"Anything else? Ah yes--Barbarossa...Esther carried on believing for quite a while that he was the most wonderful child she had ever met--until she caught him stuffing her most precious earrings into his pants pockets and then discovered in his room an entire collection of valuable items that had mysteriously disappeared. Tearfully Esther sent him off to an expensive boarding school where Ernesto became the terror of his teachers and fellow pupils. Dreadful things were said about him: that he forced other children to do his homework and to clean his shoes, that he even encouraged them to steal things, and that he had given himself a name that everyone had to call him. It was 'The Thief Lord'."
This passage from The Thief Lord makes me laugh a bit! Funke did an excellent job wrapping up the story by describing what became of each of the characters in the story. In this instance, Barbarossa, the antique salesman ended up riding the Merry-Go-Round making him younger. He was a perfect match for the lovely yet prude Esther, which is what makes me laugh. Esther assumed he was going to be the sweetest child, but quickly found out otherwise. The two deserve each other! I really like this passage mainly because it reveals Barbarossa's true nature as well as Esther's. It almost reminds me of Dudley and Mrs. Dursley from Harry Potter. I think kids can get a laugh out of this passage because, as the reader, I wanted some kind of revenge on Esther, as would many other readers agree.