Norwegian, finally getting a response from a sick and emaciated young man with overgrown hair and nails. This is indeed the poet - being an artist and a dreamer, he is the only one in the prison who can believe the mice really are talking to him. He uses the key to leave his cell, follows them to the water gate, and escapes. The whole party nearly drowns in the freezing, swollen river, but they are rescued by a kindly family traveling on a large raft. Having no respect for the Black Castle, the family takes the poet and the mice downriver as far as they can, no questions asked. The three mice are welcomed back to headquarters amidst a huge celebration, and several artifacts of their time in the Black Castle are framed in the meeting hall for posterity. All three mice receive new silver medals with a picture of a broken fetter etched upon them, as well. Healed and cleaned up by the barge people, the poet thanks the mice and returns to Norway, promising to meet up with Nils in Oslo. Miss Bianca gives Nils the speedboat, in which he sails home to Norway, and Bernard invites Miss Bianca to live with him. She nearly accepts, until the Ambassador's footman discovers her and picks her up, commenting on how much the Ambassador's little boy has grieved for her. Deciding her duty is to comfort the boy, she bids Bernard farewell, and returns to her beloved master, much to the joy of the household. Nils and the poet meet up in Oslo and have a night on the town together; afterwards, the poet publishes some verses about Miss Bianca which become famous, and Bernard becomes the new secretary of the Prisoner's Aid Society. Reception Kirkus Reviews described the book as "an absurd and beguiling fantasy" that was "made to order for Walt Disney—but a strange departure for Margery Sharp", and shortly after its publication, Walt Disney Productions began developing an adaptation of the novel. The result was the animated film The Rescuers, released in 1977 and based primarily on the second novel in the series, Miss Bianca, with elements from the original novel. In his 1997 collection of essays on children's literature, A Child's Delight, Noel Perrin noted that the book is very different from (and in his opinion far superior to) the movie, commending the book for