Chapter 21

Summary

• It's September 1939, and Bridie, the guardian of children Harry, Hazel, and Flora, sends them outside to explore Binsey while she works and figures out their schooling. Bridie gives them rosemary for protection.
• Hazel inquires about Bridie's work, and Harry explains that she does accounting for businesses in Oxford.
• While venturing outside, Flora trips over a milking can and falls, stepping on cow dung, which Harry points out is common in the country whereas less so in London.
• Harry promises to show them the river, which he describes as a guide to the edge of their land. However, Hazel and Flora share a secret meaning of the river to themselves.
• They take a scenic walk past thatched-roof houses and horn bush hedges, appreciating the beauty surrounding them before arriving at the river's edge, finding it pristine compared to the Thames in London.
• Upon seeing a punting boat and cows grazing across the river, Hazel and Flora feel mesmerized by the inverted world reflected in the water.
• Harry points out landmarks like Gadstow and Wolvercote and talks about the river splitting around an island with a boat house and bridge.
• They proceed to St. Margaret's Church, passing through the graveyard, and Flora reacts with curiosity rather than fear to the idea of walking on the dead.
• Flora notices what she believes to be a "door" under a tree, and Hazel agrees to explore it later, but they agree not to tell Harry about their "doors."
• Harry introduces them to a well that inspired part of the story of "Alice in Wonderland," where the Dormouse mentions living at the bottom of a treacle well.
• Flora inquires about treacle, and a discussion ensues about its meaning; Harry explains it also means healing.
• They learn about the legend of Saint Frideswide, an Oxford princess who desired to be a nun rather than marry a king and how her story intertwined with Binsey.
• They discuss saintship versus queenship and examine offerings left at the well—stones, feathers, and other small items left by those seeking healings.
• Heading to their next destination, they pass The Perch, where Lewis Carroll allegedly wrote part of Alice in Wonderland, and encounter legends of a resident ghost.
• They arrive at Binsey School, which surprises Hazel, who had not yet considered the notion of attending school in such a magical setting.
• They encounter Kelty, a girl they met earlier who is being chased by the Baldwin twins, who call her and the other children "dirty vaccies" (a derogatory term for evacuees).
• Harry defends the girls, and the twins eventually run off, leaving Kelty, who asks to come home with Hazel and Flora.
• Hazel, reminded of the story of Frideswide, tacitly invites Kelty to follow them home, and they all set off together.