The Tale of Despereaux

Roscuro poises to torture a prisoner, but when the dungeon door opens and the staircase is flooded with light, he is paralyzed with awe: “The rat called Chiaroscuro did not look away. He let the light from the upstairs world enter him and fill him” (93). A soldier throws a red cloth after the prisoner, and Roscuro becomes obsessed with the beauty of it framed against the light. He wants to go upstairs where there is more light, but Botticelli warns him that upstairs is for mice. Botticelli persuades Roscuro to steal the prisoner’s red cloth as a means of torture, and the latter tries to convince himself he desires the cloth alone and not the light.

Roscuro sidles up to the prisoner and talks to him, telling him to imagine him as a consoling voice in the darkness, “a voice that cares” (99). The prisoner admits to being a cow thief, but his most regretful crime is that he traded his daughter for the red tablecloth, a hen, and a handful of cigarettes. Roscuro inches closer, questioning the prisoner before biting his cloth and scurrying away. The man yells for it back, saying the red cloth is all he has. Roscuro tries to delight in the successful trick, but quickly realizes the red cloth pales in comparison to his memory of light. He concludes that he must go upstairs, as no prize will compare to the beauty of light.

Roscuro ventures upstairs and basks in the light of every room as he wanders the castle. He sees the banquet hall fully decorated and set for a party—the royal family, jugglers, and minstrels enjoying themselves. “Suffering is not the answer. Light is the answer” (105), he concludes, and marches straight into the banquet hall.

Roscuro jumps onto a crystal chandelier and swings, enjoying the party from above. Suddenly, Princess Pea notices him and screams. He hears the ugliness of the word “rat” and feels so ashamed and insulted that he loses his grip on the chandelier. He falls into the queen’s soup bowl.

The queen loves soup, and Cook outdid herself for the banquet. When Roscuro falls into the queen’s soup bowl, she screams and flings her spoon. Roscuro says, “I beg your pardon,” and the queen’s last words are, “There is a rat in my soup” (112). She collapses from a heart attack, and Roscuro slinks away. As Roscuro leaves, he looks back at Pea and sees a look of “disgust and anger” (113)—which breaks his heart. Because of this heartbreak, Roscuro becomes bitter and vengeful.

Disheartened by the realization that since he is a rat, he will never be allowed to enjoy the light, Roscuro picks up the queen’s soup spoon and wears it as a makeshift crown. He tells himself that the spoon is beautiful, and that he will one day get revenge. The king yells to find the rat who killed his wife, and Roscuro mumbles that he will be in the darkness of the dungeon.

The narrator clarifies that since the queen died while eating soup, the king outlaws the dish out of heartbreak. When the king’s men search the dungeon for Roscuro, they get lost and perish. The king then declares rats “illegal outlaws.” Roscuro creates a cape out of the stolen red cloth and vows to Botticelli that he will make the princess suffer for her scowl. At the same time, Despereaux is listening to the king’s music and falling in love upstairs. Also, a young girl named Miggery Sow arrives at the castle on a wagon. The narrator foreshadows that Miggery Sow will be instrumental in Roscuro’s revenge plot.