The Charwoman’s Shadow · Chapters

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Chapter companions for The Charwoman’s Shadow by Lord Dunsany.

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Chapter 1
I: The Lord of the Tower Finds a Career for His Son
Ramon Alonzo is called by his father, the Lord of the Tower, who explains the family's need for gold to fund his sister Mirandola's dowry. The father reveals that the rocky soil yields little wealth and suggests Ramon pursue magic, the Black Art, as a career. He recounts how his own father once met a magician in the mountains and obtained a scroll of friendship. Ramon is to take this scroll and seek out the magician. Despite his hesitation about telling Father Joseph, Ramon agrees and plans to leave the next morning. He bids farewell to Mirandola in the garden, and the chapter ends with him traveling alone at dusk toward the mountains.
Chapter 2
II: Ramon Alonzo Comes to the House in the Wood
Ramon Alonzo, traveling alone through a dark and stormy wood, seeks the house of a magician. A terrified stranger warns him away, but Ramon presses on. Using a scroll written by the magician as a spell, he conjures the house into view. The magician welcomes him, recalling a debt to Ramon's grandfather for teaching him boar hunting. The magician speaks of the Art, his elixir vitae, and the pursuit of wisdom, while Ramon expresses his desire to learn alchemy to restore his family's fortune.
Chapter 3
III: The Charwoman Tells of Her Loss
Ramon Alonzo is led by the Master of the Art to a decaying bedroom in the magician's house. After the Master leaves, an ancient crone—the charwoman—visits Ramon and warns him not to give the Master anything, as his prices are too high. She reveals that she has no shadow, having traded it to the Master for a form of immortality. She laments the loss of her shadow and the social ostracism she endures as a result, and Ramon is moved by her sorrow.
Chapter 4
IV: Ramon Alonzo Learns a Mystery Known to the Reader
Ramon Alonzo, having been warned by the charwoman about the price of shadows, resolves never to part with his own. He meets the magician, who offers to teach him the transmutation of metals in exchange for his shadow. Ramon refuses, and instead bargains to learn the mystery of reading for half his eyesight, hoping to discover the secret of gold-making on his own.
Chapter 5
V: Ramon Alonzo Learns of the Box
Ramon Alonzo learns the alphabet from the Master, explores the dark house, and meets the charwoman Dockweed, who reveals that her shadow is locked in a box in the magician's room. Despite her warnings about the price of learning, Ramon becomes determined to find and open the box to return her shadow. He continues his studies, reading single and then multi-syllable words, while learning about imps and Hindu chants. A letter from his father arrives via Peter.

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I: The Lord of the Tower Finds a Career for His Son

II: Ramon Alonzo Comes to the House in the Wood

III: The Charwoman Tells of Her Loss

IV: Ramon Alonzo Learns a Mystery Known to the Reader

V: Ramon Alonzo Learns of the Box