This attendant was not seen again for many days; which gave rise tothe supposition, that journeying to the sea-side, he had embarked forsome distant strand; there, to bury out of sight the abomination withwhich he was freighted.
Upon this, his egregious misadventure, calculated to do discredit toour party, and bring Media himself into contempt, Babbalanja had noscruples in taking Jarl roundly to task. He assured him, that itargued but little brains to evince a desire to be thought familiarwith all things; that however desirable as incidental attainments,conventionalities, in themselves, were the very least of arbitrarytrifles; the knowledge of them, innate with no man. "Moreover Jarl,"he added, "in essence, conventionalities are but mimickings,at which monkeys succeed best. Hence, when you find yourself at aloss in these matters, wait patiently, and mark what the othermonkeys do: and then follow suit. And by so doing, you will gain avast reputation as an accomplished ape. Above all things, follow notthe silly example of the young spark Karkeke, of whom Mohi wastelling me. Dying, and entering the other world with a mincing gait,and there finding certain customs quite strange and new; such asfriendly shades passing through each other by way of a salutation;--Karkeke, nevertheless, resolved to show no sign of embarrassment.Accosted by a phantom, with wings folded pensively, plumesinterlocked across its chest, he off head; and stood obsequiouslybefore it. Staring at him for an instant, the spirit cut him dead;murmuring to itself, 'Ah, some terrestrial bumpkin, I fancy,' andpassed on with its celestial nose in the highly rarified air. Butsilly Karkeke undertaking to replace his head, found that it would nomore stay on; but forever tumbled off; even in the act of nodding asalute; which calamity kept putting him out of countenance. And thusthrough all eternity is he punished for his folly, in havingpretended to be wise, wherein he was ignorant. Head under arm, hewanders about, the scorn and ridicule of the other world."
Our repast concluded, messengers arrived from the prince, courteouslyinviting our presence at the House of the Morning. Thither we went;journeying in sedans, sent across the hollow, for that purpose, byDonjalolo.
CHAPTER LXXXIIHow Donjalolo, Sent Agents To The Surrounding Isles; With The Result
Ere recounting what was beheld on entering the House of the Morning,some previous information is needful. Though so many of Donjalolo'sdays were consumed by sloth and luxury, there came to him certainintervals of thoughtfulness, when all his curiosity concerning thethings of outer Mardi revived with augmented intensity. In thesemoods, he would send abroad deputations, inviting to Willamilla thekings of the neighboring islands; together with the most celebratedpriests, bards, story-tellers, magicians, and wise men; that he mighthear them converse of those things, which he could not behold forhimself.
But at last, he bethought him, that the various narrations he hadheard, could not have been otherwise than unavoidably faulty; byreason that they had been principally obtained from the inhabitantsof the countries described; who, very naturally, must have beeninclined to partiality or uncandidness in their statements. Whereforehe had very lately dispatched to the isles special agents of his own;honest of heart, keen of eye, and shrewd of understanding; to seekout every thing that promised to illuminate him concerning the placesthey visited, and also to collect various specimens of interestingobjects; so that at last he might avail himself of the researches ofothers, and see with their eyes.
But though two observers were sent to every one of theneighboring lands; yet each was to act independently; make his owninquiries; form his own conclusions; and return with his ownspecimens; wholly regardless of the proceedings of the other.
It so came to pass, that on the very day of our arrival in the glen,these pilgrims returned from their travels. And Donjalolo had setapart the following morning to giving them a grand public reception.And it was to this, that our party had been invited, as related inthe chapter preceding.
In the great Palm-hall of the House of the Morning, we were assigneddistinguished mats, to the right of the prince; his chiefs,attendants, and subjects assembled in the open colonnades without.
When all was in readiness, in marched the company of savans andtravelers; and humbly standing in a semi-circle before the king,their numerous hampers were deposited at their feet.
Donjalolo was now in high spirits, thinking of the rich store ofreliable information about to be furnished.
"Zuma," said he, addressing the foremost of the company, "you andVarnopi were directed to explore the island of Rafona. Proceed now,and relate all you know of that place. Your narration heard, we willlist to Varnopi."
With a profound inclination the traveler obeyed.
