Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Innocents Abroad - Chapter Seven - 1

by Mark Twain


CHAPTER VII.

A week of buffeting a tempestuous and relentless sea; a week of seasickness and deserted cabins; of lonely quarterdecks drenched with spray--spray so ambitious that it even coated the smokestacks thick with a white crust of salt to their very tops; a week of shivering in the shelter of the lifeboats and deckhouses by day and blowing suffocating "clouds" and boisterously performing at dominoes in the smoking room at night.

And the last night of the seven was the stormiest of all. There was no thunder, no noise but the pounding bows of the ship, the keen whistling of the gale through the cordage, and the rush of the seething waters. But the vessel climbed aloft as if she would climb to heaven--then paused an instant that seemed a century and plunged headlong down again, as from a precipice. The sheeted sprays drenched the decks like rain. The blackness of darkness was everywhere. At long intervals a flash of lightning clove it with a quivering line of fire that revealed a heaving world of water where was nothing before, kindled the dusky cordage to glittering silver, and lit up the faces of the men with a ghastly luster!



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: A Tempest at Night--Spain and Africa on Exhibition--Greeting a Majestic Stranger--The Pillars of Hercules--The Rock of Gibraltar--Tiresome Repetition--"The Queen's Chair"--Serenity Conquered--Curiosities of the Secret Caverns--Personnel of Gibraltar--Some Odd Characters--A Private Frolic in Africa--Bearding a Moorish Garrison (without loss of life)--Vanity Rebuked--Disembarking in the Empire of Morocco

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

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Three Musketeers - Chapter 40 - 7

by Alexandre Dumas


"Then, I will presume to say that all my friends are in the king's Musketeers and Guards, and that by an inconceivable fatality my enemies are in the service of your Eminence; I should, therefore, be ill received here and ill regarded there if I accepted what Monseigneur offers me."

"Do you happen to entertain the haughty idea that I have not yet made you an offer equal to your value?" asked the cardinal, with a smile of disdain.

"Monseigneur, your Eminence is a hundred times too kind to me; and on the contrary, I think I have not proved myself worthy of your goodness. The siege of La Rochelle is about to be resumed, monseigneur. I shall serve under the eye of your Eminence, and if I have the good fortune to conduct myself at the siege in such a manner as merits your attention, then I shall at least leave behind me some brilliant action to justify the protection with which you honor me. Everything is best in its time, monseigneur. Hereafter, perhaps, I shall have the right of giving myself; at present I shall appear to sell myself."

"That is to say, you refuse to serve me, monsieur," said the cardinal, with a tone of vexation, through which, however, might be seen a sort of esteem; "remain free, then, and guard your hatreds and your sympathies."



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

More About This Book


In this chapter, the hero finally meets the story's arch-villian, the Cardinal Richelieu. This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

More information here:
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Monday, August 29, 2011

The Illiad - Book Two - 57

by Homer


The fierce Abantes held Euboea with its cities, Chalcis, Eretria,
Histiaea rich in vines, Cerinthus upon the sea, and the
rock-perched town of Dium; with them were also the men of
Carystus and Styra; Elephenor of the race of Mars was in command
of these; he was son of Chalcodon, and chief over all the
Abantes. With him they came, fleet of foot and wearing their hair
long behind, brave warriors, who would ever strive to tear open
the corslets of their foes with their long ashen spears. Of these
there came fifty ships.

And they that held the strong city of Athens, the people of great
Erechtheus, who was born of the soil itself, but Jove's daughter,
Minerva, fostered him, and established him at Athens in her own
rich sanctuary. There, year by year, the Athenian youths worship
him with sacrifices of bulls and rams. These were commanded by
Menestheus, son of Peteos. No man living could equal him in the
marshalling of chariots and foot soldiers. Nestor could alone
rival him, for he was older. With him there came fifty ships.

Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis, and stationed them
alongside those of the Athenians.



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.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of This Series

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Thousand and One Nights - Son and Ogress - 12

The King's Son and the Ogress


Then he set the bowl on his head and going up to the palace, as the Afrit had bidden him, presented the fish to the King, who wondered at them greatly, for that he had never seen their like, in shape or kind, and said to his Vizier, 'Give these fish to the cookmaid that the King of the Greeks sent us, and tell her to fry them.' Now this was a damsel that he had received as a present from the King of the Greeks three days before and of whom he had not yet made trial in cookery. So the Vizier carried the fish to the cookmaid and said to her, 'These fish have been brought as a present to the Sultan and he says to thee, "O my tear, I have reserved thee against my stress!" So do thou show us to-day thy skill and the excellence of thy cookery.' Then he returned to the Sultan, who bade him give the fisherman four hundred diners. So he gave them to him and he took the money in his lap and set off home, running and stumbling and falling and rising again and thinking that he was dreaming. And he bought what was needful for his family and returned to his wife, glad and happy. Meanwhile the cookmaid took the fish and cleaned them and set the frying-pan on the fire. Then she poured in oil of sesame and waited till it was hot, when she put in the fish. As soon as one side was done, she fumed them, when lo, the wall of the kitchen opened and out came a handsome and well-shaped young lady, with smooth cheeks and liquid black eyes.



