Pages 217-223 Summary

The drinkard's wife remembers she left a piece of gold jewelry in the house hey burned down and insists on going back to look for it. When she sifts through the ashes, the spirit of their murdered son rises up from the ashes, in the form of a "half-bodied baby." (Chapter 12, p. 218) The baby forces his parents to carry him around and will not let them set him down, though he is very heavy. The baby keeps stealing food from the parents and swells up hugely. They hear music, and the baby wants to go listen.

The family encounters the personifications of Drum, Song, and Dance. They all form a procession, singing and dancing as they go along, with the most compelling music and dance in the world. Finally, in the middle of the night, the parents sneak off, leaving the...