Innocents Abroad - Chapter Eight - 2

by Mark Twain

And their dresses are strange beyond all description. Here is a bronzed Moor in a prodigious white turban, curiously embroidered jacket, gold and crimson sash, of many folds, wrapped round and round his waist, trousers that only come a little below his knee and yet have twenty yards of stuff in them, ornamented scimitar, bare shins, stockingless feet, yellow slippers, and gun of preposterous length--a mere soldier!--I thought he was the Emperor at least. And here are aged Moors with flowing white beards and long white robes with vast cowls; and Bedouins with long,
cowled, striped cloaks; and Negroes and Riffians with heads clean-shaven except a kinky scalp lock back of the ear or, rather, upon the after corner of the skull; and all sorts of barbarians in all sorts of weird costumes, and all more or less ragged. And here are Moorish women who are enveloped from head to foot in coarse white robes, and whose sex can only be determined by the fact that they only leave one eye visible and never look at men of their own race, or are looked at by them in public. Here are five thousand Jews in blue gabardines, sashes about their waists, slippers upon their feet, little skullcaps upon the backs of their heads, hair combed down on the forehead, and cut straight across the middle of it from side to side--the selfsame fashion their Tangier ancestors have worn for I don't know how many bewildering centuries. Their feet and ankles are bare. Their noses are all hooked, and hooked alike. They all resemble each other so much that one could almost believe they were of one family. Their women are plump and pretty, and do smile upon a Christian in a way which is in the last degree comforting.

What a funny old town it is! It seems like profanation to laugh and jest and bandy the frivolous chat of our day amid its hoary relics. Only the stately phraseology and the measured speech of the sons of the Prophet are suited to a venerable antiquity like this. Here is a crumbling wall
that was old when Columbus discovered America; was old when Peter the Hermit roused the knightly men of the Middle Ages to arm for the first Crusade; was old when Charlemagne and his paladins beleaguered enchanted castles and battled with giants and genii in the fabled days of the olden time; was old when Christ and his disciples walked the earth; stood where it stands today when the lips of Memnon were vocal and men bought and sold in the streets of ancient Thebes!

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

More About This Book

This travelogue cemented this rising author's reputation when it was published in 1869.

Chapter Summary: The Ancient City of Tangier, Morocco--Strange Sights--A Cradle of Antiquity--We become Wealthy--How they Rob the Mail in Africa--The Danger of being Opulent in Morocco

Photo: Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) by Matthew Brady Feb. 7, 1871.

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The Three Musketeers - Chapter 41 - 7

by Alexandre Dumas

In exchange for all this, he had acquired the protection and good will of the queen; but the favor of the queen was at the present time an additional cause of persecution, and her protection, as it was known, protected badly--as witness Chalais and Mme. Bonacieux.

What he had clearly gained in all this was the diamond, worth five or six thousand livres, which he wore on his finger; and even this diamond--supposing that d'Artagnan, in his projects of ambition, wished to keep it, to make it someday a pledge for the gratitude of the queen--had not in the meanwhile, since he could not part with it, more value than the gravel he trod under his feet.

We say the gravel he trod under his feet, for d'Artagnan made these reflections while walking solitarily along a pretty little road which led from the camp to the village of Angoutin. Now, these reflections had led him further than he intended, and the day was beginning to decline when, by the last ray of the setting sun, he thought he saw the barrel of a musket glitter from behind a hedge.

D'Artagnan had a quick eye and a prompt understanding. He comprehended that the musket had not come there of itself, and that he who bore it had not concealed himself behind a hedge with any friendly intentions. He determined, therefore, to direct his course as clear from it as he could when, on the opposite side of the road, from behind a rock, he perceived the extremity of another musket.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.

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This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

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The Illiad - Book Two - 70

by Homer

They that held Adresteia and the land of Apaesus, with Pityeia,
and the high mountain of Tereia--these were led by Adrestus and
Amphius, whose breastplate was of linen. These were the sons of
Merops of Percote, who excelled in all kinds of divination. He
told them not to take part in the war, but they gave him no heed,
for fate lured them to destruction.

They that dwelt about Percote and Practius, with Sestos, Abydos,
and Arisbe--these were led by Asius, son of Hyrtacus, a brave
commander--Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, whom his powerful dark bay
steeds, of the breed that comes from the river Selleis, had
brought from Arisbe.

Hippothous led the tribes of Pelasgian spearsmen, who dwelt in
fertile Larissa--Hippothous, and Pylaeus of the race of Mars, two
sons of the Pelasgian Lethus, son of Teutamus.

