{"id":"01KG8AKYV1MCDRKVM8W8JPVM7Z","cid":"bafkreigicdpvikqbm3vfetylgxsqylxfgxguk563pdq3svzeymoujt47qe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10762,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.539Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":10670,"text":"CHAPTER XCIX.\r\n“Marnee Ora, Ora Marnee”\r\n\r\n\r\nDuring the afternoon of the day of the diver’s decease, preparations\r\nwere making for paying the last rites to his remains, and carrying them\r\nby torch-light to their sepulcher, the sea; for, as in Odo, so was the\r\ncustom here.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, all over the isle, to and fro went heralds, dismally\r\narrayed, beating shark-skin drums; and, at intervals, crying—“A man is\r\ndead; let no fires be kindled; have mercy, oh Oro!—Let no canoes put to\r\nsea till the burial. This night, oh Oro!—Let no food be cooked.”\r\n\r\nAnd ever and anon, passed and repassed these, others in brave attire;\r\nwith castanets of pearl shells, making gay music; and these sang—\r\n\r\nBe merry, oh men of Mondoldo,\r\n    A maiden this night is to wed:\r\nBe merry, oh damsels of Mardi,—\r\n    Flowers, flowers for the bridal bed.\r\n\r\n\r\nInformed that the preliminary rites were about being rendered, we\r\nrepaired to the arbor, whither the body had been removed.\r\n\r\nArrayed in white, it was laid out on a mat; its arms mutely crossed,\r\nbetween its lips an asphodel; at the feet, a withered hawthorn bough.\r\n\r\nThe relatives were wailing, and cutting themselves with shells, so that\r\nblood flowed, and spotted their vesture.\r\n\r\nUpon remonstrating with the most abandoned of these mourners, the wife\r\nof the diver, she exclaimed, “Yes; great is the pain, but greater my\r\naffliction.”\r\n\r\nAnother, the deaf sire of the dead, went staggering about, and groping;\r\nsaying, that he was now quite blind; for some months previous he had\r\nlost one eye in the death of his eldest son and now the other was gone.\r\n\r\n“I am childless,” he cried; “henceforth call me Roi Mori,” that is,\r\nTwice-Blind.\r\n\r\nWhile the relatives were thus violently lamenting, the rest of the\r\ncompany occasionally scratched themselves with their shells; but very\r\nslightly, and mostly on the soles of their feet; from long exposure,\r\nquite callous. This was interrupted, however, when the real mourners\r\naverted their eyes; though at no time was there any deviation in the\r\nlength of their faces.\r\n\r\nBut on all sides, lamentations afresh broke forth, upon the appearance\r\nof a person who had been called in to assist in solemnizing the\r\nobsequies, and also to console the afflicted.\r\n\r\nIn rotundity, he was another Borabolla. He puffed and panted.\r\n\r\nAs he approached the corpse, a sobbing silence ensued; when holding the\r\nhand of the dead, between his, the stranger thus spoke:—\r\n\r\n“Mourn not, oh friends of Karhownoo, that this your brother lives not.\r\nHis wounded head pains him no more; he would not feel it, did a javelin\r\npierce him. Yea; Karhownoo is exempt from all the ills and evils of\r\nthis miserable Mardi!”\r\n\r\nHereupon, the Twice-Blind, who being deaf, heard not what was said,\r\ntore his gray hair, and cried, “Alas! alas! my boy; thou wert the\r\nmerriest man in Mardi, and now thy pranks are over!”\r\n\r\nBut the other proceeded—“Mourn not, I say, oh friends of Karhownoo; the\r\ndead whom ye deplore is happier than the living; is not his spirit in\r\nthe aerial isles?”\r\n\r\n“True! true!” responded the raving wife, mingling her blood with her\r\ntears, “my own poor hapless Karhownoo is thrice happy in Paradise!” And\r\nanew she wailed, and lacerated her cheeks.\r\n\r\n“Rave not, I say.”\r\n\r\nBut she only raved the more.\r\n\r\nAnd now the good stranger departed; saying, he must hie to a wedding,\r\nwaiting his presence in an arbor adjoining.\r\n\r\nUnderstanding that the removal of the body would not take place till\r\nmidnight, we thought to behold the mode of marrying in Mondoldo.\r\n\r\nDrawing near the place, we were greeted by merry voices, and much\r\nsinging, which greatly increased when the good stranger was perceived.\r\n\r\nGayly arrayed in fine robes, with plumes on their heads, the bride and\r\ngroom stood in the middle of a joyous throng, in readiness for the\r\nnuptial bond to be tied.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWVXPP13NE17MPTAAVDR","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKZKMBTTV7HMQMK2ZDZ27","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.345Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.686Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}