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

More About This Book


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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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Lays of Ancient Rome - Virginia - 2

Virginia
by Thomas B. Macaulay


Just then, as through one cloudless chink in a black stormy sky
Shines out the dewy morning-star, a fair young girl came by.
With her small tablets in her hand, and her satchel on her arm,
Home she went bounding from the school, nor dreamed of shame or harm;
And past those dreaded axes she innocently ran,
With bright frank brow that had not learned to blush at gaze of man;
And up the Sacred Street she turned, and, as she danced along,
She warbled gayly to herself lines of the good old song,
How for a sport the princes came spurring from the camp,
And found Lucrece, combing the fleece, under the midnight lamp.
The maiden sang as sings the lark, when up he darts his flight,
From his nest in the green April corn, to meet the morning light;
And Appius heard her sweet young voice, and saw her sweet young face,
And loved her with the accursed love of his accursed race,
And all along the Forum, and up the Sacred Street,
His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet.
Over the Alban mountains the light of morning broke;
From all the roofs of the Seven Hills curled the thin wreaths of
smoke:





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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More of this Series

Friday, August 26, 2011

3 Kingdoms - Chapter Three - 3

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong


7
The empress dowager issued a decree summoning Jin. Jin received the decree, and was going to make the trip. Chief of records Chen Lin admon- ished, "The empress dowager's decree is most certainly a plot of the ten regular attendants, you must not go. If you go, it will mean disaster." Jin replied, "The empress dowager has summoned me, what could go wrong?" Yuan Shao said, "The plot has already been leaked, the whole affair has been exposed. General, are you sure you still want to enter the palace?" Cao Cao said, "First tell the ten regular attendants to come out, and then you can go in." Jin smiled and said, "That is a childish view. I command all that is under heaven, what would the ten regular attendants dare do to me?" Shao said, "If you must go, we will escort you with a contingent of armor-clad soldiers, in order to prevent any unexpected eventualities."

8
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao then each selected five hundred elite soldiers, and placed Yuan Shao's younger brother Yuan Shu in command of them. Yuan Shu, clad in full-body armor, lined up his soldiers outside of Qingsuo Gate. Shao and Cao wore straight swords on their hips, and escorted He Jin to the front of Changle Palace. The eunuchs delivered a decree from the empress; it stated, "The empress dowager has summoned the supreme general, no one else may enter." They forced Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and the others to remain outside of the Palace Gate. He Jin boldly walked straight in. When he arrived at Jiade Hall, Zhang Rang and Duan Gui came out to meet him. Jin was then surrounded, to his great surprise. In a stern voice, Rang accused Jin, "What crime did Empress Dong commit that she should be wantonly poisoned to death? You pretended to be sick, and did not even attend her funeral! You are a low-class son of a butcher, yet we recommended that your family inherit the throne, which brought you wealth and glory; but instead of repaying us with gratitude, you plotted our destruction! You said that we were dirty, but who is the clean one?" Jin panicked, and began looking for an escape route, but the palace gates were all closed. Armor-clad soldiers came out of hiding in unison, and chopped off He Jin's head. People of later generations composed a poem to lament the incident:

9
The house of Han was in peril, and their days were at an end. He Jin lacked the ability to scheme, yet he controlled the offices of the three senior ministers.

On several occasions, he did not heed the advice of his loyal ministers. No wonder he should meet with the tip of a sword while in the palace!



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: How Dong Zhuo rebukes Ding Yuan in the Garden of Warmth and Brightness; Li Su wins over Lü Bu with offerings of gold and pearls.

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

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Wizard of Oz - Chapter Six - 1

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum


6. The Cowardly Lion


All this time Dorothy and her companions had been walking through the thick woods. The road was still paved with yellow brick, but these were much covered by dried branches and dead leaves from the trees, and the walking was not at all good.

There were few birds in this part of the forest, for birds love the open country where there is plenty of sunshine. But now and then there came a deep growl from some wild animal hidden among the trees. These sounds made the little girl's heart beat fast, for she did not know what made them; but Toto knew, and he walked close to Dorothy's side, and did not even bark in return.



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.

More information here:
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Innocents Abroad - Chapter Six - 10

by Mark Twain


When we were dismounted and it came to settling, the shouting and jawing and swearing and quarreling among the muleteers and with us was nearly deafening. One fellow would demand a dollar an hour for the use of his donkey; another claimed half a dollar for pricking him up, another a quarter for helping in that service, and about fourteen guides presented bills for showing us the way through the town and its environs; and every vagrant of them was more vociferous, and more vehement and more frantic in gesture than his neighbor. We paid one guide and paid for one muleteer to each donkey.

The mountains on some of the islands are very high. We sailed along the shore of the island of Pico, under a stately green pyramid that rose up with one unbroken sweep from our very feet to an altitude of 7,613 feet, and thrust its summit above the white clouds like an island adrift in a fog!

We got plenty of fresh oranges, lemons, figs, apricots, etc., in these Azores, of course. But I will desist. I am not here to write Patent Office reports.

We are on our way to Gibraltar, and shall reach there five or six days out from the Azores.



