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The Hunting of the Snark (version 4) - Lewis Carroll · Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll

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Speaker 1: Preface of the Hunting of the Snark, an agony in
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Speaker 1: eight fits by Lewis Carroll. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The
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Speaker 1: Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll preface. If and
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Speaker 1: the thing is wildly possible, the charge of writing nonsense
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Speaker 1: were ever brought against the author of this brief but
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Speaker 1: instructive poem, it would be based. I feel convinced on
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Speaker 1: the line on page four. Then the bowsprit got mixed
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Speaker 1: with a rudder. Sometimes in view of this painful possibility,
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Speaker 1: I will not, as I might appeal indignantly to my
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Speaker 1: other writings as a proof that I am incapable of
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Speaker 1: such a deed. I will not, as I might point
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Speaker 1: to the strong moral purpose of this poem itself, to
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Speaker 1: the arithmetical principles so cautiously inculcated in it, or to
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Speaker 1: its noble teachings in natural history. I will take the
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Speaker 1: more prosaic course of simply explaining how it happened. The Bellman,
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Speaker 1: who was almost morbidly sensitive about appearances, used to have
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Speaker 1: the bowsprit unshipped once or twice a week to be revarnished,
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Speaker 1: and it more than once happened when the time came
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Speaker 1: for replacing it, that no one on board could remember
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Speaker 1: which end of the ship it belonged to. They knew
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Speaker 1: it was not of the slightest use to appeal to
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Speaker 1: the bellman about it. He would only refer to his
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Speaker 1: naval code and read out in pathetic tones admiralty instructions
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Speaker 1: which none of them had ever been able to understand.
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Speaker 1: So it generally ended in its being fastened on anyhow
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Speaker 1: across the rudder. The helmsman used to stand by with
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Speaker 1: tears in his eyes. He knew it was all wrong,
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Speaker 1: but alas Rule forty two of the code no one
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Speaker 1: shall speak to the man at the helm had been
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Speaker 1: completed by the bellman himself with the words and the
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Speaker 1: man that the helm shall speak to no one, so
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Speaker 1: remonstrance was impossible, and no steering could be done till
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Speaker 1: the next varnishing day. During these bewildering intervals, the ship
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Speaker 1: usually sailed backwards. As this poem is to some extent
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Speaker 1: connected with the lay of the Jabblewok. Let me take
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Speaker 1: this opportunity of answering a question that has often been
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Speaker 1: asked me, how to pronounce slythee toves. The eye in
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Speaker 1: Slyee is long as in writhe, and toves is pronounced
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Speaker 1: so as to rhyme with groves. Again, the first O
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Speaker 1: in borow groves is pronounced like the O in borrow.
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Speaker 1: I have heard people try to give it the sound
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Speaker 1: of the O in worry. Such is human perversity. This
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Speaker 1: also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard
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Speaker 1: words in that poem. Humpty Dumpty's theory of two meanings
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Speaker 1: packed into one word like a portmanteau seems to me
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Speaker 1: the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two
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Speaker 1: words fuming and furious. Make up your minds that you
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Speaker 1: will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you
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Speaker 1: will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If
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Speaker 1: your thoughts incline ever so little towards fuming, you will
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Speaker 1: say fuming furious. If they turn by even a hair's
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Speaker 1: breadth towards furious, you will say furious fuming. But if
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Speaker 1: you have the rear of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind
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Speaker 1: will say frumious. Supposing that when pistol uttered, the well
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Speaker 1: known words under which King Bezonian speak or die justice.
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Speaker 1: Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard,
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Speaker 1: but had not been able to settle which, so that
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Speaker 1: he could not possibly say either name before the other.
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Speaker 1: Can it be doubted that rather than die, he would
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Speaker 1: have gasped out Rilchium end of preface, Chapter one of
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Speaker 1: Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll. This libriyvox recording
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Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Fits the first the landing,
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Speaker 1: Just the place for a snark, the bellman cried as
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Speaker 1: he landed his crew with care, supporting each man on
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Speaker 1: the top of the tide by a finger entwined in
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Speaker 1: his hair. Just the place for a snark. I have
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Speaker 1: said it twice that alone should encourage the crew. Just
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Speaker 1: the place for a snark. I have said it thrice.
