roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_iii
no way to compare when less than two revisions
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
— | roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_iii [2005/11/22 17:57] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | ===== CHAPTER III ===== | ||
+ | //An encounter between the Baron' | ||
+ | wonderful effects--Fifty brace of ducks and other fowl destroyed | ||
+ | by one shot--Flogs a fox out of his skin--Leads an old sow home in | ||
+ | a new way, and vanquishes a wild boar.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was some time before I could obtain a commission in the army, and | ||
+ | for several months I was perfectly at liberty to sport away my time | ||
+ | and money in the most gentleman-like manner. You may easily imagine | ||
+ | that I spent much of both out of town with such gallant fellows as | ||
+ | knew how to make the most of an open forest country. The very | ||
+ | recollection of those amusements gives me fresh spirits, and creates a | ||
+ | warm wish for a repetition of them. One morning I saw, through the | ||
+ | windows of my bed-room, that a large pond not far off was covered with | ||
+ | wild ducks. In an instant I took my gun from the corner, ran down- | ||
+ | stairs and out of the house in such a hurry, that I imprudently struck | ||
+ | my face against the door-post. Fire flew out of my eyes, but it did | ||
+ | not prevent my intention; I soon came within shot, when, levelling my | ||
+ | piece, I observed to my sorrow, that even the flint had sprung from | ||
+ | the cock by the violence of the shock I had just received. There was | ||
+ | no time to be lost. I presently remembered the effect it had on my | ||
+ | eyes, therefore opened the pan, levelled my piece against the wild | ||
+ | fowls, and my fist against one of my eyes. [The Baron' | ||
+ | retained fire ever since, and appear particularly illuminated when he | ||
+ | relates this anecdote.] A hearty blow drew sparks again; the shot went | ||
+ | off, and I killed fifty brace of ducks, twenty widgeons, and three | ||
+ | couple of teals. Presence of mind is the soul of manly exercises. If | ||
+ | soldiers and sailors owe to it many of their lucky escapes, hunters | ||
+ | and sportsmen are not less beholden to it for many of their successes. | ||
+ | In a noble forest in Russia I met a fine black fox, whose valuable | ||
+ | skin it would have been a pity to tear by ball or shot. Reynard stood | ||
+ | close to a tree. In a twinkling I took out my ball, and placed a good | ||
+ | spike-nail in its room, fired, and hit him so cleverly that I nailed | ||
+ | his brush fast to the tree. I now went up to him, took out my hanger, | ||
+ | gave him a cross-cut over the face, laid hold of my whip, and fairly | ||
+ | flogged him out of his fine skin. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Chance and good luck often correct our mistakes; of this I had a | ||
+ | singular instance soon after, when, in the depth of a forest, I saw a | ||
+ | wild pig and sow running close behind each other. My ball had missed | ||
+ | them, yet the foremost pig only ran away, and the sow stood | ||
+ | motionless, as fixed to the ground. On examining into the matter, I | ||
+ | found the latter one to be an old sow, blind with age, which had taken | ||
+ | hold of her pig's tail, in order to be led along by filial duty. My | ||
+ | ball, having passed between the two, had cut his leading-string, | ||
+ | the old sow continued to hold in her mouth; and as her former guide | ||
+ | did not draw her on any longer, she had stopped of course; I therefore | ||
+ | laid hold of the remaining end of the pig's tail, and led the old | ||
+ | beast home without any further trouble on my part, and without any | ||
+ | reluctance or apprehension on the part of the helpless old animal. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Terrible as these wild sows are, yet more fierce and dangerous are the | ||
+ | boars, one of which I had once the misfortune to meet in a forest, | ||
+ | unprepared for attack or defence. I retired behind an oak-tree just | ||
+ | when the furious animal levelled a side-blow at me, with such force, | ||
+ | that his tusks pierced through the tree, by which means he could | ||
+ | neither repeat the blow nor retire. Ho, ho! thought I, I shall soon | ||
+ | have you now! and immediately I laid hold of a stone, wherewith I | ||
+ | hammered and bent his tusks in such a manner, that he could not | ||
+ | retreat by any means, and must wait my return from the next village, | ||
+ | whither I went for ropes and a cart, to secure him properly, and to | ||
+ | carry him off safe and alive, in which I perfectly succeeded. | ||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER IV]] |
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_iii.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:57 by 127.0.0.1