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: Solid Information--A Fossil Community--Curious Ways and Customs
--Jesuit Humbuggery--Fantastic Pilgrimizing--Origin of the Russ Pavement
--Squaring Accounts with the Fossils--At Sea Again

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

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Three Musketeers - Chapter 40 - 6

by Alexandre Dumas


"But it appears to me that my Guards--mine--are also his Majesty's Guards; and whoever serves in a French corps serves the king."

"Monseigneur, your Eminence has ill understood my words."

"You want a pretext, do you not? I comprehend. Well, you have this excuse: advancement, the opening campaign, the opportunity which I offer you--so much for the world. As regards yourself, the need of protection; for it is fit you should know, Monsieur d'Artagnan, that I have received heavy and serious complaints against you. You do not consecrate your days and nights wholly to the king's service."

D'Artagnan colored.

"In fact," said the cardinal, placing his hand upon a bundle of papers, "I have here a whole pile which concerns you. I know you to be a man of resolution; and your services, well directed, instead of leading you to ill, might be very advantageous to you. Come; reflect, and decide."

"Your goodness confounds me, monseigneur," replied d'Artagnan, "and I am conscious of a greatness of soul in your Eminence that makes me mean as an earthworm; but since Monseigneur permits me to speak freely--"

D'Artagnan paused.

"Yes; speak."



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

More About This Book


In this chapter, the hero finally meets the story's arch-villian, the Cardinal Richelieu. This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Illiad - Book Two - 56

by Homer


The Phoceans were led by Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of mighty
Iphitus the son of Naubolus. These were they that held
Cyparissus, rocky Pytho, holy Crisa, Daulis, and Panopeus; they
also that dwelt in Anemorea and Hyampolis, and about the waters
of the river Cephissus, and Lilaea by the springs of the
Cephissus; with their chieftains came forty ships, and they
marshalled the forces of the Phoceans, which were stationed next
to the Boeotians, on their left.

Ajax, the fleet son of Oileus, commanded the Locrians. He was not
so great, nor nearly so great, as Ajax the son of Telamon. He was
a little man, and his breastplate was made of linen, but in use
of the spear he excelled all the Hellenes and the Achaeans.
These dwelt in Cynus, Opous, Calliarus, Bessa, Scarphe, fair
Augeae, Tarphe, and Thronium about the river Boagrius. With him
there came forty ships of the Locrians who dwell beyond Euboea.



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.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of This Series

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Thousand and One Nights - Son and Ogress - 11

The King's Son and the Ogress


But he took courage and said to the Afrit, 'O Afrit, quoth God the Most High, "Be ye faithful to your covenants, for they shall be enquired of:" and verily thou madest a pact with me and sworest to me that thou wouldst do me no hurt. So play me not false, lest God do the like with thee: for indeed He is a jealous God, who delayeth to punish, yet letteth not the evil-doer escape. And I say to thee, as said the physician Douban to King Younan, "Spare me, so God may spare thee!"' The Afrit laughed and started off inland, saying to the fisherman, 'Follow me.' So he followed him, trembling and not believing that he should escape, and the Afrit led him to the backward of the town: then crossing a hill, descended into a spacious plain, in the midst of which was a lake of water surrounded by four little hills. He led the fisherman into the midst of the lake, where he stood still and bade him throw his net and fish. The fisherman looked into the water and was astonished to see therein fish of four colours, white and red and blue and yellow. Then he took out his net and cast and drawing it in, found in it four fish, one of each colour. At this he rejoiced, and the Afrit said to him, 'Carry them to the Sultan and present them to him, and he will give thee what shall enrich thee. And accept my excuse, for I know not any other way to fulfil my pro mise to thee, having lain in yonder sea eighteen hundred years and never seen the surface of the earth till this time. But do not fish here more than once a day; and I commend thee to God's care!' So saying, he struck the earth with his foot, and it opened and swallowed him up,whilst the fisherman returned, wondering at all that had befallen him, to his house, where he took a bowl of water and laid therein the fish, which began to frisk about.



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

More About This Book


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

Picture: Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryār.

More information here:


Check the right columnMore of this Series

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Lays of Ancient Rome - Virginia - 1

Virginia
by Thomas B. Macaulay


Ye good men of the Commons, with loving hearts and true,
Who stand by the bold Tribunes that still have stood by you,
Come, make a circle round me, and mark my tale with care,
A tale of what Rome once hath borne, of what Rome yet may bear.
This is no Grecian fable, of fountains running wine,
Of maids with snaky tresses, or sailors turned to swine.
Here, in this very Forum, under the noonday sun,
In sight of all the people, the bloody deed was done.
Old men still creep among us who saw that fearful day,
Just seventy years and seven ago, when the wicked Ten bare sway.

Of all the wicked Ten still the names are held accursed,
And of all the wicked Ten Appius Claudius was the worst.
He stalked along the Forum like King Tarquin in his pride:
Twelve axes waited on him, six marching on a side;
The townsmen shrank to right and left, and eyed askance with fear
His lowering brow, his curling mouth which always seemed to sneer;
That brow of hate, that mouth of scorn, marks all the kindred still;
For never was there Claudius yet but wished the Commons ill;
Nor lacks he fit attendance; for close behind his heels,
With outstretched chin and crouching pace, the client Marcus steals,
His loins girt up to run with speed, be the errand what it may,
And the smile flickering on his cheek, for aught his lord may say.
Such varlets pimp and jest for hire among the lying Greeks:
Such varlets still are paid to hoot when brave Licinius speaks.
Where'er ye shed the honey, the buzzing flies will crowd;
Where'er ye fling the carrion, the raven's croak is loud;
Where'er down Tiber garbage floats, the greedy pike ye see;
And wheresoe'er such lord is found, such client still will be




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.