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Speaker 1: What I tell you three times is true. The crew
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Speaker 1: was complete. It included a boots, a maker of bonnets
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Speaker 1: and hoods, a barrister brought to arrange their disputes, and
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Speaker 1: a broker to value their goods. A billiard marker whose
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Speaker 1: skill was immense might perhaps have won more than his share,
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Speaker 1: but a banker engaged at enormous expense had the whole
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Speaker 1: of their cash in his care. There was also a
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Speaker 1: beaver that paced on the deck or would sit making
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Speaker 1: lace in the bow, and had often, the bellman said,
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Speaker 1: saved them from wreck, though none of the sailors knew how.
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Speaker 1: There was one who was famed for the number of
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Speaker 1: things he forgot when he entered the ship, his umbrella,
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Speaker 1: his watch, all his jewels and rings, and the clothes
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Speaker 1: he had bought for the trip. He had forty two boxes,
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Speaker 1: all carefully packed, with his name painted clearly on each,
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Speaker 1: but since he omitted to mention the fact they were
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Speaker 1: all left behind on the beach, the loss of his
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Speaker 1: clothes hardly matted, because he had seven coats on when
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Speaker 1: he came with three pairs of boots. But the worst
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Speaker 1: of it was he had wholly forgotten his name. He
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Speaker 1: would answer to II or to any loud cry, such
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Speaker 1: as fry me or fritter my wig, to what you
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Speaker 1: may call em, or what was his name, but especially
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Speaker 1: thing um a jig, while for those who preferred a
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Speaker 1: more forcible word he had different names from these. His
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Speaker 1: intimate friends called him candle ends, and his enemies toasted cheese.
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Speaker 1: His form is ungainly, his intellects small, so the bellman
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Speaker 1: would often remark, but his courage is perfect, and that,
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Speaker 1: after all, is the thing that one needs. With a snark,
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Speaker 1: he would joke with hyaenas, returning their stare with an
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Speaker 1: impotent wag of the head. And he once went a walk,
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Speaker 1: poor and poor with a bear, just to keep up
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Speaker 1: its spirits, he said. He came as a baker, but
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Speaker 1: owned when too late, and it drove the poor bellman
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Speaker 1: half mad. He could only bake bridecake, for which I
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Speaker 1: may state no materials were to be had. The last
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Speaker 1: of the crew needs a special remark, though he looked
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Speaker 1: an incredible dunce. He had just one idea, but that
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Speaker 1: one being snark, The good Bellman engaged him at once.
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Speaker 1: He came as a butcher, but gravely declared, when the
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Speaker 1: ship had been sailing a week he could only kill beavers.
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Speaker 1: The bellman looked scared and was almost too frightened to speak,
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Speaker 1: but at length he explained in a tremulous tone, there
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Speaker 1: was only one beaver on board, and that was a
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Speaker 1: tame one he had of his own, whose death would
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Speaker 1: be deeply deplored. The beaver, who happened to hear the
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Speaker 1: remark protested, with tears in its eyes, that not even
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Speaker 1: the rapture of hunting the Snark could atone for that
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Speaker 1: dismal surprise. It strongly advised that the butcher should be
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Speaker 1: conveyed in a separate ship, but the Bellman declared that
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Speaker 1: would never agree with the plans he had made for
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Speaker 1: the trip. Navigation was always a difficult art, though, with
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Speaker 1: only one ship and one bell, and he feared he
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Speaker 1: must really decline for his part undertaking another as well.
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Speaker 1: The beaver's best course was, no doubt, to procure a
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Speaker 1: second hand daggerproof coat, so the baker advised it, and
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Speaker 1: next to ensure its life in some office of note.
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Speaker 1: This the banker suggested, and offered for hire on moderate terms,
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Speaker 1: all for sale two excellent policies, one against fire and
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Speaker 1: one against damage from hail. Yet still, ever after that
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Speaker 1: sorrowful day, whenever the butcher was by, the beaver kept
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Speaker 1: looking the opposite way, and appeared unaccountably shy. End of
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Speaker 1: chapter one, Chapter two of The Hunting of the Snark
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Speaker 1: by Lewis Carroll. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: Fit the second the Bellman's speech, The bellman himself they
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Speaker 1: all praised to the skies. Such a carriage, such ease,
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Speaker 1: and such grace, such solemnity. Too, One could see he
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Speaker 1: was wise the moment one looked in his face. He
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Speaker 1: had bought a large map representing the sea without the
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Speaker 1: least vestige of land, and the crew were much pleased
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Speaker 1: when they found it to be a map they could
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Speaker 1: all understand. Would the good of Mecata's north poles and equators, tropics,
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Speaker 1: zones and meridian lines. So the bellman would cry, and
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Speaker 1: the crew would reply, they are merely conventional signs. Other
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Speaker 1: maps are such shapes with their islands and capes. But
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Speaker 1: we've got our brave captain to thank. So the crew
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Speaker 1: would protest that he's bought est their best, a perfect
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Speaker 1: and absolute blank. This was charming, no doubt, but they
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Speaker 1: shortly found out that the captain they trust did so well,
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Speaker 1: had only one notion for crossing the ocean, and that
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Speaker 1: was to tingle his bell. He was thoughtful and grave,
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Speaker 1: but the orders he gave were enough to bewilder a crew.
