{"id":"01KG8AJQ15KSJKSA1C1Q9RMDGE","cid":"bafkreifua6apxlzisv3em36hagpeh6q4ip2b2qhispbiugh7joeefj7u7m","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER XIII. Babbalanja Endeavors To Explain The Mystery\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN) by Herman Melville. It is labeled as \"CHAPTER XIII. Babbalanja Endeavors To Explain The Mystery\". The chapter appears between [CHAPTER XII](arke:01KG8AJQ13BDK91849MWT5SA42) and [CHAPTER XIV](arke:01KG8AJQ1512PWTAW89J5TP4FX) in the novel's sequence.\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is part of the larger work, [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN), which is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text was extracted from the file [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9) using a structure extraction process.\n\n## Contents\nIn this chapter, the character Babbalanja attempts to explain the mystery surrounding Hivohitee, a pontiff figure. The chapter includes a conversation between Yoomy and Babbalanja, where Yoomy expresses his wonderment at Hivohitee being different from his expectations. Babbalanja explains that \"the shadows of things are greater than themselves; and the more exaggerated the shadow, the more unlike to the substance.” The chapter further explores the perception and reality of Hivohitee through discussions with Mohi, who describes the pontiff's enigmatic nature and the rumors surrounding him.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:59.369Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER XIII. Babbalanja Endeavors To Explain The Mystery","end_line":1683,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.723Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER XIII. Babbalanja Endeavors To Explain The Mystery","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":1630,"text":"CHAPTER XIII.\r\nBabbalanja Endeavors To Explain The Mystery\r\n\r\n\r\nThis Great Mogul of a personage, then; this woundy Aliasuerus; this man\r\nof men; this same Hivohitee, whose name rumbled among the mountains\r\nlike a peal of thunder, had been seen face to face, and taken for\r\nnaught, but a bearded old hermit, or at best, some equivocal conjuror.\r\n\r\nSo great was his wonderment at the time, that Yoomy could not avoid\r\nexpressing it in words.\r\n\r\nWhereupon thus discoursed Babbalanja:\r\n\r\n“Gentle Yoomy, be not astounded, that Hivohitee is so far behind your\r\nprevious conceptions. The shadows of things are greater than\r\nthemselves; and the more exaggerated the shadow, the more unlike to the\r\nsubstance.”\r\n\r\n“But knowing now, what manner of person Hivohitee is,” said Yoomy,\r\n“much do I long to behold him again.”\r\n\r\nBut Mohi assured him it was out of the question; that the Pontiff\r\nalways acted toward strangers as toward him (Yoomy); and that but one\r\ndim blink at the eremite was all that mortal could obtain.\r\n\r\nDebarred thus from a second and more satisfactory interview with one,\r\nconcerning whom his curiosity had been violently aroused, the minstrel\r\nagain turned to Mohi for enlightenment; especially touching that\r\nmagnate’s Egyptian reception of him in his aerial den.\r\n\r\nWhereto, the chronicler made answer, that the Pontiff affected darkness\r\nbecause he liked it: that he was a ruler of few words, but many deeds;\r\nand that, had Yoomy been permitted to tarry longer with him in the\r\npagoda, he would have been privy to many strange attestations of the\r\ndivinity imputed to him. Voices would have been heard in the air,\r\ngossiping with Hivohitee; noises inexplicable proceeding from him; in\r\nbrief, light would have flashed out of his darkness.\r\n\r\n“But who has seen these things, Mohi?” said Babbalanja, “have you?”\r\n\r\n“Nay.”\r\n\r\n“Who then?—Media?—Any one you know?”\r\n\r\n“Nay: but the whole Archipelago has.”\r\n\r\n“Thus,” exclaimed Babbalanja, “does Mardi, blind though it be in many\r\nthings, collectively behold the marvels, which one pair of eyes sees\r\nnot.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER XIII. Babbalanja Endeavors To Explain The Mystery"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJQ13BDK91849MWT5SA42","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJQ1512PWTAW89J5TP4FX","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:40.581Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:59.766Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}