More information here:
Check the right column
More of this Series

Friday, August 19, 2011

3 Kingdoms - Chapter Three - 2

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong


5
After He Jin received the petition, he showed it to his ministers. Assistant oversight advisor Zheng Tai admon- ished, "Dong Zhuo is a wolf and a jackal, if he enters the capital, it will most certainly be people that he devours." Jin replied, "You have too many doubts, and are not up to the task of planning for great things." Lu Zhi also admonished, "I know Dong Zhuo's character all too well, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.[4] Once he enters the palace, it will surely become a catastrophe. It is better to not allow him to enter the capital, in order to avoid chaos."

6
He Jin would not listen, so Zheng Tai and Lu Zhi resigned their posts and left. More than half of the senior ministers at court departed. Jin sent someone to meet with Dong Zhuo at Mianchi, and Zhuo temporarily held back his army. Zhang Rang and his cohorts knew of the arrival of the outside army, and discussed the matter, saying, "This is a plot of He Jin's; if we don't take action first, it will be the death of us." So they sent 50 armed guards to hide inside the gate to Jiade Hall within Changle Palace. They then went to see Empress Dowager He, saying, "The supreme general has now issued a forged decree which calls for outside armies to enter the capital. They want to destroy us. Please take pity, and save us." The empress dowager replied, "You could all go to the residence of the supreme general and apologize for your transgressions." Rang said, "If we were to go to the residence of the chancellor, he would make mince meat out of us. We would like for you to summon the supreme general to the palace, and command him to stop. If he does not comply, then all we can do is come before you and ask to be put to death."



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: How Dong Zhuo rebukes Ding Yuan in the Garden of Warmth and Brightness; Li Su wins over Lü Bu with offerings of gold and pearls.

More information here:


Check the right columnMore of This Series

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

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Wizard of Oz - Chapter Five - 13

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum


"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."

Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of her two friends was right, and she decided if she could only get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it did not matter so much whether the Woodman had no brains and the Scarecrow no heart, or each got what he wanted.

What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. To be sure neither the Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.





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.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Innocents Abroad - Chapter Six - 9

by Mark Twain


The bridges are of a single span--a single arch--of cut stone, without a support, and paved on top with flags of lava and ornamental pebblework. Everywhere are walls, walls, walls, and all of them tasteful and handsome--and eternally substantial; and everywhere are those marvelous pavements, so neat, so smooth, and so indestructible. And if ever roads and streets and the outsides of houses were perfectly free from any sign or semblance of dirt, or dust, or mud, or uncleanliness of any kind, it is Horta, it is Fayal. The lower classes of the people, in their persons and their domiciles, are not clean--but there it stops--the town and the island are miracles of cleanliness.

We arrived home again finally, after a ten-mile excursion, and the irrepressible muleteers scampered at our heels through the main street, goading the donkeys, shouting the everlasting "Sekki-yah," and singing "John Brown's Body" in ruinous English.



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: Solid Information--A Fossil Community--Curious Ways and Customs
--Jesuit Humbuggery--Fantastic Pilgrimizing--Origin of the Russ Pavement
--Squaring Accounts with the Fossils--At Sea Again

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

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Three Musketeers - Chapter 40 - 5

by Alexandre Dumas


"You are brave, Monsieur d'Artagnan," continued his Eminence; "you are prudent, which is still better. I like men of head and heart. Don't be afraid," said he, smiling. "By men of heart I mean men of courage. But young as you are, and scarcely entering into the world, you have powerful enemies; if you do not take great heed, they will destroy you."

"Alas, monseigneur!" replied the young man, "very easily, no doubt, for they are strong and well supported, while I am alone."

"Yes, that's true; but alone as you are, you have done much already, and will do still more, I don't doubt. Yet you have need, I believe, to be guided in the adventurous career you have undertaken; for, if I mistake not, you came to Paris with the ambitious idea of making your fortune."

"I am at the age of extravagant hopes, monseigneur," said d'Artagnan.

"There are no extravagant hopes but for fools, monsieur, and you are a man of understanding. Now, what would you say to an ensign's commission in my Guards, and a company after the campaign?"

"Ah, monseigneur."

"You accept it, do you not?"

"Monseigneur," replied d'Artagnan, with an embarrassed air.

"How? You refuse?" cried the cardinal, with astonishment.

"I am in his Majesty's Guards, monseigneur, and I have no reason to be dissatisfied."



