The Ogress and the Orphans

That night, the townspeople confront the Ogress, yelling about how dangerous she is and how they don’t want her there. One man throws a rock at her, and the crows chase the mob away. The crows want to go after the townspeople, but the Ogress begs them not to be violent. The townspeople are not bad; they have just lost sight of themselves, and she vows to “show them what their best selves can look like” (283).

That night, the Ogress leaves more gifts than usual. The following morning, the townspeople are so grateful that they admire their gifts outside and notice that others have also received presents. Meanwhile, Anthea, Bartleby, and Myron hear drunken townspeople bragging about attacking the Ogress. Anthea insists they need to help the Ogress, but Myron forbids it. He worries about what would happen if those people turned their anger on the Orphan House, arguing that “all we can do is lock the gates and keep ourselves safe” (288).

That night, the butcher rallies a mob to go to the Ogress’s house, where they throw rocks through the windows and rip up the plants until the crows chase them away.