy fruit; terrified of being left alone with Leer, but later appears peaceful and claims the doctor was healing him through song.

### Endymion Leer

A skilled but eccentric physician with a mocking manner and a personal history of antipathy toward the Chanticleers. He treats Ranulph by singing, which triggers the Note in Nathaniel, and remains unnervingly calm after being violently shaken.

### Dame Marigold Chanticleer

Pale and defiant, resentful of the Chanticleers for involving her in the scandal. She tries to calm Nathaniel and apologizes profusely to Leer after the attack.

### Willy Wisp

Mentioned as the former servant who gave Ranulph the fairy fruit; has mysteriously disappeared. Leer claims to know him well.

## Key lines

> Life and death! Life and death! They are the dyes in which I work. Are my hands stained?

Endymion Leer muses aloud that life and death are the materials of his craft, and questions whether his hands are marked by them.

_This quote reveals Leer's theatrical and unsettling manner, which makes the conservative townsfolk uncomfortable._

> Before the cry of Chanticleer Gibbers away Endymion Leer.

Ranulph, as a toddler, chanted a rhyme that seemed to predict Leer's undoing at the hands of the Chanticleers.

_This childhood incident is recalled as a possible source of Leer's long-standing resentment toward the family._

> And can the physician make sick men well, And can the magician a fortune divine Without lily, germander, and sops in wine? With sweetbrier, And bonfire, And strawberry-wire, And columbine.

Leer sings a folk song about the limits of physicians and magicians, listing herbs and plants.

_This song contains the Note that triggers Nathaniel's violent reaction, suggesting it carries fairy or magical associations._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/chapters/iv-endymion-leer-prescribes-for-ranulph
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/chapters