{"id":"01KG8AJVBQHHASYX4CP4YTQPQH","cid":"bafkreicmbakmocmiubb7varjx4sib7amgbcnlwfolya3442a4jhuu5mvgi","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER LXVIII.\nKing Media Dreams\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN) by Herman Melville. It was extracted from the file [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9) and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The chapter appears between [CHAPTER LXVII. They Visit One Doxodox](arke:01KG8AJVBQXDHHTJF6V7BF5247) and [CHAPTER LXIX.\nAfter A Long Interval, By Night They Are Becalmed](arke:01KG8AJVBQBH4JSE0BTJZRSEAK).\n## Context\nThis chapter is part of Melville's novel, *Mardi*, a work included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The novel was extracted from the text file [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9).\n## Contents\nThe chapter depicts King Media in a dream-like state, where he expresses concerns about his subjects and their understanding of the world. The characters Yoomy, Babbalanja, and Mohi observe and comment on Media's mutterings, revealing his anxieties about his rule in Odo. Media awakens, seemingly unaware of the secrets he revealed in his sleep, and calls for wine.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:00.301Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER LXVIII.","end_line":9515,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.723Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER LXVIII.\nKing Media Dreams","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":9447,"text":"CHAPTER LXVIII.\r\nKing Media Dreams\r\n\r\n\r\nThat afternoon was melting down to eve; all but Media broad awake; yet\r\nall motionless, as the slumberer upon the purple mat. Sailing on, with\r\nopen eyes, we slept the wakeful sleep of those, who to the body only\r\ngive repose, while the spirit still toils on, threading her mountain\r\npasses.\r\n\r\nKing Media’s slumbers were like the helmed sentry’s in the saddle. From\r\nthem, he started like an antlered deer, bursting from out a copse. Some\r\nsaid he never slept; that deep within himself he but intensified the\r\nhour; or, leaving his crowned brow in marble quiet, unseen, departed to\r\nfar-off councils of the gods. Howbeit, his lids never closed; in the\r\nnoonday sun, those crystal eyes, like diamonds, sparkled with a fixed\r\nlight.\r\n\r\nAs motionless we thus reclined, Media turned and muttered:—“Brother\r\ngods, and demi-gods, it is not well. These mortals should have less or\r\nmore. Among my subjects is a man, whose genius scorns the common\r\ntheories of things; but whose still mortal mind can not fathom the\r\nocean at his feet. His soul’s a hollow, wherein he raves.”\r\n\r\n“List, list,” whispered Yoomy—“our lord is dreaming; and what a royal\r\ndream.”\r\n\r\n“A very royal and imperial dream,” said Babbalanja—“he is arraigning me\r\nbefore high heaven;—ay, ay; in dreams, at least, he deems himself a\r\ndemi-god.”\r\n\r\n“Hist,” said Mohi—“he speaks again.”\r\n\r\n“Gods and demi-gods! With one gesture all abysses we may disclose; and\r\nbefore this Mardi’s eyes, evoke the shrouded time to come. Were this\r\nwell? Like lost children groping in the woods, they falter through\r\ntheir tangled paths; and at a thousand angles, baffled, start upon each\r\nother. And even when they make an onward move, ’tis but an endless\r\nvestibule, that leads to naught. In my own isle of Odo—Odo! Odo! How\r\nrules my viceroy there?—Down, down, ye madding mobs! Ho, spearmen,\r\ncharge! By the firmament, but my halberdiers fly!”\r\n\r\n“His dream has changed,” said Babbalanja. “He is in Odo, whither his\r\nanxieties impel him.”\r\n\r\n“Hist, hist,” said Yoomy.\r\n\r\n“I leap upon the soil! Render thy account, Almanni! Where’s my throne?\r\nMohi, am I not a king? Do not thy chronicles record me? Yoomy, am I not\r\nthe soul of some one glorious song? Babbalanja, speak.—Mohi! Yoomy!”\r\n\r\n“What is it, my lord? thou dost but dream.”\r\n\r\nStaring wildly; then calmly gazing round, Media smiled. “Ha! how we\r\nroyalties ramble in our dreams! I’ve told no secrets?”\r\n\r\n“While he seemed to sleep, my lord spoke much,” said Mohi.\r\n\r\n“I knew it not, old man; nor would now; but that ye tell me.”\r\n\r\n“We dream not ourselves,” said Babbalanja, “but the thing within us.”\r\n\r\n“Ay?—good-morrow Azzageddi!—But come; no more dreams: Vee-Vee! wine.”\r\n\r\nAnd straight through that livelong night, immortal Media plied the can.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER LXVIII.\nKing Media Dreams"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJVBQXDHHTJF6V7BF5247","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJVBQBH4JSE0BTJZRSEAK","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:45.015Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:00.977Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}