The Ear, the Eye, the Arm Chapter 8 Summary

  • The She Elephant leads them down a tunnel with loads of twists and turns.
  • It occurs to Tendai that she might not be as bad as he initially thought. She's not going to win any citizenship prizes or anything, but she's fed them and hasn't been mean to them so far.
  • Kuda gets scared, especially when Rita tells him that they'll never see their parents again.
  • Tendai scolds Rita for scaring her brother, saying he's little and doesn't understand what's happening.
  • To get Kuda to stop crying, Tendai explains that they are playing a game. They have to dig stuff out of the ground, just like a treasure hunt. It's all part of being a Scout.
  • Rita plays along so Tendai doesn't get annoyed at her again.
  • They have to fill up a cart with "treasures" and then the She Elephant will feed them. Sounds simple enough.
  • At first Tendai worries about disturbing the ancestors down there, but he needs to eat, so he gets over it.
  • Yum. The food is surprisingly delicious. Maybe it's because they are working so hard, but Tendai can't remember having a better meal in his life.
  • He thinks back on his life before he was kidnapped and it wasn't nearly as exciting. In fact, he can't remember many of the details of what he'd do all day.