Household Tales · Chapter
Knoist and His Three Sons explained
A man named Knoist has three sons—one blind, one lame, and one stark-naked.
What happens
A man named Knoist has three sons—one blind, one lame, and one stark-naked. They go into a field, see a hare, and each contributes to catching it. They then cross a lake in a bottomless boat, enter a forest with a tree containing a chapel, and encounter a beechwood sexton and a boxwood parson who dispense holy-water with cudgels. The chapter ends with a line about the happiness of escaping holy water.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the sisters, driven by envy of the Queen’s beauty and their o…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingCharacters to notice
- Unknown
Knoist and his three sons are not in the canonical character list; 'unknown' is used as a placeholder.
Key passages
“The blind one shot it, the lame one caught it, the naked one put it in his pocket.”
Despite their disabilities, each son successfully performs a part of the task.
Highlights the absurd cooperation among the three sons.
“They all three got into the one with no bottom to it.”
They boarded the boat that lacked a bottom.
Emphasizes the illogical and humorous nature of the story.
