{"id":"01KFNR86ZYJ4CB0VKVFMWEYYH2","cid":"bafkreicxztppgto5gc24ag6fyd7267qpzlmfcv4vnhsiz3zbzlwiytw3qu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4006,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:01.917Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":3947,"text":"Now, as I before hinted, I have no objection to any person’s religion,\r\nbe it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any\r\nother person, because that other person don’t believe it also. But when\r\na man’s religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment\r\nto him; and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to\r\nlodge in; then I think it high time to take that individual aside and\r\nargue the point with him.\r\n\r\nAnd just so I now did with Queequeg. “Queequeg,” said I, “get into bed\r\nnow, and lie and listen to me.” I then went on, beginning with the rise\r\nand progress of the primitive religions, and coming down to the various\r\nreligions of the present time, during which time I labored to show\r\nQueequeg that all these Lents, Ramadans, and prolonged ham-squattings\r\nin cold, cheerless rooms were stark nonsense; bad for the health;\r\nuseless for the soul; opposed, in short, to the obvious laws of Hygiene\r\nand common sense. I told him, too, that he being in other things such\r\nan extremely sensible and sagacious savage, it pained me, very badly\r\npained me, to see him now so deplorably foolish about this ridiculous\r\nRamadan of his. Besides, argued I, fasting makes the body cave in;\r\nhence the spirit caves in; and all thoughts born of a fast must\r\nnecessarily be half-starved. This is the reason why most dyspeptic\r\nreligionists cherish such melancholy notions about their hereafters. In\r\none word, Queequeg, said I, rather digressively; hell is an idea first\r\nborn on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated\r\nthrough the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans.\r\n\r\nI then asked Queequeg whether he himself was ever troubled with\r\ndyspepsia; expressing the idea very plainly, so that he could take it\r\nin. He said no; only upon one memorable occasion. It was after a great\r\nfeast given by his father the king, on the gaining of a great battle\r\nwherein fifty of the enemy had been killed by about two o’clock in the\r\nafternoon, and all cooked and eaten that very evening.\r\n\r\n“No more, Queequeg,” said I, shuddering; “that will do;” for I knew the\r\ninferences without his further hinting them. I had seen a sailor who\r\nhad visited that very island, and he told me that it was the custom,\r\nwhen a great battle had been gained there, to barbecue all the slain in\r\nthe yard or garden of the victor; and then, one by one, they were\r\nplaced in great wooden trenchers, and garnished round like a pilau,\r\nwith breadfruit and cocoanuts; and with some parsley in their mouths,\r\nwere sent round with the victor’s compliments to all his friends, just\r\nas though these presents were so many Christmas turkeys.\r\n\r\nAfter all, I do not think that my remarks about religion made much\r\nimpression upon Queequeg. Because, in the first place, he somehow\r\nseemed dull of hearing on that important subject, unless considered\r\nfrom his own point of view; and, in the second place, he did not more\r\nthan one third understand me, couch my ideas simply as I would; and,\r\nfinally, he no doubt thought he knew a good deal more about the true\r\nreligion than I did. He looked at me with a sort of condescending\r\nconcern and compassion, as though he thought it a great pity that such\r\na sensible young man should be so hopelessly lost to evangelical pagan\r\npiety.\r\n\r\nAt last we rose and dressed; and Queequeg, taking a prodigiously hearty\r\nbreakfast of chowders of all sorts, so that the landlady should not\r\nmake much profit by reason of his Ramadan, we sallied out to board the\r\nPequod, sauntering along, and picking our teeth with halibut bones.\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84CCNZVF019TFY36V5P5","peer_label":"17","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84CCNZVF019TFY36V5P5","peer_label":"17","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR86VCX8Y5BXPH90FZAKPK","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:02.609Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:18.951Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}