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Speaker 1: When he cried, steered to starboard, but keep her head larbowed.
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Speaker 1: What an earth was the helmsman to do? Then the
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Speaker 1: bow sprit got mixed with the rudder, sometimes a thing,
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Speaker 1: as the bellman remarked that frequently happens in tropical climes
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Speaker 1: when a vessel is so to speak, snarked. But the
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Speaker 1: principal failing occurred in the sailing, and the bellman, perplexed
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Speaker 1: and distressed, said he had hoped, at least when the
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Speaker 1: wind blew due east, that the ship would not travel
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Speaker 1: due west. But the danger was past. They had landed
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Speaker 1: at last with their boxes, portmanteaus, and bags. Yet at
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Speaker 1: first sight the crew were not pleased with the view,
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Speaker 1: which can insisted of chasms and crags. The bellman perceived
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Speaker 1: that their spirit was low, and repeated in musical tone
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Speaker 1: some jokes he had kept for a season of woe.
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Speaker 1: But the crew would do nothing but groan. He served
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Speaker 1: out some grog with a liberal hand and bade them
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Speaker 1: sit down on the beach, and they could not but
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Speaker 1: own that their captain looked grand as he stood and
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Speaker 1: delivered his speech. Friends, romans and countrymen, lend me your ears.
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Speaker 1: They were all of them fond of quotations, so they
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Speaker 1: drank to his health, and they gave him three cheers
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Speaker 1: while he served out additional rations. We have sailed many months.
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Speaker 1: We have sailed many weeks, four weeks to the month
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Speaker 1: you may mark. But never as yet tis your captain
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Speaker 1: who speaks. Have we caught the least glimpse of a snark?
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Speaker 1: We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
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Speaker 1: seven days to the week. I allow, But a snark
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Speaker 1: on the which we might lovingly gaze we have never
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Speaker 1: beheld till now. Come listen, my men, while I tell
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Speaker 1: you again the five unmistakable marks by which you may
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Speaker 1: know wheresoever you go, the warranted genuine snarks. Let us
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Speaker 1: take them in order. The first is the taste, which
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Speaker 1: is meager and hollow, but crisp, like a coat that
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Speaker 1: is rather too tight in the waist, with a flavor
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Speaker 1: of will o. The wisp its habit of getting up late.
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Speaker 1: You'll agree that it carries too far when I say
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Speaker 1: that it frequently breakfasts at five o'clock tea and dines
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Speaker 1: on the following day. The third is its slowness in
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Speaker 1: taking a jest. Should you happen to venture on one,
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Speaker 1: it will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed,
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Speaker 1: and it always looks grave at a pun. The fourth
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Speaker 1: is its fondness for bathing machines, which it constantly carries about,
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Speaker 1: and believes that they add to the beauty of scenes,
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Speaker 1: a sentiment open to doubt. The fifth is ambition. It
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Speaker 1: next will be right to describe each particular batch, distinguishing
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Speaker 1: those that have feathers in bite and those that have
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Speaker 1: whiskers and scratch. For although common snarks do no manner
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Speaker 1: of harm, yet I feel it my duty to say
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Speaker 1: some are boojums. The bellman broke off in alarm, for
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Speaker 1: the baker had fainted away end of chapter two, Chapter
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Speaker 1: three of The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Fit the
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Speaker 1: third the baker's tail. They roused him with muffins, They
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Speaker 1: roused him with ice, They roused him with mustard and cress.
