Unfortunate Conclusions is the thirteenth chapter of The Phantom Tollbooth.
Characters[]
- Milo
- Tock
- The Humbug
- The Soundkeeper
- Awful Dynne
- Canby (debut)
Plot[]
Milo, knowing that he'll lose his stolen words as soon as he talks, hurries back to the angry mob. He writes down what he's done, and the people of the Silent Valley get ready to use his word as their weapon. They set up a big cannon, and Milo says his word into it. Then, the Silent people fire their cannon at the Soundkeeper's fortress. The "but" looks small, but as soon as it hits the fortress it does the trick. The fortress explodes, and all the forbidden sounds come out at once. After a few moments of noisy confusion, the dust settles and the citizens reabsorb their old sounds. Once everyone goes about their own business, Milo, Tock, and the Humbug see the Soundkeeper sitting on a pile of rubble. Milo goes over to apologize for helping destroy her fortress, and the Soundkeeper is very understanding. She recognizes that it was her own fault for taking away all the sounds and realizes that silence is not the solution. "The problem," she says, "is to use each sound at the proper time." The DYNNE comes running up with an enormous sack of leftover noises gathered from the vault, which are not noisy or unpleasant enough for his tastes. The Soundkeeper happily accepts them and tries to give the DYNNE a present of nice sounds as a token of her thanks, but he hurries away. The Soundkeeper remarks that the unpleasant sounds he likes have value because they help people appreciate the pleasant ones more. If only Rhyme and Reason would return, she says, they might be able to bridge that gap. She gives Milo a package of sounds to remember her by, tells him which way to go to get to Digitopolis, and bids him good luck with his quest. Milo, Tock, and the Humbug pile back in the car and soon find themselves driving along the Sea of Knowledge. While they're going along, each of them makes a claim that isn't based on fact. As soon as they do, they vanish and reappear on an island, where they meet a man who says he doesn't know his own identity. The three want him to tell them where they all are, but he wants them to tell him who he is. He makes a long list of the things he "can be," so the other three decide his name is "Canby." In turn, Canby says that this island is called Conclusions and they have all "jumped" there. Canby says that it's much easier to jump to conclusions than to jump away. To leave the island, they have to swim back to land. On the other side of the shore, Milo and Tock are soaked through with the waters of Knowledge while the Humbug, who thinks he already knows everything, is bone dry. Milo comments that he has learned a lesson about jumping to conclusions, and the three travelers are soon on their way again.
Chapter Guide[]
< The Silent Valley (Chapter 12) | The Dodecahedron Leads the Way (Chapter 14)>