Cart and Cwidder

Infobox Book |
name = Cart and Cwidder
title_orig =
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author = Diana Wynne Jones
illustrator =
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country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = The Dalemark Quartet
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genre = Fantasy, Children's novel
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release_date = 1975
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
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isbn =
preceded_by =
followed_by = Drowned Ammet

"Cart and Cwidder" is a fantasy novel for young adults by the British author Diana Wynne Jones. It is the first book in the Dalemark Quartet.

Plot summary

The book is about a family of traveling musicians and their journey through Dalemark (the civil war-torn country the series is centered around) performing in each town they visit. When Clennen (the father and main performer) is murdered by mysterious men, his high-born wife Lenina takes the family and their passenger, the boy Kialan, back to her home town - Markind. Within the same day as her husband's death, Lenina is married to her former fiancé the Lord of Markind.

Moril's father left him a magical cwidder, a musical instrument similar to a lute or a guitar and a very common instrument in Dalemark. It is rumored to be ovened by his ancestor and namesake Osfameron who was one of the undieing and also a wizard.Throughout the book Moril discovers that he has the power to use the magic of this newly inherited instrument. Utilizing the cwidder's power is something his father had only accomplished once, when he won his now-wife from her fiancé.

Her three children, Dastandlen Handagner (Dagner), Cennoreth Manaliabrid (Brid), and Osfameron Tanamoril (Moril) encounter one of their fathers murderers in Markind and along with Kialan they flee the town and try to continue performing for a living. Soon after their escape they discover that their father all along had been the notorious spy called the Porter, spying for North Dalemark. The children try to continue their father's work. Their passenger Kialan turns out to be the son of a northern earl on the run from the southern earls. They continue towards the north and Kialan's hometown Hannart. Dagner is arrested for treason against the Earls of the South. His siblings are forced to leave and believe that he has been hanged.

The story ends with Moril using his cwidder to close the only possible way for the South to attack the North. Just as they are about to do just that, He uses the magical cwidder to make the mountains 'walk' and close Flenpass, just as his ancestor the famed Osfameron did in so many of the songs Moril's father had sung nearly every day.

External links

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