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Speaker 1: They roused him with jam and judicious advice. They set
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Speaker 1: him conundrums to guess. When at length he sat up
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Speaker 1: and was able to speak his sad story, he offered
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Speaker 1: to tell, and the bellman cried silence, not even a shriek,
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Speaker 1: and excitedly tingled his bell. There was silence supreme, not
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Speaker 1: a shriek, not a scream, scarcely even a howl or
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Speaker 1: a groan. As the man they called Hoe told his
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Speaker 1: story of woe in an antediluvian tone. My father and
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Speaker 1: mother were honest, though poor Skip all net, cried the
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Speaker 1: bellman in haste. If it once becomes dark, there's no
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Speaker 1: chance of a snark. We have hardly a minute to waste.
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Speaker 1: Skip forty years, said the baker in tears, and proceed
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Speaker 1: without further remark. To the day when you took me
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Speaker 1: aboard of your ship to help you in hunting the snark.
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Speaker 1: A dear uncle of mine, after whom I was named,
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Speaker 1: remarked when I bade him farewell. Oh Skip, your dear uncle,
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Speaker 1: the bellman exclaimed, as he angrily tingled his bell. He
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Speaker 1: remarked to me, then, said the mildest of men. If
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Speaker 1: your snark be a snark, that is right, fetch it
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Speaker 1: home by all means. You may serve it with greens,
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Speaker 1: and it's handy for striking a light. You may seek
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Speaker 1: it with thimbles and seek it with care. You may
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Speaker 1: hunt it with forks and hope. You may threaten its
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Speaker 1: life with a railway's share. You may charm it with
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Speaker 1: smiles and soap. That's exactly the method. The Bellman bow
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Speaker 1: in a hasty parenthesis, cried, that's exactly the way I've
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Speaker 1: always been told that the capture of snarks should be tried.
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Speaker 1: But oh, bemission, if you beware of the day, if
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Speaker 1: your snark be a boogeum, for then you will softly
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Speaker 1: and suddenly vanish away and never be met with a gain.
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Speaker 1: It is this, It is this that oppresses my soul
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Speaker 1: when I think of my uncle's last words, and my
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Speaker 1: heart is like nothing so much as a bowl brimming
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Speaker 1: over with quivering kurds. It is this. It is this.
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Speaker 1: We have had that before, the Bellman indignantly said, and
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Speaker 1: the baker replied, let me say it once more. It
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Speaker 1: is this. It is this that I dread. I engage
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Speaker 1: with the snark every night, off the dark, in a dreamy,
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Speaker 1: delirious fire. I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,
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Speaker 1: and I use it for striking a light. But if
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Speaker 1: ever I meet with a boogium that day in a
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Speaker 1: moment of this, I am sure I shall softly and
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Speaker 1: suddenly vanish away, and the notion I cannot endure. End
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Speaker 1: of chapter three, Chapter four of the Hunting of the
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Speaker 1: Snark by Lewis Carroll. This LibriVox recording is in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. Fit the fourth The Hunting The bellman looked
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Speaker 1: huffish and wrinkled his brow. If only you'd spoken before,
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Speaker 1: it's excessively awkward to mention it now with the snark,
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Speaker 1: So to speak at the door, we should all all
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Speaker 1: of us grieve, as you well may believe if you
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Speaker 1: never were met with again. But surely, my man, when
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Speaker 1: the voyage began, you might have suggested it. Then. It's
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Speaker 1: excessively awkward to mention it now, as I think I've
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Speaker 1: already remarked, And the man they called Hi replied with
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Speaker 1: a sigh. I informed you the day we embarked. You
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Speaker 1: may charge me with murder or want of sense. We
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Speaker 1: are all of us weak at times, but the slightest
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Speaker 1: approach to a false pretense was never among my crimes.
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Speaker 1: I said it in Hebrew, I said it in Dutch.
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Speaker 1: I said it in German and Greek. But I wholly forgot,
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Speaker 1: and it vexes me much. That English is what you speak.
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Speaker 1: Tis a pitiful tale, the bellman said, whose face had
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Speaker 1: grown longer at every word. But now that you've stated
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Speaker 1: the the whole of your case, more debate would be
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Speaker 1: simply absurd. The rest of my speech, he explained to
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Speaker 1: his men, you shall hear when I've leisure to speak it.
