Davy Locks Dora in the Tool Shed and Lies About It

Davy Locks Dora in the Tool Shed and Lies About It is a domestic crisis in which a child’s prank becomes a test of trust. Davy has shut Dora inside a toolhouse and concealed what he has done, leaving Marilla and Anne to fear that the timid girl has disappeared or suffered an accident. Finding Dora safe resolves the physical danger, but Davy’s deliberate denials wound Anne more deeply than the confinement itself. The episode turns on that distinction: a prank can be forgiven, but trust cannot be restored until Davy understands why lying is wrong.

The Disappearance and the Search

Anne had intended to visit the Dicksons that evening, but arriving at Green Gables changed her plans at once. Marilla met her in the yard in a state of alarm and announced that Dora was lost. Anne glanced toward Davy, who was swinging on the gate, and saw merriment in his eyes. When she asked if he knew where Dora was, he stoutly denied having seen her since dinner and swore to his innocence.

Marilla explained the circumstances. She had been away since one o’clock after Rachel Lynde sent for her because Thomas Lynde had suddenly taken ill. When she left, Dora had been playing with her doll in the kitchen and Davy had been making mud pies behind the barn. Marilla had returned only half an hour earlier and found Dora gone; Davy maintained that he had not seen her. The ordinary details of their afternoon made the absence harder to explain, while Davy’s confident denial directed the adults away from the truth.

Anne reasoned that Dora, being timid, was unlikely to have wandered far alone and suggested that she might have fallen asleep somewhere in the house. Marilla had already searched the rooms, but the buildings remained to be checked. The search widened through the house, yard, and outbuildings. Anne roamed the orchards and the Haunted Wood, calling Dora’s name, while Marilla explored the cellar with a candle. Davy accompanied each of them in turn and suggested places where Dora might be. His apparent participation helped sustain the mystery even as it kept him close to the searchers.

The well made the possibility of an accident suddenly terrible. Anne peered into it and saw the bucket on its shelf and a small glimmer of water far below. The well was the deepest in Avonlea; she could not bear to finish the thought of Dora being inside it. Marilla sent Anne to find help. With J. A. Harrison and John Henry away in town, Anne fetched Mr. Barry, who returned carrying a rope fitted with the claw-like end of a grubbing fork. Marilla and Anne stood by, cold with dread, as he dragged the well. Davy watched from astride the gate, still displaying enjoyment.

Dora Found in the Toolhouse

Once the well had been ruled out, Marilla recalled that Dora had often talked about J. A. Harrison’s parrot and wondered whether she might have gone to his place. Anne doubted that Dora would venture so far alone, but went to check. At that suggestion, when nobody was watching, Davy’s expression changed. He slipped from the gate and ran to the barn. The movement is the first visible crack in his performance: the boy who had offered suggestions during the search now hurried out of sight.

Anne crossed the fields to the Harrison residence, which was locked, its window shades drawn, and apparently empty. She called Dora from the veranda. Ginger, in the kitchen behind her, suddenly shrieked and swore; through the parrot’s outbursts Anne heard a plaintive cry from the small toolhouse in the yard. She opened its unlatched door and found Dora sitting forlornly on an upturned nail keg, tear-streaked and alone.

Dora explained that she and Davy had come to see Ginger. They had not managed to see the parrot; instead, Davy had kicked the door and made it swear, then brought Dora to the toolhouse, shut her inside, and run away. She had cried, felt frightened, cold, and hungry, and thought Anne would never find her. The search’s worst fears had been unfounded, but the rescue revealed that Dora had been deliberately left trapped and that Davy had known exactly where she was all along.

The Lie and Its Cost

Anne carried Dora home with relief at the child’s safety and pain at Davy’s conduct. She could have forgiven shutting Dora up as a freak of mischief; the more serious offense was his repeated, cold-blooded falsehood. Anne had grown to love Davy, and discovering that he had knowingly denied the truth hurt her precisely because of that affection. The event changes the meaning of his earlier behavior: his gate-side amusement and helpful suggestions were not innocent participation in a baffling search, but part of a deception that prolonged the adults’ fear.

After Mr. Barry left, Anne warmed and fed Dora and put her to bed. Marilla meanwhile found Davy hidden in the darkest corner of the stable and brought him, reluctant and cobwebby, into the kitchen. She sat at the east window; Anne sat limply at the west, with Davy between them. His subdued posture showed that he expected punishment, but he still looked toward Anne with an assumption of comradeship—as if they would laugh about the prank afterward. Anne did not answer him with the half-hidden smile she might have given ordinary mischief. What disturbed her was not simply that he had frightened them, but that he had knowingly deceived them.

When Anne sorrowfully asked how he could behave that way, Davy said he had done it for fun because things had been quiet and he wanted to give the household a scare. He admitted that he had needed to tell the lie to make them frightened. His explanation did not excuse the choice; it confirmed that the falsehood was purposeful. The episode thus separates the childish appetite for excitement from the moral responsibility involved in making other people believe something untrue.

Remorse and Correction

Anne’s fright and exertion had left her near tears, and Davy’s unapologetic answer brought tears to her eyes. Seeing Anne cry changed the scene. Davy was aghast that he had caused it; real remorse overwhelmed him, and he rushed into her lap, put his arms around her neck, and wept. His response shifts the conflict from concealment to recognition: for the first time, he sees the harm not merely as the prospect of punishment but as pain he has caused someone he loves.

Davy then explained that he had not known lying was wrong. He had seen Mr. Sprott’s children tell falsehoods regularly, even swearing to them, and had tried hard to be as good as Paul Irving. He feared that Anne would never love him again, regretted making her cry, and promised not to tell another lie. His appeal complicates, without erasing, the offense: Davy had deliberately lied, but he had not understood the moral rule he had broken. Anne recognized that distinction and asked Marilla to forgive him this time if he promised not to say what was untrue again.

Davy pledged that he would stop now that he knew lying was bad, and, groping for an appropriate penalty, offered to let Anne “skin me alive” if she caught him doing it again. Anne corrected his word choice, telling him not to say “whopper” but “falsehood.” The small correction makes the ending an act of instruction as well as reconciliation: Anne does not simply accept his remorse but gives him the language with which to understand his conduct. The fright ends with Dora safe, Davy’s deception exposed, and a new promise grounded in knowledge rather than in fear of being caught.