The Book of Wonder · Chapter
How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles explained
Mr.
What happens
Mr. Nuth, a master burglar, takes on an apprentice named Tommy Tonker. After a successful heist at Lord Castlenorman's residence, Nuth plans an audacious burglary of the gnoles' secret house to steal their emeralds. Despite Tonker's misgivings, they venture into the dreadful wood. Tonker is captured by the gnoles, but Nuth escapes, as no one ever catches Nuth.
Themes in this chapter
Ambition and Greed
Nuth's greed drives him to plan the impossible burglary of the gnoles' emeralds, despite the mortal danger.
The Otherworldly and Mythic
The gnoles and their dreadful wood are depicted as otherworldly and mythic, with an unearthly silence and sinister trees.
Irony and Moral Ambiguity
The narrative treats Nuth's burglary with a tone of admiration, while Tonker's fate is grimly accepted, blurring moral lines.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Nuth
The consummate burglar who takes on Tonker as an apprentice and plans the burglary of the gnoles.
- Tonker
The likely lad apprenticed to Nuth; he is captured by the gnoles during the burglary.
- Lord Castlenorman
Victim of a previous burglary by Nuth and Tonker, from whom they stole rings and shirt-studs.
Key passages
“It may be urged against my use of the word incomparable that in the burglary business the name of Slith stands paramount and alone; and of this I am not ignorant; but Slith is a classic, and lived long ago, and knew nothing at all of modern competition; besides which the surprising nature of his doom has possibly cast a glamour upon Slith that exaggerates in our eyes his undoubted merits.”
Some might argue that Slith is the greatest burglar, but Slith is an old master from a bygone era, and his dramatic death may have inflated his reputation.
The narrator compares Nuth to the legendary burglar Slith, acknowledging Slith's fame but suggesting it is partly due to his legendary demise.
“And the moment that Tonker touched the withered boards, the silence that, though ominous, was earthly, became unearthly like the touch of a ghoul.”
As soon as Tonker touched the old wood, the already eerie silence turned supernatural, as if a ghoul had touched him.
The shift from natural to supernatural silence signals the gnoles' presence and the imminent danger.
““And did they catch Nuth?” you ask me, gentle reader. “Oh, no, my child” (for such a question is childish). “Nobody ever catches Nuth.””
If you ask whether Nuth was caught, the answer is no—such a question is naive, because Nuth is never caught.
The narrator directly addresses the reader, asserting Nuth's legendary invincibility as a burglar.