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Speaker 1: But the snark is at hand, let me tell you again,
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Speaker 1: tis your glorious duty to seek it, To seek it
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Speaker 1: with thimbles, to seek it with care, to pursue it
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Speaker 1: with forks and hope, to threaten its life with a
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Speaker 1: railway's share, to charm it with smiles and soap. For
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Speaker 1: the snark's a peculiar creature that won't be caught in
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Speaker 1: a commonplace way. Do all that you know, and try
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Speaker 1: all that you don't. Not a chance must be wasted
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Speaker 1: to day, for England expects I forbear to proceed. Tis
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Speaker 1: a max in tremendous betrite. And you'd best be unpacking
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Speaker 1: the things that you need to rig yourselves out for
20:55
Speaker 1: the fight. Then the banker endorsed a blank check, which
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Speaker 1: he crossed, and changed his loose silver for notes. The baker,
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Speaker 1: with care, combed his whiskers and hair, and shook the
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Speaker 1: dust out of his coats. The boots and the broker
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Speaker 1: were sharpening a spade, each working the grindstone in turn.
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Speaker 1: But the beaver went on making lace, and displayed no
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Speaker 1: interest in the concern, though the barrister tried to appeal
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Speaker 1: to its pride, and vainly proceeded to sight a number
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Speaker 1: of cases in which making laces had been proved an
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Speaker 1: infringement of right. The maker of bonnets ferociously planned a
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Speaker 1: novel arrangement of bows while the billiard marker, with withering hands,
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Speaker 1: was chalking the tip of his nose. But the butcher
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Speaker 1: turned nervous and dressed himself fine with yellow kid gloves
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Speaker 1: and a ruff since he felt it exactly like going
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Speaker 1: to dine, which the bellman declared was all stuff. Introduce
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Speaker 1: me now, they is a good fellow, he said, if
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Speaker 1: we happen to meet it together, And the bellman, sagaciously,
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Speaker 1: nodding his head, said that must depend on the weather.
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Speaker 1: The beaver went simply galumphing about at seeing the butcher
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Speaker 1: so shy, and even the baker, though stupid and stout,
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Speaker 1: made an effort to wink with one eye. He am men,
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Speaker 1: said the bellman, in wrath, as he heard the butcher
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Speaker 1: beginning to sob. Should we meet with a jabchub that
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Speaker 1: desperate bird, we shall need all our strength for the job.
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Speaker 1: End of chapter four Chapter five of The Hunting of
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Speaker 1: the Snark by Lewis Carroll. This Librivot's recording is in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. Fit the fifth the Beaver's lesson. They
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Speaker 1: sought it with thimbles, They sought it with care. They
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Speaker 1: pursued it with forks and hope. They threatened its life
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Speaker 1: with a railway share. They charmed it with smiles and soap.
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Speaker 1: Then the butcher contrived an ingenious plan for making a
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Speaker 1: separate sally, and had fixed on a spot unfrequented by man,
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Speaker 1: a dismal and desolate valley. But the very same plan,
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Speaker 1: to the beaver occurred. It had chosen the very same place.
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Speaker 1: You neither betray by a sign or a word, the
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Speaker 1: disgust that appeared in his face. Each thought he was
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Speaker 1: thinking of nothing but snark and the glorious work of
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Speaker 1: the day. And each tried to pretend that he did
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Speaker 1: not remark that the other was going that way. But
23:51
Speaker 1: the valley grew narrower and narrower still, and the evening
23:55
Speaker 1: got darker and colder, till merely from nervousness, not from goodwill,
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Speaker 1: they marched along shoulder to his shoulder. Then a scream
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Speaker 1: shrill and high rent the shuddering sky, and they knew
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Speaker 1: that some danger was near. The beaver turned pale to
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Speaker 1: the tip of its tail, and even the butcher felt queer.
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Speaker 1: He thought of his childhood, left far far behind, that
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Speaker 1: blissful and innocent state. The sound so exactly recalled to
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Speaker 1: his mind. A pencil that squeaks on a slate tis
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Speaker 1: the voice of a jug jub. He suddenly cried, this
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Speaker 1: man that they used to call dunce. As the bellman
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Speaker 1: would tell you. He added, with pride, I have uttered
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Speaker 1: that sentiment once. Tis the note of the jug jub.
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Speaker 1: Keep count, I entreat you will find I have told
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Speaker 1: it you twice. Tis the song of the jug job.
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Speaker 1: The proof is complete if only I've stated it thrice.
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Speaker 1: The beaver had counted with scrupulous care, attending to every word,
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Speaker 1: but it fairly lost heart, and how grabe in despair.
