The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  _Bathes in the Mediterranean--Meets an unexpected companion--Arrivesunintentionally in the regions of heat and darkness, from which he isextricated by dancing a hornpipe--Frightens his deliverers, and returnson shore._

  I was once in great danger of being lost in a most singular manner inthe Mediterranean: I was bathing in that pleasant sea near Marseillesone summer's afternoon, when I discovered a very large fish, with hisjaws quite extended, approaching me with the greatest velocity; therewas no time to be lost, nor could I possibly avoid him. I immediatelyreduced myself to as small a size as possible, by closing my feet andplacing my hands also near my sides, in which position I passed directlybetween his jaws, and into his stomach, where I remained some time intotal darkness, and comfortably warm, as you may imagine; at last itoccurred to me, that by giving him pain he would be glad to get rid ofme: as I had plenty of room, I played my pranks, such as tumbling, hop,step, and jump, &c., but nothing seemed to disturb him so much as thequick motion of my feet in attempting to dance a hornpipe; soon after Ibegan he put me out by sudden fits and starts: I persevered; at last heroared horridly, and stood up almost perpendicularly in the water, withhis head and shoulders exposed, by which he was discovered by the peopleon board an Italian trader, then sailing by, who harpooned him in a fewminutes. As soon as he was brought on board I heard the crew consultinghow they should cut him up, so as to preserve the greatest quantity ofoil. As I understood Italian, I was in most dreadful apprehensionslest their weapons employed in this business should destroy me also;therefore I stood as near the centre as possible, for there was roomenough for a dozen men in this creature's stomach, and I naturallyimagined they would begin with the extremities; however, my fears weresoon dispersed, for they began by opening the bottom of the belly. Assoon as I perceived a glimmering of light I called out lustily to bereleased from a situation in which I was now almost suffocated. It isimpossible for me to do justice to the degree and kind of astonishmentwhich sat upon every countenance at hearing a human voice issue from afish, but more so at seeing a naked man walk upright out of his body;in short, gentlemen, I told them the whole story, as I have done you,whilst amazement struck them dumb.

  After taking some refreshment, and jumping into the sea to cleansemyself, I swam to my clothes, which lay where I had left them on theshore. As near as I can calculate, I was near four hours and a halfconfined in the stomach of this animal.