roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xv
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— | roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xv [2005/11/22 17:58] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | ===== CHAPTER XV ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | //A further account of the journey from Harwich to Helvoetsluys-- | ||
+ | Description of a number of marine objects never mentioned by any | ||
+ | traveller before--Rocks seen in this passage equal to the Alps in | ||
+ | magnitude; lobsters, crabs, &c., of an extraordinary magnitude--A | ||
+ | woman' | ||
+ | Hawes' directions followed with success.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | I omitted several very material parts in my father' | ||
+ | the English Channel to Holland, which, that they may not be totally | ||
+ | lost I will now faithfully give you in his own words, as I heard him | ||
+ | relate them to his friends several times. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "On my arrival," | ||
+ | breathe with some difficulty; upon the inhabitants inquiring into the | ||
+ | cause, I informed them that the animal upon whose back I rode from | ||
+ | Harwich across to their shore did not swim! Such is their peculiar | ||
+ | form and disposition, | ||
+ | of the water; he ran with incredible swiftness upon the sands from the | ||
+ | shore, driving fish in millions before him, many of which were quite | ||
+ | different from any I had yet seen, carrying their heads at the | ||
+ | extremity of their tails. I crossed," | ||
+ | range of rocks, equal in height to the Alps (the tops or highest parts | ||
+ | of these marine mountains are said to be upwards of one hundred | ||
+ | fathoms below the surface of the sea), on the sides of which there was | ||
+ | a great variety of tall, noble trees, loaded with marine fruit, such | ||
+ | as lobsters, crabs, oysters, scollops, mussels, cockles, &c. &c.; some | ||
+ | of which were a cart-load singly! and none less than a porter' | ||
+ | those which are brought on shore and sold in our markets are of an | ||
+ | inferior dwarf kind, or, properly, waterfalls, //i.e.//, fruit shook off | ||
+ | the branches of the tree it grows upon by the motion of the water, as | ||
+ | those in our gardens are by that of the wind! The lobster-trees | ||
+ | appeared the richest, but the crab and oysters were the tallest. The | ||
+ | periwinkle is a kind of shrub; it grows at the foot of the oyster- | ||
+ | tree, and twines round it as the ivy does the oak. I observed the | ||
+ | effect of several accidents by shipwreck, &c., particularly a ship | ||
+ | that had been wrecked by striking against a mountain or rock, the top | ||
+ | of which lay within three fathoms of the surface. As she sank she fell | ||
+ | upon her side, and forced a very large lobster-tree out of its place. | ||
+ | It was in the spring, when the lobsters were very young, and many of | ||
+ | them being separated by the violence of the shock, they fell upon a | ||
+ | crab-tree which was growing below them; they have, like the farina of | ||
+ | plants, united, and produced a fish resembling both. I endeavoured to | ||
+ | bring one with me, but it was too cumbersome, and my salt-water | ||
+ | Pegasus seemed much displeased at every attempt to stop his career | ||
+ | whilst I continued upon his back; besides, I was then, though | ||
+ | galloping over a mountain of rocks that lay about midway the passage, | ||
+ | at least five hundred fathom below the surface of the sea, and began | ||
+ | to find the want of air inconvenient, | ||
+ | to prolong the time. Add to this, my situation was in other respects | ||
+ | very unpleasant; I met many large fish, who were, if I could judge by | ||
+ | their open mouths, not only able, but really wished to devour us; now, | ||
+ | as my Rosinante was blind, I had these hungry gentlemen' | ||
+ | guard against, in addition to my other difficulties. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As we drew near the Dutch shore, and the body of water over our heads | ||
+ | did not exceed twenty fathoms, I thought I saw a human figure in a | ||
+ | female dress then lying on the sand before me with some signs of life; | ||
+ | when I came close I perceived her hand move: I took it into mine, and | ||
+ | brought her on shore as a corpse. An apothecary, who had just been | ||
+ | instructed by Dr. Hawes [the Baron' | ||
+ | lately if Dr. Hawes was his preceptor], of London, treated her | ||
+ | properly, and she recovered. She was the rib of a man who commanded a | ||
+ | vessel belonging to Helvoetsluys. He was just going out of port on a | ||
+ | voyage, when she, hearing he had got a mistress with him, followed him | ||
+ | in an open boat. As soon as she had got on the quarter-deck she flew | ||
+ | at her husband, and attempted to strike him with such impetuosity, | ||
+ | that he thought it most prudent to slip on one side, and let her make | ||
+ | the impression of her fingers upon the waves rather than his face: he | ||
+ | was not much out in his ideas of the consequence; | ||
+ | opposition, she went directly overboard, and it was my unfortunate lot | ||
+ | to lay the foundation for bringing this happy pair together again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I can easily conceive what execrations the husband loaded me with | ||
+ | when, on his return, he found this gentle creature waiting his | ||
+ | arrival, and learned the means by which she came into the world again. | ||
+ | However, great as the injury is which I have done this poor devil, I | ||
+ | hope he will die in charity with me, as my motive was good, though the | ||
+ | consequences to him are, it must be confessed, horrible." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER XVI]] | ||
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_xv.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:58 by 127.0.0.1