But soon Donjalolo interrupted him. "What say you, Zuma, about thesecret cavern, and the treasures therein? A very different account,this, from all I have heard hitherto; but perhaps yours is the trueversion. Go on."
But very soon, poor Zuma was again interrupted by exclamations ofsurprise. Nay, even to the very end of his mountings.
But when he had done, Donjalolo observed, that if from any cause Zumawas in error or obscure, Varnopi would not fail to set him right.
So Varnopi was called upon.
But not long had Varnopi proceeded, when Donjalolo changed color.
"What!" he exclaimed, "will ye contradict each other before our veryface. Oh Oro! how hard is truth to be come at by proxy! Fiftyaccounts have I had of Rafona; none of which wholly agreed; and here,these two varlets, sent expressly to behold and report, these twolying knaves, speak crookedly both. How is it? Are the lenses intheir eyes diverse-hued, that objects seem different to both; forundeniable is it, that the things they thus clashingly speak of areto be known for the same; though represented with unlike colors andqualities. But dumb things can not lie nor err. Unpack thy hampers,Zuma. Here, bring them close: now: what is this?"
"That," tremblingly replied Zuma, "is a specimen of the famous reef-bar on the west side of the island of Rafona; your highness perceivesits deep red dyes."
Said Donjalolo, "Varnopi, hast thou a piece of this coral, also?"
"I have, your highness," said Varnopi; "here it is."
Taking it from his hand, Donjalolo gazed at its bleached, white hue;then dashing it to the pavement, "Oh mighty Oro! Truth dwells in herfountains; where every one must drink for himself. For me, vain allhope of ever knowing Mardi! Away! Better know nothing, than bedeceived. Break up!"
And Donjalolo rose, and retired.
All present now broke out in a storm of vociferation; some sidingwith Zuma; others with Varnopi; each of whom, in turn, was declaredthe man to be relied upon.
Marking all this, Babbalanja, who had been silently looking on,leaning against one of the palm pillars, quietly observed to Media:--"My lord, I have seen this same reef at Rafona. In various places, itis of various hues. As for Zuma and Varnopi, both are wrong, and bothare right."
CHAPTER LXXXIIIThey Visit The Tributary Islets
In Willamilla, no Yillah being found, on the third day we took leaveof Donjalolo; who lavished upon us many caresses and, somewhatreluctantly on Media's part, we quitted the vale.
One by one, we now visited the outer villages of Juam; and crossingthe waters, wandered several days among its tributary isles. There wesaw the viceroys of him who reigned in the hollow: chieftains of whomDonjalolo was proud; so honest, humble, and faithful; so bent uponameliorating the condition of those under their rule. For, be itsaid, Donjalolo was a charitable prince; in his serious intervals,ever seeking the welfare of his subjects, though after an imperialview of his own. But alas, in that sunny donjon among the mountains,where he dwelt, how could Donjalolo be sure, that the things hedecreed were executed in regions forever remote from his view. Ah!very bland, very innocent, very pious, the faces his viceroyspresented during their monthly visits to Willamilla. But as crueltheir visage, when, returned to their islets, they abandonedthemselves to all the license of tyrants; like Verres reveling downthe rights of the Sicilians.
Like Carmelites, they came to Donjalolo, barefooted; but in theirhomes, their pr
oud latchets were tied by their slaves. Before theirking-belted prince, they stood rope-girdled like self-abased monks ofSt. Francis; but with those ropes, before their palaces, they hungInnocence and Truth.
As still seeking Yillah, and still disappointed, we roved throughthe lands which these chieftains ruled, Babbalanja exclaimed--"Let usdepart; idle our search, in isles that have viceroys for kings."
At early dawn, about embarking for a distant land, there came to uscertain messengers of Donjalolo, saying that their lord the king,repenting of so soon parting company with Media and Taji, besoughtthem to return with all haste; for that very morning, in Willamilla,a regal banquet was preparing; to which many neighboring kings hadbeen invited, most of whom had already arrived.
Declaring that there was no alternative but compliance, Mediaacceded; and with the king's messengers we returned to the glen.
CHAPTER LXXXIVTaji Sits Down To Dinner With Five-And-Twenty Kings, And A Royal TimeThey Have
It was afternoon when we emerged from the defile. And informed thatour host was receiving his guests in the House of the Afternoon,thither we directed our steps.