Acamas and the warrior Peirous commanded the Thracians and those
that came from beyond the mighty stream of the Hellespont.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

More About This Book

From the earliest days of Ancient Greece, the author(s) of this poem were contemporaries of the writers of the Bible's Old Testament.

Summary of Second Book: Jove sends a lying dream to Agamemnon, who thereon calls the chiefs in assembly, and proposes to sound the mind of his
army--In the end they march to fight--Catalogue of the Achaean and Trojan forces.

Painting: The Wrath of Achilles by Michael Drolling, 1819.

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Thousand and One Nights - Enchanted Youth - 6

Story of the Enchanted Youth

When she came to the tomb, she fell a-weeping and wailing and said, 'O my lord, speak to me!' And repeated the following verse:

How long ere this rigour pass sway and thou relent? Is it not yet
enough of the tears that I have spent?'

And she wept and said again, 'O my lord, speak to me!' The King lowered his voice and knotting his tongue, spoke after the fashion of the blacks and said, 'Alack! alack! there is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High the Supreme!' When she heard this, she screamed out for joy and swooned away; and when she revived, she said, 'O my lord, can it be true and didst thou indeed speak to me?' The King made his voice small and said, 'O accursed woman, thou deservest not that I should speak to thee!' 'Why so?' asked she; and he replied, 'Because all day thou tormentest thy husband and his cries disturb me, and all night long he calls upon God for help and invokes curses on thee and me and keeps me awake from nightfall to daybreak and disquiets me; and but for this, I had been well long ago. This is what has hindered me from answering thee.' Quoth she, 'With thy leave, I will release him from his present condition.' 'Do so,' said the King, 'and rid us of his noise.' 'I hear and obey,' answered she, and going out into the palace, took a cup full of water and spoke over it certain words, whereupon the water began to boil and bubble as the cauldron bubbles over the fire. Then she went up to the young King and sprinkled him with it, saying, 'By the virtue of the words I have spoken, if thou art thus by my spells, quit this shape for thy former one.' And immediately he shook and rose to his feet, rejoicing in his deliverance, and said, 'I testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His apostle, may God bless and preserve him!' Then she said to him, 'Depart hence and do not return, or I will kill thee.' And she screamed out in his face. So he went out from before her, and she returned to the dome and going down into the tomb, said, 'O my lord, come forth to me, that I may see thy goodly form!' The King replied in a weak voice, 'What hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the branch, but not of the root.' 'O my beloved, O my little black,' said she, 'what is the root?' 'Out on thee, O accursed one!' answered he. 'Every night, at the middle hour, the people of the city, whom thou by thine enchantments didst change into fish, lift up their heads from the water and cry to God for help and curse thee and me; and this is what hinders my recovery: so do thou go quickly and set them free, and after return and take me by the hand and raise me up; for indeed health returns to me.' When she heard this speech of the King, whom she supposed to be the slave, she rejoiced and said, 'O my lord, on my head and eyes be it, in the name of God!'

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from The Illiad by Homer.

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From the Arab world: these stories date back to the Middle Ages.

Picture: Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryār.

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Lays of Ancient Rome - Capys - 2

The Prophecy of Capys
by Thomas B. Macaulay

III

And every Alban burgher
Hath donned his whitest gown;
And every head in Alba
Weareth a poplar crown;
And every Alban door-post
With boughs and flowers is gay,
For to-day the dead are living,
The lost are found to-day.

IV

They were doomed by a bloody king,
They were doomed by a lying priest,
They were cast on the raging flood,
They were tracked by the raging beast;
Raging beast and raging flood
Alike have spared the prey;
And to-day the dead are living,
The lost are found to-day.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from the great Arab book Thousand and One Nights.

More About This Book

A collection consisting exclusively of war-songs would give an
imperfect, or rather an erroneous, notion of the spirit of the
old Latin ballads.

Scottish poet Macaulay published this in 1842.

Photo, CC-BY-SA-3.0.

