Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Dim light appears as Khattam-Shud turns off the bulbs that were generating the darkness. Below decks, the ship is a cavern filled with machines Khattam-Shud calls “Poison Blenders” (159). He describes his process for ruining stories, and therefore, the ocean:

To ruin a happy story, you must make it sad. To ruin an action drama, you must make it move too slowly. To ruin a mystery you must make the criminal’s identity obvious even to the most stupid audience. To ruin a love story you must turn it into a tale of hate. To ruin a tragedy you must make it capable of inducing helpless laughter (159).

Khattam-Shud says that every story has an anti-story. He produces poison that cancels out stories. In his opinion, the world exists to be ruled. However, he cannot rule a story world because a world of fiction is not real. To that end, his servants are building a Plug that will stop up the Wellspring and stop new stories from entering the Ocean.

Haroun sees a tangle of roots enter the boat through a porthole. It is Mali, who escaped the Dark Web when it appeared. He went limp and disguised himself as vegetation. Khattam-Shud switches the darkness on again as Mali destroys the ship’s power generator. Haroun uses the Bite-a-Lite. He gets into a diving suit while everyone is blinded. He sees that no one on the ship has a shadow, which means they are all shadows here.

In the confusion, Haroun grabs Hoopoe’s brainbox from Khattam-Shud’s hand before putting on a diving suit and leaping into the ocean. As he descends, he eventually sees the enormous Plug that will stop the stories. Then, he sees the Source of the Stories. Glowing streams of stories rise from the hole in the ocean floor.

Haroun drinks the Wishwater from the bottle that Iff gave him. He wishes for Kahani to turn itself enough that sunlight will hit the dark ship. Eleven minutes pass and then Haroun’s wish comes true as the sun appears. Iff and Mali fall into cauldrons as everything melts, but they are safe. The Plug falls from the crane that holds it but does not block the source of stories. He reconnects Butt the Hoopoe. Haroun is relieved, but he also remembers that Khattam-Shud’s real self is still out there.

While Haroun was in the Old Zone, Princess Batcheat was a prisoner in the Citadel tower. When the Guppee army arrived, it had grown so cold that the Chupwalas were wearing black nosewarmers. When the Pages of Gup arrive, they wear red nosewarmers. Each Page also wears a golden headband that gives them enough light to see their enemies with.

Prince Bolo meets with the Chupwala’s ambassador on the battlefield of Bat-Mat-Karo. He says that if Bolo does not surrender, he will be imprisoned and taken to the Citadel, where he will watch as someone sews Batcheat’s lips shut. He begins juggling for Bolo, claiming that Khattam-Shud insisted that he entertain them. Blabbermouth realizes that it’s a trick just as the ambassador adds a bomb to the items he is juggling.

Blabbermouth grabs the bomb from the air, runs down a hill and throws it away, where it explodes harmlessly. Her helmet falls off, and Bolo sees that she is a girl. He tries to fire her from being a Page, but she quits before he can finish. Mudra asks her to work for him instead.

The Battle of Bat-Mat-Karo begins, but it is brief. The Guppees win easily because they trust each other. At the first sign of adversity, the Chupwalas backstab each other, fight their own shadows, and desert the battlefield. Their long silence has made it impossible to trust each other, because they don’t know each other well.

As the Guppees enter Chup City, they hear Batcheat singing a horrible song about Bolo. The sun rises and melts the Citadel gates. The earth begins shaking, causing the statue of Bezaban to fall from the tower, crushing Khattam-Shud.

Mudra becomes the leader of the new government. He abolishes the divisions between night and day and ends the Silence Laws. Haroun reunites with his father and his other friends. Rashid is promoted to the “Order of the Open Mouth” (192), and Iff becomes the Chief Water Genie. Workers at the Gup Service Station repair Butt the Hoopoe, removing any glitches from his circuitry.

A Guppee tells Haroun he must meet with the Walrus, who wishes to know who destroyed so much machinery.

Haroun asks Iff to come with him to visit the Walrus. Iff refuses, saying that Haroun must explain why it was necessary to destroy the machinery on the Dark Ship. Mali also declines to help him. Haroun does not understand why everyone is afraid to talk to the Walrus.

Haroun visits The Walrus and finds his friends all waiting for him, along with King Chattergy, Prince Bolo, the Speaker, General Kitab, and others. He realizes that he is not in trouble; the threatening summons was a joke.

The Walrus is the comptroller of P2C2E. He grants Haroun the right to ask for a favor. He asks for a happy ending for his city. The Walrus says they can synthesize happy endings.

Blabbermouth kisses him when he leaves. He wakes in his bed. Rashid is there. The events only took one night. There is an envelope by his pillow: it is from Blabbermouth, his Kahani friends, and a tiny golden bird.

At a political event, Rashid tells the story of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The crowd recognizes that Mr. Buttoo is analogous to Khattam-Shud, and they boo him off the stage.

Back at the sad city, nothing has changed when Haroun returns, but the people are happy. The Walrus gave Haroun his wish. However, Haroun is dissatisfied with the ending, because he knows it is not real. The Walrus synthesized the people’s happiness and let it soak into them by mixing it into the rain. When his mother returns, Haroun makes his peace with how the story is ending. His family has been restored to him, and Rashid can go on telling his stories. A policeman tells Haroun that the city has remembered its name: Kahani, which means “story.” In the morning, it is Haroun’s birthday. He notices that his clock is moving again.