{"id":"01KG8AKKBTQTFZ8D1TGEASBXTZ","cid":"bafkreicfc6asmshciqlkdx3zjbhp2bql4zfj46qf5xfhtccgsonlvqogiq","type":"subsection","properties":{"description":"# Yoomy Relates A Legend (continued)\n## Overview\nThis is a subsection from Chapter XCIII of Herman Melville's novel *Mardi: And a Voyage Thither*, extracted from the text file [mardi_vol1.txt](arke:01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK). It is the continuation of a legend told by the character Yoomy.\n\n## Context\nThis subsection is part of [CHAPTER XCIII. Babbalanja Steps In Between Mohi And Yoomy; And Yoomy Relates A Legend](arke:01KG8AJWVTKMC0EZ4WMWPFQ2BB) which is part of the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA), found within the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It directly follows the subsection [Yoomy Relates A Legend](arke:01KG8AKKBPTYX4FN8RR9XR91E3) and precedes [Babbalanja Steps In Between Mohi And Yoomy; And Discussion Resumes](arke:01KG8AKKBT1S4SF5P9N43AW4VR).\n\n## Contents\nThis subsection continues Yoomy's legend about a race of diminutive people inhabiting the shores of Tupia. It describes their interactions with the sea, including making love to mermaids, racing with sea-urchins, and tormenting sea creatures. The legend also details the adornments of these little people, such as girdles of fragrant leaves and necklaces of aromatic seeds for the manikins, and pearls and porpoise teeth bracelets for the damsels. The narrative is interrupted by Mohi's skeptical questions, and at the end of the section, Mohi questions the credibility of Yoomy's story.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:25.003Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Yoomy Relates A Legend (continued)","end_line":10088,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.388Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Yoomy Relates A Legend (continued)","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":10045,"text":"“Then the little manikins would dive down into the sea, and rove about\r\nin the coral groves, making love to the mermaids. Or, racing round,\r\nmake a mad merry night of it with the sea-urchins:—plucking the\r\nreverend mullets by the beard; serenading the turtles in their cells;\r\nworrying the sea-nettles; or tormenting with their antics the touchy\r\ntorpedos. Sometimes they went prying about with the starfish, that have\r\nan eye at the end of each ray; and often with coral files in their\r\nhands stole upon slumbering swordfish, slyly blunting their weapons. In\r\nshort, these stout little manikins were passionately fond of the sea,\r\nand swore by wave and billow, that sooner or later they would embark\r\nthereon in nautilus shells, and spend the rest of their roving days\r\nthousands of inches from Tupia. Too true, they were shameless little\r\nrakes. Oft would they return to their sweethearts, sporting musky\r\ngirdles of sea-kelp, tasseled with green little pouches of grass,\r\nbrimful of seed-pearls; and jingling their coin in the ears of the\r\ndamsels, throw out inuendoes about the beautiful and bountiful\r\nmermaids: how wealthy and amorous they were, and how they delighted in\r\nthe company of the brave gallants of Tupia. Ah! at such heartless\r\nbravadoes, how mourned the poor little nymphs. Deep into their arbors\r\nthey went; and their little hearts burst like rose-buds, and filled the\r\nwhole air with an odorous grief. But when their lovers were gentle and\r\ntrue, no happier maidens haunted the lilies than they. By some mystical\r\nprocess they wrought minute balls of light: touchy, mercurial globules,\r\nvery hard to handle; and with these, at pitch and toss, they played in\r\nthe groves. Or mischievously inclined, they toiled all night long at\r\nbraiding the moon-beams together, and entangling the plaited end to a\r\nbough; so that at night, the poor planet had much ado to set.”\r\n\r\nHere Yoomy once more was mute.\r\n\r\n“Pause you to invent as you go on?” said old Mohi, elevating his chin,\r\ntill his beard was horizontal.\r\n\r\nYoomy resumed.\r\n\r\n“Little or nothing more, my masters, is extant of the legend; only it\r\nmust be mentioned, that these little people were very tasteful in their\r\npersonal adornings; the manikins wearing girdles of fragrant leaves,\r\nand necklaces of aromatic seeds; and the little damsels, not content\r\nwith their vines, and their verdure, sporting pearls in their ears;\r\nbracelets of wee little porpoise teeth; and oftentimes dancing with\r\ntheir mates in the moonlit glades, coquettishly fanned themselves with\r\nthe transparent wings of the flying fish.”\r\n\r","title":"Yoomy Relates A Legend (continued)"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWVTKMC0EZ4WMWPFQ2BB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKBPTYX4FN8RR9XR91E3","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKBT1S4SF5P9N43AW4VR","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.594Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:25.535Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}