Summary

In Chapter 13, a boy named Jack Dory emerges from the wood and enters a village. He introduces himself to the first person he meets: Granny Bibspeak. He explains how he was travelling from Highflint to Throttletown with his parents. They were robbed by a man with a black beard. He watched as his father was killed. His mother told him to run, so he did.

Granny Bibspeak takes Jack in in Chapter 14. She lives only four more years, but she loves him all that time. Jack is twelve years old when she dies. The villagers love him and look after him. He works as a messenger and loves storytelling. He still has nightmares about the robbery.

In Chapter 15, a sick soldier stays at an inn in Jack’s village. An angel urges the soldier to have his confessions recorded. The soldier asks...