{"id":"01KG8AKT01MR4832SD55W8QAES","cid":"bafkreiekbirgjzer3ct2trq3fgpmkscb6cyxtber46e76y5tmqchlb6gie","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7174,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":7119,"text":"myself. And many a time have I not only vainly sought to check my\r\nlaughter, but at some recitals I have both laughed and cried. But can\r\nopposite emotions be simultaneous in one being? No. I wanted to weep;\r\nbut my body wanted to smile, and between us we almost choked. My lord\r\nMedia, this man’s body laughs; not the man himself.”\r\n\r\n“But his body is his own, Babbalanja; and he should have it under\r\nbetter control.”\r\n\r\n“The common error, my lord. Our souls belong to our bodies, not our\r\nbodies to our souls. For which has the care of the other? which keeps\r\nhouse? which looks after the replenishing of the aorta and auricles,\r\nand stores away the secretions? Which toils and ticks while the other\r\nsleeps? Which is ever giving timely hints, and elderly warnings? Which\r\nis the most authoritative?—Our bodies, surely. At a hint, you must\r\nmove; at a notice to quit, you depart. Simpletons show us, that a body\r\ncan get along almost without a soul; but of a soul getting along\r\nwithout a body, we have no tangible and indisputable proof. My lord,\r\nthe wisest of us breathe involuntarily. And how many millions there are\r\nwho live from day to day by the incessant operation of subtle processes\r\nin them, of which they know nothing, and care less? Little ween they,\r\nof vessels lacteal and lymphatic, of arteries femoral and temporal; of\r\npericranium or pericardium; lymph, chyle, fibrin, albumen, iron in the\r\nblood, and pudding in the head; they live by the charity of their\r\nbodies, to which they are but butlers. I say, my lord, our bodies are\r\nour betters. A soul so simple, that it prefers evil to good, is lodged\r\nin a frame, whose minutest action is full of unsearchable wisdom.\r\nKnowing this superiority of theirs, our bodies are inclined to be\r\nwillful: our beards grow in spite of us; and as every one knows, they\r\nsometimes grow on dead men.”\r\n\r\n“You mortals are alive, then, when you are dead, Babbalanja.”\r\n\r\n“No, my lord; but our beards survive us.”\r\n\r\n“An ingenious distinction; go on, philosopher.”\r\n\r\n“Without bodies, my lord, we Mardians would be minus our strongest\r\nmotive-passions, those which, in some way or other, root under our\r\nevery action. Hence, without bodies, we must be something else than we\r\nessentially are. Wherefore, that saying imputed to Alma, and which, by\r\nhis very followers, is deemed the most hard to believe of all his\r\ninstructions, and the most at variance with all preconceived notions of\r\nimmortality, I Babbalanja, account the most reasonable of his doctrinal\r\nteachings. It is this;—that at the last day, every man shall rise in\r\nthe flesh.”\r\n\r\n“Pray, Babbalanja, talk not of resurrections to a demi-god.”\r\n\r\n“Then let me rehearse a story, my lord. You will find it in the ‘Very\r\nMerry Marvelings’ of the Improvisitor Quiddi; and a quaint book it is.\r\nFugle-fi is its finis:—fugle-fi, fugle-fo, fugle-fogle-orum!”\r\n\r\n“That wild look in his eye again,” murmured Yoomy. “Proceed,\r\nAzzageddi,” said Media.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTNYJAJVPY249XHCDNG8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT01XNPAEZM1KZGZVNZF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSZYADP7WEKTGGE6F9Z1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.385Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.966Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}