{"id":"01KG8AKRWTQHY4VQZND3HCAR7A","cid":"bafkreih6cmfbdzkogvowwjb4o5ad6nw2bd5ahwnowgkmnfwdtooti7pjvy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9874,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.931Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":9821,"text":"CHAPTER LXXI.\r\nA Book From The “Ponderings Of Old Bardianna”\r\n\r\n\r\n“Now,” said Babbalanja, lighting his trombone as we sailed from the\r\nisle, “who are the monsters, we or the cripples?”\r\n\r\n“You yourself are a monster, for asking the question,” said Mohi.\r\n\r\n“And so, to the cripples I am; though not, old man, for the reason you\r\nmention. But I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon\r\nwho is made judge. There is no supreme standard yet revealed, whereby\r\nto judge of ourselves; ‘Our very instincts are prejudices,’ saith Alla\r\nMallolla; ‘Our very axioms, and postulates are far from infallible.’\r\n‘In respect of the universe, mankind is but a sect,’ saith Diloro: ‘and\r\nfirst principles but dogmas.’ What ethics prevail in the Pleiades? What\r\nthings have the synods in Sagittarius decreed?”\r\n\r\n“Never mind your old authors,” said Media. “Stick to the cripples;\r\nenlarge upon them.”\r\n\r\n“But I have done with them now, my lord; the sermon is not the text.\r\nGive ear to old Bardianna. I know him by heart. Thus saith the sage in\r\nBook X. of the Ponderings, ‘Zermalmende,’ the title: ‘Je pense,’ the\r\nmotto:—‘My supremacy over creation, boasteth man, is declared in my\r\nnatural attitude:—I stand erect! But so do the palm-trees; and the\r\ngiraffes that graze off their tops. And the fowls of the air fly high\r\nover our heads; and from the place where we fancy our heaven to be,\r\ndefile the tops of our temples. Belike, the eagles, from their eyries\r\nlook down upon us Mardians, in our hives, even as upon the beavers in\r\ntheir dams, marveling at our incomprehensible ways. And cunning though\r\nwe be, some things, hidden from us, may not be mysteries to them.\r\nHaving five keys, hold we all that open to knowledge? Deaf, blind, and\r\ndeprived of the power of scent, the bat will steer its way\r\nunerringly:—could we? Yet man is lord of the bat and the brute; lord\r\nover the crows; with whom, he must needs share the grain he garners. We\r\nsweat for the fowls, as well as ourselves. The curse of labor rests\r\nonly on us. Like slaves, we toil: at their good leisure they glean.\r\n\r\n“‘Mardi is not wholly ours. We are the least populous part of creation.\r\nTo say nothing of other tribes, a census of the herring would find us\r\nfar in the minority. And what life is to us,—sour or sweet,—so is it to\r\nthem. Like us, they die, fighting death to the last; like us, they\r\nspawn and depart. We inhabit but a crust, rough surfaces, odds and ends\r\nof the isles; the abounding lagoon being its two-thirds, its grand\r\nfeature from afar; and forever unfathomable.\r\n\r\n“‘What shaft has yet been sunk to the antipodes? What underlieth the\r\ngold mines?\r\n\r\n“‘But even here, above-ground, we grope with the sun at meridian.\r\nVainly, we seek our Northwest Passages,—old alleys, and thoroughfares\r\nof the whales.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJW01NTY9T3WTV2B4B6JJ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRWTS2JB77QKZCGYWDFG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.258Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.356Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}