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Speaker 1: When the third repetition occurred. It felt that, in spite
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Speaker 1: of all possible pains, it had somehow contrived to loose count,
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Speaker 1: and the only thing now was to rack its poor
25:17
Speaker 1: brains by reckoning up the amount two added to one
25:23
Speaker 1: that could but be done, It said, with one's fingers
25:27
Speaker 1: and thumbs, recollecting with tears. How in earlier years it
25:32
Speaker 1: had taken no pains with its sums. The thing can
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Speaker 1: be done, said the butcher. I think the thing must
25:40
Speaker 1: be done. I am sure the thing shall be done.
25:44
Speaker 1: Bring me paper and ink, the best there is time
25:46
Speaker 1: to procure. The beaver brought paper, portfolio, pens, and ink
25:52
Speaker 1: in unfailing supplies, while strange, creepy creatures came out of
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Speaker 1: their dens and watch them with wondering eyes. So engrossed
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Speaker 1: was the butcher he heeded them not as he wrote
26:06
Speaker 1: with a pen in each hand, and explained all the
26:09
Speaker 1: while in a popular style which the beaver could well understand.
26:15
Speaker 1: Taking three used the subject to reason about a convenient number,
26:20
Speaker 1: to state, we had seven and ten, and then multiply
26:24
Speaker 1: out by one thousand, diminished by eight. The result we
26:29
Speaker 1: proceed to divide, as you see, by nine hundred and
26:33
Speaker 1: ninety two, then subtract seventeen. And the answer must be
26:38
Speaker 1: exactly and perfectly true. The method implied. I would gladly explain,
26:44
Speaker 1: while I have it so clear in my head, if
26:47
Speaker 1: I had but the time, and you had but the brain.
26:50
Speaker 1: But much yet remains to be said in one moment,
26:54
Speaker 1: I've seen what has hitherto been enveloped in absolute mist,
27:01
Speaker 1: and without extra charge, I will give you at large
27:03
Speaker 1: a lesson in natural history. In his genial way, he
27:09
Speaker 1: proceeded to say forgetting all laws of propriety, and that
27:14
Speaker 1: giving instruction without introduction would have caused quite a thrill
27:19
Speaker 1: in society as to temper the Jubjub's a desperate bird,
27:24
Speaker 1: since it lives in perpetual passion. Its taste in costumes
27:29
Speaker 1: is entirely absurd. It is ages ahead of the fashion,
27:34
Speaker 1: but it knows any friend it has met once before.
27:37
Speaker 1: It never will look at a bribe, And in charity
27:41
Speaker 1: meetings it stands at the door and collects, though it
27:45
Speaker 1: does not subscribe. Its flavor, when cooked is most exquisite,
27:51
Speaker 1: far than mutton, or oysters or eggs. Some think it
27:56
Speaker 1: keeps best in an ivory jar, and some in mahogany kegs.
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Speaker 1: You boil it in swordust, you salt it in glue,
28:05
Speaker 1: you condense it with locusts and tape, still keeping one
28:09
Speaker 1: principal object in view, to preserve its symmetrical shape. The
28:15
Speaker 1: butcher would gladly have talked till next day, but he
28:19
Speaker 1: felt that the lesson must end, and he wept with
28:22
Speaker 1: delight in attempting to say he considered the beaver his friend,
28:27
Speaker 1: while the beaver confessed with affectionate looks, more eloquently even
28:32
Speaker 1: than tears. It had learnt in ten minutes, far more
28:36
Speaker 1: than all books would have taught it in seventy years.
28:41
Speaker 1: They returned hand in hand and the bellman, and manned
28:45
Speaker 1: for a moment with noble emotions, said this amply repays
28:49
Speaker 1: all the wearisome days we have spent on the billowy ocean.
28:54
Speaker 1: Such friends as the beaver and butcher became, have seldom,
28:57
Speaker 1: if ever, been known in winter or summer. It was
29:01
Speaker 1: always the same. You could never meet either alone. And
29:05
Speaker 1: when quarrels arose, as one frequently finds, quarrel's will spite
29:10
Speaker 1: of every endeavor, the song of the Jubjub recurred to
29:14
Speaker 1: their minds and cemented their friendship forever. End of chapter five,
29:27
Speaker 1: Chapter six of The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll.
29:31
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Fit the
29:36
Speaker 1: sixth the Barrister's Dream. They sought it with thimbles, They
29:43
Speaker 1: sought it with care. They pursued it with forks and hope.
