The Book of Wonder · Chapter
Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller explained
Thangobrind, a renowned thief-jeweller, accepts a Merchant Prince's quest to steal the Dead Man's Diamond from the spider-idol Hlo-hlo.
What happens
Thangobrind, a renowned thief-jeweller, accepts a Merchant Prince's quest to steal the Dead Man's Diamond from the spider-idol Hlo-hlo. He successfully drugs the priests and steals the gem, but Hlo-hlo follows him. In a final battle on the narrow way, Thangobrind is overcome and hanged in place of a left-hand man, while the Merchant Prince's daughter becomes tediously respectable.
Themes in this chapter
Ambition and Greed
Thangobrind's quest is driven by the Merchant Prince's greed and his own professional ambition, ultimately leading to his downfall.
Fate and Prophecy
The priests cast a horoscope that seems to satisfy them, and Thangobrind's doom is foreshadowed by the ominous cough and the inevitability of his fate.
Irony and Moral Ambiguity
The Merchant Prince's daughter feels no gratitude and becomes aggressively dull, while the thief's 'honesty' and skill are ultimately futile against the spider-idol's laughter.
Characters to notice
- Thangobrind
The jeweller-thief who undertakes the quest for the Dead Man's Diamond and ultimately meets his doom.
- Hlo-hlo
The spider-idol whose diamond is stolen; he pursues Thangobrind and defeats him.
- the Desperate Lark
Not directly present; the Merchant Prince's daughter is mentioned but not named in this excerpt.
Key passages
“When Thangobrind the jeweller heard the ominous cough, he turned at once upon that narrow way.”
Upon hearing the fateful cough, Thangobrind immediately spun around on the narrow path.
The cough signals the approach of doom.
“Thangobrind offered honey to Hlo-hlo and prostrated himself before him.”
Thangobrind presented honey to Hlo-hlo and bowed low.
This is part of his cunning plan to drug the priests.
“And there carried Thangobrind the jeweller away those whose duty it was, to the house where the two men hang, and taking down from his hook the left-hand one of the two, they put that venturous jeweller in his place.”
The appointed beings took Thangobrind to the house of the two hanged men, removed the left-hand corpse, and hung the jeweller in its stead.
Thangobrind suffers the very fate he feared.