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

More About This Book


In this chapter, the hero finally meets the story's arch-villian, the Cardinal Richelieu. This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Monday, August 15, 2011

The Illiad - Book Two - 55

by Homer


Peneleos, Leitus, Arcesilaus, Prothoenor, and Clonius were
captains of the Boeotians. These were they that dwelt in Hyria
and rocky Aulis, and who held Schoenus, Scolus, and the highlands
of Eteonus, with Thespeia, Graia, and the fair city of
Mycalessus. They also held Harma, Eilesium, and Erythrae; and
they had Eleon, Hyle, and Peteon; Ocalea and the strong fortress
of Medeon; Copae, Eutresis, and Thisbe the haunt of doves;
Coronea, and the pastures of Haliartus; Plataea and Glisas; the
fortress of Thebes the less; holy Onchestus with its famous grove
of Neptune; Arne rich in vineyards; Midea, sacred Nisa, and
Anthedon upon the sea. From these there came fifty ships, and in
each there were a hundred and twenty young men of the Boeotians.

Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Mars, led the people that dwelt
in Aspledon and Orchomenus the realm of Minyas. Astyoche a noble
maiden bore them in the house of Actor son of Azeus; for she had
gone with Mars secretly into an upper chamber, and he had lain
with her. With these there came thirty ships.



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.

More information here:
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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Thousand and One Nights - Son and Ogress - 10

The King's Son and the Ogress


At this the Marid roared out and said, 'God on thee, O fisherman, do not do that! Spare me and bear me not malice for what I did, for men's wit is still better than that of Jinn. If I did evil, do thou good, in accordance with the adage, "O thou that dost good to him that does evil, the deed of the evil-doer suffices him." Do not thou deal with me as did Umameh with Aatikeh.' 'And what did Umameh with Aatikeh?' asked the fisherman. But the Afrit answered, 'This is no time to tell stories, and I in this duresse: let me out, and I will tell thee.' Quoth the fisherman, 'Leave this talk: I must and will throw thee into the sea, and thou shalt never win out again; for I besought thee and humbled myself to thee, but nothing would serve thee but thou must kill me, who had committed no offence against thee deserving this nor done thee any ill, but only kindness, in that I delivered thee from duresse. When thou didst thus by me, I knew thee for an incorrigible evil-doer; and know that, when I have thrown thee back into the sea, I will tell every one what happened between me and thee and warn him, to the end that whoever fishes thee up may throw thee in again; and thou shalt remain in the sea till the end of time and suffer all manner of torments.' Quoth the Afrit, 'Let me out, for this is the season of generosity; and I will make a compact with thee never to do thee hurt and to help thee to what shall enrich thee.' The fisherman accepted his proposal and unsealed the vessel, after he had taken the Afrit's pledge and made him swear by the Most High Name never to hurt him, but on the contrary to do him service. Then the smoke ascended as before and gathered itself together and became an Afrit, who gave the vessel a kick and sent it into the sea. When the fisherman saw this, he let fly in his clothes and gave himself up for lost, saying, 'This bodes no good.'



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

More About This Book


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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Saturday, August 13, 2011

Lays of Ancient Rome - Lake Regulus - 20

The Battle of the Lake Regillus
by Thomas B. Macaulay


XXXIX

Then burst from that great concourse
A shout that shook the towers,
And some ran north, and some ran south,
Crying, "The day is ours!"
But on rode these strange horsemen,
With slow and lordly pace;
And none who saw their bearing
Durst ask their name or race.
On rode they to the Forum,
While laurel-boughs and flowers,
From house-tops and from windows,
Fell on their crests in showers.
When they drew nigh to Vesta,
They vaulted down amain,
And washed their horses in the well
That springs by Vesta's fane.
And straight again they mounted,
And rode to Vesta's door;
Then, like a blast, away they passed,
And no man saw them more.

XL

And all the people trembled,
And pale grew every cheek;
And Sergius the High Pontiff
Alone found voice to speak:
"The gods who live forever
Have fought for Rome to-day!
These be the Great Twin Brethren
To whom the Dorians pray.
Back comes the chief in triumph,
Who, in the hour of fight,
Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren
In harness on his right.
Safe comes the ship to haven,
Through billows and through gales,
If once the Great Twin Brethren
Sit shining on the sails.
Wherefore they washed their horses
In Vesta's holy well,
Wherefore they rode to Vesta's door,
I know, but may not tell.
Here, hard by Vesta's temple,
Build we a stately dome
Unto the Great Twin Brethren
Who fought so well for Rome.
And when the months returning
Bring back this day of fight,
The proud Ides of Quintilis,
Marked evermore with white,
Unto the Great Twin Brethren
Let all the people throng,
With chaplets and with offerings,
With music and with song;
And let the doors and windows
Be hung with garlands all,
And let the knights be summoned
To Mars without the wall:
Thence let them ride in purple
With joyous trumpet-sound,
Each mounted on his war-horse,
And each with olive crowned;
And pass in solemn order
Before the sacred dome,
Where dwell the Great Twin Brethren
Who fought so well for Rome."




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

More About This Book


This poem celebrates a desperate battle the early Romans had with their immediate neighbors. The Romans won only after the gods intervened. Scottish poet Macaulay published this in 1842.

Illustration: Photo of site of the battle. Lake was drained in the 4th. century B.C. Photo by Luiclemens at en.wikipedia, CC-BY-SA-3.0.

