Analyse the role of the four-word coded message in the story.
The four-word coded message 'Nom Utes Sweden Hurts' plays a central role in the story as the key to solving the mystery. It serves multiple narrative functions.
First, it creates suspense and intrigue, as neither Chief Brown nor Mrs. Brown can decode it, building anticipation for Encyclopedia's intervention.
Second, it showcases Encyclopedia's exceptional intelligence and pattern-recognition abilities, as he alone realizes the words are anagrams of days of the week (Monday through Thursday) written on a calendar sheet.
Third, the message reveals the hiding place of the stolen jewellery—under the fifth word, 'Fir' (Friday), which corresponds to the fir tree in Nolan's nursery.
Fourth, it demonstrates Nolan's cleverness in creating a code that only his partner Davenport could understand, using the calendar as the key.
The message thus drives the plot forward and highlights the theme of intelligence and deduction that defines the Encyclopedia Brown stories.
Explanation
The chapter explains that the code was simple when one understood the key—the words were written on a calendar sheet, and dropping the letters 'd-a-y' from each day created the anagrams. The unwritten fifth word 'Fir' (Friday) pointed to the actual hiding place.
Solution Steps
The coded message 'Nom Utes Sweden Hurts' serves as the central key to solving the mystery
The message creates suspense as neither Chief Brown nor Mrs. Brown can decode it
Encyclopedia demonstrates his intelligence by recognizing the words as anagrams of days of the week (Monday through Thursday)
The unwritten fifth word 'Fir' (Friday) reveals the hiding place—the fir tree in Nolan's nursery
Nolan designed the code using a calendar as the key, meant only for his partner Davenport to understand