The Buried Giant: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Although he’s exhausted, Axl has a difficult time sleeping because their bed is in an upper story and he’s never been able to sleep so high up. Axl thinks his sleeplessness might also be due to the strange sounds in the monastery, although Beatrice fell asleep quickly in spite of them. Edwin, too, is asleep, but Wistan waited until the monks retired to bed and then snuck out to explore and, even though he was warned not to, cut more wood. Although he hasn’t heard their voices in a long time, Axl believes there are dozens of monks listening to Wistan just below the window.

Earlier that day, Axl looked out at the monks and noticed “a furtive mood among them” as they whispered to one another and looked impatiently at one of the stone buildings. Another monk, Father Brian, brought up a tray of food for Axl and Beatrice while Wistan and Edwin were out exploring the monastery. While Axl and Beatrice eat, Father Brian talks about other visitors, fishing in a nearby stream, and a dog they had cared for once. All the while a group of birds inside the building flew back and forth above them until another monk came running up to scream at the birds, trying to chase them out and throwing rocks until Father Brian convinced him to leave.

Once the monk who yelled at the birds was gone, Beatrice asked Father Brian if she could meet with Father Jonus to ask his advice soon. Father Brian told her that Father Jonus was unwell and that there were orders from the abbot not to let anyone disturb him, although he promised to ask the abbot to make an exception for her as soon as he could. Beatrice spotted the abbot returning and pointed him out to Father Brian, who promised to talk to him that day if he could.

Listening to Wistan chop wood, Axl thinks back to their parting from Sir Gawain, who had attempted up until the last moment to make Wistan promise not to try to kill Querig and instead speed home immediately after bringing Axl and Beatrice to the monastery. Wistan refused to give Sir Gawain this promise. Afterward, Sir Gawain looked at Wistan “with intense hostility.”

Lying in the dark in the monastery, Axl feels sorry for the grey-haired soldier and suddenly remembers being on horseback behind a man named Harvey, whose entire posture “announced malevolence” toward a group of people heading their way. Knowing the “savagery” of his companion, Axl carefully brought his horse up next to Harvey’s, thus coming between him and the people trying to pass safely. Harvey, not realizing Axl’s real purpose, simply nodded to him. Axl had been “especially anxious” for these travelers because not long before he had seen Harvey suddenly start beating innocent villagers. Axl was angry at whoever had “handicapped him with such a companion,” but he had no choice but to press on. 

Axl also remembers talking with Beatrice, who was much younger then, about whether or not a plant they had found was rosemary or a weed that brought bad luck to maidens. Beatrice had called him off the road to ask him if he could recognize the plant, but he believed it was just a weed and teased Beatrice for thinking so much about its potential for bad luck. Axl wonders if this was the first time the two of them had talked, or if she had known him already.

Axl hears Wistan resume cutting wood and wonders why the warrior is so intent on working so late at night, especially after Father Jonus told him not to do it anymore. Axl had believed that the woodcutting was just out of courtesy, but Wistan explained to him that the view from the woodshed allowed him to keep an eye on everything going on in the monastery. Furthermore, delivering wood where it is needed gives Wistan further opportunities to explore the area.

Axl leaves Beatrice dozing in their room to talk to Wistan in the courtyard while the monks are away in a meeting. Axl asks Wistan if he’s suspicious of the monks. Wistan says that he wants nothing more than to sleep, but now that they’re in the monastery, he can’t shake the idea that it “holds dangers” for them. In explanation, Wistan tells Axl that when brought his horse to the stables, he heard the sounds of another horse behind a wall but couldn’t find access to it. He had asked another monk, but that monk said they didn’t keep any horses. Wistan says this leads him to believe that another person has arrived, and that the monks are trying to hide this fact from them. Axl points out that Father Brian mentioned an important visitor was due to arrive, and Wistan agrees that this may be the explanation but says that he sent Edwin to explore some more just in case.

Wistan tells Axl that Edwin came to him earlier to report that he had heard moans “as of a man in pain” coming from a nearby shelter, and had noticed blood, both fresh and old, by a locked chamber. Axl tells him that it may be that a monk fell down the narrow stairway, which Wistan agrees might be the case. Still, Wistan wishes he had his sword nearby and mentions that the “walls whisper to [him] of days gone by.” Axl asks what he means and Wistan explains that the building had not always been a monastery but was very likely a Saxon fort with traps to keep the inhabitants safe and trap invaders. Wistan states, “This is today a place of peace and prayer, yet you needn’t gaze so deep to find blood and terror.”

