The Book is a magic book granted to Mother Timothy Goose by The Gander in response to his wish for a way to get his son, Jack back. It has the ability to save stories and store people in its pages.
Description[]
Timothy's Book is a large, leather-bound, gilded book given to Timothy by The Gander as his second wish. Text written in the book fades except for the words that become Mother Goose's nursery rhymes. Timothy is able to pull out rhymes and stories in the book that act as spells with The Golden Goose's tear. He can also communicate with the owners of other books of the same variety by writing messages to them in the pages.
There appear to be at least two more books of similar power across the universes, being owned by Scheherazade and Aesop. Scheherazade's is in the realm of The Endless Nights, Aesop's in the realm of The Land of Birds and Beasts, while Timothy's is in The Neverafter.
From being in The Lines Between, the book has absorbed information from many fairy tales, allowing Timothy to cast Legend Lore once a day. This allows Timothy to have some knowledge of fairy tales he has not recorded, such as The Three Little Pigs. Prior to being in The Lines Between, Timothy only had inklings about who or what should go into the book after hearing about them, such as Cressida Lumley, the woman who lived in a shoe, who has not entered or encountered the book.
As confirmed by Alba Mac Lir and The Snow Queen's library, Timothy's book is a true book, a book that contains a realm of The Neverafter held in canon to the stories.
The book creates a realm known as the Happily Ever After inside it's pages, which holds the truest, canon versions of the stories the book holds. In which the Kingdom of Jubilee now stands, along with the village of Hapley. Jack Hubbard-Goose has a connection to this realm, in which he is able to awaken one of his fathers, Henry Hubbard to his Twice Upon a Time after he was ran over by a wagon and killed.
While Timothy Goose is carrying out his chore for Baba Yaga, She points out to him that, while he is quick to add everyone else's story into his book, Tim has yet to put his own in. Timothy replies that, every time he's tried, it hasn't stuck because it hasn't been true enough. At the Baba Yaga's prompting, he tries again, and writes the story of Mother Goose with everything but "The End." Timothy later gives the Baba Yaga an unknown page from the book in return for her taking Destiny's Children to The Lines Between.
People, Objects, and Stories within The Book[]
| Name | Rhyme/Story | Description | Effect | Episode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Hubbard-Goose | "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
|
After Jack got turned into bones by The Gander and Timothy wrote down his rhyme, Jack appeared in the book and looked healthy and well there. He was standing at the beginning of a road going off towards a Pottingham not under The Times of Shadow. He assured Timothy that the book can save so much more than him, ran off faster than the western wind, sound, and light, then vanished. The bones of Jack also disappeared.
In a paragraph break, there was a small illustration of Old King Cole dancing on the table and Jack joining him by leaping onto it over a candlestick.
When casting Jump, presumably a similar event happens as "Jack jump over the candlestick" is mentioned when Timothy needed to jump on a tree. |
Allows Timothy to always have the spells "Expeditious Retreat" and "Jump" prepared. | The Times of Shadow |
| Old King Cole | "Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
Called for his pipe and he called for his bowl, And he called for his fiddlers three. Every fiddler he had a fiddle, And a very fine fiddle had he; Oh, there's none so rare, as can compare, With King Cole and his fiddlers three. |
When Old King Cole reminisced about his merrier times, the book started to play fiddle music under the crackle of the fire. Timothy heard the fiddle and opened it for Cole. In the book, they saw a healthier, happier version of Cole. As he was reciting the rhyme, he became similar to the illustration, embraced the Fiddlers Three, and disappeared.
In a paragraph break, there was a small illustration of Old King Cole dancing on the table and Jack joining him by leaping onto it over a candlestick.
