The Wee Free Men Chapter 10 Summary

Master Stroke

  • Tiffany finds herself in a scene from her fairy tale book. She asks a random man (all the people here look strange) if he knows where the Queen is.
  • The air is hot, but when she talks to the toad he says that it's freezing. That's apparently because toads don't dream, and Tiffany's definitely in a dream.
  • Roland is in the dream too and they talk about how long he's been here. He thinks he's only been there for a day or two, but Tiffany reveals to him that it's been about a year and he's very upset.
  • The Queen stole Roland and wanted him to dance and play, but he was a little too old for that at the age of twelve.
  • Roland also says that there's a man here who went back to his own world once, found it completely different, and then returned to Fairyland.
  • Tiffany learns that the dreams belong to people who enter the world. For example, the first dream she was in was hers, and the dream of the ballroom was Roland's. The one they're in now is from the fairy tale book.
  • Tiffany sets off to find Wentworth by herself because Roland doesn't want to come along and make the Queen angry. Pretty soon, she hears the shrill call of, "Wanna wanna wanna sweetie!"
  • She finds Wentworth sitting on a stone surrounded by a bunch of sweets. He's overwhelmed by how many there are though, and doesn't know which one he should eat first.
  • Tiffany picks up her brother and tells him that they're going to go home—and at that moment, she hears the Queen's voice behind her.
  • When she finally sees the Queen, she's a tall beautiful woman, but there's something slightly off about her appearance—like it's not actually real.
  • The Queen tries to manipulate Tiffany into believing that she is a good person, but Tiffany tries to stop listening.
  • Tiffany remembers an old lady who lived in their village and kidnapped someone's baby—she had no kids of her own, but made a bunch of baby clothes and stole a baby from someone else.
  • The Baron was going to punish her, but when Tiffany's grandma came into the courtroom, he said they'd do it a different way and that everyone would have to pay a little more attention and be kinder to Miss Robinson.
  • Tiffany tells the Queen that no one will speak for her because she hasn't been kind or good to anyone—so she doesn't have anyone who loves her. The Queen slaps Tiffany when she says this.
  • Tiffany continues to taunt the Queen while she reaches for the frying pan.
  • As the Queen moves toward her in anger, Tiffany smacks her with the frying pan, grabs Wentworth, and books it; Roland grabs her hand from out of nowhere, and they all keep running together.
  • They're still stuck in the dream though, so when they run, they just end up right back where they were—in front of the Queen. Bummer.
  • Then Tiffany hears something rather comforting—the sound of little Nac Mac Feegle voices.