Chap­ter III fol­lows young Ade­line dur­ing the sum­mer of 1698, as she embarks on a sig­nif­i­cant jour­ney away from her small vil­lage of Vil­lon-sur-Sarthe, France, with her father. At only sev­en years old, Ade­line is filled with won­der and antic­i­pa­tion, though a part of her feels the weight of the unknown. Accom­pa­ny­ing her father, a skilled wood­work­er, to the bustling city of Le Mans for the first time, she expe­ri­ences a whirl­wind of emo­tions. While the jour­ney stirs feel­ings of excite­ment, she is also filled with appre­hen­sion as she leaves behind the only world she has ever known. Her father, typ­i­cal­ly a man of few words who is deeply involved in his craft, reveals a more engag­ing and imag­i­na­tive side of him­self dur­ing the trip, fill­ing their time togeth­er with cap­ti­vat­ing sto­ries of far-off lands and dreams beyond their hum­ble vil­lage. These tales stir some­thing deep inside of Ade­line, awak­en­ing a desire to cap­ture these larg­er-than-life ideas in some way, though she lacks the means to do so yet.

As they trav­el through the coun­try­side, the vast­ness of the world begins to reveal itself to Ade­line, unfold­ing in end­less stretch­es of fields, dis­tant hills, and hid­den beau­ty. The land­scape is rich and full of new sights, sounds, and expe­ri­ences, and it is through this jour­ney that Ade­line is giv­en her first glimpse of a real­i­ty much larg­er than her own vil­lage. She mar­vels at the beau­ty around her, notic­ing the small things like the light fil­ter­ing through the trees, the song of the wind, and the laugh­ter that echoes in the dis­tance. When they final­ly reach Le Mans, Ade­line is over­whelmed by the sight of the city’s tow­er­ing stone walls and the bustling, vibrant mar­ket­place that appears so vast­ly dif­fer­ent from her qui­et, famil­iar world. The crowd is live­ly and filled with strangers, and Ade­line is struck by the sen­so­ry overload—the sounds of hag­gling, the for­eign smells of food and spices, and the col­ors of fab­rics and goods, mak­ing her real­ize just how expan­sive and diverse the world tru­ly is.

While in the mar­ket­place, Adeline’s father engages with the crowd, skill­ful­ly carv­ing fig­ures from blocks of wood, his hands steady and pre­cise as he works. His exper­tise in his craft draws the atten­tion of many around him, but it is his cre­ation for Ade­line that leaves the deep­est mark on her heart—a sim­ple yet deeply mean­ing­ful wood­en ring. This ring, made by her father at the time of her birth, sym­bol­izes much more than just a piece of crafts­man­ship. It rep­re­sents his deep love and his unspo­ken promise that she is cher­ished, that she holds a spe­cial place in his world despite the larg­er world that sur­rounds them. As Ade­line gazes at the ring, she feels a surge of affec­tion for her father, know­ing that this small object is a man­i­fes­ta­tion of his care for her, a con­stant reminder of their bond.

This chap­ter high­lights a piv­otal moment in Adeline’s life, mark­ing her first ven­ture beyond the con­fines of her vil­lage and open­ing her eyes to the pos­si­bil­i­ties and vast­ness of the world. The jour­ney with her father allows her to see first­hand the com­plex­i­ty and rich­ness of life beyond the famil­iar and sets her on a path of growth and self-dis­cov­ery. The rela­tion­ship between father and daugh­ter is fur­ther devel­oped through their shared expe­ri­ences on this jour­ney, and the mean­ing­ful­ness of their bond is evi­dent in the sim­ple yet pro­found acts of love, like the gift­ing of the wood­en ring. This chap­ter not only explores the themes of curios­i­ty and growth but also touch­es on the uni­ver­sal themes of fam­i­ly, con­nec­tion, and the trea­sures found in both the ordi­nary and the extra­or­di­nary. Through Adeline’s eyes, we see a world of infi­nite pos­si­bil­i­ty, where one moment—spent with a loved one—can shift the tra­jec­to­ry of a young life, set­ting the stage for all the adven­tures and expe­ri­ences that lie ahead.