50 pages • 1-hour read
Dragonsong
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
One day, Menolly is out gathering seafood and plants when she spots a clutch of fire lizard eggs on the shore. Suddenly, Thread starts to fall. As she races toward her cave, a brown dragon lands beside her. The rider calls out to her and helps her onto his dragon. The dragon then enters the between, a liminal place of freezing cold and suffocating airlessness where dragons go when they are teleporting from one place to another. The dragon flies to Benden Weyr, a massive settlement of dragonriders. Shortly after they land, Menolly collapses from pain because she injured her feet while running from the Thread. The rider, T’gran, and the weyrwomen initially believe that Menolly is a boy. They give her a sleeping draught to numb the pain and then carry her to the infirmary.
The dragonriders also rescued Elgion from Thread earlier that day. He is embarrassed about being caught outside during Threadfall, but his shame gives way to awe when he sees one of the weyrwomen with a golden fire lizard. A dragonrider named T’gellan assures the Harper that Yanus is glad to know that he is safe. T’gellan also explains why the weyrs want to find fire lizard eggs, saying, “[T]hey give those narrow-minded, hidebound, insensitive Lord Holders just that necessary glimpse of what it is to ride a dragon. That is going to make life… and progress…easier for us in the Weyrs” (120). Elgion dines with the dragonriders, and he thrills at the chance to feed and pet a fire lizard. When T’gellan brings him back to Half-Circle, the dragonrider and Harper explain to the incredulous Yanus that fire lizards are real and of great interest to the Weyrs. Elgion tells T’gellan about the cave near the Dragon Stones, and the rider hurries away to investigate. As Elgion follows Yanus back into Half-Circle, he feels confident that he can handle the Sea Holder “with no further recourse to evasions or lies” (125).
Chapter 10 Summary
The narrative shifts back to Menolly as she recuperates in Benden Weyr. The weyr’s headwoman, Manora, tends to the girl and tells her that she is welcome to stay as long as she wants. Manora knows that she is the girl missing from Half-Circle, and Menolly asks to keep her identity a secret. Beauty surprises Menolly by appearing in the infirmary when she is alone. Menolly is relieved by this sign that her fledglings are safe, but she urges the fire lizard not to let anyone see her.
A girl about Menolly’s age named Mirrim changes the bandages on Menolly’s feet. When Menolly shows Mirrim the scar on her left hand, Mirrim observes, “You were lucky to miss the tendons” (133). This makes Menolly realize that her mother deliberately made the wound heal badly and then misled Menolly to believe that she could never play music again. She resolves to “run across all Pern” (133) rather than ever return to Half-Circle.
After a few days of bedrest, Mirrim agrees to let Menolly help with childcare. As Menolly recounts the story of how T’gran rescued her, she composes a song about the experience. At first, she stops herself from making music around other people, but then she remembers that the Hold’s rules don’t apply in the Weyr.
Menolly notices a subdued atmosphere in the Weyr, and the weyrwomen explain that two queen dragons died recently. One of the riders experienced a psychological crisis as a result. The women fear that the other rider, Brekke, will never recover unless she is able to Impress one of the dragons that is expected to hatch soon. Mirrim is Brekke’s foster daughter, and Menolly does her best to comfort the girl.
Lessa, the dragonrider who saved Pern by traveling back in time 400 years, grows irritated when a swarm of fire lizards darts through the Weyr. She is both intrigued and impressed when Menolly explains that nine of the fire lizards are hers. Menolly didn’t know that the dragonriders were urgently seeking fire lizards, and she tells Lessa about the clutch that she found on the day that T’gran rescued her.
T’gellan and his dragon, Monarth, take Menolly back to her cave. The humans clean out all of Menolly’s things in the hopes that the fire lizard queen will lay another clutch there. Menolly packs up her pipes and healing ointment but discards most of her other possessions.
Chapter 11 Summary
Menolly and T’gellan find 31 eggs in a clutch by the seashore and bring them to Benden Weyr. Lessa gives Menolly a pleased smile and has the weyrpeople bring the girl some better-fitting clothes. These signs of approval and acceptance move Menolly to tears, and she bursts into sobs when a kindly woman named Felena says that she would like to become her mentor.
Mirrim barely recognizes Menolly after the weyrpeople give Menolly a haircut and the “first brand-new garments she’d ever had” (151). At dinner, Menolly, Mirrim, and T’gellan laugh at their fire lizards’ antics. Menolly hums one of her own harmonies when the Weyr’s Harper performs, and he is impressed by her skills. Everyone is amazed when Menolly’s fire lizards hum along to her singing. She humbly explains, “I used to play and sing for them in the cave, you know, to keep us company. Just little twiddles” (155). However, her new friends insist that she possesses remarkable talent.
