{"id":"01KG8AKMH3BK6FB0E3PG26CSEB","cid":"bafkreihvqdzjizepcgrap2foc4lf6zjynonl66agbn4depcyjmhwakdqs4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1184,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":1120,"text":"because of obvious and undeniable things all round us; which, to me,\r\nseem at war with an unreserved faith in his doctrines as promulgated\r\nhere in Maramma. Besides; every thing in this isle strengthens my\r\nincredulity; I never was so thorough a disbeliever as now.”\r\n\r\n“Let the winds be laid,” cried Mohi, “while your rash confession is\r\nbeing made in this sacred lake.”\r\n\r\nSaid Media, “Philosopher; remember the boy, and they that seized him.”\r\n\r\n“Ah! I do indeed remember him. Poor youth! in his agony, how my heart\r\nyearned toward his. But that very prudence which you deny me, my lord,\r\nprevented me from saying aught in his behalf. Have you not observed,\r\nthat until now, when we are completely by ourselves, I have refrained\r\nfrom freely discoursing of what we have seen in this island? Trust me,\r\nmy lord, there is no man, that bears more in mind the necessity of\r\nbeing either a believer or a hypocrite in Maramma, and the imminent\r\nperil of being honest here, than I, Babbalanja. And have I not reason\r\nto be wary, when in my boyhood, my own sire was burnt for his temerity;\r\nand in this very isle? Just Oro! it was done in the name of Alma,—what\r\nwonder then, that, at times, I almost hate that sound. And from those\r\nflames, they devoutly swore he went to others,—horrible fable!”\r\n\r\nSaid Mohi: “Do you deny, then, the everlasting torments?”\r\n\r\n“’Tis not worth a denial. Nor by formally denying it, will I run the\r\nrisk of shaking the faith of, thousands, who in that pious belief find\r\ninfinite consolation for all they suffer in Mardi.”\r\n\r\n“How?” said Media; “are there those who soothe themselves with the\r\nthought of everlasting flames?”\r\n\r\n“One would think so, my lord, since they defend that dogma more\r\nresolutely than any other. Sooner will they yield you the isles of\r\nParadise, than it. And in truth, as liege followers of Alma, they would\r\nseem but right in clinging to it as they do; for, according to all one\r\nhears in Maramma, the great end of the prophet’s mission seems to have\r\nbeen the revealing to us Mardians the existence of horrors, most hard\r\nto escape. But better we were all annihilated, than that one man should\r\nbe damned.”\r\n\r\nRejoined Media: “But think you not, that possibly, Alma may have been\r\nmisconceived? Are you certain that doctrine is his?”\r\n\r\n“I know nothing more than that such is the belief in this land. And in\r\nthese matters, I know not where else to go for information. But, my\r\nlord, had I been living in those days when certain men are said to have\r\nbeen actually possessed by spirits from hell, I had not let slip the\r\nopportunity—as our forefathers did—to cross-question them concerning\r\nthe place they came from.”\r\n\r\n“Well, well,” said Media, “your Alma’s faith concerns not me: I am a\r\nking, and a demi-god; and leave vulgar torments to the commonality.”\r\n\r\n“But it concerns me,” muttered Mohi; “yet I know not what to think.”\r\n\r\n“For me,” said Yoomy, “I reject it. Could I, I would not believe it. It\r\nis at variance with the dictates of my heart instinctively my heart\r\nturns from it, as a thirsty man from gall.”\r\n\r\n“Hush; say no more,” said Mohi; “again we approach the shore.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ135PZD0GZ8DK7SJPA4","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKMH32FS476WSVQZEKFCN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:10.787Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.047Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}