Pensevus, also known as Penny, is a special doll from the story The Tale of Pensevus. He is currently in the possession of Sophie.
History[]
The Tale of Pensevus[]
Penny's story is not one of the better-known ones in the Tales of the Peculiar, and is found in an unabridged version of the book.
Penny was once an ordinary doll belonging to a peculiar girl who grew spikes on her back like a porcupine. When the girl's father died, the father heard his daughter singing, "Come back to me, dear Father, come back to me, as fast as fast can be!". He loved her so much that his soul lodged itself inside Penny, so that he could watch over her.
The girl felt bound to Penny, although she didn't know that her father's soul was inside the doll. She would talk to Penny, and sometimes he would seem to talk back. However, when the girl grew older she became careless and one day accidentally left Penny behind on a passenger ship. She was unable to get him back before the ship sailed away.
The girl looked everywhere for Penny and listened for his voice in the wind. While she didn't hear Penny's voice for a while, she began hearing the voices of animals, who she would take in and care for as if they were her own children. One day, a ship wrecked on the beach the girl (now a woman) lived near. A survivor was a peculiar little boy, who had at one point become the owner of Penny. Penny had told the boy that the woman would keep the boy safe, and so the boy had come, "fast as fast can be." The woman didn't have the heart to claim Penny back from the boy, who would talk to the doll and with the doll answering. After several years, Penny went away in a carriage, leaving the boy in tears.
During a war that broke out a few years later, the woman's house was taken over by enemy soldiers, and a peculiar soldier from the woman's country seeked her out. He was wounded and frightened, and after the woman tended to him he revealed that he had Penny. The soldier told the woman that he had walked for many weeks, crossing enemy lines to find her, because Penny told him that the woman needed help. The soldier used his peculiarity of transmuting solid matter to gas to turn the enemy soldiers into red puffs of smoke, saving the woman.
Penny continued to help outcast children needing a home.
The Conference of the Birds[]
Penny appears in the epilogue with his current owner, Sophie. He whispers to her while she is asleep, and helps her make phone calls to six ymbrynes in order to gather the light-eaters of Bob the Revelator's prophecy.
The Desolations of Devil's Acre[]
The beginning of The Tale of Pensevus is told by a resurrected V, who uses it as a clue to get Noor Pradesh to the meeting place of the prophesied light-eaters: Miss Tern's loop, as there were stories of Miss Tern's menagerie being overrun by enemy soldiers like the events of the story. The rest of the tale is read in Ditch House, and Noor reveals that she had been an owner of Penny while she was little. V told Noor that Penny would watch over Noor and lead her back to V again.
Inside Miss Tern's loop, Pensevus whispers to Sophie. When asked how the light-eaters are supposed to defeat Caul, Penny (through Sophie) says that the light-eaters need to eat Caul's soul.
When Julius Purcell is being strangled by Caul, Sophie throws Penny at Caul's arm. Penny bites directly through the bone and saves Julius. However, between this and temporarily escaping from Caul, Penny unfortunately sustains damage. He was torn open, and along with losing half his stuffing he also lost the "something old and special" inside him. Sophie describes this as Penny being asleep, and possibly forever. It is unknown what happened to Penny next and whether he was, or even could be, fixed.
Physical Appearance[]
Penny is a wooden doll described by Noor to be old, broken, and missing an eye. He clacks his jaws open and closed when he speaks silently to his owner. When the doll's face came alive during a short battle against Caul, it is shown that Penny has razor-sharp teeth, which are strong enough to bite through bone. He was later slashed open, losing some sawdust stuffing and probably no longer able to communicate, having lost the special something inside him.
Known Owners[]
- Girl who grew spikes on her back like a porcupine
- Boy with roots growing out of his back and bottoms of his feet
- Soldier who could transmute solid matter to gas with a certain touch of his hands
- Noor Pradesh
- Sophie