Faintly Macabre's Story is the sixth chapter of The Phantom Tollbooth.
Characters[]
Plot[]
Faintly explains what happened to Rhyme and Reason. She starts out by giving the backstory, which involves a prince setting out on an exploration. He arrived in a complete wasteland and eventually conquered all the bad things living there. When he was done, he created a city called Wisdom. At first, Wisdom was just a tiny part of the remaining wasteland. The prince, now a king, used Wisdom as a base and gradually won more and more territory. Eventually, he had two sons named Azaz and the Mathemagician, who went out in the wilderness to start their own cities, one founding Dictionopolis (a kingdom for words) and the other establishing Digitopolis (a kingdom for numbers). The two brothers each thought that their city was the best and they quickly became rivals. While this was going on, the king discovered two abandoned baby girls. He adopted them into the royal family and named them Rhyme and Reason. When the king died, he left instructions that the Kingdom of Wisdom was to be divided equally between his two sons, who would also have the responsibility of caring for Rhyme and Reason. Over the years, Azaz and the Mathemagician came to rely upon the princesses' wise judgment as the brothers grew more and more competitive and distrustful. Things reached a boiling point when they began arguing about whether numbers or letters were more important. The two rulers brought their quarrel to the princesses, who, after careful consideration, declared that numbers and words were equally important. At last, Azaz and the Mathemagician were able to agree upon something: they were infuriated by the princesses' answer. In an act of rage, they banished Rhyme and Reason from the Kingdom and imprisoned them in the Castle in the Air. Faintly's story ends there. The two sisters are still gone, and so all the realms suffer. Milo still wants to save the day but has to remain in prison for six million years. But Faintly tells him that he and Tock can go any time. Officer Shrift won't be back to check on them, and he didn't lock the door. She shows Milo and Tock the way out, and as they are leaving the prison, they run right into the king's five advisors, who say they're late for the banquet. The advisors take Milo and Tock for a ride in their "wagon". This little contraption moves when people are silent because it "goes without saying".
Chapter Guide[]
< Short Shrift (Chapter 5) | The Royal Banquet (Chapter 7)>