{"id":"01KG8AKZKX0X9K8W0FYCFF4H6H","cid":"bafkreigvd4cbvomm4h4ubxq5gohpedh53u4z75qcds3n6d3ycsmj44kmx4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11311,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.539Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":11225,"text":"CHAPTER CIV.\r\nWherein Babbalanja Broaches A Diabolical Theory, And In His Own Person\r\nProves It\r\n\r\n\r\n“A truce!” cried Media, “here comes a gallant before the wind.—Look,\r\nTaji!”\r\n\r\nTurning, we descried a sharp-prowed canoe, dashing on, under the\r\npressure of an immense triangular sail, whose outer edges were\r\nstreaming with long, crimson pennons. Flying before it, were several\r\nsmall craft, belonging to the poorer sort of Islanders.\r\n\r\n“Out of his way there, ye laggards,” cried Media, “or that mad prince,\r\nTribonnora, will ride over ye with a rush!”\r\n\r\n“And who is Tribonnora,” said Babbalanja, “that he thus bravely diverts\r\nhimself, running down innocent paddlers?”\r\n\r\n“A harum-scarum young chief,” replied Media, “heir to three islands; he\r\nlikes nothing better than the sport you now see see him at.”\r\n\r\n“He must be possessed by a devil,” said Mohi.\r\n\r\nSaid Babbalanja, “Then he is only like all of us.” “What say you?”\r\ncried Media.\r\n\r\n“I say, as old Bardianna in the Nine hundred and ninety ninth book of\r\nhis immortal Ponderings saith, that all men—”\r\n\r\n“As I live, my lord, he has swamped three canoes,” cried Mohi, pointing\r\noff the beam.\r\n\r\nBut just then a fiery fin-back whale, having broken into the paddock of\r\nthe lagoon, threw up a high fountain of foam, almost under Tribonnora’s\r\nnose; who, quickly turning about his canoe, cur-like slunk off; his\r\nsteering-paddle between his legs.\r\n\r\nComments over; “Babbalanja, you were going to quote,” said Media.\r\n“Proceed.”\r\n\r\n“Thank you, my lord. Says old Bardianna, ‘All men are possessed by\r\ndevils; but as these devils are sent into men, and kept in them, for an\r\nadditional punishment; not garrisoning a fortress, but limboed in a\r\nbridewell; so, it may be more just to say, that the devils themselves\r\nare possessed by men, not men by them.’”\r\n\r\n“Faith!” cried Media, “though sometimes a bore, your old Bardianna is a\r\ntrump.”\r\n\r\n“I have long been of that mind, my lord. But let me go on. Says\r\nBardianna, ‘Devils are divers;—strong devils, and weak devils; knowing\r\ndevils, and silly devils; mad devils, and mild devils; devils, merely\r\ndevils; devils, themselves bedeviled; devils, doubly bedeviled.”\r\n\r\n“And in the devil’s name, what sort of a devil is yours?” cried Mohi.\r\n\r\n“Of him anon; interrupt me not, old man. Thus, then, my lord, as devils\r\nare divers, divers are the devils in men. Whence, the wide difference\r\nwe see. But after all, the main difference is this:—that one man’s\r\ndevil is only more of a devil than another’s; and be bedeviled as much\r\nas you will; yet, may you perform the most bedeviled of actions with\r\nimpunity, so long as you only bedevil yourself. For it is only when\r\nyour deviltry injures another, that the other devils conspire to\r\nconfine yours for a mad one. That is to say, if you be easily handled.\r\nFor there are many bedeviled Bedlamites in Mardi, doing an infinity of\r\nmischief, who are too brawny in the arms to be tied.”\r\n\r\n“A very devilish doctrine that,” cried Mohi. “I don’t believe it.”\r\n\r\n“My lord,” said Babbalanja, “here’s collateral proof;—the sage lawgiver\r\nYamjamma, who flourished long before Bardianna, roundly asserts, that\r\nall men who knowingly do evil are bedeviled; for good is happiness;\r\nhappiness the object of living; and evil is not good.”\r\n\r\n“If the sage Yamjamma said that,” said old Mohi, “the sage Yamjamma\r\nmight have bettered the saying; it’s not quite so plain as it might\r\nbe.”\r\n\r\n“Yamjamma disdained to be plain; he scorned to be fully comprehended by\r\nmortals. Like all oracles, he dealt in dark sayings. But old Bardianna\r\nwas of another sort; he spoke right out, going straight to the point\r\nlike a javelin; especially when he laid it down for a universal maxim,\r\nthat minus exceptions, all men are bedeviled.”\r\n\r\n“Of course, then,” said Media, “you include yourself among the number.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJP4QDJVJYTQ1DSESTXJE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKZM15SQ1TAK6JY6BKTH9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:22.141Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.817Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}