Enter the Pea
- Because his siblings decide that it's a hopeless cause to try and mold Despereaux into a proper, normal mouse, they leave him alone.
- From then on, Despereaux spends his days wandering through the castle, staring at the stained glass windows, and reading the story of the knight and princess.
- He even figures out the source of the wonderful sound that he sometimes hears—it's music. The sound is King Phillip playing the guitar and singing to his daughter, Princess Pea, before she goes to bed.
- Although Despereaux usually is careful about never being seen—which is the number one rule of being a mouse—he's lured out by the music.
- The princess spots him and points him out to her father. King Phillip says that it must be a bug, because Despereaux's so tiny. The princess says that he's obviously a mouse.
- As they're arguing, Despereaux starts to realize that he's made an awful mistake. He starts shaking and trembling and sneezing, and the princess realizes that he's terrified.
- She tells her father to play the mouse a song in order to calm him down, and the king agrees. When he starts singing and playing the guitar again, Despereaux is so enchanted that he comes even closer until he's sitting at the king's foot.