{"id":"01KG8AKT5ADDFWVGB3S6E4690T","cid":"bafkreif35xgmuzzxi64w4dia6dnlnh6wyorpm5uokolsszogp6cegd3q4y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11203,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.931Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":11128,"text":"And charge all did.\r\n\r\nThe venison, wild boar’s meat, and buffalo-humps, were extraordinary;\r\nthe wine, of rare vintages, like bottled lightning; and the first\r\ncourse, a brilliant affair, went off like a rocket.\r\n\r\nBut as yet, Babbalanja joined not in the revels. His mood was on him;\r\nand apart he sat; silently eyeing the banquet; and ever and anon\r\nmuttering,—“Fogle-foggle, fugle-fi.—”\r\n\r\nThe first fury of the feast over, said King Media, pouring out from a\r\nheavy flagon into his goblet, “Abrazza, these suppers are wondrous fine\r\nthings.”\r\n\r\n“Ay, my dear lord, much better than dinners.”\r\n\r\n“So they are, so they are. The dinner-hour is the summer of the day:\r\nfull of sunshine, I grant; but not like the mellow autumn of supper. A\r\ndinner, you know, may go off rather stiffly; but invariably suppers are\r\njovial. At dinners, ’tis not till you take in sail, furl the cloth, bow\r\nthe lady-passengers out, and make all snug; ’tis not till then, that\r\none begins to ride out the gale with complacency. But at these\r\nsuppers—Good Oro! your cup is empty, my dear demi-god!—But at these\r\nsuppers, I say, all is snug and ship-shape before you begin; and when\r\nyou begin, you waive the beginning, and begin in the middle. And as for\r\nthe cloth,—but tell us, Braid-Beard, what that old king of Franko,\r\nLudwig the Fat, said of that matter. The cloth for suppers, you know.\r\nIt’s down in your chronicles.”\r\n\r\n“My lord,”—wiping his beard,—“Old Ludwig was of opinion, that at\r\nsuppers the cloth was superfluous, unless on the back of some jolly\r\ngood friar. Said he, ‘For one, I prefer sitting right down to the\r\nunrobed table.’”\r\n\r\n“High and royal authority, that of Ludwig the Fat,” said Babbalanja,\r\n“far higher than the authority of Ludwig the Great:—the one, only great\r\nby courtesy; the other, fat beyond a peradventure. But they are equally\r\nfamous; and in their graves, both on a par. For after devouring many a\r\nfair province, and grinding the poor of his realm, Ludwig the Great has\r\nlong since, himself, been devoured by very small worms, and ground into\r\nvery fine dust. And after stripping many a venison rib, Ludwig the Fat\r\nhas had his own polished and bleached in the Valley of Death; yea, and\r\nhis cranium chased with corrodings, like the carved flagon once held to\r\nits jaws.”\r\n\r\n“My lord! my lord!”—cried Abrazza to Media—“this ghastly devil of yours\r\ngrins worse than a skull. I feel the worms crawling over me!—By Oro we\r\nmust eject him!”\r\n\r\n“No, no, my lord. Let him sit there, as of old the Death’s-head graced\r\nthe feasts of the Pharaohs—let him sit—let him sit—for Death but\r\nimparts a flavor to Life—Go on: wag your tongue without fear,\r\nAzzageddi!—But come, Braid-Beard! let’s hear more of the Ludwigs.”\r\n\r\n“Well, then, your Highness, of all the eighteen royal Ludwigs of\r\nFranko—”\r\n\r\n“Who like so many ten-pins, all in a row,” interposed Babbalanja— “have\r\nbeen bowled off the course by grim Death.”\r\n\r\n“Heed him not,” said Media—“go on.”\r\n\r\n“The Debonnaire, the Pious, the Stammerer, the Do-Nothing, the\r\nJuvenile, the Quarreler:—of all these, I say, Ludwig the Fat was the\r\nbest table-man of them all. Such a full orbed paunch was his, that no\r\nway could he devise of getting to his suppers, but by getting right\r\ninto them. Like the Zodiac his table was circular, and full in the\r\nmiddle he sat, like a sun;—all his jolly stews and ragouts revolving\r\naround him.”\r\n\r\n“Yea,” said Babbalanja, “a very round sun was Ludwig the Fat. No wonder\r\nhe’s down in the chronicles; several ells about the waist, and King of\r\ncups and Tokay. Truly, a famous king: three hundred-weight of lard,\r\nwith a diadem on top: lean brains and a fat doublet—a demijohn of a\r\ndemi-god!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJW038SPT30W81W3A9MBY","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT5ARRT9TN32XQK2V5H2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT5AQKX64H99FBQ2NVXH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.554Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.609Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}