Littlejack has a map that indicates the existence of a treasure on a far island. Black has a ship to get there. So they team up and sail off on Black's vessel, the Aeiu-a name based on all the vowels except for O. O he hates since his mother got wedged in a porthole. Black and Littlejack arrive at the port of the island and demand the treasure. No one knows anything about it, so they have their henchmen ransack the place-to no avail. But Black has a better idea: he will take over the island and he will purge it of O. The vicissitudes visited on the islanders by Black and Littlejack, the harsh limits of a life sans O, and how finally with a little luck the islanders shake off their tyrannical interlopers and discover the true treasure for themselves all create a timelessly zany fairy tale about two louts who try to lock up the language-and lose.