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Splendors and Glooms Chapter 22 Summary

The Rocking Chair

  • That night, Parsefall has an awfully hard time sleeping. Not only is he upset about the puppeteers throwing him out, but he also has a horrible stomachache from eating all of that food earlier.
  • He feels a little bad about taking his bad mood out on Lizzie Rose earlier. Now, she's mad at him for being mean.
  • He looks over to see that Clara—the puppet—is staring at him. Then, he finally falls asleep, and in his dream, he sees a rocking chair with Grisini in it.
  • Something about the dream is terrifying to Parsefall, and he wakes up with a start. He tries to calm himself down by reminding himself that Grisini is dead and there's no rocking chair anywhere around.
  • He picks up Clara and thinks about how trapped she must feel and how she probably wants him to help her live somehow. Even if he can't change her back into a human being, he can at least work her into the puppet show so she has something to do.
  • Parsefall whispers to the puppet that he'll finish stringing her tomorrow, and then they'll practice the ballet dance.