Part I: Chapter 3, The Rose-Beetle Man Summary and Analysis

After breakfast under a tangerine tree in the garden with his family, Gerald joins Roger at the gate for their daily exploration. Gerald goes through his usual banter with the dog pretending they will not be leaving the yard. Roger finally puts his paw on the gate and gives Gerald the lopsided grin his owner is waiting for and the two are off.

Gerald and Roger meet many interesting people on their excursions, but none is more colorful than the Rose-Beetle Man. Gerald describes the peasants of Corfu with the same creative description he gives the plants and insects he encounters. When Gerald describes The Rose-Beetle Man, one can understand the awe in which the child holds for the man. An imaginative reader can evoke a vision of beetles fluttering above...