Chapter 12: The Silent Valley

Milo, Humbug, and Tock drive down the highway. Humbug is humming, Tock is being a dog, Milo is thinking that everything is pleasant. They drive through a heavy stone gateway and suddenly everything is different. It takes a few minutes for them to realize that they had entered into a valley devoid of sound. Milo tries to speak but nothing comes out, the wind isn’t rustling leaves, the Humbug is humming silently.

They come across a crowd of people silently protesting with large signs. The people are obviously silently shouting, and the signs are all in reference to the silence. They also have a large brass cannon. And placards that conveniently let them ask questions of the trio.  The protesters write out the story of why everything is silent.

The Soundkeeper was appointed by the Old King of Wisdom as a guardian of all sounds and noises. She released sounds and categorized them, everyone lived in peace, etc. Then people came in and brought new ways and new sounds, and people laughed less. The soundkeeper got upset with the new noises not being beautiful anymore and refused to allow any sound at all.

Milo is tasked with petitioning the Soundkeeper for a sound, so the protestors can break down the fortress. He accepts this sidequest, and heads to the fortress.

When Milo arrives at the fortress, he finds that the Soundkeeper is a nice lady who is lonely and covered in bells. She calls herself several times a day, and listens to silence on the radio. They have some discussions about how there are different types of silence.

Soundkeeper shows Milo around, and her collection of all the sounds ever. She has an envelope containing the tune the George Washington whistled when he crossed the Delaware in 1777.

There is a super cool area in the fortress where people like Milo can make sounds the sounds physically manifest. They hit a base drum, and giant cotton balls appear. He claps his hands, and sheets of paper fall from the ceiling.

Eventually Milo asks about releasing sounds again, Soundkeeper says no. Milo catches the word “but” on the tip of his tongue, literally, and decides to smuggle it out that way. They leave.

Thoughts:

• Ha Ha, the Humbug hums.
• Sounds, like words, are physical objects in the Lands Beyond.
• This seems to fit the themes of “not appreciating what you have.” The people in the Valley preferred the noise of DYNNE and the Soundkeeper preferred pretty noises, so the extreme was to allow no noise. Like the city of “Reality” in the past, the people didn’t use the nice sounds (or look at the nice buildings) so they got nothing.
• Nice wordplay with “On the tip of his tongue.”
• I always loved the "sound room" where noises you make come out as objects. I wish there were a place to do that.