{"id":"01KG8AM1R82XPVJEZ8FPB7KTHD","cid":"bafkreiazspjurcvd4bth6jbzdc7mepkijsd5yujr2imrnxl5xmchpqqwhy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6161,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":6082,"text":"CHAPTER LVI.\r\nKing Media A Host\r\n\r\n\r\nStriking into a grove, about sunset we emerged upon a fine, clear\r\nspace, and spied a city in the woods.\r\n\r\nIn the middle of all, like a generalissimo’s marquee among tents, was a\r\nstructure more imposing than the rest. Here, abode King Media.\r\n\r\nDisposed round a space some fifty yards square, were many palm posts\r\nstaked firmly in the earth. A man’s height from the ground, these\r\nsupported numerous horizontal trunks, upon which lay a flooring of\r\nhabiscus. High over this dais, but resting upon independent supports\r\nbeyond, a gable-ended roof sloped away to within a short distance of\r\nthe ground.\r\n\r\nSuch was the palace.\r\n\r\nWe entered it by an arched, arbored entrance, at one of its\r\npalmetto-thatched ends. But not through this exclusive portal entered\r\nthe Islanders. Humbly stooping, they found ingress under the drooping\r\neaves. A custom immemorial, and well calculated to remind all\r\ncontumacious subjects of the dignity of the habitation thus entered.\r\n\r\nThree steps led to the summit of the dais, where piles of soft mats,\r\nand light pillows of woven grass, stuffed with the golden down of a\r\nwild thistle, invited all loiterers to lounge.\r\n\r\nHow pleasant the twilight that welled up from under the low eaves,\r\nabove which we were seated. And how obvious now the design of the roof.\r\nNo shade more grateful and complete; the garish sun lingering without\r\nlike some lackey in waiting.\r\n\r\nBut who is this in the corner, gaping at us like a butler in a\r\nquandary? Media’s household deity, in the guise of a plethoric monster,\r\nhis enormous head lolling back, and wide, gaping mouth stuffed full of\r\nfresh fruits and green leaves. Truly, had the idol possessed a soul\r\nunder his knotty ribs, how tantalizing to hold so glorious a mouthful\r\nwithout the power of deglutition. Far worse than the inexorable\r\nlock-jaw, which will not admit of the step preliminary to a swallow.\r\n\r\nThis jolly Josh image was that of an inferior deity, the god of Good\r\nCheer, and often after, we met with his merry round mouth in many other\r\nabodes in Mardi. Daily, his jaws are replenished, as a flower vase in\r\nsummer.\r\n\r\nBut did the demi-divine Media thus brook the perpetual presence of a\r\nsubaltern divinity? Still more; did he render it homage? But ere long\r\nthe Mardian mythology will be discussed, thereby making plain what may\r\nnow seem anomalous.\r\n\r\nPolitely escorting us into his palace, Media did the honors by inviting\r\nhis guests to recline. He then seemed very anxious to impress us with\r\nthe fact, that, by bringing us to his home, and thereby charging the\r\nroyal larder with our maintenance, he had taken no hasty or imprudent\r\nstep. His merry butlers kept piling round us viands, till we were well\r\nnigh walled in. At every fresh deposit, Media directing our attention\r\nto the same, as yet additional evidence of his ample resources as a\r\nhost. The evidence was finally closed by dragging under the eaves a\r\nfelled plantain tree, the spike of red ripe fruit, sprouting therefrom,\r\nblushing all over, at so rude an introduction to the notice of\r\nstrangers.\r\n\r\nDuring this scene, Jarl was privily nudging Samoa, in wonderment, to\r\nknow what upon earth it all meant. But Samoa, scarcely deigning to\r\nnotice interrogatories propounded through the elbow, only let drop a\r\nvague hint or two.\r\n\r\nIt was quite amusing, what airs Samoa now gave himself, at least toward\r\nmy Viking. Among the Mardians he was at home. And who, when there,\r\nstretches not out his legs, and says unto himself, “Who is greater than\r\nI?”\r\n\r\nTo be plain: concerning himself and the Skyeman, the tables were\r\nturned. At sea, Jarl had been the oracle: an old sea-sage, learned in\r\nhemp and helm. But our craft high and dry, the Upoluan lifted his crest\r\nas the erudite pagan; master of Gog and Magog, expounder of all things\r\nheathenish and obscure.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT0EV057MMZW37EFPXXZ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM1QXKMR5RT324NFN0BS1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.328Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.530Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}