|
Allows Timothy to always have the spells "Lesser Restoration" and "Calm Emotions" prepared. | Mirror, Mirror |
| Dish | "And the Dish ran away with the Spoon." | After hearing the Dish mention the cow outside can "jump over the moon", Timothy followed up with questions about the relationship of the Spoon. As he ranted about his love life and how it fell apart, he is absorbed into the book. | Down Came the Rain | |
| The Glass Shard (Cinderella's Glass Slipper) | The whole story of Cinderella up to happily ever after. | Originally stuck in the book as the word "shoe", leading Timothy and Ylfa to head to Shoeburg. After the happily ever after, there was a page or two with only illustrations of the glass shard but no text, leaving room for more story on those two blank pages. The shard was sourced from the chest of the Fairy Godmother, originally stabbed into her by Cinderella. | Allows Tim to talk to Scheherazade through writing in the book. | Down Came the Rain |
| Pete the Cow | "And the cow jumped over the moon." | The party took notice of the cow and its ability to jump over the moon. Rosamund cast Speak with Animals to speak with Pete, Timothy warmed up his vocal cord and tried to impress it and failed. However, the cow still vanished into the book and completed another line of the rhyme the Dish started. | Down Came the Rain | |
| Senator the Ram | N/A (part of Old King Cole's rhyme) | After dying and leaving story one, Timothy saw Senator in the book after arriving in story two, prancing in the background of the illustration of Cole and Jack. As King Cole and him, all of Jubilee have been removed from The Neverafter and seemingly put into the book.
|
Embodies the "Silvery Barbs" spell. | Down Came the Rain |
| Muffet's Spider and Little Miss Muffet's Story | "Little Miss Muffet
Eating her curds and whey; Along came a spider Who sat down beside her, And frightened Miss Muffet away" |
Timothy felt that he had the ability to put Muffet or the spider in the book, he chose to put the spider in. The spider was seemingly sent to The Endless Nights as Scheherazade lets Timothy know that her spider guardian arrived.
At first, Miss Muffet asked to touch the book, but Timothy and the party hesitated. He reasoned that the book may show her scary things. With encouragement from Ylfa and realizing her previous form as a big spider bleeding cottage cheese may be even scarier, he let her touch it. After seeing her story always ends with being scared away, Muffet chose not to go into the book, rather wanting to join Timothy and the party on their quest. |
Allows Timothy to always have the spell "Fear" prepared. | The Curdled Web |
| Itsy Bitsy Spider's Story | "The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout.
And washed the spider out. Out came the sun And dried up all the rain And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again." |
The Itsy Bitsy Spider happily told his story and it has been recorded, but he did not want his story to have sunshine all the time. Timothy mentioned the book is like a safehouse and not for everyone. He was not too scared of the world, but when he belittled himself saying he is small and better as a story, Timothy slammed the book shut and started to cheer him up. In the end, he decided to travel with the party instead. | Allows Timothy to always have the spells "Spider Climb" and "Beacon of Hope" prepared. | Trouble in Tuffeton |
| Spoon's Story | "And the Dish ran away with the Spoon." | Timothy asked the Spoon to join in the book with the Dish. The Spoon refused and stated the line already contained everything true about them so there was no need to add more. Timothy added that the stories in the book are simplified and wished the Spoon for more stories. | Trouble in Tuffeton | |
| Rosamund's Spindle (The Spinning Wheel) | The whole story of Sleeping Beauty up until she falls asleep. | After Sleeping Beauty fell asleep, there was a page or two with only illustrations of the spinning wheel and the spindle but the story abruptly stops, leaving room for more story. The spindle was sourced from Rosamund's swarm breaking it off in the second story, after falling to grab it in the first. | Trouble in Tuffeton | |
| The Golden Ball (Elody's Golden Mace) (memory) | The story of The Frog Prince and Elody. | This version of The Golden Ball is a memory from the copy of The Frog Prince book in The Lines Between. The story ends with "They lived happily", instead of "They lived happily ever after. The End". The book's ink fractures as an alternate story was placed into it. Opens a hole of shadow in the book that swallows Mother Goose and the party. | Origins | |
| The Golden Goose (her feather) | The words "Goose" and "Gander". | After The Golden Goose was devoured by The Gander for making Timothy's third wish, Ylfa placed one of the goose's feathers in the book. The feather in turn with Timothy's writings of the goose and their previous night together, allowed the goose to enter the book. | The Last Wish | |
| Tomas, Ricard, and Marco (the miller's three sons) | The miller's three sons are characters from Pib's story, The three of them willingly entered the book after learning of the upcoming dangers Destiny's Children would be facing. | The Last Wish | ||