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Friday, August 12, 2011

3 Kingdoms - Chapter Three - 1

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong


2
Let us now turn to Cao Cao. On that day, he said to He Jin, "There have been calamities caused by eunuchs since ancient times. However, a ruler can not use their favored status as a pretext to bring about the situation with which we are now faced. If you would like to punish wrongdoers, then you should get rid of the original culprit. However, you only need to employ one jailor for this task. There is no need to call up outside troops in such great numbers. If you want to kill all of them, the matter is bound to get out. I predict that it is doomed to fail." He Jin angrily replied, "Mengde, I take it that you have your own personal agenda?"[1] Cao withdrew, saying, "It is Jin that is determined to wreak havoc on this world." Jin then quietly sent someone on a mission to travel non-stop and personally deliver the secret decree to each and every hamlet.

3
Let us now turn to former general Dong Zhuo --- the marquis of Tai Village, and governor of Xiliang Province[2] --- who had failed to break up the Yellow Turbans. The court was planning on punishing him, but he bribed the ten regular attendants and got off lucky. Afterwards, he got cozy with some of the powerful officials at court, so he was appointed to a noteworthy post. He was in charge a large army of 200,000 men in Xizhou,[3] but continued to harbor feelings of disloyalty. After he received this latest decree, he was overjoyed. He called up the army and cavalry, and marched them nonstop. He placed his son-in-law, Commander of the Palace Guard Niu Fu, in charge of defending Shaanxi. He led the rest of the army toward Luoyang, accompanied by people such as Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji and Fan Chou. Li Ru, Zhuo's son-in-law and advisor, said, "Even though our intention is to obey the decree, there are many vagaries within its text; why not send someone with a petition to the emperor which clearly states our intentions, so that we may accomplish great things." Zhuo was overjoyed, and sent the petition to the emperor. It said something to the effect of:

4
We, your subjects, have overheard that the reason for all of the chaos in the country is that the likes of eunuchs such as Zhang Rang and his ilk have been making a mockery of the natural hierarchy of relationships among men. We have heard it said that lifting the soup to stop it from boiling is less effective than taking away the firewood. Piercing an abscess to let the puss drain might be painful, but it is better than letting it fester. We boldly sound the drums and gongs of war on our way into Luoyang, so that we can clear out the likes of Rang and his cohorts. This is good for the nation! This is good for the world!


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: How Dong Zhuo rebukes Ding Yuan in the Garden of Warmth and Brightness; Li Su wins over Lü Bu with offerings of gold and pearls.

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

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Wizard of Oz - Chapter Five - 12

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum


"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me. There was only one danger--that my joints would rust; but I kept an oil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and, being caught in a rainstorm, before I thought of the danger my joints had rusted, and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help me. It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz to give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin maiden and marry her."

Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to get a new heart.

"All the same," said the Scarecrow, "I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one."



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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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Innocents Abroad - Chapter Six - 8

by Mark Twain


It was fun, scurrying around the breezy hills and through the beautiful canyons. There was that rare thing, novelty, about it; it was a fresh, new, exhilarating sensation, this donkey riding, and worth a hundred worn and threadbare home pleasures.

The roads were a wonder, and well they might be. Here was an island with only a handful of people in it--25,000--and yet such fine roads do not exist in the United States outside of Central Park. Everywhere you go, in any direction, you find either a hard, smooth, level thoroughfare, just sprinkled with black lava sand, and bordered with little gutters neatly paved with small smooth pebbles, or compactly paved ones like Broadway. They talk much of the Russ pavement in New York, and call it a new invention--yet here they have been using it in this remote little isle of the sea for two hundred years! Every street in Horta is handsomely paved with the heavy Russ blocks, and the surface is neat and true as a floor--not marred by holes like Broadway. And every road is fenced in by tall, solid lava walls, which will last a thousand years in this land where frost is unknown. They are very thick, and are often plastered and whitewashed and capped with projecting slabs of cut stone. Trees from gardens above hang their swaying tendrils down, and contrast their bright green with the whitewash or the black lava of the walls and make them beautiful. The trees and vines stretch across these narrow roadways sometimes and so shut out the sun that you seem to be riding through a tunnel. The pavements, the roads, and the bridges are all government work.



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: Solid Information--A Fossil Community--Curious Ways and Customs
--Jesuit Humbuggery--Fantastic Pilgrimizing--Origin of the Russ Pavement
--Squaring Accounts with the Fossils--At Sea Again

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

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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Three Musketeers - Chapter 40 - 4

by Alexandre Dumas


"In short," continued the cardinal, "as I have heard nothing of you for some time past, I wished to know what you were doing. Besides, you owe me some thanks. You must yourself have remarked how much you have been considered in all the circumstances."

D'Artagnan bowed with respect.

"That," continued the cardinal, "arose not only from a feeling of natural equity, but likewise from a plan I have marked out with respect to you."

D'Artagnan became more and more astonished.

"I wished to explain this plan to you on the day you received my first invitation; but you did not come. Fortunately, nothing is lost by this delay, and you are now about to hear it. Sit down there, before me, d'Artagnan; you are gentleman enough not to listen standing." And the cardinal pointed with his finger to a chair for the young man, who was
so astonished at what was passing that he awaited a second sign from his interlocutor before he obeyed.



