Well, once again Carrot has abandoned his chores to go be with Catweazle, leaving the kitchen such a mess it looks like six people or more had dined there. In his defense, though, he was out telling Cat to stop stealing chickens from his Dad’s farm. (They were thinking a fox had gotten them, not a "weazle".) CW is a little cantankerous and threatens to put a spell on his young friend. Carrot is unimpressed and leaves, so the wizard cooks up a spell and changes his good friend into a monkey – and then can’t change him back.
Well, not really, of course, but there’s a lot of deliberate mistaken identity confusion in this week’s story. There’s the neighbor Colonel Upshaw visiting from Africa who has a small monkey that got loose – one that he dresses like a little boy and that he even calls Boy. And the outfit is identical to the one Carrot was wearing. So when he wanders into Castle Saburac, Catweazle thinks he’s his little friend and then when he tries to reverse the spell, he can’t.
He goes to Col. Upshaw for help thinking that, because he saw him fire a shotgun, he can work magic too. Upshaw meanwhile mistakes him for a writer friend he was supposed to meet and ends up giving him fancy clothes to wear and plying him with booze. Unlike last week, CW scoffs it down merrily, and gets quite drunk. By the time he tries to pick a fight with the Colonel, he collapses onto the couch muttering, “I’ve been bewitched.”
Meanwhile, Carrot does return home and Dad makes him clean up the mess. When Carrot learns that one of his favorite writers is going to be visiting he begs to come along. He shows Dad his collection of the author’s books. A subtle joke: he tells him one of the books is about the author walking across the Gobi Desert on foot. The title is “Going in Circles.” The two of them and Sam go to meet with the Colonel. He’s delightfully eccentric and so is his patient maid Miss Coote to whom he’s always shouting, even once when she is standing right behind him.
Nice bit of dialogue between Col. Upshaw and Mr. Bennet. I’m paraphrasing:
Upshaw: Surprised the two of us never crossed paths, but then Africa is a big place.
Bennet: Yes, it is big.
Upshaw: What is?
Bennet: Africa.
Upshaw: Good Lord, man, you don’t have to tell me that!
Eventually, Miss Coote accidentally lets the monkey out of his big cage. Carrot goes in looking for him. CW wakes up and sees him and thinks that Upshaw has turned him back into a real boy. Cat’s clothes are taken back and he escapes before having to explain himself to Bennet, or Upshaw who found out his friend was actually lost somewhere in this continent as well. Sam fortunately finds Boy outside and returns him to the Colonel. Furthermore, back at Castle Saburac, a grateful Catweazle agrees to stop stealing chickens and never to try to put a spell on his friend. And good old Carrot in the last scene is wrapping up the fancy clothes the Colonel gave to Cat so he can return them.
So, lots of good stuff in this. Catweazle learns a lesson, and even helps the poor Colonel by returning his monkey to him. Sam gets to be the hero by finding Boy the second time, and his car even seems to be working again (unless this was shown out of sequence, but I’m hoping the poor guy's car actually works again.) And the Colonel and Miss Coote were delightful characters. Some broad and subtle humor in there as well. I’m giving this one 8 adventure books by Carrot’s favorite author.
