The Wild Wastelands of the North
- Jill, Scrubb, and Puddleglum cross the Shribble River into the giants' country and find themselves in a wild, rocky land.
- Jill begins to see rocky shapes that look a lot like giants themselves and she remarks on it—until they begin to move and she realizes that they really are giants.
- The giants begin to hurl rocks at a cairn (a big pile of stones that acts as a grave marker) and nearly squash the travelers.
- But the giants are quite stupid and pay no attention to them. Rather, they start beating on each other, so Puddleglum and crew pass without any problems.
- After ten or so days of traveling, they come to a great river. Scrubb spots a huge and crumbling bridge that they can take, but Puddleglum feels cautious; it might be enchanted or something.
- But Scrubb and Jill are tired of Puddleglum's skepticism and ignore his warnings. They need a short cut at this point, because they are just plain tired of walking.
- Jill decides that the bridge must have been built by the giants themselves, and therefore must lead to the giants' city, exactly where they want to go.
- As they cross the ruined bridge, they encounter two very strange people: One is a very beautiful lady in a green dress (say what?), and the other is a silent knight in black armor without markings.
- Puddleglum is on the alert and refuses to tell the charming lady who they are or where they are going. The children think he is being rude.
- Still, the lady tells them about Harfang, the castle of the gentle giants, where they can go for shelter and food.
- She tells them to salute the King and Queen of Harfang by her (the Lady of the Green Kirtle) and to say that she's sent them "two fair Southern children for the Autumn Feast" (6.89). Hmm… kids sent for a feast sounds a little iffy to us.
- The children, however, are really excited about having good food and a warm place to sleep, so they become unpleasant with Puddleglum, who thinks something is wrong about the whole scheme.
- Puddleglum agrees to go to Harfang, but makes the children promise not to tell anyone about their quest to find Rilian.