Summary

In Chapter 24, Beatryce and Jack escape to the woods. They climb a tree, leaving Answelica at the bottom to guard them. Beatryce asks Jack to whistle for her. He reminds her that the king’s soldiers are after them. Beatryce says she wishes she were back at the monastery. Jack mentions how the soldier on horseback called her “bewitched” (59). Suddenly, they hear a man with a pretty voice sing a song to Answelica. The man has grey hair, a beard, and wears a robe. Answelica kicks him. The man laughs.

The man tells the kids to stop hiding as he rolls on the forest floor, laughing, in Chapter 25. He offers them safe passage through the woods. Jack lies, saying they are messengers who work for the king. The man pauses before bursting into laughter again. He points out the irony in Jack...