29:47
Speaker 1: They threatened its life with a railway share. They charmed
29:51
Speaker 1: it with smiles and soap. But the barrister, wary of
29:55
Speaker 1: proving in vain that the beaver's lace making was wrong,
30:00
Speaker 1: fell asleep and in dreams saw the creature quite plain
30:04
Speaker 1: that his fancy had dwelt on so long. He dreamt
30:08
Speaker 1: that he stood in a shadowy court where the snark,
30:11
Speaker 1: with a glass in its eye, dressed in gown bands
30:15
Speaker 1: and wig, was defending a pig on the charge of
30:18
Speaker 1: deserting its stye. The witnesses proved without error or flow
30:24
Speaker 1: that the sty was deserted when found, and the judge
30:28
Speaker 1: kept explaining the state of the law in a soft
30:31
Speaker 1: undercurrent of sound. The indictment had never been clearly expressed,
30:37
Speaker 1: and it seemed that the snark had begun and had
30:40
Speaker 1: spoken three hours before any one guessed what the pig
30:44
Speaker 1: was supposed to have done. The jury had each formed
30:48
Speaker 1: a different view long before the indictment was read, and
30:52
Speaker 1: they all spoke at once, so that none of them
30:55
Speaker 1: knew one word that the others had said. You must know,
31:02
Speaker 1: said the judge. But the snark exclaimed fudge that statute
31:08
Speaker 1: is obsolete. Quite Let me tell you, my friends, the
31:11
Speaker 1: whole question depends on an ancient manorial right. In the
31:17
Speaker 1: matter of treason, the pig would appear to have aided
31:20
Speaker 1: but scarcely abetted, while the charge of insolvency fails. It
31:25
Speaker 1: is clear if you grant the plea never indebted the
31:30
Speaker 1: fact of desertion, I will not dispute, but its guilt,
31:34
Speaker 1: as I trust is removed so far as related to
31:37
Speaker 1: the cost of this suit by the alibi, which has
31:41
Speaker 1: been proved. My poor client's fate now depends on your votes.
31:47
Speaker 1: Here the speaker sat down in his place and directed
31:51
Speaker 1: the judge to refer to his notes and briefly to
31:54
Speaker 1: sum up the case. But the judge said he never
31:58
Speaker 1: had summed up before. So the snark undertook it instead,
32:03
Speaker 1: and summed it so well that it came to far
32:06
Speaker 1: more than the witnesses ever had said. When the verdict
32:10
Speaker 1: was called for, the jewelry declined, as the word was
32:14
Speaker 1: so puzzling to spell, but they ventured to hope that
32:17
Speaker 1: the snark wouldn't mind undertaking that duty as well. So
32:23
Speaker 1: the snark found verdict, although as it owned, it was
32:26
Speaker 1: spent with the toils of the day. When it said
32:30
Speaker 1: the word guilty, the jewelry all groaned, and some of
32:34
Speaker 1: them fainted away. Then the snark pronounced sentence, the judge
32:40
Speaker 1: being quite too nervous to utter a word. When it
32:44
Speaker 1: rose to its feet, they were silence like night, and
32:47
Speaker 1: the fall of a pin might be heard. Transportation for
32:52
Speaker 1: life was the sentence it gave, and then to be
32:56
Speaker 1: fined forty pound. The jury all cheered, though the judge
33:01
Speaker 1: said he feared that the phrase was not legally sound.
33:07
Speaker 1: But their wild exultation was suddenly checked when the jailer
33:11
Speaker 1: informed them with tears such a sentence would not have
33:15
Speaker 1: the slightest effect, as the pick had been dead for
33:18
Speaker 1: some years. The judge left the court looking deeply disgusted,
33:25
Speaker 1: but the snark, though a little aghast as the lawyer
33:27
Speaker 1: to whom the defense was entrusted, went bellowing on to
33:31
Speaker 1: the last. Thus the barrister dreamed, while the bellowing seemed
33:35
Speaker 1: to grow every moment more clear, till he woke to
33:39
Speaker 1: the knell of a furious bell, which the bellman rang
33:43
Speaker 1: close to his ear. End of Chapter six, Chapter seven
33:56
Speaker 1: of The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll. This
34:00
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Fit the seventh,
34:06
Speaker 1: The Banker's fate. They sought it with thimbles, They sort
34:11
Speaker 1: it with care, They pursued it with forks and hope.
