My Family and Other Animals: Part 3, Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

One of Gerry's favorite places is a large hill with three olive groves on it. He calls the groves the Cyclamen Woods, as cyclamen flowers grow there prolifically. One afternoon, as he rests there with Roger, Widdle, and Puke, he watches a mother magpie carry worms to a nearby olive tree. When the mother flies away, Gerry climbs up to the nest. He reaches a hand in and draws out a revolting-looking baby bird. He decides to take two. After introducing them to the dogs, he carries his new pets home.

When Gerry arrives home, the family is in no mood to help him name the new additions. Margo and Mother are curious, while Leslie, Larry, and Spiro declare that the babies are disgusting. Leslie cautions Gerry to not allow the birds to steal, which sends Larry into a tizzy. He waves a 100-dachma note over the babies and when they reach for the money, he declares that they have criminal instincts. Gerry explains that the mother would reject them if he put them back, and Mother and Margo insist they can't let them starve. Spiro distastefully asks what Gerry intends to do with the bastards and Mother slowly tells him they're magpies. He says the word "magenpies," and with that, the magpies become known as the Magenpies.

Larry seems to forget about the Magenpies' criminal instincts as the birds grow. They have the run of the villa and know which rooms are most interesting and which rooms are uninteresting to visit, like Mother and Margo's. They're fascinated by Larry's bedroom because he forbids them from entering. Because of this, Gerry believes the Magenpies decide that Larry has something to hide, and they carefully plan a raid on his room.

One afternoon, when Larry unthinkingly leaves his window open and goes for a swim, the Magenpies silently raid his room. Larry notices one on his windowsill when he returns and he grabs Gerry as he races upstairs. They open the door to find Larry's manuscript spread everywhere, the typewriter disemboweled, and the baking soda tin opened and flung around. The Magenpies topped the whole thing off by opening bottles of ink and then leaving inky bird prints over the entire room. Gerry tells Larry that the Magenpies aren't to blame; they're naturally curious birds and didn't mean any harm, but Larry angrily tells Gerry to lock the birds up.

The rest of the family appears in the doorway to survey the damage. Larry angrily yells at all of them. He's especially incensed when Mother reminds him that the birds don't understand they did anything wrong, a suggestion he sees as proof that his family will side with the animals over him any day. Gerry locks the Magenpies in his room and decides to ask Kralefsky to help him build a large cage. Gerry reasons that afterwards, Kralefsky can teach Gerry to wrestle, which is one of Kralefsky's many hidden skills.

Gerry soon discovers that Kralefsky loves telling stories that involve himself as a hero and a woman known as a Lady. When Kralefsky realizes that Gerry seems to believe his stories, they become fantastic. He first regales Gerry with a tale of rescuing a Lady from a "treacherous" bull terrier by choking the dog with its own tongue. From there, Kralefsky talks about surviving a shipwreck with a Lady, saving a Lady from bandits in the Syrian desert, and serving in the Secret Service during the First World War with, unsurprisingly, a Lady spy.

Unfortunately for Kralefsky, Gerry also tends to believe stories that seem even faintly possible. This is the case when Kralefsky tells Gerry about saving a Lady from a brute in Paris who turns out to be a champion wrestler. The wrestler challenged Kralefsky to a match, and Kralefsky proved himself a reasonable match and won. Intrigued, Gerry asks Kralefsky to teach him to wrestle, and Kralefsky reluctantly agrees to do so at some point in the future. The day he comes to help Gerry with the Magenpies' cage, Gerry reminds Kralefsky of his promise. Kralefsky is very displeased, but finally agrees to show Gerry some tricks in the secluded drawing room.

In the drawing room, Kralefsky demonstrates how to throw one's opponent off balance by gently tossing Gerry onto a sofa. He instructs Gerry to attempt to do the same to him, and Gerry enthusiastically does so. Kralefsky hits the floor with a thud and a yell that brings the rest of the family running. They all tell Gerry he was silly, though Gerry insists he just followed instructions.

As Kralefsky's eyes widen, Larry regales the room with tales of various individuals who broke their backs, many of whom died. Kralefsky asks that Spiro take him to see a doctor, and Mother agrees to fetch Theodore to take an X-ray. Later, Spiro returns with a note from Theodore explaining that Kralefsky cracked two ribs, with a postscript asking about some misplaced mosquito specimens.