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

More About This Book


In this chapter, the hero finally meets the story's arch-villian, the Cardinal Richelieu. This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

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Monday, August 8, 2011

The Illiad - Book Two - 54

by Homer


As countless swarms of flies buzz around a herdsman's homestead
in the time of spring when the pails are drenched with milk, even
so did the Achaeans swarm on to the plain to charge the Trojans
and destroy them.

The chiefs disposed their men this way and that before the fight
began, drafting them out as easily as goatherds draft their
flocks when they have got mixed while feeding; and among them
went King Agamemnon, with a head and face like Jove the lord of
thunder, a waist like Mars, and a chest like that of Neptune. As
some great bull that lords it over the herds upon the plain, even
so did Jove make the son of Atreus stand peerless among the
multitude of heroes.

And now, O Muses, dwellers in the mansions of Olympus, tell me--
for you are goddesses and are in all places so that you see all
things, while we know nothing but by report--who were the chiefs
and princes of the Danaans? As for the common soldiers, they were
so that I could not name every single one of them though I had
ten tongues, and though my voice failed not and my heart were of
bronze within me, unless you, O Olympian Muses, daughters of
aegis-bearing Jove, were to recount them to me. Nevertheless, I
will tell the captains of the ships and all the fleet together.



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.

More information here:
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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Thousand and One Nights - Son and Ogress - 9

The King's Son and the Ogress


Quoth the head,

"Open more leaves." So the King turned over more leaves in the same manner. Now the book was as poisoned, and before long the poison began to work upon the King, and he fell back in convulsions and cried out, "I am poisoned!" Whereupon the head repeated the following verses:

Lo, these once were kings who governed with a harsh and haughty
sway! In a little, their dominion was as if it ne'er had
been.
Had they swayed the sceptre justly, they had been repaid the
like, But they were unjust, and Fortune guerdoned them with
dole and teen.
Now they're passed away, the moral of their case bespeaks them
thus, "This is what your sins have earnt you: Fate is not to
blame, I ween."

No sooner had it done speaking, than the King fell down dead and the head also ceased to live. And know, O Afrit (continued the fisherman), that if King Younan had spared the physician Douban, God would have spared him; but he refused and sought his death; so God killed him. And thou, O Afrit, if thou hadst spared me, I would spare thee; but nothing would serve thee but thou must put me to death; so now I will kill thee by shutting thee up in this vessel and throwing thee into the sea.'



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

More About This Book


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

Picture: Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryār.

More information here:


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Saturday, August 6, 2011

Lays of Ancient Rome - Lake Regulus - 19

The Battle of the Lake Regillus
by Thomas B. Macaulay


XXXVII

Semponius Atratinus
Sat in the Eastern Gate,
Beside him were three Fathers,
Each in his chair of state;
Fabius, whose nine stout grandsons
That day were in the field,
And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve
Who keep the Golden Shield;
And Sergius, the High Pontiff,
For wisdom far renowned;
In all Etruria's colleges
Was no such Pontiff found.
And all around the portal,
And high above the wall,
Stood a great throng of people,
But sad and silent all;
Young lads and stooping elders
That might not bear the mail,
Matrons with lips that quivered,
And maids with faces pale.
Since the first gleam of daylight,
Sempronius had not ceased
To listen for the rushing
Of horse-hoofs from the east.
The mist of eve was rising,
The sun was hastening down,
When he was aware of a princely pair
Fast pricking towards the town.
So like they were, man never
Saw twins so like before;
Red with gore their armor was,
Their steeds were red with gore.

XXXVIII

"Hail to the great Asylum!
Hail to the hill-tops seven!
Hail to the fire that burns for aye,
And the shield that fell from heaven!
This day, by Lake Regillus,
Under the Porcian height,
All in the lands of Tusculum
Was fought a glorious fight.
Tomorrow your Dictator
Shall bring in triumph home
The spoils of thirty cities
To deck the shrines of Rome!"




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

More About This Book


This poem celebrates a desperate battle the early Romans had with their immediate neighbors. The Romans won only after the gods intervened. Scottish poet Macaulay published this in 1842.

Illustration: Photo of site of the battle. Lake was drained in the 4th. century B.C. Photo by Luiclemens at en.wikipedia, CC-BY-SA-3.0.

More information here:


Check the right column
More of this Series

Friday, August 5, 2011

3 Kingdoms - Chapter Two - 19

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong


30
After a while, He Jin went to the empress to tell her about his desire to kill the eunuchs. Empress He said, "The eunuchs are in charge of the imperial household. The house of Han has operated in this way for generations. The late emperor has only recently abandoned this world for the next, yet you want to kill all of his old ministers; this does not show proper respect to the temple of our ancestors." Jin was not a decisive man in any case, so he listened to the empress dowager and murmured his compliance as he was leaving. Yuan Shao intercepted him and asked, "What has become of our great undertaking?" Jin replied, "The empress dowager will not allow it, so what can I do?" Shao said, "You could recruit brave soldiers from all over, and bring them into the capital to kill all of the wretched eunuchs. At this point, the situation is desperate. The empress dowager must not be allowed to dissent." Jin said, "That is a brilliant plan!" He then sent notices to every hamlet, calling on troops to come to the capital.

