Tymmon almost hates his father, Komus, a court jester whom he sees as solely a buffoon. If only his father were wealthy, Tymmon could be a knight, like his well-born friend Lothar, but there is nothing for him, and there will be nothing for him but to follow in his father’s capering footsteps. But the night when thugs break in and kidnap Tymmon’s father, he realizes that there must have been something more about Komus than he ever saw or knew. But what?
Tymmon vows to avenge his father’s possible death, like the knight he so desperately longs to and sets out to find him. Armed with nothing but his wits and a chance meeting with an animated gargoyle — who turns out to be a big ugly dog — maybe — Tymmon sings and performs and keeps his eyes open. The world isn’t quite as he expected. Maybe Komus was right to live the way he did?
The medieval world of Song of the Gargoyle, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder provides the backdrop for a coming of age story as petulant Tymmon finally becomes a young man.
