the continuing saga of despereaux tilling

[pianonut]

for those of you who are new to the story, this is a tale about a mouse.  a mouse who has fallen in love with a human princess.  princess pea.  she tells him, among other things, that his ears are like little pieces of velvet.  he is so enamored by her that he leaves his mouse community and just as he is about to elope with her, is snatched by the evil rat roscuro.

just so i don't get into copyright infringement, you have to buy the book written by kate dicamillo to hear the whole story.  here's a continuing excerpt for skeptotamus.

"i will be brave," thought despereaux.  "i will try to be brave like a knight in shining armor.  I will be brave for the princess pea."  .... despereaux's small, overworked heart stopped beating.  and for the second time that day, the mouse fainted.  meanwhile in the next chapter "i think, " said roscuro, "that the meaning of life is light."  "light," said botticelli (another rat), hhahaha , you kill me.  "the meaning of life," said boticelli,"is sufferring, specifically the sufferring of others.  prisoners for instance.  reducing a prisoner to weeping and wailing and begging is a delightful way to invest your existence with meaning."

roscuro then says to boticelli "i would like very much to torture a prisoner," ..."i would like to make someone suffer."  "your time will come," said botticelli.  "currently all the prisoners are spoken for. but, another prisoner will arrive sooner or later".....so roscuro ends with "so, soon there will be a prisoner for me?"

next chapter:  "excellent," whispered botticelli (when desperaux arrives), "this one is yours."