Chapter 7 Summary

Chapter seven opens with the account of the final attempt by anyone in the family to bring Cosimo home. Battista sneaks out in the night to the tree on which Cosimo perches every morning and covers it everywhere she can with glue. The morning finds the tree covered with birds and feathers of birds, squirrel tails, leaves, and the corner of Cosimo's coat, but no Cosimo. The tree remains in its pitiful state for quite a long time, and eventually dies, and with it, the family's hope of every having Cosimo home with them as before.

The Baron, having lost hope of his eldest son following exactly the path of nobility he hoped he would, inspires Biagio to an explanation of why it was so silly for his father to hope as he did. The land over which he hoped his son would...