The
Hollow Kingdom Trilogy
By Clare
B. Dunkle. New
York: Henry
Holt, 2003-5.
3 v.
This is a treasure hunt in 12 questions to celebrate
the release of The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy in an inexpensive
paperback edition. The prize is the chance to read two new
Hollow Kingdom short stories. To participate, you will need
all three copies of the trilogy books in front of you, but
they can be either hardcover or paperback because the page
numbers are the same in both sets.
This is the “safe”
version of this treasure hunt. It operates as a simple quiz.
In order to get to the hidden stories, you will have to solve
every clue. Follow the directions in the popup boxes to see
whether you should advance to the next clue. Or, if popups
won’t work on your browser, keep clicking the Total
My Treasure button at the bottom of the page to study your
score. When it reaches 120, the page containing the hidden
stories will launch.
Dear Danish readers: this
treasure hunt only works with the English books. If you would
like to read the stories hidden here, but you have only the
Danish books with you, send me an email at clare at claredunkle.com
and tell me the Danish name for Charm (the golden snake, the
King’s Wife Charm) and the Danish name for Catspaw,
Kate and Marak’s son. I’ll send you back a link
to the hidden stories.
Treasure
means different things to different people. Right before Marak
passes out under the sorcerer’s control, he names what
matters most to him: “My wife and son.” On what
page does he do this?
When the sorcerer’s
control breaks, Marak shouts this phrase again. On what page
does he do this?
In Book III,
Marak’s wife and son come to say good-bye to him. This
means that his treasure is the last thing he sees before he
dies. On what page does he close his eyes for the last time?
On that same
page, one of the most treasured enchantments of the goblins
turns back into a golden sword. On what page do we first see
Charm turn from golden sword into snake?
Gold doesn’t
matter to elves. They don’t usually like metal. But
Sable’s impoverished band has one item that the women
consider treasure: a fragment of looking glass. On what page
do we see Sable looking into this triangle of glass for the
first time?
Thorn throws
it away after this incident, and the elves don’t have
another mirror until Thorn brings home a new one. He uses
it to insult Sable by showing her how she looks. On what page
does he do this?
Sable is horrified
by the sight of herself in the mirror. Nir, the handsome elf
lord, wouldn’t be shocked by his face in the mirror.
But he’s learned from his parents’ unhappy marriage
that looks don’t count for much, so he tells the new
King’s Wife that he’d rather see her face than
his. On what page does he do this?
Miranda’s
treasure has been a promise from Marak, her magical guardian.
When she finds out that she won’t receive it, she accidentally
destroys an enchanted gift that Marak gave her in childhood.
On what page does she watch the blue butterfly flutter to
the ground?
Belinda, the
last elf King’s wife, also had a treasure given to her
by a loved one: the locket with her lover’s picture
in it. Even though she had amnesia, she knew that the man
in the picture was her true treasure, and when she realized
he was gone forever, she killed herself. On what page of Book
II do we learn of her last sight of him?
At Nir’s
magical touch, Kate realizes that she, too, has lost the person
who was her treasure. Even though she saw Marak die, she didn’t
fully comprehend his loss, but when Nir awakens her elf nature
in the truce circle, she understands at last that she will
never see Marak again. Her reaction almost causes a diplomatic
crisis. On what page does this take place?
The greatest
treasures within the trilogy are not mirrors or jewelry, or
even beloved people. They are books: the chronicles that record
for later generations the triumphs and struggles of the past.
Marak studies two sets of these chronicles in Book I, and
he and Kate read each other stories from them. In Book II,
Sable and Ruby bring back to the kingdom two priceless books
that tell about lost chapters in their races’ history.
In Book III, Marak Catspaw sends his rival Nir a special kind
of treasure: an empty book in which to record the elves’
new Kings’ Chronicles. On what page does he
do this?
Inspired by her
friendship with other King’s Wives, Kate decides to
write a chronicle of her own: for the first time in the history
of the races, a King’s Wife will tell her own story.
The chronicle that Kate writes is, of course, The Hollow
Kingdom. On what page does she send Miranda news of this?
Copyright
2007 by Clare B. Dunkle. Permission is given to print this
page for educational or private use, provided the author is
acknowledged on the printed copy. It is forbidden to copy,
distribute, or use this text in electronic form. This text
may not be emailed or used on another webpage.
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