#schmendrick spinoff novellettes

[thelastunicornflipouts]

“Enough.” The tall man raised his hands, gesturing them both to silence. He sighed in the unmistakable way of a tired, exasperated grownup. He said, “Well, I had other plans, but never mind. I will see you home.”

Peter S. Beagle. The Woman Who Married The Man In The Moon.

Context: Schmendrick has fallen from a tree and has found two children, Mourra and Findros, who are lost and far from home.

This line gives me the chills, upon a secon reading. Until now, Schmendrick has been presented in his usual tragicomical way - a gangly wizard with a stupid hat who has fallen from a tree. But the further you read, the clearer it becomes what he was about to do up that tree. Schmendrick himself confesses it to the kids’ mother later on.