The entire Library (or, army) is headed by General Kitab, who stands on a balcony on the Palace of Gup. They are organized into Chapters and Volumes which is headed by a Title Page. These are the Pages of Gup, the city’s army. Iff and Haroun walk to the Pleasure Garden where there are large numbers of dressed in rectangular garments covered in writing. The fish swallow the stories in the sea and then miracles occur in their innards “a little bit of one story joins on to an idea from another.when they spew the stories out they are not old tales but new ones.” Iff tells Haroun, “No story comes from nowhere new stories are born from old-it is the new combinations that make them new.” The pollution is especially bad in the Old Zone, a place known as the Source of Stories, near the Moon’s South Pole.Įveryone in Gup City goes to the Lagoon, “a beautiful expanse of multicolored waters.” There are gigantic buildings all around, including the P2C2E House. They look very sick because of the pollution. These fish are always in pairs with their faithful partners for life. They are “as big as sharks” with “literally dozens of mouths.” Butt tells Haroun that these are Plentimaw Fishes (named because “they have plenty of maws, i.e., mouths”). For instance, there is an outbreak of talking helicopter anecdotes.”Ī group of Angel Fish comes to the surface. “Certain popular romances have become just long lists of shopping expeditions. Mali tells Haroun that the pollution in the ocean is become very bad. Iff explains that as the stories grow longer, they also become twisted and braided. Mali, the Floating Gardener, untwists the stories in the water. It runs across the surface of the water showing no signs of sinking. Butt tells Haroun that it is “A Floating Gardener,” and the weed transforms itself into the likeness of a person right before Haroun’s eyes.

A strange looking weed comes speeding along beside their boat.

Iff finds out that all units have been ordered back to base, but he did not get the message. The Twilight Strip and the invisible Chattergy’s Wall divide the two.

In Chup, where Khattam-Shud resides, it is always the middle of the night. Iff tells him just what his father had told him: Khattam-Shud is “the Arch-Enemy of all Stories.the Prince of Silence and the Foe of Speech.” He adds that most of what is known about Khattam-Shud is “gossip and flim-flam, because it’s been generations since any of us went across the Twilight Strip into the Perpetual Night.” Because of Kahani’s rotation, a process generated by Guppee Eggheads, the Land of Gup is always in Endless Sunshine. Haroun tries to find out more about Khattam-Shud from Iff. Haroun and Iff the Water Genie speed along the Ocean of Stories on the back of Butt the Hoopoe.

Haroun sea of stories