The Thief Lord

This article is about the novel. For the film, see The Thief Lord (film).

The Thief Lord

English book cover by in English from Chicken House Publishing, Ltd and Scholastic.
Author	Cornelia Funke
Original title	Herr der Diebe
Illustrator	Christian Burmingham
Language	Translated to English
Genre	Fantasy/adventure
Publication place	Germany
Pages	349

The Thief Lord is a children's novel written by Cornelia Funke. It was published in Germany in 2000 and translated into English by Oliver Latsch in 2002 for The Chicken House, a division of Scholastic publishing company. It was also adapted into a film in 2006.

Plot

The Thief Lord follows the story of two brothers, Prosper and Bo, who run away to Venice, Italy after their mother's death. They are taken in by a group of orphans who live in an abandoned theater (the Stella) and are lead by Scipio, who calls himself the Thief Lord. He steals valuables from wealthy homes and they sell them to an old shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa. The boys' aunt and uncle figure out where they are and set a detective, Victor Getz, on their trail. The children accept a job where they are commissioned to steal a wooden wing from the home of Ida Spavento; the payment is five million lire. In the meantime, Victor recognizes the boys on the street and manages to initiate a conversation with Bo, in which he learns that they are living in an abandoned theater. When the rest of the children see him, they cause a distraction and run away, taking his wallet with them, from which they discover his identity. In his search for the theater, Victor visits the home of Dottore Massimo, the owner of the Stella, where he sees Scipio, who immediately leaves to warn the others. When Victor arrives at the Stella, the children ambush him, tie him up, and lock him in the bathroom. During an argument, Victor tells them the truth about Scipio. When Prosper confronts Scipio, he learns that Scipio is indeed Dottore Massimo's son, and all the loot he told them he stole from wealthy houses was actually stolen from his own home. Furious, Prosper leaves and tells the others about what he has learned. While they are gone, Victor escapes, leaving a note that he will not reveal their location if they do not steal the wing. The children leave that night to steal it and meet Scipio inside the house. During the ensuing argument, Ida Spavento awakes and demands to know who they are. When they explain, Ida tells them the story of the wing, which came from a magical merry-go-round that had the ability to change a person's age. She agrees to let them have the wing if they let her accompany them to the exchange, in hopes that she can find the merry-go-round. The next night, all of the children go for the deal except Hornet and Bo. They join Ida and Scipio, meet with the Conte and his sister, Morosina, and make the exchange, but narrowly escape being shot when they try to search for the merry-go-round. When they return to the theater, Hornet and Bo are gone, leaving a note that there were police at the door. They angrily confront Victor, who swears he did not do it and informs them that the lire they received are fake. In searching for Hornet and Bo, they find her at an orphanage and Victor and Ida manage to get her out. They spend a restless night at Ida's house, but Prosper cannot sleep and wanders outside, where he meets Scipio. The two return to the island to demand payment, but end up spending the night in a stable there. Meanwhile, Victor receives a phone call from Esther, informing him that she had Bo, but he has run away from them and she no longer wants anything to do with him. Victor finds Bo at the Stella and takes him back to Ida's, where they find Prosper missing. On the island the next morning, Scipio and Prosper meet the Conte and Morosina, who are both young, having gotten the merry-go-round to work. Scipio demands a ride and comes off an adult, looking much like his father. Just as he gets off the merry-go-round, Barbarossa arrives, and demands a ride on the merry-go-round. However, while Barbarossa becomes a five-year-old boy, he accidentally breaks the merry-go-round, infuriating the Conte. Scipio and Prosper leave after promising the Conte that they will not talk about the merry-go-round, and Barbarossa is forced to give the Conte all the money in his shop safe as repayment. The next day, when everyone at Ida's home finds Prosper, Scipio, and Barbarossa they do not recognize Scipio or Barbarossa and Prosper cannot explain, but Ida immediately understands what happened. Scipio sets up a meeting between Barbarossa and Esther, to which Barbarossa consents after learning that Esther is rich. Esther likes Barbarossa and decides to adopt him.Prosper, Bo, and Hornet decide to live with Ida and go to school, while Mosca and Riccio live in an abandoned warehouse. Scipio decides to work for Victor and sends his father a letter saying that he is safe and happy, but will not come home. Eventually, he and Prosper take another trip to the Isola Segreta only to find that the Conte and Morosina have disappeared. Esther eventually catches Barbarossa poaching her jewelry and other possessions and sends him off to boarding school, where he becomes a menacing bully; he forces other children to do things for him and encourages them to steal, and insists that everyone call him "The Thief Lord."

Characters

Scipio Massimo: (pronounced Scip-ee-oh) The Thief Lord. Bo alone is allowed to call him 'Scip'. He is thirteen, has dark brown eyes and raven black hair. He also wears a mask that was from the black plague. He is the son of Dottore Massimo. Scipio is clever and quick-witted, but he hates his father and being talked to as if he was a baby. This feeling is so strong that it causes him to ride the magical merry-go-round and become older. Scipio, while having no care for his father, has a kind heart, especially for poor children such as Prosper, Bo, Riccio, Mosca and Caterina (Hornet). He also seems to have a soft spot for cats. After becoming an adult, he becomes Victor's assistant in his detective office and changes his name to Scipio Fortunato.