Soft in our face, blew the blessed breezes of Omi, stirring theleaves overhead; while, here and there, through the trees, showed theidol-bearers of the royal retreat, hand in hand, linked with festoonsof flowers. Still beyond, on a level, sparkled the nodding crowns ofthe kings, like the constellation Corona-Borealis, the horizon justgained.
Close by his noon-tide friend, the cascade at the mouth of thegrotto, reposed on his crimson mat, Donjalolo:--arrayed in a vestmentof the finest white tappa of Mardi, figured all over with brightyellow lizards, so curiously stained in the gauze, that he seemedoverrun, as with golden mice.
Marjora's girdle girdled his loins, tasseled with the congregatedteeth of his sires. A jeweled turban-tiara, milk-white, surmountedhis brow, over which waved a copse of Pintado plumes.
But what sways in his hand? A scepter, similar to those likenesses ofscepters, imbedded among the corals at his feet. A polished thigh-bone; by Braid-Beard declared once Teei's the Murdered. For toemphasize his intention utterly to rule, Marjora himself had selectedthis emblem of dominion over mankind.
But even this last despite done to dead Teei had once beentranscended. In the usurper's time, prevailed the belief, thatthe saliva of kings must never touch ground; and Mohi's Chroniclesmade mention, that during the life time of Marjora, Teei's skull hadbeen devoted to the basest of purposes: Marjora's, the hate no turfcould bury.
Yet, traditions like these ever seem dubious. There be many who denythe hump, moral and physical, of Gloster Richard.
Still advancing unperceived, in social hilarity we descried theirHighnesses, chatting together like the most plebeian of mortals; fullas merry as the monks of old. But marking our approach, all changed.A pair of potentates, who had been playfully trifling, hurriedlyadjusted their diadems, threw themselves into attitudes, lookingstately as statues. Phidias turned not out his Jupiter so soon.
In various-dyed robes the five-and-twenty kings were arrayed; andvarious their features, as the rows of lips, eyes and ears in JohnCaspar Lavater's physiognomical charts. Nevertheless, to a king, alltheir noses were aquiline.
There were long fox-tail beards of silver gray, and enameled chins,like those of girls; bald pates and Merovingian locks; smooth browsand wrinkles: forms erect and stooping; an eye that squinted; oneking was deaf; by his side, another that was halt; and not far off, adotard. They were old and young, tall and short, handsome and ugly,fat and lean, cunning and simple.
With animated courtesy our host received us; assigning a neighboringbower for Babbalanja and the rest; and among so many right-royal,demi-divine guests, how could the demi-gods Media and Taji beotherwise than at home?
The unwonted sprightliness of Donjalolo surprised us. But he was inone of those relapses of desperate gayety in-variably following hisfailures in efforts to amend his life. And the bootless issue of hislate mission to outer Mardi had thrown him into a mood for revelry.Nor had he lately shunned a wild wine, called Morando.
A slave now appearing with a bowl of this beverage, it circulatedfreely.
Not to gainsay the truth, we fancied the Morando much. A nutty,pungent flavor it had; like some kinds of arrack distilled in thePhilippine isles. And a marvelous effect did it have, in dissolvingthe crystalization of the brain; leaving nothing but precious littledrops of good humor, beading round the bowl of the cranium.
Meanwhile, garlanded boys, climbing the limbs of the idol-pillars,and stirruping their feet in their most holy mouths, suspendedhangings of crimson tappa all round the hall; so that sweeping thepavement they rustled in the breeze from the grot.
Presently, stalwart slaves advanced; bearing a mighty basin of aporphyry hue, deep-hollowed out of a tree. Outside, were innumerablegrotesque conceits; conspicuous among which, for a border, was anendless string of the royal lizards circumnavigating the basin ininverted chase of their tails.
Peculiar to the groves of Willamilla, the yellow lizard formed partof the arms of Juam. And when Donjalolo's messenger went abroad, theycarried its effigy, as the emblem of their royal master; themselvesbeing known, as the Gentlemen of the Golden Lizard.
