Summary

Chapter 16 briefly describes the history of the Oompa-Loompas, who are Mr. Wonka’s sole employees. They come from Loompaland, which is a hot, jungle country where the Oompa-Loompas had nothing but green caterpillars to eat, and they hated them. They yearned to eat cacao beans, but could rarely find any, and thus when Mr. Wonka heard of this people who yearned for cacao, he invited them all to move to his factory and live there, working for him. In exchange, they could eat all the cacao beans they wanted, for cacao beans are used in the making of chocolate, he explains. The Oompa-Loompas eagerly agreed, which is why they now work for him. Veruca Salt, “the girl who got everything she wanted,” (76) decides she must have an Oompa-Loompa of her own. Meanwhile, Augustus sneaks away from the group and is scooping melted chocolate...