# XIII: The Emperor's Gift explained — The Maltese Falcon > Chapter companion for The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. ## What happens Gutman welcomes Spade and recounts the elaborate history of the jewel-encrusted falcon, tracing its origins from the Knights of Rhodes through various owners across centuries. Spade listens impassively, revealing that Brigid has the falcon and he knows where to retrieve it, setting the stage for negotiations. ## Themes in this chapter ### Greed and Corruption Gutman's seventeen-year obsession with the falcon and his willingness to steal, murder, and manipulate for its possession exemplify the corrupting power of greed. ### Deception and Duplicity The falcon's history is a chain of thefts, disguises (enamel coating), and hidden identities, mirroring the characters' own deceptions. ### The Quest for Authenticity Gutman's detailed historical research and verification of the falcon's provenance reflect a search for genuine value beneath layers of disguise and rumor. ## Character check-ins ### Sam Spade Visits Gutman, returns Wilmer's pistols, and listens to the falcon's history while withholding the exact location of the bird. ### Casper Gutman Hosts Spade, narrates the falcon's provenance from the Knights of Malta through centuries of theft and intrigue, and expresses his determination to possess it. ### Wilmer Cook Accompanies Spade, retrieves his pistols from Gutman, and leaves the room without speaking. ### Brigid O'Shaughnessy Referred to as having the falcon and being in Spade's custody; Gutman considers her his agent. ### Charilaos Konstantinides The Greek dealer who identified the falcon's true nature and was murdered during a burglary that stole the bird. ### Floyd Thursby Not directly present but implied in the chain of possession; Gutman's agents previously obtained the falcon from a Russian general. ## Key lines > Gutman opened the door. A glad smile lighted his fat face. He held out a hand and said: 'Ah, come in, sir! Thank you for coming. Come in.' Gutman greets Spade warmly at the door, shaking his hand and inviting him inside. _Gutman's effusive welcome contrasts with the tension of their previous encounters._ > Spade took the boy's pistols from his pockets and held them out to Gutman. 'Here. You shouldn't let him run around with these. He'll get himself hurt.' Spade returns Wilmer's guns to Gutman, remarking that the boy should not be carrying them. _Spade's gesture asserts dominance and mocks Wilmer's ineffectiveness._ > Now, sir, I hope you'll let me apologize for— Gutman begins to apologize for something, but Spade cuts him off. _Gutman's attempt at apology is dismissed as Spade focuses on the falcon._ > This is going to be the most astounding thing you've ever heard of, sir, and I say that knowing that a man of your caliber in your profession must have known some astounding things in his time. Gutman promises Spade an incredible story, acknowledging Spade's experience with remarkable cases. _Gutman builds anticipation for the falcon's history._ > What do you know, sir, about the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, later called the Knights of Rhodes and other things? Gutman asks Spade about the Knights of St. John, the crusading order. _Gutman begins his historical lecture on the falcon's origins._ > Well, sir, they did, and they settled in Crete. And they stayed there for seven years, until 1530 when they persuaded the Emperor Charles V to give them Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli. Gutman explains that the Knights moved to Crete and later received Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli from Emperor Charles V. _This sets the stage for the falcon's creation as a tribute gift._ > Have you any conception of the extreme, the immeasurable, wealth of the Order at that time? Gutman emphasizes the immense wealth of the Knights of St. John. _He underscores the Order's ability to create a jewel-encrusted falcon._ > What could be more natural than for these immeasurably wealthy Knights to look around for some way of expressing their gratitude? Well, sir, that's exactly what they did, and they hit on the happy thought of sending Charles for the first year's tribute, not an insignificant live bird, but a glorious golden falcon encrusted from head to foot with the finest jewels in their coffers. Gutman describes how the Knights decided to send a jeweled golden falcon as a tribute to Emperor Charles V. _This is the origin story of the falcon that drives the plot._ > These are facts, historical facts, not schoolbook history, not Mr. Wells's history, but history nevertheless. Gutman insists his account is historically accurate, dismissing mainstream histories. _Gutman asserts his authority and the authenticity of his research._ > The archives of the Order from the twelfth century on are still at Malta. They are not intact, but what is there holds no less than three references that can't be to anything else but this jeweled falcon. Gutman cites Maltese archives that mention the jeweled falcon. _He provides scholarly evidence to support his story._ > Grand Master Villiers de l'Isle d'Adam had this foot-high jeweled bird made by Turkish slaves in the