{"id":"01KG8AKW9TPAG7KRV7BX1E7CAS","cid":"bafkreigyobmnmcl25vlqv3w4wjhi3dprv7inzdw7cl434nmkuxnruy3dia","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7455,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.539Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":7376,"text":"CHAPTER LXIX.\r\nThe Company Discourse, And Braid-Beard Rehearses A Legend\r\n\r\n\r\nFinding in Valapee no trace of her whom we sought, and but little\r\npleased with the cringing demeanor of the people, and the wayward\r\nfollies of Peepi their lord, we early withdrew from the isle.\r\n\r\nAs we glided away, King Media issued a sociable decree. He declared it\r\nhis royal pleasure, that throughout the voyage, all stiffness and state\r\netiquette should be suspended: nothing must occur to mar the freedom of\r\nthe party. To further this charming plan, he doffed his symbols of\r\nroyalty, put off his crown, laid aside his scepter, and assured us that\r\nhe would not wear them again, except when we landed; and not\r\ninvariably, then.\r\n\r\n“Are we not all now friends and companions?” he said. “So companions\r\nand friends let us be. I unbend my bow; do ye likewise.”\r\n\r\n“But are we not to be dignified?” asked Babbalanja.\r\n\r\n“If dignity be free and natural, be as dignified as you please; but\r\naway with rigidities.”\r\n\r\n“Away they go,” said Babbalanja; “and, my lord, now that you mind me of\r\nit, I have often thought, that it is all folly and vanity for any man\r\nto attempt a dignified carriage. Why, my lord,”—frankly crossing his\r\nlegs where he lay—“the king, who receives his ambassadors with a\r\nmajestic toss of the head, may have just recovered from the tooth-\r\nache. That thought should cant over the spine he bears so bravely.”\r\n\r\n“Have a care, sir! there is a king within hearing.”\r\n\r\n“Pardon, my lord; I was merely availing myself of the immunity bestowed\r\nupon the company. Hereafter, permit a subject to rebel against your\r\nsociable decrees. I will not be so frank any more.”\r\n\r\n“Well put, Babbalanja; come nearer; here, cross your legs by mine; you\r\nhave risen a cubit in my regard. Vee-Vee, bring us that gourd of wine;\r\nso, pass it round with the cups. Now, Yoomy, a song!”\r\n\r\nAnd a song was sung.\r\n\r\nAnd thus did we sail; pleasantly reclining on the mats stretched out\r\nbeneath the canopied howdah.\r\n\r\nAt length, we drew nigh to a rock, called Pella, or The Theft. A high,\r\ngreen crag, toppling over its base, and flinging a cavernous shadow\r\nupon the lagoon beneath, bubbling with the moisture that dropped.\r\n\r\nPassing under this cliff was like finding yourself, as some sea-\r\nhunters unexpectedly have, beneath the open, upper jaw of a whale;\r\nwhich, descending, infallibly entombs you. But familiar with the rock,\r\nour paddlers only threw back their heads, to catch the cool, pleasant\r\ntricklings from the mosses above.\r\n\r\nWiping away several glittering beads from his beard, old Mohi turning\r\nround where he sat, just outside the canopy, solemnly affirmed, that\r\nthe drinking of that water had cured many a man of ambition.\r\n\r\n“How so, old man?” demanded Media.\r\n\r\n“Because of its passing through the ashes of ten kings, of yore buried\r\nin a sepulcher, hewn in the heart of the rock.”\r\n\r\n“Mighty kings, and famous, doubtless,” said Babbalanja, “whose bones\r\nwere thought worthy of so noble and enduring as urn. Pray, Mohi, their\r\nnames and terrible deeds.”\r\n\r\n“Alas! their sepulcher only remains.”\r\n\r\n“And, no doubt, like many others, they made that sepul for themselves.\r\nThey sleep sound, my word for it, old man. But I very much question,\r\nif, were the rock rent, any ashes would be found. Mohi, I deny that\r\nthose kings ever had any bones to bury.”\r\n\r\n“Why, Babbalanja,” said Media, “since you intimate that they never had\r\nghosts to give up, you ignore them in toto; denying the very fact of\r\ntheir being even defunct.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVHTAE1QV7CGDG9DQPA8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKW9T0NS2T97F01SRX6T7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.746Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.563Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}