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Chiaroscuro “Roscuro”
Miggery Sow is a young girl who eventually becomes a castle servant and helps Roscuro carry out his plan to exact revenge on the Princess Pea. She’s not very intelligent, and for most of the novel, nobody cares what Mig wants. When Mig is a young child, her mother dies and her father (who named her after his favorite sow) sells her to a man for a tablecloth, a hen, and some cigarettes. The man who purchases Mig makes him call her Uncle; he regularly hits her ears. This causes Mig to become deaf. Things begin to look up for Mig when, on her seventh birthday, she witnesses the royal family riding near Uncle’s house and begins to hope that she could one day become a princess, like the Pea. Her hope and her admiration for the princess sustain her for the next five years, until a soldier arrives to confiscate Uncle’s soup-making supplies and Mig as well (slavery is illegal in the Kingdom of Dor). Mig is brought to the castle to work as a paid servant. When Mig is sent to take Gregory the jailer his meal in the dungeon, Mig sings a song about wanting to be the Princess Pea—something that piques the rat Roscuro’s interest. Roscuro decides to manipulate Mig to bring the Pea to the dungeon. Mig is led to believe that she and the princess will then switch places, so Mig is distraught when Roscuro reveals that he won’t let either girl leave the dungeon. But when the Pea asks Mig what she really wants, Mig shouts that she wants her mother. This leads Mig and the Pea to form an alliance against Roscuro. Once they leave the dungeon, Roscuro, seeking forgiveness, reunites Mig with her father, who was imprisoned in the dungeon. Mig’s father treats her like a princess for the rest of her life to atone for selling her.
Miggery Sow “Mig” Quotes in The Tale of Despereaux
The The Tale of Despereaux quotes below are all either spoken by Miggery Sow “Mig” or refer to Miggery Sow “Mig”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 26
Quotes
Looking at the royal family had awakened some deep and slumbering need in her; it was if a small candle had been lit in her interior, sparked to life by the brilliance of the king and the queen and the princess.
For the first time in her life, reader, Mig hoped.
And hope is like love…a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.
Mig tried to name this strange emotion; she put a hand up to touch one of her aching ears, and she realized that the feeling she was experiencing, the hope blooming inside of her, felt exactly the opposite of a good clout.
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Chapter 32
Quotes
“Most foolish,” muttered Gregory as he lifted the cover off the plate, “too foolish to be borne, a world without soup.”
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Chapter 36
Quotes
And while the mouse slept, Roscuro put his terrible plan into effect. Would you like to hear, reader, how it all unfolded? The story is not a pretty one. There is violence in it. And cruelty. But stories that are not pretty have a certain value too, I suppose. Everything, as you well know (having lived in this world long enough to have figured out a thing or two for yourself), cannot always be sweetness and light.
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Chapter 38
Quotes
And what of the light in the princess’s heart? Reader, I am pleased to tell you that the Pea was a kind person, and perhaps more important, she was empathetic. Do you know what it means to be empathetic?
I will tell you: it means that when you are being forcibly taken to a dungeon, when you have a large knife pointed at your back, when you are trying to be brave, you are able, still, to think for a moment of the person who is holding that knife.
You are able to think: “Oh, poor Mig, she wants to be a princess so badly and she thinks that this is the way. Poor, poor Mig. What must it be like to want something that desperately?”
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Chapter 49
Quotes
“What do you want, Miggery Sow?!” the princess shouted.
“Don’t ask her that,” said Roscuro. “Shut up. Shut up.”
But it was too late. The words had been said; the question, at last, had been asked. The world stopped spinning and all of creation held its breath, waiting to hear what it was that Miggery Sow wanted.
“I want…,” said Mig.
“Yes?” shouted the Pea.
“I want my ma!” cried Mig, into the silent, waiting world. “I want my ma!”
“Oh,” said the princess. She held out her hand to Mig.
Mig took hold of it.
“I want my mother, too,” said the princess softly. And she squeezed Mig’s hand.
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Miggery Sow “Mig” Quotes in The Tale of Despereaux
The The Tale of Despereaux quotes below are all either spoken by Miggery Sow “Mig” or refer to Miggery Sow “Mig”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 26
Quotes
Looking at the royal family had awakened some deep and slumbering need in her; it was if a small candle had been lit in her interior, sparked to life by the brilliance of the king and the queen and the princess.
For the first time in her life, reader, Mig hoped.
And hope is like love…a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.
Mig tried to name this strange emotion; she put a hand up to touch one of her aching ears, and she realized that the feeling she was experiencing, the hope blooming inside of her, felt exactly the opposite of a good clout.
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Chapter 32
Quotes
“Most foolish,” muttered Gregory as he lifted the cover off the plate, “too foolish to be borne, a world without soup.”
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Chapter 36
Quotes
And while the mouse slept, Roscuro put his terrible plan into effect. Would you like to hear, reader, how it all unfolded? The story is not a pretty one. There is violence in it. And cruelty. But stories that are not pretty have a certain value too, I suppose. Everything, as you well know (having lived in this world long enough to have figured out a thing or two for yourself), cannot always be sweetness and light.
Related Characters:
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Chapter 38
Quotes
And what of the light in the princess’s heart? Reader, I am pleased to tell you that the Pea was a kind person, and perhaps more important, she was empathetic. Do you know what it means to be empathetic?
I will tell you: it means that when you are being forcibly taken to a dungeon, when you have a large knife pointed at your back, when you are trying to be brave, you are able, still, to think for a moment of the person who is holding that knife.
You are able to think: “Oh, poor Mig, she wants to be a princess so badly and she thinks that this is the way. Poor, poor Mig. What must it be like to want something that desperately?”
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 49
Quotes
“What do you want, Miggery Sow?!” the princess shouted.
“Don’t ask her that,” said Roscuro. “Shut up. Shut up.”
But it was too late. The words had been said; the question, at last, had been asked. The world stopped spinning and all of creation held its breath, waiting to hear what it was that Miggery Sow wanted.
“I want…,” said Mig.
“Yes?” shouted the Pea.
“I want my ma!” cried Mig, into the silent, waiting world. “I want my ma!”
“Oh,” said the princess. She held out her hand to Mig.
Mig took hold of it.
“I want my mother, too,” said the princess softly. And she squeezed Mig’s hand.