castle of St. Angelo and sent it to Charles, who was in Spain. He sent it in a galley commanded by a French knight named Cormier or Corvere, a member of the Order. Gutman explains that the Grand Master commissioned the falcon from Turkish slaves and sent it to Spain via a French knight. _The falcon's journey begins with a specific historical figure._ > It never reached Spain. The falcon was intercepted before reaching its destination. _This marks the start of the falcon's long history of theft and loss._ > You know of Barbarossa, Redbeard, Khair-ed-Din? No? A famous admiral of buccaneers sailing out of Algiers then. Well, sir, he took the Knights' galley and he took the bird. Gutman identifies Barbarossa as the pirate who captured the falcon. _The falcon passes into the hands of a notorious corsair._ > The bird went to Algiers. That's a fact. That's a fact that the French historian Pierre Dan put in one of his letters from Algiers. He wrote that the bird had been there for more than a hundred years, until it was carried away by Sir Francis Verney, the English adventurer who was with the Algerian buccaneers for a while. Gutman traces the falcon to Algiers and then to Sir Francis Verney, an English pirate. _The falcon's journey continues through a series of adventurers._ > There's nothing said about the bird in Lady Francis Verney's Memoirs of the Verney Family During the Seventeenth Century, to be sure. I looked. And it's pretty certain that Sir Francis didn't have the bird when he died in a Messina hospital in 1615. He was stony broke. Gutman admits that the falcon is not mentioned in the Verney family memoirs and that Sir Francis died penniless. _Gutman's research includes negative evidence, showing his thoroughness._ > But, sir, there's no denying that the bird did go to Sicily. It was there and it came into the possession there of Victor Amadeus II some time after he became king in 1713, and it was one of his gifts to his wife when he married in Chambéry after abdicating. That is a fact, sir. Carutti, the author of Storia del Regno di Vittorio Amadeo II, himself vouched for it. Gutman states that the falcon ended up in Sicily and was given by Victor Amadeus II to his wife. _Another historical figure and source are cited to validate the falcon's provenance._ > Maybe they—Amadeo and his wife—took it along with them to Turin when he tried to revoke his abdication. Be that as it may, it turned up next in the possession of a Spaniard who had been with the army that took Naples in 1734—the father of Don José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca, who was Charles III's chief minister. Gutman speculates about the falcon's movement to Turin and then traces it to a Spanish family connected to the Count of Floridablanca. _The falcon's ownership passes to Spanish nobility._ > There's nothing to show that it didn't stay in that family until at least the end of the Carlist War in '40. Then it appeared in Paris at just about the time that Paris was full of Carlists who had had to get out of Spain. One of them must have brought it with him, but, whoever he was, it's likely he knew nothing about its real value. It had been—no doubt as a precaution during the Carlist trouble in Spain—painted or enameled over to look like nothing more than a fairly interesting black statuette. Gutman explains that the falcon remained in the Spanish family until the Carlist War, then surfaced in Paris disguised as a black statuette. _The falcon's disguise explains why it went unrecognized for decades._ > And in that disguise, sir, it was, you might say, kicked around Paris for seventy years by private owners and dealers too stupid to see what it was under the skin. Gutman describes how the falcon was neglected in Paris for seventy years because no one recognized its true value. _The falcon's hidden worth is a central irony._ > For seventy years, sir, this marvelous item was, as you might say, a football in the gutters of Paris—until 1911 when a Greek dealer named Charilaos Konstantinides found it in an obscure shop. It didn't take Charilaos long to learn what it was and to acquire it. No thickness of enamel could conceal value from his eyes and nose. Gutman recounts how the Greek dealer Charilaos discovered the falcon in a Paris shop and recognized its true nature. _Charilaos is the first modern person to identify the falcon's value._ > Well, sir, Charilaos was the man who traced most of its history and who identified it as what it actually was. I got wind of it and finally forced most of the history out of him, though I've been able to add a few details since. Gutman claims he learned the falcon's history from Charilaos and later supplemented it. _Gutman's knowledge comes from the dealer he pressured._ > Charilaos was in no hurry to convert his find into money at once. He knew that—enormous as its intrinsic value was—a far higher, a terrific, price could be obtained for it once its authenticity was established beyond doubt. Possibly he planned to do business with one of the modern descendents of the old Order—the English Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Prussian Johanniterorden, or the Italian or German langues of the Sovereign Order of Malta—all wealthy