Midnight Robber

In the main narrative, Benta realizes that Tan-Tan’s urine is toxic to the food grubs that live in the outhouse and agrees to take her to the ground. Tan-Tan apologizes for the trouble, and Benta says they knew “trouble” is what they’d get for “picking [her] up” (212). Her first night in the daddy tree is filled with nightmares.

After Benta takes Tan-Tan to the forest floor the next day, the family scavenges for breakfast. Frustrated with the raw diet of the douens, Tan-Tan decides to climb down to the forest floor again by herself, and some community members gawk at her. When she flusters them with Robber Queen banter, they leave her alone.

On the forest floor, she examines the plants and gets bit by a “ground puppy” (217)—a 12-legged, yellow-haired animal. She finds some of the halwa fruit Chichibud introduced her to and some foreign mushrooms. After a moment of disorientation, she finds the daddy tree trunk, but is stopped by Kret, whom she initially mistakes for Chichibud. He complains about her noisemaking and food-roasting but eventually allows her to pass and climb the tree to Chichibud’s home.