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3 Kingdoms - Chapter Four - 2

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong

5
After Li Ru finished reading the proclamation, Zhuo ordered his aides to assist the emperor off of the throne. They confiscated his imperial jade seal, which had a silk cord attached to it; they made him kneel down facing north, declare himself a vassal, and agree to obey any orders given to him. They also instructed the empress dowager to remove her royal vestments, and await the imperial decree. Both the emperor and the empress dowager began to wail and cry, and all of the ministers were saddened. A senior minister, who was standing at the base of the throne, became angry and screamed out, "Dong Zhuo, you villainous scoundrel! You dare carry out a scheme which deceives heaven. I shall stain you with the blood of my severed neck!" With that, he raised his ivory tablet and lunged at Dong Zhuo, intending to strike him. Zhuo was outraged, and ordered the soldiers to seize him. It was chief of staff Ding Guan. Zhuo ordered him to be dragged outside and beheaded. Guan shouted expletives non-stop, and did not change his demeanor until he was dead. People of later generations wrote a poem lamenting him, it went:

6

The villainous Dong harbored plans of deposing the emperor; the ancestral hall and imperial alter of the house of Han lay in ruins.
Out of all of the ministers in the imperial court, Lord Ding was the only real man!

7
Zhuo asked the Prince of Chenliu to ascend the throne. After all of the ministers had finished performing the ritual obeisance celebrating the crowning of a new emperor, Zhuo ordered Empress Dowager He, along with the Prince of Hongnong and his consort -- the lady Tang --, to be exiled to Yong'an Palace. The doors to the palace were to be sealed, and none of the ministers were to be allowed unauthorized entry. The poor young emperor had only assumed the throne in the fourth lunar month, and was now being deposed in the ninth lunar month. The emperor chosen by Zhuo, Prince Xie of Chenliu -- whose style name was Bohe -- was the middle son of Emperor Ling, and is now known as Emperor Xian. At the time, he was nine years old. Chuping was chosen as the new era name. Dong Zhuo made himself Chancellor of State. However, he did not need to announce his name during the ritual audience with the emperor. Furthermore, he was able to casually saunter in or out of the throne room, as he pleased. Finally, he wore his sword and shoes when in audience with the emperor. His tyrannical ways were unparalleled. Li Ru advised Zhuo to select a prominent personage for appointment to a post; this would satisfy the hopes of the people. Therefore, the talents of Cai Yong were recommended. Zhuo ordered him to be appointed, but Yong would not come. Zhuo became angry, and sent someone to tell Yong, "If you don't come, your entire clan shall be put to death." Yong was terrified, so he had no choice but to do as ordered, and came. Zhuo was overjoyed at the sight of Yong. He visited him many times in one month. He made him his trusted attendant; he was very much treated with warmth and kindness.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Lays of Ancient Rome by Macaulay.

More About This Story

This is one of four great novels from China, published when it was the most highly civilization in the world. Map shows China at the time of this story.

Chapter Summary: Deposing the Han emperor: Chenliu becomes emperor; plotting against the villain Dong: Mengde presents a dagger.

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This translation from Wikipedia. See license CC-BY-SA.

Wizard of Oz - Chapter Eight - 2

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum

"We must certainly get to the Emerald City if we can," the Scarecrow continued, and he pushed so hard on his long pole that it stuck fast in the mud at the bottom of the river. Then, before he could pull it out again--or let go--the raft was swept away, and the poor Scarecrow left clinging to the pole in the middle of the river.

"Good-bye!" he called after them, and they were very sorry to leave him. Indeed, the Tin Woodman began to cry, but fortunately remembered that he might rust, and so dried his tears on Dorothy's apron.

Of course this was a bad thing for the Scarecrow.

"I am now worse off than when I first met Dorothy," he thought. "Then, I was stuck on a pole in a cornfield, where I could make-believe scare the crows, at any rate. But surely there is no use for a Scarecrow stuck on a pole in the middle of a river. I am afraid I shall never have any brains, after all!"

Down the stream the raft floated, and the poor Scarecrow was left far behind. Then the Lion said:

"Something must be done to save us. I think I can swim to the shore and pull the raft after me, if you will only hold fast to the tip of my tail."

So he sprang into the water, and the Tin Woodman caught fast hold of his tail. Then the Lion began to swim with all his might toward the shore. It was hard work, although he was so big; but by and by they were drawn out of the current, and then Dorothy took the Tin Woodman's long pole and helped push the raft to the land.

They were all tired out when they reached the shore at last and stepped off upon the pretty green grass, and they also knew that the stream had carried them a long way past the road of yellow brick that led to the Emerald City.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Romance of the Three Kingdoms the great Chinese novel from the Middle Ages.

Remember Judy Garland's breakout movie of 1939; why wasn't the rest of Baum's Oz books made into movies?

Illustrated: cover of the book's first edition in 1900.

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