Prosper: People sometimes call him Prop. He is a 12 year old orphan and brother of Boniface (Bo). He is very caring to all his friends and especially to his younger brother. Prosper has brown hair and blue eyes. He is described to always have a very serious look on his face. He tends to worry excessively, but is more mature than other kids his age. Prosper is sensitive and does not like stealing. Since his mother's death, he has taken care of his brother all by himself.

Boniface: Everyone calls him Bo. A very cute 5 year old, he escaped the clutches of his aunt and uncle with his brother. He has curly blond hair, and an angelic face. He enjoys adventures with Scipio, and he is very close to his older brother Prosper, but sometimes does things without his permission. His one desire is to go on one of Scipio's "raids".

Caterina "Hornet" Grimani: Prefers the name Hornet over her real name. She has written the name Caterina Grimani in several of her books, but she never talks about her old life because it makes her too sad. She about 12 or 13 years old and is slender and has brown hair worn in a long braid to her hips. It looks like a hornet's stinger (hence the nickname). She is a very clever girl and continually reads. Sometimes at night, Hornet reads the other orphans bedtime stories to fall asleep or to stay awake. She always bugs Scipio and cares for Bo, possibly because she is the only girl in the group. She also shows concern for Prosper's safety on more than one occasion and develops a crush on him. Hornet used to live with Riccio and Mosca in the basement of an abandoned house before Scipio found them and took them to the Stella.

Riccio: (Pronounced Ri-sh-ee-o) Sometimes called Hedgehog, or Riccio the hedgehog. He is a scrawny boy and smaller than Prosper. He has brown hair that sticks out everywhere, earning him his nickname. He also has a tooth missing, which he lost in a chase. His bed is stuffed with stuffed animals and his mattress is full of comics. He also loves sweets, which is why he has horrible teeth. He grew up in an orphanage, never knowing his parents. Scipio found Riccio (as well as Hornet and Mosca) when he tried to steal something from Scipio, but was caught. Riccio loves to crack jokes.

Mosca: He is a tall, muscular boy of African descent. His skin is so black that Riccio says that he could creep through the shadows. He loves the water and even made his own boat. Mosca loves tinkering with his radio. Although he does not speak of his past, he is said to have a horrible family that he dislikes.

Victor Getz: A detective looking for Bo and Prosper hired by Ester and Max Hartlieb. He loves disguises and has lived in Italy for 15 years. He can speak English and Italian. He chases after Prosper and Riccio on their way back from Barbarossa's. He soon befriends the children and lies to Esther, saying the boys left Venice. He is kidnapped by the children and escapes, but gives his word he will not tell where they are. Esther referred to him after going to the police who were no help. Victor is pudgy and kind and has two pet tortoises.

Ida Spavento: A nice lady who looks after the kids for a while and, at the end of the book, takes in Prosper, Bo, and Hornet. She is an orphan and grew up in an orphanage. She now lives in an old mansion and found the Conte's wing during her early life at the orphanage. She also has a bad smoking habit, but she is trying to quit.

Esther Hartlieb: Prosper and Bo's snobby, cruel, rich aunt. She only wants to keep Bo because he looks like an angel and wants Prosper to go to a boarding school where he can hardly see Bo. She also hires Victor to find the two boys and ends up adopting Barbarossa (as a child after he had taken a ride on the merry-go-round). Later, she finds out Barbarossa has been stealing her valuable items that had gone missing long ago that disappeared into his room. She sends him away to a boarding school where he is feared by the other children.

Ernesto Barbarossa: Sometimes referred as the "Redbeard" or Babossa. An extremely cheap antique dealer who does not ask too many questions and loves to cheat people. He ends up riding and breaking the merry-go-round and gets stuck at an age a little younger than Bo. At the end of the book, Barbarossa is adopted by Esther (he wants to live with her because she is rich). However, Esther finds him stuffing her precious earrings into his pants pockets and then discovered in his room, an entire collection of valuable items that have mysteriously disappeared. He was sent to a boarding school where he becomes a big bully, he made children do dreadful stuff and even steal.

Conte: The old man that Scipio, Mosca, and Prosper met in a confessional while planning to steal something for him. He is the Thief Lord's first client asking for something to be stolen and says that he will give him a large amount of money ( five million lire). The money exchanged for the stolen wooden wing turns out to be fake (because he cannot afford real money). He uses the wing to fix the merry-go-around, and becomes a child. He and his sister offer Scipio a ride in exchange for the stolen wooden wing (instead of money they do not have). Real name is "Renzo".

Contessa: Conte's younger sister. Real name in book is Morosina. She is the one who offered Scipio the ride on the magical merry-go-round in the garden. She also found Prosper and Scipio wandering around in the Isola Segreta and held them captive for one day.

Dottore Massimo: Scipio's father. Scipio absolutely despises his father, because he is an important business man and does not appear to have time for his son. After Scipio went on the merry-go-round, everyone mistook Scipio for his father.

External links

• The Thief Lord at IMDb
• Cornelia Funke's Official Site