Chapter 12 Summary
The next morning, Benden Weyr bustles with preparations for the Hatching. After Mirrim changes Menolly’s bandages, the young nurse suddenly bursts into tears. Menolly listens tenderly as her friend voices her fears that her foster mother, Brekke, won’t recover from her grief over losing her queen dragon. The two then assist the weyrpeople in preparing a feast for the many guests who are expected to attend the dragon-hatching. Lessa hopes that Brekke will be able to Impress another dragon , a feat that has never been attempted before. One of the weyrwomen voices her concern for the despondent dragonrider, saying, “It tears my heart to see her lying there, just lying, like the undead” (160).
During the Hatching, Brekke is among the women lined up for a chance to Impress the newborn dragon queen. However, Brekke’s bronze fire lizard, Berd, objects to this idea and flies at the newborn queen, driving her away from Brekke. The baby dragon imprints on another girl, but Brekke regains her sense of self and exits the Hatching Ground with her head held high, “no longer a somnolent figure, immersed in grief” (165). The sight of the woman’s recovery moves Menolly to tears. After most of the weyrpeople and their guests leave the Hatching Ground, a boy named Jaxom runs to the only unhatched egg and breaks it open. A white dragon baby emerges and imprints on Jaxom. The boy is ecstatic, but Menolly senses that the adults around her are shocked and aggrieved at this unexpected development.
Chapter 13 Summary
Menolly’s fire lizards anxiously rush to her as she exits the Hatching Ground. A silver-haired Harper compliments her on her flock and carries the girl to the feast when her injured feet make walking difficult. Menolly is embarrassed when she discovers that the gracious gentleman is none other than Masterharper Robinton. Menolly wants to ask him what he thought of her songs, but she refrains because she worries that her parents were right when they deemed her compositions unworthy of the Masterharper’s notice.
Menolly finds Mirrim, who joyfully describes the positive changes that have come over her foster mother since the Hatching. Mirrim explains that everyone is distressed that a Jaxom Impressed a dragon because the boy is meant to be a Lord Holder one day, and people aren’t permitted to fulfill that role and be dragonriders as well. Mirrim offers to tell Elgion about Menolly, but the girl urgently asks her not to.
Having given up on her dream of becoming a Harper, Menolly tries to envision what role she will assume in her new home of Benden Weyr. During the feast, Menolly keeps busy preparing fur-lined bags so that the humans who receive fire lizard eggs can transport them safely. She and T’gellan distribute the eggs to the illustrious individuals chosen to receive them. Menolly tells the recipients how to care for fire lizards and emphasizes the importance of treating them with kindness. To Menolly’s displeasure, T’gellan tells everyone that she has taught her fire lizards to sing.
The narrative shifts to Harper Elgion. He hopes to enliven Half-Circle Sea Hold by finding a fire lizard clutch. When the Harper asks T’gellan if he found a piper when he investigated the cave by the sea, the dragonrider explains that Menolly was living in the cave but is now safe at Benden Weyr. Elgion is astonished by this news, and he and T’gellan rush to inform Masterharper Robinton that Petiron’s apprentice has been found. Robinton welcomes these tidings because he is greatly impressed by the songs that Petiron sent him. He is also intrigued by the knowledge that Menolly has taught her fire lizards to sing. However, Manora cautions the Masterharper to be careful with Menolly because the girl’s dreams have been dashed by others’ unkindness.
Robinton sends Manora and Benden Weyr’s Harper, Oharan, to Menolly. Oharan asks Menolly to sing with him, and the girl is so exhausted that it takes her a moment to realize that she is singing one of the songs that Petiron sent to Robinton. Menolly feels as though she has stumbled into a trap, but Robinton assures her that she can become a Harper. He hopes that she can show him how to teach fire lizards to sing. She admits, “I want music more than anything else in the world” (188). Robinton asks Menolly to gather her things so that they can go to Harperhall at once, and she agrees. As Menolly sheds happy tears, her nine fire lizards make joyous trumpeting sounds.
