roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xxii
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— | roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xxii [2005/11/22 17:58] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | ===== CHAPTER XXII ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | of his chariot; the beauties of its interior decorations; | ||
+ | animals that drew it, and the mechanism of the wheels.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Everything being concluded, and having received my instructions for | ||
+ | the voyage, I was conducted by the illustrious Hilaro Frosticos, the | ||
+ | Lady Fragrantia, and a prodigious crowd of nobility, and placed | ||
+ | sitting upon the summit of the whale' | ||
+ | remained in this situation for three days and three nights, as a trial | ||
+ | ordeal, and a specimen of my perseverance and resolution, the third | ||
+ | hour after midnight they seated me in the chariot of Queen Mab. It was | ||
+ | a prodigious dimension, large enough to contain more stowage than the | ||
+ | tun of Heidelberg, and globular like a hazel-nut: in fact, it seemed | ||
+ | to be really a hazel-nut grown to a most extravagant dimension, and | ||
+ | that a great worm of proportionable enormity had bored a hole in the | ||
+ | shell. Through this same entrance I was ushered. It was as large as a | ||
+ | coach-door, and I took my seat in the centre, a kind of chair self- | ||
+ | balanced without touching anything, like the fancied tomb of Mahomet. | ||
+ | The whole interior surface of the nutshell appeared a luminous | ||
+ | representation of all the stars of heaven, the fixed stars, the | ||
+ | planets, and a comet. The stars were as large as those worn by our | ||
+ | first nobility, and the comet, excessively brilliant, seemed as if you | ||
+ | had assembled all the eyes of the beautiful girls in the kingdom, and | ||
+ | combined them, like a peacock' | ||
+ | that is, a globe, and a bearded tail to it, diminishing gradually to a | ||
+ | point. This beautiful constellation seemed very sportive and | ||
+ | delightful. It was much in the form of a tadpole! and, without | ||
+ | ceasing, went, full of playful giddiness, up and down, all over the | ||
+ | heaven on the concave surface of the nutshell. One time it would be at | ||
+ | that part of the heavens under my feet, and in the next minute would | ||
+ | be over my head. It was never at rest, but for ever going east, west, | ||
+ | north, or south, and paid no more respect to the different worlds than | ||
+ | if they were so many lanterns without reflectors. Some of them he | ||
+ | would dash against and push out of their places; others he would burn | ||
+ | up and consume to ashes: and others again he would split into | ||
+ | fritters, and their fragments would instantly take a globular form, | ||
+ | like spilled quicksilver, | ||
+ | worlds they should happen to meet with in their career. In short, the | ||
+ | whole seemed an epitome of the creation, past, present, and future; | ||
+ | and all that passes among the stars during one thousand years was here | ||
+ | generally performed in as many seconds. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I surveyed all the beauties of the chariot with wonder and delight. | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | the reins in my hand. But before I proceed on my adventures, I shall | ||
+ | mention the rest of my attendant furniture. The chariot was drawn by a | ||
+ | team of nine bulls harnessed to it, three after three. In the first | ||
+ | rank was a most tremendous bull named John Mowmowsky; the rest were | ||
+ | called Jacks in general, but not dignified by any particular | ||
+ | denomination. They were all shod for the journey, not indeed like | ||
+ | horses, with iron, or as bullocks commonly are, to drag on a cart; but | ||
+ | were shod with men's skulls. Each of their feet was, hoof and all, | ||
+ | crammed into a man's head, cut off for the purpose, and fastened | ||
+ | therein with a kind of cement or paste, so that the skull seemed to be | ||
+ | a part of the foot and hoof of the animal. With these skull-shoes the | ||
+ | creatures could perform astonishing journeys, and slide upon the | ||
+ | water, or upon the ocean, with great velocity. The harnesses were | ||
+ | fastened with golden buckles, and decked with studs in a superb style, | ||
+ | and the creatures were ridden by nine postillions, | ||
+ | size, as large as monkeys, who sat squat upon the heads of the bulls, | ||
+ | and were continually chirping at a most infernal rate, loud in | ||
+ | proportion to their bodies. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The wheels of the chariot consisted of upwards of ten thousand | ||
+ | springs, formed so as to give the greater impetuosity to the vehicle, | ||
+ | and were more complex than a dozen clocks like that of Strasburgh. The | ||
+ | external of the chariot was adorned with banners, and a superb festoon | ||
+ | of laurel that formerly shaded me on horseback. And now, having given | ||
+ | you a very concise description of my machine for travelling into | ||
+ | Africa, which you must allow to be far superior to the apparatus of | ||
+ | Monsieur Vaillant, I shall proceed to relate the exploits of my | ||
+ | voyage. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER XXIII]] | ||
+ | |||
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_xxii.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:58 by 127.0.0.1