That night, Hector and the Baudelaires get to know each other as well as the village of V.F.D., which as it turns out stands for the Village of Fowl Devotees. Also, it’s not an especially friendly town since they’re not keen on mechanical devices, banned books, and public biting. But Hector’s totally fine with it but that’s for another song (yes, I know I’m going out of order here). Anyway, while the Baudelaires are initially skeptical of the handyman (for completely legitimate reasons), they find he has nothing to hide when he produces a scroll with a couplet written by Isadora Quagmire reading:  “For sapphires we are held in here,/Only you can end our fear.” Obviously, this gets the Baudelaires’ attention but they’re not exactly sure what the couplet means or where the Quagmires are hiding. In fact, Klaus thinks their friends are hiding in the Nevermore Tree. But Hector tells them they can’t go there while the crows roost. So they wait under the Nevermore Tree for the night.

Once again, I turn to Paul Simon with “Scarborough Fair” which he performed with Art Garfunkel. Now this is an incredibly old ballad from England dating to the Middle Ages which tells of a man who, through a third party, instructs his ex-girlfriend to perform a series of impossible tasks to win back his affections. Let’s just say, it’s quite clear that the guy doesn’t want his ex back. Though people thought it was about the Black Plague. In the Simon and Garfunkel version, Simon inserted some lines relating to an anti-war song he wrote in 1963 called “On the Side of a Hill.” In this version, I have the Baudelaires staying under the Nevermore Tree to find out what’s going on with the couplet and speculate where the Quagmires are.

“Nevermore Tree”

Sung by Violet and Klaus Baudelaire

Violet:
We are waiting at the Nevermore Tree
Hope the Quagmires send us a sign
They must be somewhere at V.F.D.
Though we’re not sure where they hide

Klaus (Violet):
Are they hidden in the Nevermore Tree (crow nested tree)
Hector found this couplet and rhyme
He said we can’t climb up the tree (blankets and pillows all through the night watch)
Since we don’t know where they hide (sleep shifts until dawn’ light)

Violet (Klaus):
Hector said the birds can’t be disturbed (why must we wait)
We must all keep watch all through the night (Olaf can move on us at any time)
Though Isadora sent two lines of words (on a scroll wrapped in a feather quill)
These may tell us where they hide

Klaus (Violet):
Will we see Duncan and Isadora again? (Olaf is somewhere out hiding)
Though we know they’re quite nearby (His cronies must be with him now)
We now don’t know how to find and save them. (they can be around V.F.D. among us)
The we’ll need to find where they hide

Klaus:
We are waiting at the Nevermore Tree
Hope the Quagmires send us a sign
They must be somewhere at V.F.D.
Though we’re not sure where they hide