{"id":"01KG8AKQ1APQYK4MX9DGQM4TGN","cid":"bafkreicdfotevgvyacoip5bz5l4z52kmxygj3ptncsb3joxozn6vmxbdue","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4704,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":4628,"text":"CHAPTER XXXIV.\r\nOf The Isle Of Diranda\r\n\r\n\r\nIn good time the shores of Diranda were in sight. And, introductory to\r\nlanding, Braid-Beard proceeded to give us some little account of the\r\nisland, and its rulers.\r\n\r\nAs previously hinted, those very magnificent and illustrious lord\r\nseigniors, the lord seigniors Hello and Piko, who between them divided\r\nDiranda, delighted in all manner of public games, especially warlike\r\nones; which last were celebrated so frequently, and were so fatal in\r\ntheir results, that, not-withstanding the multiplicity of nuptials\r\ntaking place in the isle, its population remained in equilibrio. But,\r\nstrange to relate, this was the very object which the lord seigniors\r\nhad in view; the very object they sought to compass, by instituting\r\ntheir games. Though, for the most part, they wisely kept the secret\r\nlocked up.\r\n\r\nBut to tell how the lord seigniors Hello and Piko came to join hands in\r\nthis matter.\r\n\r\nDiranda had been amicably divided between them ever since the day they\r\nwere crowned; one reigning king in the East, the other in the West. But\r\nKing Piko had been long harassed with the thought, that the\r\nunobstructed and indefinite increase of his browsing subjects might\r\neventually denude of herbage his portion of the island. Posterity,\r\nthought he, is marshaling her generations in squadrons, brigades, and\r\nbattalions, and ere long will be down upon my devoted empire. Lo! her\r\nlocust cavalry darken the skies; her light-troop pismires cover the\r\nearth. Alas! my son and successor, thou wilt inhale choke-damp for air,\r\nand have not a private corner to say thy prayers.\r\n\r\nBy a sort of arithmetical progression, the probability, nay, the\r\ncertainty of these results, if not in some way averted, was proved to\r\nKing Piko; and he was furthermore admonished, that war—war to the haft\r\nwith King Hello—was the only cure for so menacing an evil.\r\n\r\nBut so it was, that King Piko, at peace with King Hello, and well\r\ncontent with, the tranquillity of the times, little relished the idea\r\nof picking a quarrel with his neighbor, and running its risks, in order\r\nto phlebotomize his redundant population.\r\n\r\n“Patience, most illustrious seignior,” said another of his sagacious\r\nAhithophels, “and haply a pestilence may decimate the people.”\r\n\r\nBut no pestilence came. And in every direction the young men and\r\nmaidens were recklessly rushing into wedlock; and so salubrious the\r\nclimate, that the old men stuck to the outside of the turf, and refused\r\nto go under.\r\n\r\nAt last some Machiavel of a philosopher suggested, that peradventure\r\nthe object of war might be answered without going to war; that\r\nperadventure King Hello might be brought to acquiesce in an\r\narrangement, whereby the men of Diranda might be induced to kill off\r\none another voluntarily, in a peaceable manner, without troubling their\r\nrulers. And to this end, the games before mentioned were proposed.\r\n\r\n“Egad! my wise ones, you have hit it,” cried Piko; “but will Hello say\r\nay?”\r\n\r\n“Try him, most illustrious seignior,” said Machiavel.\r\n\r\nSo to Hello went embassadors ordinary and extraordinary, and ministers\r\nplenipotentiary and peculiar; and anxiously King Piko awaited their\r\nreturn.\r\n\r\nThe mission was crowned with success.\r\n\r\nSaid King Hello to the ministers, in confidence:—“The very thing, Dons,\r\nthe very thing I have wanted. My people are increasing too fast. They\r\nkeep up the succession too well. Tell your illustrious master it’s a\r\nbargain. The games! the games! by all means.”\r\n\r\nSo, throughout the island, by proclamation, they were forthwith\r\nestablished; succeeding to a charm.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBNSJG790G3F7NEF9RW","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKQ1AFETKCTABSZ0WJN4B","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:13.354Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:22.238Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}