The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Coriolanus is the only person on the train platform; he’s been waiting for hours for Lucy Gray Baird to arrive. He has a rose to offer her, which was Tigris’s idea. As he waits, Coriolanus wonders how his family will deal with the tax and remembers his conversation with Tigris last night. The cousins decided Coriolanus must win Lucy Gray over by making her feel valuable, hence the rose. Coriolanus sweats in the sun and decides that Lucy Gray is intimidating—she dropped a snake down a girl’s dress. She might even try to kill him. But Coriolanus has to try to get her to cooperate. Yesterday, he learned that each mentor-tribute team will have a five-minute interview slot. Lucy Gray has to stand out.

After another hour, the train finally appears in the tunnel. The sound of its horn stirs up memories in Coriolanus: his father, Crassus Snow, was a military commander and required his family to meet him at the train station—until rebels killed him. Coriolanus was always terrified of his father, and he still feels afraid standing on the train platform. Finally, the train pulls up and stops. The cars aren’t passenger cars—they’re cargo cars. To Coriolanus’s surprise, there are people inside. After about a half-hour, Peacekeepers saunter over, open the first car’s door, and shout for everyone inside to move. Barefoot children, clad in rags and burlap, appear in the door, hacking and coughing. The Peacekeepers roughly yank them down.

Coriolanus is used to seeing the tributes on TV, but the stench of the dirty livestock cars is unexpected. He’s repulsed. The Peacekeeper moves to the second car and first Jessup, then Lucy Gray Baird, climb out. As the Peacekeepers shout at the other tributes in the car, Coriolanus approaches Lucy Gray, welcomes her to the Capitol, and offers her the rose. She takes a petal and puts it in her mouth, explaining that as a kid, she bathed in rose petals and buttermilk. Coriolanus introduces himself as her mentor and admits he probably shouldn’t be on the platform. Lucy Gray calls him a “rebel,” and Coriolanus doesn’t know what to think—this is an insult in the Capitol, but she seems to mean it as a compliment.

Coriolanus says his job is to take care of Lucy Gray as the Peacekeepers toss two small children onto the platform, breaking the girl’s tooth. Lucy Gray saunters away, wishing Coriolanus luck. Sensing that he’s losing his chance, Coriolanus asks the Peacekeeper if he can accompany the tributes to their lodgings. The drunk Peacekeeper assents. Seeing Lucy Gray watching him, Coriolanus takes a deep breath and climbs into the truck, which is a cage on wheels. As the truck moves off, Coriolanus realizes he's made a mistake: the tributes are grubby and smelly, and they seem ready to attack.

The boy from District 11 taunts Coriolanus and tries to strangle him, but Coriolanus knees the boy in the crotch. The boy then asks the other tributes to help him kill Coriolanus—but Lucy Gray asks them not to, since Coriolanus is her mentor. Coriolanus explains that each tribute will get a mentor as the truck pulls up to a dead end. He’s not sure where they are—but then, the truck backs into a dimly lit building. The cage tips, dropping Coriolanus and the tributes 20 feet down into what turns out to be the monkey house at the zoo. Capitol children on the other side of the bars gawk at Coriolanus and the tributes.