{"id":"01KG8AJTRAFNB9KT45C4J4VR0P","cid":"bafkreicieohtqsef3wkjh5jekph5hlkfdmvtcc4wlkcgqhmaxrkt6gt4ia","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER LXIV.\nYillah A Phantom\n\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA) by Herman Melville. The chapter, titled \"CHAPTER LXIV.\\nYillah A Phantom\", describes the sudden disappearance of Yillah from the island of Odo and Taji's subsequent grief and search for her. It was extracted from the source text file, [mardi_vol1.txt](arke:01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK), as part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is preceded by [CHAPTER LXIII.\\nOdo And Its Lord](arke:01KG8AJTRAYP4T7KHPC7NGJ455) and followed by [CHAPTER LXV.\\nTaji Makes Three Acquaintances](arke:01KG8AJTRAY321M4RJTYN8DZQT) within the narrative structure of [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA).\n\n## Contents\nThe chapter recounts Taji's brief period of happiness with Yillah on the islet of Odo, followed by her mysterious disappearance. Taji describes Yillah's beauty and the idyllic nature of their time together, which is abruptly shattered when he finds her gone one morning. The narrative details Taji's frantic search for Yillah, the involvement of Media and his followers, and the arrival of messengers, including those from Queen Hautia. The chapter concludes with Taji's grief, temporary catatonia, and eventual decision to leave Odo and search for Yillah throughout Mardi.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:11.408Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER LXIV.","end_line":6977,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.468Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER LXIV.\nYillah A Phantom","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":6894,"text":"CHAPTER LXIV.\r\nYillah A Phantom\r\n\r\n\r\nFor a time we were happy in Odo: Yillah and I in our islet. Nor did the\r\npearl on her bosom glow more rosily than the roses in her cheeks;\r\nthough at intervals they waned and departed; and deadly pale was her\r\nglance, when she murmured of the whirlpool and mosses. As pale my soul,\r\nbethinking me of Aleema the priest.\r\n\r\nBut day by day, did her spell weave round me its magic, and all the\r\nhidden things of her being grew more lovely and strange. Did I commune\r\nwith a spirit? Often I thought that Paradise had overtaken me on earth,\r\nand that Yillah was verily an angel, and hence the mysteries that\r\nhallowed her.\r\n\r\nBut how fleeting our joys. Storms follow bright dawnings.—Long memories\r\nof short-lived scenes, sad thoughts of joyous hours—how common are ye\r\nto all mankind. When happy, do we pause and say—“Lo, thy felicity, my\r\nsoul?” No: happiness seldom seems happiness, except when looked back\r\nupon from woes. A flowery landscape, you must come out of, to behold.\r\n\r\nSped the hours, the days, the one brief moment of our joys. Fairy bower\r\nin the fair lagoon, scene of sylvan ease and heart’s repose,—Oh,\r\nYillah, Yillah! All the woods repeat the sound, the wild, wild woods of\r\nmy wild soul. Yillah! Yillah! cry the small strange voices in me, and\r\nevermore, and far and deep, they echo on.\r\n\r\nDays passed. When one morning I found the arbor vacant. Gone! A dream.\r\nI closed my eyes, and would have dreamed her back. In vain. Starting, I\r\ncalled upon her name; but none replied. Fleeing from the islet, I\r\ngained the neighboring shore, and searched among the woods; and my\r\ncomrades meeting, besought their aid. But idle all. No glimpse of\r\naught, save trees and flowers. Then Media was sought out; the event\r\nmade known; and quickly, bands were summoned to range the isle.\r\n\r\nNoon came; but no Yillah. When Media averred she was no longer in Odo.\r\nWhither she was gone, or how, he knew not; nor could any imagine.\r\n\r\nAt this juncture, there chanced to arrive certain messengers from\r\nabroad; who, presuming that all was well with Taji, came with renewed\r\ninvitations to visit various pleasant places round about. Among these,\r\ncame Queen Hautia’s heralds, with their Iris flag, once more bringing\r\nflowers. But they came and went unheeded.\r\n\r\nSetting out to return, these envoys were accompanied by numerous\r\nfollowers of Media, dispatched to the neighboring islands, to seek out\r\nthe missing Yillah. But three days passed; and, one by one, they all\r\nreturned; and stood before me silently.\r\n\r\nFor a time I raved. Then, falling into outer repose, lived for a space\r\nin moods and reveries, with eyes that knew no closing, one glance\r\nforever fixed.\r\n\r\nThey strove to rouse me. Girls danced and sang; and tales of fairy\r\ntimes were told; of monstrous imps, and youths enchanted; of groves and\r\ngardens in the sea. Yet still I moved not, hearing all, yet noting\r\nnaught. Media cried, “For shame, oh Taji; thou, a god?” and placed a\r\nspear in my nerveless hand. And Jarl loud called upon me to awake.\r\nSamoa marveled.\r\n\r\nStill sped the days. And at length, my memory was restored. The\r\nthoughts of things broke over me like returning billows on a beach long\r\nbared. A rush, a foam of recollections!—Sweet Yillah gone, and I\r\nbereaved.\r\n\r\nAnother interval, and that mood was past. Misery became a memory. The\r\nkeen pang a deep vibration. The remembrance seemed the thing\r\nremembered; though bowed with sadness. There are thoughts that lie and\r\nglitter deep: tearful pearls beneath life’s sea, that surges still, and\r\nrolls sunlit, whatever it may hide. Common woes, like fluids, mix all\r\nround. Not so with that other grief. Some mourners load the air with\r\nlamentations; but the loudest notes are struck from hollows. Their\r\ntears flow fast: but the deep spring only wells.\r\n\r\nAt last I turned to Media, saying I must hie from Odo, and rove\r\nthroughout all Mardi; for Yillah might yet be found.\r\n\r\nBut hereafter, in words, little more of the maiden, till perchance her\r\nfate be learned.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER LXIV.\nYillah A Phantom"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJTRAYP4T7KHPC7NGJ455","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJTRAY321M4RJTYN8DZQT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:44.394Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:12.822Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}