31
Chief of records Chen Lin said, "You must not! As the saying goes, 'to cover one's eyes while trying to catch a brambling,' this is to deceive oneself. If you are still unable to assert your will over small things, what about important matters of state? You now rely on imperial might, and a command of the military, to throw your weight about and do as you please. Your wanting to kill the eunuchs is akin to lighting a large oven just to burn up a few hairs. You merely need to unleash your wrath quickly. If you exercise your powers in a decisive manner, then everyone will follow your lead. But instead, you have issued a call to arms to all of the important ministers. They are streaming into the capital. With all of these heroes gathered together, each with a mind of his own, you are essentially offering the butt of your spear to others. By relinquishing your authority, your endeavor will surely fail, and chaos will emerge." He Jin laughed and said, "This is the view of a coward!" A man standing to the side started to clap his hands as he burst out laughing, saying, "This is as easy as turning over your hand, there is no need for excessive debate!" They looked at the man; it was Cao Cao. It was a case of:

If the king is taken away, then the mice will come out to play. One must listen to the plans of the wise and talented men at court.

Are you wondering what Cao Cao was about to say? Keep reading, and all will be explained



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: Zhang Yide gets angry and whips the County Inspector; Royal uncle He plots the murder of the wretched eunuchs.

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

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Wizard of Oz - Chapter Five - 11

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum


"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I went to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin. The leg worked very well, once I was used to it. But my action angered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinsmith, and again he made me a leg out of tin. After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after the other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with tin ones. The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmith happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.

"I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be. She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden, and made my axe slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more the tinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of joints, so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did not care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.



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.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Innocents Abroad - Chapter Six - 7

by Mark Twain


Blucher could do nothing at all with his donkey. The beast scampered zigzag across the road and the others ran into him; he scraped Blucher against carts and the corners of houses; the road was fenced in with high stone walls, and the donkey gave him a polishing first on one side and then on the other, but never once took the middle; he finally came to the house he was born in and darted into the parlor, scraping Blucher off at the doorway. After remounting, Blucher said to the muleteer, "Now, that's enough, you know; you go slow hereafter."

But the fellow knew no English and did not understand, so he simply said, "Sekki-yah!" and the donkey was off again like a shot. He turned a corner suddenly, and Blucher went over his head. And, to speak truly, every mule stumbled over the two, and the whole cavalcade was piled up in a heap. No harm done. A fall from one of those donkeys is of little more consequence than rolling off a sofa. The donkeys all stood still after the catastrophe and waited for their dismembered saddles to be patched up and put on by the noisy muleteers. Blucher was pretty angry and wanted to swear, but every time he opened his mouth his animal did so also and let off a series of brays that drowned all other sounds.



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: Solid Information--A Fossil Community--Curious Ways and Customs
--Jesuit Humbuggery--Fantastic Pilgrimizing--Origin of the Russ Pavement
--Squaring Accounts with the Fossils--At Sea Again

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

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Three Musketeers - Chapter 40 - 3

by Alexandre Dumas


"Monseigneur," said d'Artagnan, quite confused, "I went--"

"Hunting at Windsor, or elsewhere--that concerns nobody. I know, because it is my office to know everything. On your return you were received by an august personage, and I perceive with pleasure that you preserve the souvenir she gave you."

D'Artagnan placed his hand upon the queen's diamond, which he wore, and quickly turned the stone inward; but it was too late.

"The day after that, you received a visit from Cavois," resumed the cardinal. "He went to desire you to come to the palace. You have not returned that visit, and you were wrong."

"Monseigneur, I feared I had incurred disgrace with your Eminence."

"How could that be, monsieur? Could you incur my displeasure by having followed the orders of your superiors with more intelligence and courage than another would have done? It is the people who do not obey that I punish, and not those who, like you, obey--but too well. As a proof, remember the date of the day on which I had you bidden to come to me, and seek in your memory for what happened to you that very night."

That was the very evening when the abduction of Mme. Bonacieux took place. D'Artagnan trembled; and he likewise recollected that during the past half hour the poor woman had passed close to him, without doubt carried away by the same power that had caused her disappearance.



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

More About This Book


In this chapter, the hero finally meets the story's arch-villian, the Cardinal Richelieu. This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of this Series

Monday, August 1, 2011

The Illiad - Book Two - 53

by Homer


Thus did he speak, and Agamemnon heeded his words. He at once
sent the criers round to call the people in assembly. So they
called them, and the people gathered thereon. The chiefs about
the son of Atreus chose their men and marshalled them, while
Minerva went among them holding her priceless aegis that knows
neither age nor death. From it there waved a hundred tassels of
pure gold, all deftly woven, and each one of them worth a hundred
oxen. With this she darted furiously everywhere among the hosts
of the Achaeans, urging them forward, and putting courage into
the heart of each, so that he might fight and do battle without
ceasing. Thus war became sweeter in their eyes even than
returning home in their ships. As when some great forest fire is
raging upon a mountain top and its light is seen afar, even so as
they marched the gleam of their armour flashed up into the
firmament of heaven.

They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the
plain about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither and
thither, glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they
settle till the fen is alive with their screaming. Even thus did
their tribes pour from ships and tents on to the plain of the
Scamander, and the ground rang as brass under the feet of men and
horses. They stood as thick upon the flower-bespangled field as
leaves that bloom in summer.



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.

More information here:
Check the right columnMore of This Series