orders. Gutman explains that Charilaos planned to sell the falcon to modern descendants of the Knights for a higher price. _Charilaos's strategy reflects the falcon's potential immense value._ > One year to the very day after he had acquired it—that was possibly three months after I'd made him confess to me—I picked up the Times in London and read that his establishment had been burglarized and him murdered. I was in Paris the next day. Gutman reads about Charilaos's murder and burglary, and immediately goes to Paris. _The falcon is stolen again, and Gutman begins his pursuit._ > The bird was gone. By Gad, sir, I was wild. I didn't believe anybody else knew what it was. I didn't believe he had told anybody but me. A great quantity of stuff had been stolen. That made me think that the thief had simply taken the bird along with the rest of his plunder, not knowing what it was. Gutman expresses his frustration and speculates that the thief was unaware of the falcon's value. _Gutman's assumption about the thief's ignorance drives his search._ > That was seventeen years ago. Well, sir, it took me seventeen years to locate that bird, but I did it. I wanted it, and I'm not a man that's easily discouraged when he wants something. Gutman boasts that he spent seventeen years tracking the falcon and succeeded. _Gutman's persistence highlights his obsessive desire._ > I traced it to the home of a Russian general—one Kemidov—in a Constantinople suburb. He didn't know a thing about it. It was nothing but a black enameled figure to him, but his natural contrariness—the natural contrariness of a Russian general—kept him from selling it to me when I made him an offer. Gutman found the falcon with a Russian general who refused to sell it out of stubbornness. _The general's refusal leads Gutman to send agents to steal it._ > So I sent some—ah—agents to get it. Well, sir, they got it and I haven't got it. Gutman admits his agents stole the falcon but he never received it. _The falcon's current whereabouts are unknown to Gutman._ > Then the bird doesn't belong to any of you? but to a General Kemidov? Spade questions the ownership of the falcon, suggesting it belongs to the Russian general. _Spade challenges Gutman's claim to the falcon._ > Belong? Well, sir, you might say it belonged to the King of Spain, but I don't see how you can honestly grant anybody else clear title to it—except by right of possession. Gutman argues that the falcon's ownership is based on possession, not legal title. _Gutman's philosophy justifies theft and deception._ > An article of that value that has passed from hand to hand by such means is clearly the property of whoever can get hold of it. Gutman asserts that the falcon belongs to whoever can seize it. _This encapsulates the amoral pursuit of the falcon._ > Then it's Miss O'Shaughnessy's now? Spade asks if Brigid owns the falcon. _Spade tests Gutman's view of Brigid's role._ > No, sir, except as my agent. Gutman claims Brigid holds the falcon only as his agent. _Gutman asserts control over Brigid and the falcon._ > There's no doubt that she's got it now? Gutman seeks confirmation that Brigid has the falcon. _Gutman's uncertainty shows his reliance on Spade._ > Not much. Spade indicates it is likely that Brigid has the falcon. _Spade's vague answer maintains his leverage._ > Where? Gutman asks for the falcon's location. _Gutman presses for details._ > I don't know exactly. Spade claims he does not know the exact location. _Spade withholds information to control the negotiation._ > But you said you did, Gutman protests that Spade previously claimed to know. _Gutman catches Spade's inconsistency._ > I meant to say I know where to get it when the time comes. Spade clarifies that he knows how to retrieve the falcon, not its current location. _Spade maintains his strategic ambiguity._ > And you do? Gutman asks for confirmation. _Gutman seeks reassurance._ > Yes. Spade confirms he can get the falcon. _Spade asserts his control._ > Where? Gutman asks again for the location. _Gutman's persistence shows his eagerness._ > Leave that to me. That's my end. Spade refuses to disclose the location, insisting it is his responsibility. _Spade asserts his role as the one who will deliver the falcon._ > When? Gutman asks for a timeline. _Gutman wants to know when he will get the falcon._ > When I'm ready. Spade says he will act when he chooses. _Spade maintains control over the timing._ > Mr. Spade, where is Miss O'Shaughnessy now? Gutman asks about Brigid's whereabouts. _Gutman tries to locate Brigid through Spade._ > In my hands, safely tucked away. Spade says Brigid is under his protection. _Spade implies he has Brigid secured._ > Trust you for that, sir, Gutman compliments Spade's competence. _Gutman acknowledges Spade's skill._ > Well now, sir, before we sit down to talk prices, answer me this: how Gutman prepares to discuss the price but is interrupted. _The chapter ends with Gutman about to ask a crucial question._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_maltese_falcon_se/chapters/xiii-the-emperor-s-gift - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_maltese_falcon_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_maltese_falcon_se/chapters