# II: Golden Walter Takes Ship to Sail the Seas explained — The Wood Beyond the World > Chapter companion for The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris. ## What happens Walter goes down to the Katherine, where the skipper Geoffrey shows him his room and the goods his father has sent. While waiting, he sees a tall ship and three strangers board it: a hideous dwarf in yellow silk, a fair maiden in a green gown with an iron ring on her ankle, and a radiant, stately lady. Walter is entranced and later, at his father's house, he seems to see them again but finds only children and a dog. Confused, he bids farewell to his father and sails on the Katherine, his mind full of the three figures. ## Themes in this chapter ### Journey and Transformation Walter embarks on a sea voyage, and his encounter with the three strangers marks the beginning of a transformative journey. ### Fate and Free Will Walter is drawn to the three strangers as if by fate, and his confusion about whether they are real or a dream suggests a tension between destiny and his own choices. ## Character check-ins ### Golden Walter Walter goes down to the Katherine, sees the three strangers, and becomes entranced by them; he later sails on the Katherine. ### The Dwarf The dwarf is one of the three strangers Walter sees boarding the tall ship; he is dark-brown, hideous, with long arms and dog-teeth, clad in yellow silk. ### The Maid The maiden is one of the three strangers; she is young, fair, grey-eyed, brown-haired, wearing a short green gown with an iron ring on her ankle. ### The Lady The lady is one of the three strangers; she is tall, stately, and radiantly beautiful, wearing glorious raiment. ### Bartholomew Golden Walter's father, who sends goods to the quay and later bids farewell to Walter on the Katherine. ### The Shipmaster The skipper Geoffrey, who shows Walter his room aboard the Katherine and makes him cheer. ## Key lines > and all these were to him as the curious images woven on a tapestry. The bustling activity around the harbor seemed like meaningless patterns to him. _Walter's detachment from his surroundings is emphasized._ > Then was he all confused in his mind, and knew not what to make of it, whether those whom he had seemed to see pass aboard ship were but images of a dream, or children of Adam in very flesh. He was bewildered, unsure if the people he saw boarding the ship were real or just a dream. _Walter's confusion between reality and illusion is highlighted._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_wood_beyond_the_world_se/chapters/ii-golden-walter-takes-ship-to-sail-the-seas - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_wood_beyond_the_world_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_wood_beyond_the_world_se/chapters