roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_ii
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— | roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_ii [2005/11/22 17:58] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== CHAPTER II ===== | ||
+ | //In which the Baron proves himself a good shot--He loses his | ||
+ | horse, and finds a wolf--Makes him draw his sledge--Promises to | ||
+ | entertain his company with a relation of such facts as are well | ||
+ | deserving their notice.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | I set off from Rome on a journey to Russia, in the midst of winter, | ||
+ | from a just notion that frost and snow must of course mend the roads, | ||
+ | which every traveller had described as uncommonly bad through the | ||
+ | northern parts of Germany, Poland, Courland, and Livonia. I went on | ||
+ | horseback, as the most convenient manner of travelling; I was but | ||
+ | lightly clothed, and of this I felt the inconvenience the more I | ||
+ | advanced north-east. What must not a poor old man have suffered in | ||
+ | that severe weather and climate, whom I saw on a bleak common in | ||
+ | Poland, lying on the road, helpless, shivering, and hardly having | ||
+ | wherewithal to cover his nakedness? I pitied the poor soul: though I | ||
+ | felt the severity of the air myself, I threw my mantle over him, and | ||
+ | immediately I heard a voice from the heavens, blessing me for that | ||
+ | piece of charity, saying-- | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You will be rewarded, my son, for this in time." | ||
+ | |||
+ | I went on: night and darkness overtook me. No village was to be seen. | ||
+ | The country was covered with snow, and I was unacquainted with the | ||
+ | road. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tired, I alighted, and fastened my horse to something like a pointed | ||
+ | stump of a tree, which appeared above the snow; for the sake of safety | ||
+ | I placed my pistols under my arm, and laid down on the snow, where I | ||
+ | slept so soundly that I did not open my eyes till full daylight. It is | ||
+ | not easy to conceive my astonishment to find myself in the midst of a | ||
+ | village, lying in a churchyard; nor was my horse to be seen, but I | ||
+ | heard him soon after neigh somewhere above me. On looking upwards I | ||
+ | beheld him hanging by his bridle to the weather-cock of the steeple. | ||
+ | Matters were now very plain to me: the village had been covered with | ||
+ | snow overnight; a sudden change of weather had taken place; I had sunk | ||
+ | down to the churchyard whilst asleep, gently, and in the same | ||
+ | proportion as the snow had melted away; and what in the dark I had | ||
+ | taken to be a stump of a little tree appearing above the snow, to | ||
+ | which I had tied my horse, proved to have been the cross or weather- | ||
+ | cock of the steeple! | ||
+ | |||
+ | Without long consideration I took one of my pistols, shot the bridle | ||
+ | in two, brought the horse, and proceeded on my journey. [Here the | ||
+ | Baron seems to have forgot his feelings; he should certainly have | ||
+ | ordered his horse a feed of corn, after fasting so long.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | He carried me well--advancing into the interior parts of Russia. I | ||
+ | found travelling on horseback rather unfashionable in winter, | ||
+ | therefore I submitted, as I always do, to the custom of the country, | ||
+ | took a single horse sledge, and drove briskly towards St. Petersburg. | ||
+ | I do not exactly recollect whether it was in Eastland or Jugemanland, | ||
+ | but I remember that in the midst of a dreary forest I spied a terrible | ||
+ | wolf making after me, with all the speed of ravenous winter hunger. He | ||
+ | soon overtook me. There was no possibility of escape. Mechanically I | ||
+ | laid myself down flat in the sledge, and let my horse run for our | ||
+ | safety. What I wished, but hardly hoped or expected, happened | ||
+ | immediately after. The wolf did not mind me in the least, but took a | ||
+ | leap over me, and falling furiously on the horse, began instantly to | ||
+ | tear and devour the hind-part of the poor animal, which ran the faster | ||
+ | for his pain and terror. Thus unnoticed and safe myself, I lifted my | ||
+ | head slyly up, and with horror I beheld that the wolf had ate his way | ||
+ | into the horse' | ||
+ | himself into it, when I took my advantage, and fell upon him with the | ||
+ | butt-end of my whip. This unexpected attack in his rear frightened him | ||
+ | so much, that he leaped forward with all his might: the horse' | ||
+ | carcase dropped on the ground, but in his place the wolf was in the | ||
+ | harness, and I on my part whipping him continually: | ||
+ | full career safe at St. Petersburg, contrary to our respective | ||
+ | expectations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | I shall not tire you, gentlemen, with the politics, arts, sciences, | ||
+ | and history of this magnificent metropolis of Russia, nor trouble you | ||
+ | with the various intrigues and pleasant adventures I had in the | ||
+ | politer circles of that country, where the lady of the house always | ||
+ | receives the visitor with a dram and a salute. I shall confine myself | ||
+ | rather to the greater and nobler objects of your attention, horses and | ||
+ | dogs, my favourites in the brute creation; also to foxes, wolves, and | ||
+ | bears, with which, and game in general, Russia abounds more than any | ||
+ | other part of the world; and to such sports, manly exercises, and | ||
+ | feats of gallantry and activity, as show the gentleman better than | ||
+ | musty Greek or Latin, or all the perfume, finery, and capers of French | ||
+ | wits or // | ||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER III]] | ||
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_ii.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:58 by 127.0.0.1