The Tale of Despereaux

Despereaux Tilling lives beyond his first few days to everyone’s surprise, and he quickly becomes the talk of the mouse community. His aunts and uncles observe his ears and the small size of his body, doubting his being born with open eyes because such a thing is “impossible” for a mouse. Despereaux carries a handkerchief due to his sickly demeanor, and he behaves differently from other mice: He obsesses over music and sunlight rather than crumbs of cake. His mother reminds him that these un-mouselike traits are further evidence of him being a disappointment.

Despereaux’s siblings try to teach him how to be a better mouse: His brother Furlough teaches scurrying, but Despereaux finds himself distracted by the beautiful stained glass windows; his sister Merlot teaches him how to nibble paper in the library, but Despereaux reads the words on the page instead, too mesmerized by the story to eat it. Despereaux mulls over the phrase “Once upon a time…” and continues to read the story of a beautiful princess and a brave knight. Unbeknownst to him, the narrator foreshadows the mouse needing to be brave like the knight in order to combat the dungeon rats.

Despereaux’s siblings give up on their brother, leaving him to spend his days reading stories and listening to King Phillip’s music, which “sounds like heaven” and “smells like honey” (27). He even defies the one major mouse rule of hiding from humans by getting closer to the source of music. The king thinks Despereaux is a bug, but Princess Pea correctly identifies him as a mouse. She begs her father to continue playing, and he obliges as the small mouse inches closer.

While Despereaux listens, Pea touches his head. Their eyes meet, and the mouse falls in love. The narrator interjects: While it is ridiculous for a mouse to fall for a human, a princess no less, love is “powerful, wonderful and ridiculous” (32). Furlough scurries by and notices his brother breaking the rule about avoiding humans, so he goes to tell their father Lester.

Lester and Antoinette discuss what to do with their wayward son. At first, Lester denies that he is Despereaux’s legitimate father and blames his faults on Antoinette’s French blood. He decides to let the Mouse Council determine a proper punishment. To summon the Council, Lester beats a rhythm on a small thimble-drum.

In the meantime, Despereaux is picked up by Pea. She declares her intention to keep him, but the king objects: “They are related to…rats. You know how we feel about rats. You know of our own dark history with rats” (39). He tells Pea that it is her responsibility to her mother and royalty itself to never associate with rodents. Pea begins to cry, and in an effort to comfort her, Despereaux breaks the second major mouse rule: never speak to a human. The king responds in anger, saying that there are rules about mice not talking to humans, before stamping his foot near Despereaux. He flees, but not before telling the princess his name and “I honour you!”—despite the king yelling back, “Rodents know nothing of honour” (39-40). With a bow, the lovesick mouse scurries away.

The Mouse Council—made up of 12 honored mice and a “Most Very Honoured Head Mouse”—gathers at the sound of Lester’s drum. Furlough and Lester report Despereaux’s behavior, and Despereaux is sentenced to the dungeon. Lester says nothing in his son’s defense but cries at his fate. The Council decides to offer Despereaux a chance to deny his crimes. The narrator speaks directly to the reader, hinting that this scene is a perfect example of the word “perfidy” (treachery).

Furlough finds Despereaux in the library, where he is reading a story in search of “happily ever after.” Furlough tries to get Despereaux to see the Council, but the latter only describes his love for Princess Pea. Eventually, Despereaux allows himself to be led to his presumed death.

The entire mouse community gathered for Despereaux’s trial. As rumors of his crimes spread throughout the crowd, Despereaux’s previous lovesickness fades to fear. The Head Mouse challenges Despereaux to recount his crimes, but the latter says he did nothing inherently wrong—so he doesn’t deny the charges. The Head Mouse asks if Pea touched him: Not only does Despereaux admit to this, but he says he broke the community’s rules out of love. He refuses to denounce these crimes and is sentenced to the dungeon amid angry chants for his punishment.

With a different rhythm of the drum, Lester summons the threadmaster. Confused as to why he’s being punished for a beautiful thing like love, Despereaux begins to doubt the existence of happily ever after. The threadmaster apologizes to Despereaux, but says he has to do his job. As he places a loop of red thread around the small mouse’s neck, he asks if the princess is as beautiful as he imagines. He whispers his approval of Despereaux’s “courtly love…based on bravery and courtesy and honour and devotion” (61)—and Despereaux is shocked to hear of another mouse who knows fairy tales. Nonetheless, he braves himself for what’s to come.

In the final stage of Despereaux’s sentencing, the drumbeat changes to a menacing “Boom, boom, boom” (62). Despereaux sees his mother Antoinette and “concentrates on not being a disappointment” (63); she faints dramatically. Antoinette’s last word to her son is “adieu;” the narrator notes that it is a sorrowful word, less comforting than offering to go in Despereaux’s place. Two hooded mice approach Despereaux to lead him to the dungeon.

The red thread tied around Despereaux’s neck feels tight as the three mice travel. Despereaux asks if he can have a final word with the princess, but one of the hooded mice laughs—revealing him to be Furlough. When they reach the dungeon, Furlough makes a speech about the accused wearing the red thread of death, and Despereaux suddenly feels himself falling down the dungeon stairs into the darkness with only two words on his mind: perfidy and Pea.

Despereaux picks himself off the ground and immediately notices a rank smell and a darkness so deep that he wonders if he still exists. The mouse considers fainting, but reminds himself of the threadmaster’s words to have “honour, courtesy, devotion and bravery” (74). As Despereaux steps forward, he recalls a fairy tale out loud. A booming voice responds to him from beyond, and he faints out of fear.

Despereaux awakens in the palm of Gregory, the jailer who looks after the dungeon without getting lost by following a rope tied to his ankle. The mouse requests to be let go, but Gregory insists that the bloodthirsty rats will kill him. Despereaux says he is in love, and in response, Gregory shows him a dirty mound of soup spoons and bowls buried in the dungeon after Queen Rosemary’s death: “The king loved the queen and the queen died; this monstrosity, this junk heap is the result of love” (79). Despite his history of standing by when previous mice were sent to the dungeon, Gregory swears to help Despereaux if he tells a story. He says stories are light, and “Light is precious in a world so dark” (81)—making one an adequate exchange for helping the mouse live.