Study Guide

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Volume 4, Chapter 2, Part 5

Volume 4, Chapter 2, Part 5

One winter day Elphaba finds a weird old book that's all purple, green, and silver.
She thinks it's a "Grimmerie," which is apparently a book of magic spells.
But Elphaba has trouble reading it, since the words keep moving around the page. At least the "magical" part of the book's description wasn't false advertising.
Sarima then tells the story of how she came to own this book.
One day a weird old guy stopped by her castle (this sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale).
Weird old guy made a sales pitch for the Grimmerie:

"He said that it was a book of knowledge, and that it belonged in another world, but it wasn't safe there. So he had brought it here – where it could be hidden out of harm's way." (5.2.5.15)
So Sarima said fine and agreed to keep the book. She didn't read, so the book ended up in a closet.
Elphaba thinks the "other world" story is garbage.
Sarima believed the old guy though. She says Elphie can look at the book all she wants.

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