Axl shudders at Wistan’s description but realizes it’s the truth. Wistan goes on to say that, in times of war, the Saxon families would have stood in the yard to “witness the invaders squeal like trapped mice” as they were slaughtered at the gates. Axl disagrees and says they would have hidden and prayed to God because such people “would take no pleasure in bloodshed, even of the enemy.” Wistan, however, argues that they were a people “at the end of a brutal road, having seen their children and kin mutilated and ravished” and, although the fort would have been their final retreat before being overtaken, they would have cherished the sight of the invaders being killed. Still Axl disbelieves that it’s possible “to hate so deeply” for something that hadn’t happened yet and insists they would have held out hope. Once again, Wistan says that Axl is wrong and that he himself has seen “dark hatred as bottomless as the sea” in the elderly and children alike, and felt this hatred himself.

To end the argument, Axl says he’s glad that the idea will never be put to the test. Wistan looks “strangely” at Axl before apologizing for “questioning that good knight” about whether or not he recognized Axl. Axl tells him that he took “no offense” and has no doubt that Wistan made a simple mistake. Wistan tells Axl that he mistook him for a man who was “a thing of wonder” to him when he was a child and who often came to the village to talk with the elders and move amongst them, even though he was a Briton. This, however, was before Wistan was taken by soldiers and trained as a warrior by Britons. Wistan tells Axl that seeing him the first time brought back memories of this man from his childhood, but he admits he was mistaken.

Edwin comes back from his exploring and speaks to Wistan for a moment. Axl walks over to them and Wistan tells him that Edwin found something that they should go see for themselves. On the way, Wistan says he may keep and train Edwin as a warrior instead of leaving him at a village. Edwin leads them to a distant part of the monastery in which there is a cart with a cage full of chains, manacles, and an iron mask with only a small hole for the mouth. Observing it, Wistan realizes that the device is for holding a man in place while the mountain birds peck away at him. Wistan also sees that it has been used recently, an observation that sends a chill down Axl’s spine.

Axl says he wants to return to Beatrice, and Wistan agrees. As they start walking back, Edwin abruptly stops, and they notice a monk watching them silently. Wistan leads them over to the monk and asks him what the purpose of the device they just found is. The monk remains silent but leads them down narrow paths back inside the monastery, where Beatrice is waiting for them. The monk leads them to a small room and a “frail voice” welcomes them. There is a monk in the bed suffering from numerous injuries, who introduces himself as Jonus, and the silent monk as Ninian. Beatrice asks him how he got his injuries, but he changes the subject.

Jonus asks Edwin to come forward, but Wistan doesn’t let him even though Beatrice says he should let Jonus look at Edwin’s wound. Jonus asks why Wistan seems so cautious, so Wistan explains that he has seen the torture device and believes they use it as a form of penance for past iniquities and questions how their God can be bribed this way. Jonus tells Wistan that their God is merciful, to which Wistan replies that “boundless mercy” is useless since it allows people “to pursue their greed, their lust for land and blood” knowing they can receive mercy later. Jonus agrees with Wistan’s feelings and says the presence of the birds is a sign of God’s anger. Wistan becomes more understanding and asks if this means he has “friends” in the monastery, which Jonus confirms. Wistan then allows Edwin to be examined by Jonus, who says the wound will go away if kept clean.

Interested in the conversation between Jonus and Wistan, Beatrice tells Jonus about her conversation about the mist with the medicine woman. She asks Jonus if either he or Wistan knows where the mist comes from and how she and Axl “might be free of it” and get their memories back. Wistan tells her that Querig causes the mist and that the monks in the monastery protect her. Beatrice tells Axl this means that everyone’s memories will come back if either Wistan or Sir Gawain can kill the dragon. Still, there is danger that Wistan will not be able to do so if he is caught at the monastery, so both Beatrice and Jonus urge him to hurry on his way. Wistan doesn’t agree, but steps out with Edwin so Beatrice can ask Jonus about her pain.

Axl struggles to identify the emotions he felt when he and Beatrice were told the cause of the mist, but he is unable to. Jonus asks Beatrice questions about her pain and where it started, eventually telling her that she’ll be able to go to her son in safety, although Axl can’t remember how Jonus arrived at this conclusion. Jonus notes that Beatrice is happy to know about the mist. Beatrice confirms this and says it gives her and Axl a clearer idea of what they should do going forward. Jonus asks her if she’s sure it’s not better for them to have forgotten the past, but Beatrice insists they’re ready to know the whole truth.  

A bird flying across the room startles Axl and he realizes he had fallen asleep. He notices the sound of Wistan’s woodcutting has stopped. Axl thinks about Jonus’s questions about Beatrice’s pain, but realizes that the questions Beatrice is really afraid of are the boatman’s.