| Ylfa Snorgelsson's Cloak | The story of Little Red Riding Hood. | Ylfa's entire story. An illustration of Ylfa as a werewolf hugging her grandmother as a child appears at the end. | The Trials of Baba Yaga | |
| Pinocchio's Marionette Handle | The story of Pinocchio. | Pinocchio's entire story. An illustration of Pinocchio saving his father in a hammock of his strings from The Stepmother appears at the end. | The Trials of Baba Yaga | |
| Puss in Boots' boots | The story of PiB. | PiB's entire story. An illustration of Puss in Boots facing down giants in a forest appears at the end. | The Trials of Baba Yaga | |
| Mother Timothy Goose's story | The true nursery rhyme of Mother Goose. Everything is included except "The End." | "Old Mother Goose, when he wanted to wander
Would ride through the air on a very fine Gander. Mother Goose has a house, 'twas built in a wood, Where an owl at the door for a sentinel stood. He had a son, Jack, a plain looking lad. He was not very good, nor yet very bad. He sent him to market. A live Goose he bought. 'Here, Mother,' says he, 'It will not go for naught.' Jack's Goose and his Gander grew very fond. They both eat together, or swim in one pond. Jack found one morning, as I have been told, His Goose had laid him an egg of pure gold. Jack rode to his Mother, the news for to tell. He called him a good boy, and said it was well." |
The Trials of Baba Yaga | |
| The Stepmother's Name | "Minerva" | The Stepmother's name. A piece of The Stepmother. Splits her between The Lines Between and Hapley so that she must face two conflicts at once. The residents of the book all go off to face her. | The Trials of Baba Yaga |
The Book's visions[]
| Recipient | Description | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| Pinocchio | An etching in ink of an island of toys appears as Pinocchio drags his fingers across a blank page. | Mirror, Mirror |
| Ylfa Snorgelsson | An etching in deep red blood of Ylfa picking flowers on the side of a road. Past the glade of flowers are trees with a wolf moving between them. The wolf lunged forward, rendered in blood that is growing bones as Timothy slams the book shut. | Mirror, Mirror |
| Gerard of Greenleigh | When Gerard touched the book he began to transform back into a human. As Gerard was drawing something out of the book to return to normal, the pages in the center began to rot, forming a spherical depression in the book. Timothy slams the book closed before any lasting damage can be done to the book. | Mirror, Mirror |
| Rosamund Du Prix | As Rosamund touches the book there are beautiful flowering vines, roses, and thorns spreading out as well as a portrait. Over the portrait a face begins to appear, being a beautiful, handsome prince that Rosamund doesn't recognize. The prince's face changes to many different princes as something begins to push back against Rosamund's hand. The portrait fades as briars moves towards Rosamund's hand in green ink and fades back into her. A rapid chiaroscuro sketch of an empty fireplace is suddenly there, and a rush of wind as the real trees suddenly bend in a tempestuous burst of gale force winds. Something thuds from the chimney of the drawing into the empty fireplace, and a figure in gleaming glass armor, lifts a visor, looks at Rosamund as a drawing, and says, "Sister, you're awake". Right after this, Timothy opens his book to have an armored hand reach for his throat, the hand being made of the paper of the book. | Mirror, Mirror |
| Herr Drosselmyer | When Drosselmyer touched the book he extracted some knowledge of the book's purpose. He saw that are more books of this variety and that others are trying to save what they can with them, that the book needs an early part of the world that is broken. He tells Timothy that the path ahead will be filled with perils but Timothy and his companions were brought together by fate and must stick together if they want to be strong enough to face what is to come. He also says there are few chances left to fix the world and that one member of the party knows what the book needs first; and that after they find the gift, there will be friends they will be able to speak with.
As Drosselmyer is touching the book he seems to unravel into his story while turning into an owl; his body turns into text and music from "The Nutcracker" hanging in the air, and then disappears. |
Mirror, Mirror |
| Little Miss Muffet | As Muffet touches the book, she sees an illustration appear of her running away from a little spider on a hill and her bowl falling to the side. Muffet looks at it, and a door starts to open up with golden light in the book; she looks into the door that would allow her to into the book as the story is written, takes her hand off, and chooses not to enter the book. | The Curdled Web |
| Destiny's Children | Timothy expends a second use of the spell Legend Lore the party is granted an old story of a magic training bra: "Once upon a time in a village in the depth of Snowhold, there was a young maiden who for seven days and seven nights took the breath of a cat and the light of the moon and knitted a training bra so radiant and shining that it was said to blind those passers-by and a noble king beheld the training bra and died upon the spot." | Big and Bad |