roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xi
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+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | ===== CHAPTER XI ===== | ||
+ | //An interesting account of the Baron' | ||
+ | relative to the spot where Noah built his ark--The history of the | ||
+ | sling, and its properties--A favourite poet introduced upon no | ||
+ | very reputable occasion--queen Elizabeth' | ||
+ | father crosses from England to Holland upon a marine horse, which | ||
+ | he sells for seven hundred ducats.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | You wish (I can see by your countenances) I would inform you how I | ||
+ | became possessed of such a treasure as the sling just mentioned. (Here | ||
+ | facts must be held sacred.) Thus then it was: I am a descendant of the | ||
+ | wife of Uriah, whom we all know David was intimate with; she had | ||
+ | several children by his majesty; they quarrelled once upon a matter of | ||
+ | the first consequence, | ||
+ | where it rested after the flood. A separation consequently ensued. She | ||
+ | had often heard him speak of this sling as his most valuable treasure: | ||
+ | this she stole the night they parted; it was missed before she got out | ||
+ | of his dominions, and she was pursued by no less than six of the | ||
+ | king's body-guards: | ||
+ | them (for one was more active in the pursuit than the rest) where | ||
+ | David did Goliath, and killed him on the spot. His companions were so | ||
+ | alarmed at his fall that they retired, and left Uriah' | ||
+ | her journey. She took with her, I should have informed you before, her | ||
+ | favourite son by this connection, to whom she bequeathed the sling; | ||
+ | and thus it has, without interruption, | ||
+ | till it came into my possession. One of its possessors, my great- | ||
+ | great-great-grandfather, | ||
+ | ago, was upon a visit to England, and became intimate with a poet who | ||
+ | was a great deer-stealer; | ||
+ | frequently borrowed this sling, and with it killed so much of Sir | ||
+ | Thomas Lucy's venison, that he narrowly escaped the fate of my two | ||
+ | friends at Gibraltar. Poor Shakespeare was imprisoned, and my ancestor | ||
+ | obtained his freedom in a very singular manner. Queen Elizabeth was | ||
+ | then on the throne, but grown so indolent, that every trifling matter | ||
+ | was a trouble to her; dressing, undressing, eating, drinking, and some | ||
+ | other offices which shall be nameless, made life a burden to her; all | ||
+ | these things he enabled her to do without, or by a deputy! and what do | ||
+ | you think was the only return she could prevail upon him to accept for | ||
+ | such eminent services? setting Shakespeare at liberty! Such was his | ||
+ | affection for that famous writer, that he would have shortened his own | ||
+ | days to add to the number of his friend' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I do not hear that any of the queen' | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | might be struck with the novelty at the time, much approved of her | ||
+ | living totally without food. She did not survive the practice herself | ||
+ | above seven years and a half. | ||
+ | |||
+ | My father, who was the immediate possessor of this sling before me, | ||
+ | told me the following anecdote:-- | ||
+ | |||
+ | He was walking by the sea-shore at Harwich, with this sling in his | ||
+ | pocket; before his paces had covered a mile he was attacked by a | ||
+ | fierce animal called a seahorse, open-mouthed, | ||
+ | great fury; he hesitated a moment, then took out his sling, retreated | ||
+ | back about a hundred yards, stooped for a couple of pebbles, of which | ||
+ | there were plenty under his feet, and slung them both so dexterously | ||
+ | at the animal, that each stone put out an eye, and lodged in the | ||
+ | cavities which their removal had occasioned. He now got upon his back, | ||
+ | and drove him into the sea; for the moment he lost his sight he lost | ||
+ | also ferocity, and became as tame as possible: the sling was placed as | ||
+ | a bridle in his mouth; he was guided with the greatest facility across | ||
+ | the ocean, and in less than three hours they both arrived on the | ||
+ | opposite shore, which is about thirty leagues. The master of the | ||
+ | //Three Cups//, at Helvoetsluys, | ||
+ | horse, to make an exhibition of, for seven hundred ducats, which was | ||
+ | upwards of three hundred pounds, and the next day my father paid his | ||
+ | passage back in the packet to Harwich. ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | //--My father made several curious observations in this passage, which | ||
+ | I will relate hereafter.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER XII]] |
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_xi.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:57 by 127.0.0.1