# Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller explained — The Book of Wonder

> Chapter companion for The Book of Wonder by Lord Dunsany.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_wonder_se/chapters/distressing-tale-of-thangobrind-the-jeweller
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_wonder_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_wonder_se/chapters