roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_viii
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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: | ||
+ | one summer' | ||
+ | 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' | ||
+ | with the extremities; | ||
+ | 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, | ||
+ | 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