34:16
Speaker 1: They threatened its life with a railway share. They charmed
34:19
Speaker 1: it with smiles and soap. And the banker, inspired with
34:25
Speaker 1: a courage so new it was matter for general remark,
34:29
Speaker 1: rushed madly ahead and was lost to their view in
34:32
Speaker 1: his zeal to discover the snark. But while he was
34:37
Speaker 1: seeking with thimbles and care, a bander snatch swiftly drew
34:42
Speaker 1: nigh and grabbed at the banker, who shrieked in despair,
34:46
Speaker 1: for he knew it was useless to fly. He offer'd
34:50
Speaker 1: at large discount. He offered a check drawn to bearer
34:55
Speaker 1: for seven pounds ten but the bander snatch merely extended
34:59
Speaker 1: its neck and grabbed at the banker again without rest
35:04
Speaker 1: or pause. While those throumious jaws went savagely snapping around.
35:10
Speaker 1: He skipped, and he hopped, and he floundered and flopped
35:14
Speaker 1: till fainting he fell to the ground. The bander snatch
35:19
Speaker 1: fled as the others appeared, led on by that fear
35:23
Speaker 1: stricken yell, and the bellman remarked, it is just as
35:27
Speaker 1: I feared, and solemnly told on his bell. He was
35:32
Speaker 1: black in the face, and they scarcely could trace the
35:35
Speaker 1: least lightness to what he had been. While so great
35:39
Speaker 1: was his fright that his waistcoat turned white, a wonderful
35:43
Speaker 1: thing to be seen, to the horror of all who
35:47
Speaker 1: were present that day, he uprose in full evening dress,
35:52
Speaker 1: and with senseless grimaces, endeavored to say what his tongue
35:56
Speaker 1: could no longer express. Down, he sank in a chair,
36:01
Speaker 1: ran his hands to his hair, enchanted in mimsiest tones,
36:07
Speaker 1: words whose utter inanity proved his insanity, while he rattled
36:11
Speaker 1: a couple of bones. Leave him here to his fate.
36:17
Speaker 1: It is getting so late, the bellman exclaimed, in a fright,
36:22
Speaker 1: we have lost half the day. Any further delay and
36:25
Speaker 1: we shan't catch a snark before night. End of chapter
36:31
Speaker 1: seven Chapter eight of The Hunting of the Snark by
36:40
Speaker 1: Lewis Carroll. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
36:47
Speaker 1: Fit the eighth, the Vanishing. They sought it with thimbles,
36:54
Speaker 1: they sorted with care. They pursued it with forks and hope.
36:58
Speaker 1: They threatened its life with a railway share. They charmed
37:02
Speaker 1: it with smiles and soap. They shuddered to think that
37:06
Speaker 1: the chase might fail, and the beaver, excited at last,
37:10
Speaker 1: went bounding along on the tip of its tail, for
37:13
Speaker 1: the daylight was nearly passed. There is thingum bob shouting.
37:19
Speaker 1: The bellman said, he is shouting like mad only hark.
37:23
Speaker 1: He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head.
37:26
Speaker 1: He has certainly found a snark. They gazed in delight,
37:32
Speaker 1: while the butcher exclaimed he was always a desperate wegg.
37:38
Speaker 1: They beheld him their baker, their hero, unnamed. On the
37:42
Speaker 1: top of a neighboring crag, erect and sublime for one
37:47
Speaker 1: moment of time. In the next, that wild figure they saw,
37:52
Speaker 1: as if stung by a spasm, plunged into a chasm
37:55
Speaker 1: while they waited and listened in awe. It's a snow
38:01
Speaker 1: was the sound that first came to their ears and
38:04
Speaker 1: seemed almost too good to be true. Then followed a
38:07
Speaker 1: torrent of laughter and cheers, then the ominous words it's
38:12
Speaker 1: a boo, then silence. Some fancied they'd heard in the
38:18
Speaker 1: air a weary and wandering sigh that sounded like jum,
38:24
Speaker 1: but the others declared it was only a breeze that
38:27
Speaker 1: went by. They hunted till darkness came on, but they
38:32
Speaker 1: found not a button or feather or mark by which
38:36
Speaker 1: they could tell that they stood on the ground where
38:39
Speaker 1: the Baker had met with the snark. In the midst
38:43
Speaker 1: of the word he was trying to say, in the
38:46
Speaker 1: midst of his laughter and glee, he had softly and
38:49
Speaker 1: suddenly vanished away. For the snark was a boojum, you
38:53
Speaker 1: see end of chapter eight, end of The Hunting of
39:00
Speaker 1: the Snark by Lewis Carroll