The Twits

Every Wednesday, the Twits have bird pie for dinner, and Mr. Twit catches birds by painting the branches of the dead tree in the yard with Hugtight glue, which is “stickier than any other glue in the world” (34). Any birds that land on the glue get stuck and put into the pie.

One day, four boys climb the tree after Mr. Twit applies the Hugtight glue, and their pants get stuck. The next morning, Mr. Twit decides they will have boy pie for dinner. To escape, the boys wriggle out of their pants and jump out of the tree. They run home “with their naked bottoms winking at the sun” (38).

The caged monkeys are left over from when the Twits were monkey trainers in the circus. Mr. Twit has always dreamed of having the first upside-down monkey circus, and he forces the monkeys to practice tricks upside down six hours a day. The monkeys are miserable, but if they don’t do as they’re told, “Mrs. Twit would soon come running with her beastly stick” (40).