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roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_viii [2005/11/22 17:54] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1
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 +====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ======
 +===== CHAPTER VIII ===== 
  
 +//Bathes in the Mediterranean--Meets an unexpected companion--
 +Arrives unintentionally in the regions of heat and darkness, from
 +which he is extricated by dancing a hornpipe--Frightens his
 +deliverers, and returns on shore.//
 +
 +I was once in great danger of being lost in a most singular manner in
 +the Mediterranean: I was bathing in that pleasant sea near Marseilles
 +one summer's afternoon, when I discovered a very large fish, with his
 +jaws quite extended, approaching me with the greatest velocity; there
 +was no time to be lost, nor could I possibly avoid him. I immediately
 +reduced myself to as small a size as possible, by closing my feet and
 +placing my hands also near my sides, in which position I passed
 +directly between his jaws, and into his stomach, where I remained some
 +time in total darkness, and comfortably warm, as you may imagine; at
 +last it occurred to me, that by giving him pain he would be glad to
 +get rid of me: as I had plenty of room, I played my pranks, such as
 +tumbling, hop, step, and jump, &c., but nothing seemed to disturb him
 +so much as the quick motion of my feet in attempting to dance a
 +hornpipe; soon after I began he put me out by sudden fits and starts:
 +I persevered; at last he roared horridly, and stood up almost
 +perpendicularly in the water, with his head and shoulders exposed, by
 +which he was discovered by the people on board an Italian trader, then
 +sailing by, who harpooned him in a few minutes. As soon as he was
 +brought on board I heard the crew consulting how they should cut him
 +up, so as to preserve the greatest quantity of oil. As I understood
 +Italian, I was in most dreadful apprehensions lest their weapons
 +employed in this business should destroy me also; therefore I stood as
 +near the centre as possible, for there was room enough for a dozen men
 +in this creature's stomach, and I naturally imagined they would begin
 +with the extremities; however, my fears were soon dispersed, for they
 +began by opening the bottom of the belly. As soon as I perceived a
 +glimmering of light I called out lustily to be released from a
 +situation in which I was now almost suffocated. It is impossible for
 +me to do justice to the degree and kind of astonishment which sat upon
 +every countenance at hearing a human voice issue from a fish, but more
 +so at seeing a naked man walk upright out of his body; in short,
 +gentlemen, I told them the whole story, as I have done you, whilst
 +amazement struck them dumb.
 +
 +After taking some refreshment, and jumping into the sea to cleanse
 +myself, I swam to my clothes, which lay where I had left them on the
 +shore. As near as I can calculate, I was near four hours and a half
 +confined in the stomach of this animal.
 +----
 +Go to [[CHAPTER IX]]
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_viii.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:54 by 127.0.0.1