The Book of Sorrows

The Book of Sorrows is the sequel novel to Walter Wangerin, Jr.'s The Book of the Dun Cow. Published by Zondervan in 1985, it was received quite well by publications such as the Washington Post, whose review called it "a beautifully written fantasy anchored starkly in reality." Readers noted it for its melancholy tone, with one of the main themes of the book being sorrow.

Russell the fox

The Book of Sorrows begins almost exactly where the last book ended. The great war is over and Chauntecleer and his animals are all mending the damage that it left. Chauntecleer leads them on a journey to find a new resting place, while the climate slowly changes from summer to autumn. Freitag, the mouse brother who is closest to Russell, tries continually to get him to stop talking, but of course the fox doesn't listen. He instead brings Freitag to a nearby stream where he emphatically tells him how to catch minnows with his tail until his lips and nose begin to crack and bubble. The fox seems to have lost his will to live, for he is no longer speaking. Chauntecleer begins to help Russell eat, by first placing the food in the fox's mouth, and mechanically grinds the fox's teeth with his own wings. But the poison has rotted the roots of Russell's' teeth, which loosen during Chauntecleer's feedings. Chauntecleer then begins chewing the food with his own mouth, and spitting it into the fox's, but it soon becomes apparent to him that he is feeding a lifeless corpse.

The hemlock tree

Devastated by Russell's death, Chauntecleer and his company move farther away from the land where the war took place. Along the way they contact a beetle named Black Lazarus, a grave digger. Chauntecleer requests a special grave for the fox, one by the great ocean, Wyrsmere, which requires that the beetle first line the grave with stone, lest the body be washed up. The animals have a service for their fallen comrade and then continue on, looking for a new resting place. Eventually they come to a pleasant hemlock tree rooted near a river. Here the animals make their new home.

At the hemlock tree it is discovered that Chauntecleer is on a downward spiral into a deep depression brought on by the loss of Russell and Mundo Cani. At one point the rooster walks down to the river, stands over it and sees his reflection. After a few moments he simply decides to let himself fall into it, and be swept away into the more violent currents. As he is drowning the rooster actually begins to think his end would be for the better, considering his horrible guilt.

The animals manage to get by without Chauntecleer's attention. Instead the rooster simply walks about in a fog of delirium and self-pity. Unfortunately, though, the rooster is quickly pulled away from the animals again, for the remains of Russell the fox have re-animated due to the dark influence of Wyrm on his body.

From each, for each

Pertelote, upon hearing this report from Chauntecleer’s general, John Wesley, rushes to the oceanside, where Russell’s grave is. She gets there in time to see Chauntecleer, bruised and cut, committing the twice-killed body to the ocean Wyrmsmere. Pertelote comforts him by holding him and stroking her husband, but he admits that he cannot stand it, for the love of his subjects is more than he thinks he deserves. Ultimately Chauntecleer decides that he can at least do his best to restore some order to his people, and thus keep Chalcedony from starving.

Chauntecleer begins to think that these dreams may actually be the product of Wyrm. In the background he can always hear a woman’s wretched sobbing and two other indistinguishable sounds. Chauntecleer spends his nights stalking around his territory, still shrouded in a mist of sorrow.

The coyote

Chauntecleer’s redemption finally comes to him in the form of a coyote named Ferric, who has come to find food for his newborn children. Upon finding Chauntecleer’s kingdom, he integrates himself and begins taking sufficient provisions for his family. Ferric does this a few more times before he and Chauntecleer actually communicate.

At first, Pertelote is overwhelmed with excitement and enthusiasm over her husband's newfound passion for life, but that is soon replaced with dread when she comes to understand her husband’s plan. Her fears that Chauntecleer's mission is nothing short of suicide are confirmed when he confides to her of his attempt to rescue Mundo Cani and defeat Wyrm and he knows that his chances of survival are slim. The next morning Pertelote sees him standing by the hemlock with a band of animals that have agreed to go with him to where the coyote lives. Chauntecleer mounts a black stag's antlers and rides off as the herd of animals sets out on a journey to redeem their leader.

Wyrm

The animals are led to the crippled bird by Ferric the coyote. Chauntecleer asks the bird to reveal the location of Wyrm. The two animals emerge from the hole in the earth; the weasel first, and then Chauntecleer. Chauntecleer attacks the weasel with his spur, cutting at John Wesley’s haunch, which he just brushes off and continues running through the canyon. The animals scatter, and the rooster reclaims the skull from where John Wesley left it and begins his long walk home, leaving the two dead coyotes and a hidden general alone.

Pertelote comes over to him and holds him gently, singing to him, and trying to comfort him in his last moments of life. Chauntecleer appears to have some sort of relief in death, and the last thing he says before passing on is that he could not manage to bury the skull of Mundo Cani, because his nose was far too big to fit in any of the holes he dug.