Chapters 9-13 Analysis
In the novel’s final section, being among humans again dredges up some of Menolly’s fear of the oppressive societal norms that Half-Circle Sea Hold imposed upon her. Even though she is well beyond Yanus and Mavi’s reach and authority Weyr, she echoes her parents’ dismissive attitude toward her own skills and accomplishments when she tells herself that her compositions are merely “[t]widdles” and are therefore “too insignificant” for Masterharper Robinton’s notice (175). In a stark example of how Menolly has internalized harmful societal norms that undermine her self-interest, the protagonist parrots Yanus and Mavi’s erroneous arguments when Masterharper Robinton asks her to play music, holding up her and saying things like, “But I can’t play,” “But I’m a girl,” and most telling of all: “Yanus told me” (185). Her half-articulated objections and fears illustrate just how deeply her family has abused her and disregarded her innate talents, denying her any form of healthy self-expression. Now, however, Robinton’s progressive beliefs and appreciation for Menolly’s skills allow him to break through her self-defeating protestations. As she finally emerges victorious in The Struggle against Oppressive Societal Norms, it is clear that Menolly has merely needed the reassurance of a supportive authority figure in order to undo the damaging messages that her parents have taught her.
In a continuation of this pattern, Menolly’s time at Benden Weyr advances the theme of Empowerment Through Self-Expression by granting her the freedom to openly pursue her passion for music. In Chapter 10, the revelation that Mavi deliberately tried to rob her of her ability to play instruments prompts the protagonist to promise herself that she will “never, never return to Half-Circle” even if that means she must “live holdless” (134). This decision shows that music is so important to her that she would rather take her chances with the Thread—with death, essentially—than live without being able to sing and play music. The friends that she makes among the weyrpeople, including Mirrim and T’gellan, support her self-expression by encouraging her musical abilities, and Masterharper Robinton is an especially important supporting character who routs her remaining insecurities once and for all. By openly praising the songs that Menolly wrote as “two of the loveliest melodies [he’s] heard in all [his] Turns of harpering” (182), Robinton indicates that her music is not merely a hobby she enjoys but is a talent that could change her life. Menolly’s exceptional musical skills open new possibilities for her, and the theme of empowerment through self-expression reaches its culmination when she achieves her dream of securing an apprenticeship at Harperhall.
In these final chapters, Menolly reaches a new understanding of The Role of Mentorship and Community in Personal Development as she settles into life at Benden Weyr and gains the mentorship of Masterharper Robinton. Notably, McCaffrey uses the plot device of Threadfall to emphasize the differences between the Weyr and Half-Circle. One of the most basic expectations for Pernese communities is to offer safety from the Thread. However, Menolly finds her life at the Hold so intolerable that she runs away and is nearly caught by the deadly spores, and her own parents actively choose not to send a search party to look for her. By contrast, Menolly first comes to Benden Weyr when a dragonrider saves her from the Thread, and the weyrpeople immediately care for the injuries that she sustained during Threadfall, offering her physical and emotional support. After the loneliness that she has experienced in the Hold, the friends she makes at Benden Weyr convince her that “this Weyr was the place for her” (177). Although Menolly eventually leaves Benden Weyr to realize her dream of becoming a Harper, the setting acts as a vital stepping stone along her journey toward greater confidence and self-expression, for the weyrpeople show her that she has intrinsic value as a persona and can find community and acceptance among other people. In a major development for the theme, Masterharper Robinton, the leader of all of Pern’s professional musicians, becomes Menolly’s mentor, and his direct involvement in the protagonist’s fate secures the novella’s happy ending and cements the importance of mentorship in personal development.
In these final chapters, the novella’s symbols and motifs directly support the joyful resolution, and McCaffrey strengthens the thematic link between fire lizards and community by depicting the creatures as sources of support and healing. For example, the queens’ presence gives Menolly strength when she is fleeing from Thread in Chapter 9, and later on, Brekke’s fire lizard, Berd, helps her to recover from her grief over her lost dragon. Brekke’s recovery also contributes to the symbolic link between eggs and hope because her turning point takes place during the Hatching. In addition, Menolly’s new life as a Harper-in-training begins when Masterharper Robinton comes to Benden Weyr to watch the dragon eggs hatch and collect the fire lizard eggs that Lessa bestows on him. Because eggs represent hope and new beginnings, their prominence during the resolution fosters a happy, optimistic mood. The novella likewise closes with Menolly’s nine fire lizards singing “a harmonious chord of accord” (188). By interweaving the motifs of fire lizards and music throughout the narrative, McCaffrey reinforces the idea that Menolly’s self-expression has empowered her to find a community where she and her gifts are fully appreciated.
Unlock all 50 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs