{"id":"01KJNXJQVCR5C9NM0X46N1CA2K","cid":"bafkreid2a2sf5b5jywwc5vh3iflhyqxmzkb7hqv2nllklacwsbuyf6krri","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":207190,"char_start":199658,"chunk_index":28,"chunk_total":178,"estimated_tokens":1883,"source_file_key":"moby-dick","text":"good deal more of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly;\r\nand I know that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind\r\nfor a spell; but it was the sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump\r\nthat brought that about, as any one might see. I know, too, that ever\r\nsince he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed whale, he’s been a\r\nkind of moody—desperate moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all\r\npass off. And once for all, let me tell thee and assure thee, young\r\nman, it’s better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad\r\none. So good-bye to thee—and wrong not Captain Ahab, because he happens\r\nto have a wicked name. Besides, my boy, he has a wife—not three voyages\r\nwedded—a sweet, resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet girl that\r\nold man has a child: hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm\r\nin Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his\r\nhumanities!”\r\n\r\nAs I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what had been\r\nincidentally revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain\r\nwild vagueness of painfulness concerning him. And somehow, at the time,\r\nI felt a sympathy and a sorrow for him, but for I don’t know what,\r\nunless it was the cruel loss of his leg. And yet I also felt a strange\r\nawe of him; but that sort of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was\r\nnot exactly awe; I do not know what it was. But I felt it; and it did\r\nnot disincline me towards him; though I felt impatience at what seemed\r\nlike mystery in him, so imperfectly as he was known to me then.\r\nHowever, my thoughts were at length carried in other directions, so\r\nthat for the present dark Ahab slipped my mind.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 17. The Ramadan.\r\n\r\nAs Queequeg’s Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continue all\r\nday, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall; for I\r\ncherish the greatest respect towards everybody’s religious obligations,\r\nnever mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart to undervalue\r\neven a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other\r\ncreatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of\r\nfootmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the\r\ntorso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the\r\ninordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his name.\r\n\r\nI say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these\r\nthings, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals,\r\npagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these\r\nsubjects. There was Queequeg, now, certainly entertaining the most\r\nabsurd notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;—but what of that? Queequeg\r\nthought he knew what he was about, I suppose; he seemed to be content;\r\nand there let him rest. All our arguing with him would not avail; let\r\nhim be, I say: and Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans\r\nalike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and\r\nsadly need mending.\r\n\r\nTowards evening, when I felt assured that all his performances and\r\nrituals must be over, I went up to his room and knocked at the door;\r\nbut no answer. I tried to open it, but it was fastened inside.\r\n“Queequeg,” said I softly through the key-hole:—all silent. “I say,\r\nQueequeg! why don’t you speak? It’s I—Ishmael.” But all remained still\r\nas before. I began to grow alarmed. I had allowed him such abundant\r\ntime; I thought he might have had an apoplectic fit. I looked through\r\nthe key-hole; but the door opening into an odd corner of the room, the\r\nkey-hole prospect was but a crooked and sinister one. I could only see\r\npart of the foot-board of the bed and a line of the wall, but nothing\r\nmore. I was surprised to behold resting against the wall the wooden\r\nshaft of Queequeg’s harpoon, which the landlady the evening previous\r\nhad taken from him, before our mounting to the chamber. That’s strange,\r\nthought I; but at any rate, since the harpoon stands yonder, and he\r\nseldom or never goes abroad without it, therefore he must be inside\r\nhere, and no possible mistake.\r\n\r\n“Queequeg!—Queequeg!”—all still. Something must have happened.\r\nApoplexy! I tried to burst open the door; but it stubbornly resisted.\r\nRunning down stairs, I quickly stated my suspicions to the first person\r\nI met—the chamber-maid. “La! la!” she cried, “I thought something must\r\nbe the matter. I went to make the bed after breakfast, and the door was\r\nlocked; and not a mouse to be heard; and it’s been just so silent ever\r\nsince. But I thought, may be, you had both gone off and locked your\r\nbaggage in for safe keeping. La! la, ma’am!—Mistress! murder! Mrs.\r\nHussey! apoplexy!”—and with these cries, she ran towards the kitchen, I\r\nfollowing.\r\n\r\nMrs. Hussey soon appeared, with a mustard-pot in one hand and a\r\nvinegar-cruet in the other, having just broken away from the occupation\r\nof attending to the castors, and scolding her little black boy\r\nmeantime.\r\n\r\n“Wood-house!” cried I, “which way to it? Run for God’s sake, and fetch\r\nsomething to pry open the door—the axe!—the axe! he’s had a stroke;\r\ndepend upon it!”—and so saying I was unmethodically rushing up stairs\r\nagain empty-handed, when Mrs. Hussey interposed the mustard-pot and\r\nvinegar-cruet, and the entire castor of her countenance.\r\n\r\n“What’s the matter with you, young man?”\r\n\r\n“Get the axe! For God’s sake, run for the doctor, some one, while I pry\r\nit open!”\r\n\r\n“Look here,” said the landlady, quickly putting down the vinegar-cruet,\r\nso as to have one hand free; “look here; are you talking about prying\r\nopen any of my doors?”—and with that she seized my arm. “What’s the\r\nmatter with you? What’s the matter with you, shipmate?”\r\n\r\nIn as calm, but rapid a manner as possible, I gave her to understand\r\nthe whole case. Unconsciously clapping the vinegar-cruet to one side of\r\nher nose, she ruminated for an instant; then exclaimed—“No! I haven’t\r\nseen it since I put it there.” Running to a little closet under the\r\nlanding of the stairs, she glanced in, and returning, told me that\r\nQueequeg’s harpoon was missing. “He’s killed himself,” she cried. “It’s\r\nunfort’nate Stiggs done over again—there goes another counterpane—God\r\npity his poor mother!—it will be the ruin of my house. Has the poor lad\r\na sister? Where’s that girl?—there, Betty, go to Snarles the Painter,\r\nand tell him to paint me a sign, with—“no suicides permitted here, and\r\nno smoking in the parlor;”—might as well kill both birds at once. Kill?\r\nThe Lord be merciful to his ghost! What’s that noise there? You, young\r\nman, avast there!”\r\n\r\nAnd running up after me, she caught me as I was again trying to force\r\nopen the door.\r\n\r\n“I don’t allow it; I won’t have my premises spoiled. Go for the\r\nlocksmith, there’s one about a mile from here. But avast!” putting her\r\nhand in her side-pocket, “here’s a key that’ll fit, I guess; let’s\r\nsee.” And with that, she turned it in the lock; but, alas! Queequeg’s\r\nsupplemental bolt remained unwithdrawn within.\r\n\r\n“Have to burst it open,” said I, and was running down the entry a\r\nlittle, for a good start, when the landlady caught at me, again vowing\r\nI should not break down her premises; but I tore from her, and with a\r\nsudden bodily rush dashed myself full against the mark.\r\n\r\nWith a prodigious noise the door flew open, and the knob slamming\r\nagainst the wall, sent the plaster to the ceiling; and there, good\r\nheavens! there sat Queequeg, altogether cool and self-collected; right\r\nin the middle of the room; squatting on his hams, and holding Yojo on\r\ntop of his head."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJNXEDHZCC8DR4EPSQD0QP4P","peer_label":"moby-dick","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJNXECF9R1EZKS5Z7J8A8ZSB","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJNXKZBGV5QSFPD19S2BQF68","peer_label":"captain ahab","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKXNCK8G0E519GPWTEATV","peer_label":"ishmael","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKXNA6Q7NV244AJQKVXKZ","peer_label":"queequeg","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM1MC4Q2C6VRP8NT59ATB","peer_label":"queequegs harpoon","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"weapon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM2RGA1C0QD3RV43KE6DC","peer_label":"mrs hussey","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM4Q3CGWZHSGQMPRAGDB2","peer_label":"stiggs","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM8213F57HZEBN64G3STX","peer_label":"the ramadan chapter title","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM9CKZ50MMA0YMXJETSPP","peer_label":"accursed whale","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"animal","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM9HZS3TKAN19ZDC5WG0J","peer_label":"queequegs ramadan","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_observance","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMA96B7Y0HTMN1C66R24P","peer_label":"presbyterian christians","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM9JB1DTHMSPTK65YSW76","peer_label":"ahabs wife","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM9QJHV6X7QQM3R0K9FZS","peer_label":"yojo","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_object","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMA8PGYAC22V91EFZ3M6K","peer_label":"chamber-maid","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM9TMEA7PERTFJ6K3ZX9M","peer_label":"ahabs child","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMAAQCG156C819X9DNMZX","peer_label":"pagans","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMB14D2EX3ANHHY784VST","peer_label":"sign","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"object","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMAB1WH724Q3V3SEDQFXP","peer_label":"queequegs supplemental bolt","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mechanism","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMB1DF8ARXC8F323888D7","peer_label":"chapter 17","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_structure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMBWT4K155AKXAA1HG606","peer_label":"locksmith","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"profession","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMBBV2TC05EE2715YPSPB","peer_label":"snarles the painter","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMB0K64ZRQXTY5SPGTPHQ","peer_label":"little black boy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMB0PQBB42R9KMVW3YGCT","peer_label":"betty","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:04:18.061Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T00:01:15.628Z","ts":"2026-03-02T00:05:23.789Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}