Haroun and the Sea of Stories

The two men take Haroun and Rashid to the bus depot, where there are too many waiting passengers and not enough buses. He meets a large man with hair that reminds Haroun of feathers. The man’s name is Butt, and he is the driver of the mail coach to the Valley of K. Haroun gets them a seat on the mail coach, and they ascend into the Mountains of M. Mr. Butt points out the sites of various bus accidents. He hurries because he wants Haroun to see the sunset from the top of the Valley of K.

As they ride, Rashid tells Haroun about an evil being named Khattam-Shud, who is the “Arch-Enemy of all stories, even of Language itself” (39). His name literally means “The End.”

They reach a town called Kosh-Mar. Kosh-Mar was the former name of the Valley of K. Rashid says that in an older language, Kosh-Mar meant “nightmare.” When they disembark at the bus station, they meet a man who introduces himself as Mr. Buttoo. Along with 101 soldiers, Mr. Buttoo walks with them to the shore of what he calls The Dull Lake, where they board a boat shaped like a swan. Mr. Buttoo flatters Rashid, but Haroun can tell that he is patronizing and insulting his father, even if Rashid doesn’t notice. Haroun believes he sees odd currents in the water, crisscrossing each other in unpredictable patterns. Then a dark mist appears, and Haroun can’t see anything.

Haroun smells what he believes is unhappiness in the air. He calls the mist a “Mist of Misery” (47). As the water grows turbulent, Haroun realizes that they are in what Rashid has always called the Moody Land. The Moody Land is one of Rashid’s favorite stories. In the Moody Land, the water and earth react to the peoples’ moods. Mists and earthquakes were often the result of people’s agitation. However, when Haroun asks his father if they are in the Moody Land, Rashid sadly tells him that it was only a story.

A hot wind blows over them, and the smell worsens. Haroun shouts for silence. Once everyone is quiet, the water and wind grow calm, but the smell remains. Rashid is impressed with Haroun’s cleverness at realizing that the shouting and anxiety of the oarsmen had been causing the wind and the turbulence.

They arrive at a houseboat called Arabian Nights Plus One. The boat’s windows are shaped like famous, mythical animals from stories like Sinbad the Sailor. There is a library on board, which contains a collection of stories that Mr. Buttoo calls “The Ocean of the Streams of Story” (51).

Later, Haroun can’t sleep as his father paces in an adjoining room. They exchange rooms to see if a change will help Rashid calm down. After the switch, Haroun falls asleep. Moments later, a Water Genie named Iff enters his room. Iff drops a wrench that he is carrying, and Haroun picks it up. Iff explains that it is not a wrench, but a tool called The Disconnector. Haroun examines the tool and sees that it is filled with beautiful liquids.

Iff tells Haroun that The Disconnector is what Rashid used to subscribe to services of the “Great Story Sea” (57). He says Rashid has canceled his subscription by means of P2C2E, or A Process Too Difficult to Explain.” If Haroun wants to challenge the cancellation, he must take it to the comptroller or write a letter to a man whom Iff calls The Walrus. He says without the water, Rashid will still be able to tell stories, but not as a specialist. His stories will be ordinary. Haroun asks Iff to take him to Gup City so that he can speak with the walrus.

Without explaining why, Iff asks Haroun to pick a bird. Iff opens his hand and shows Haroun the tiny birds walking on his palm, along with other mythical creatures. Haroun chooses a bird called the Hoopoe. Iff says the Hoopoe, in stories, leads other birds to their goal. He throws the small bird out the window, where it quickly grows large enough for Haroun and Iff to ride it.

As the Hoopoe flies them high into the sky, Haroun realizes that it is a machine. When it speaks to Haroun, the Hoopoe has the same voice as Mr. Butt from the mail coach. It asks Haroun to call him Butt.

They reach the north of Kahani. Butt says that Kahani is one of earth’s two moons. Kahani has never been detected by scientists because it moves too fast for their instruments to track.

They descend to the surface of the Ocean of the Streams of Story. They are in the Deep North of Kahani, with no land in sight. Butt says they must look for Wishwater, which will provide a shortcut. Iff gives Haroun a bottle and tells him to fill it from a bright pool of water. He says that if Haroun drinks it, it will fix his problems. Haroun drinks the Wishwater and feels it glow inside him. He imagines his parents’ faces. He wishes for his mother’s return and his father’s happiness, but after 11 minutes, his concentration ends, and he can’t keep his parents in his mind.

Iff tells Haroun about the Ocean of the Streams of Story, which has 1,001 different currents. He describes it as “the biggest library in the universe” (72), containing all stories. Haroun fills a cup and drinks what he believes will be a story.

He is suddenly standing on a chessboard. Every square contains a monster. He realizes that he is looking through the eyes of a hero in what he thinks of as a Princess Rescue Story. He sees a princess in a tower, but as he goes to help her, he begins changing into a spider. The princess saws through one of his limbs as he climbs, causing him to fall.

Haroun regains consciousness in the boat and tells Iff the story. The Water Genie says that the Ocean is being polluted with filth. He believes that the story is an omen of war with the land of Chup and the “Dark Side of Kahani” (75) and its ruler, Khattam-Shud, is the “Cultmaster of Bezaban” (75).