The porphyry-hued basin planted full in our midst, the attendantsforthwith filled the same with the living waters from the cascade; aproceeding, for which some of the company were at a loss to account,unless his highness, our host, with all the coolness of royalty,purposed cooling himself still further, by taking a bath in presenceof his guests. A conjecture, most premature; for directly, the basinbeing filled to within a few inches of the lizards, the attendantsfell to launching therein divers goodly sized trenchers, all ladenwith choice viands:--wild boar meat; humps of grampuses; embrownedbread-fruit, roasted in odoriferous fires of sandal wood, butsuffered to cool; gold fish, dressed with the fragrant juicesof berries; citron sauce; rolls of the baked paste of yams; juicybananas, steeped in a saccharine oil; marmalade of plantains; jelliesof guava; confections of the treacle of palm sap; and many otherdainties; besides numerous stained calabashes of Morando, and otherbeverages, fixed in carved floats to make them buoyant.
The guests assigned seats, by the woven handles attached to hispurple mat, the prince, our host, was now gently moved by hisservitors to the head of the porphyry-hued basin. Where, flanked bylofty crowned-heads, white-tiaraed, and radiant with royalty, he sat;like snow-turbaned Mont Blanc, at sunrise presiding over the headwaters of the Rhone; to right and left, looming the gilded summits ofthe Simplon, the Gothard, the Jungfrau, the Great St. Bernard, andthe Grand Glockner.
Yet turbid from the launching of its freight, Lake Como tossed to andfro its navies of good cheer, the shadows of the king-peaks wildlyflitting thereupon.
But no frigid wine and fruit cooler, Lake Como; as at first it didseem; but a tropical dining table, its surface a slab of light blueSt. Pons marble in a state of fluidity.
Now, many a crown was doffed; scepters laid aside; girdles slackened;and among those verdant viands the bearded kings like goats didbrowse; or tusking their wild boar's meat, like mastiffs ate.
And like unto some well-fought fight, beginning calmly, but pressingforward to a fiery rush, this well-fought feast did now wax warm.
A few royal epicures, however, there were: epicures intent uponconcoctions, admixtures, and masterly compoundings; who comportedthemselves with all due deliberation and dignity; hurrying themselvesinto no reckless deglutition of the dainties. Ah! admirable conceit,Lake Como: superseding attendants. For, from hand to hand thetrenchers sailed; no sooner gaining one port, than dispatched oversea to another.
Well suited they were for the occasion; sailing high out ofwater, to resist the convivial swell at times ruffling the sociablesea; and sharp at both ends, still better adapting them to easynavigation.
But soon, the Morando, in triumphant decanters, went round, reelinglike barks before a breeze. But their voyages were brief; and erelong, in certain havens, the accumulation of empt
y vessels threatenedto bridge the lake with pontoons. In those directions, Trade windswere setting. But full soon, cut out were all unladen andunprofitable gourds; and replaced by jolly-bellied calabashes, for atime sailing deep, yawing heavily to the push.
At last, the whole flotilla of trenchers--wrecks and all--were sentswimming to the further end of Lake Como; and thence removed, gaveplace to ruddy hillocks of fruit, and floating islands of flowers.Chief among the former, a quince-like, golden sphere, that filled theair with such fragrance, you thought you were tasting its flavor.
Nor did the wine cease flowing. That day the Juam grape did bleed;that day the tendril ringlets of the vines, did all uncurl and grapeby grape, in sheer dismay, the sun ripe clusters dropped. Grape-gladwere five-and-twenty kings: five-and-twenty kings were merry.
Morando's vintage had no end; nor other liquids, in the royal cellarstored, somewhere secret in the grot. Oh! where's the endless Niger'ssource? Search ye here, or search ye there; on, on, through ravine,vega, vale--no head waters will ye find. But why need gain the hiddenspring, when its lavish stream flows by? At three-fold mouths thatDelta-grot discharged; rivers golden, white, and red.
But who may sing for aye? Down I come, and light upon the old andprosy plain.
Among other decanters set afloat, was a pompous, lordly-lookingdemijohn, but old and reverend withal, that sailed about,consequential as an autocrat going to be crowned, or a treasure-freighted argosie bound home before the wind. It lookedsolemn, however, though it reeled; peradventure, far gone with itsown potent contents.