Phoney Bone's Cave

Lore & Background

The cave is a simple, rocky shelter that Phoney Bone uses after being separated from his cousins Fone and Smiley. The separation occurs when a swarm of locusts scatters the three cousins as they travel across the fantasy landscape using a hand-drawn map found by Smiley. Phoney, being wealthy and self-serving, must fend for himself in this unfamiliar medieval setting, where citizens employ a barter system and weapons similar to those of the Middle Ages. The cave provides him a place to stay until the cousins reunite at Barrelhaven, where they are taken in by Thorn and Gran'ma Ben. After this reunion, the cave loses its significance as the cousins become drawn into the larger conflict against the Rat Creatures and the Lord of the Locusts.

In Their Own Story

Phoney Bone, forced out of Boneville after mounting an ill-fated campaign for mayor, finds himself alone in the Valley after the locust swarm. He takes shelter in a cave, waiting and hoping to reconnect with Fone and Smiley. The cave is a temporary stopgap, a place of isolation before the cousins are reunited and the real adventure begins.

Reader's Guide

This location is significant only during the early separation arc of the Bone cousins' arrival in the Valley. It functions as a narrative device to show Phoney's temporary solitude before the cousins reunite at Barrelhaven. For readers, it matters because it underscores the theme of family unity—the cousins are stronger together as they face the threats of the Valley, including the pursuing Rat Creatures led by Kingdok.

Did You Know?

• Phoney Bone was forced out of Boneville after mounting an ill-fated campaign for mayor.
• The Bone cousins were separated by a swarm of locusts while traveling across the fantasy landscape.
• The cousins eventually reunite at the Barrelhaven tavern, where they are taken in by Thorn and Gran'ma Ben.
• The Valley is depicted as medieval, with a barter system and weapons similar to those of the Middle Ages.
• Phoney persistently refers to the people of the Valley as 'yokels'.