{"product_id":"2940014476768","title":"Moby Dick, or, the whale","description":"CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn.\u003cbr\u003eEntering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide,\u003cbr\u003elow, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of\u003cbr\u003ethe bulwarks of some condemned old craft. On one side hung a very\u003cbr\u003elarge\u003cbr\u003eoilpainting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the\u003cbr\u003eunequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent\u003cbr\u003estudy and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of\u003cbr\u003ethe neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of\u003cbr\u003eits\u003cbr\u003epurpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at\u003cbr\u003efirst\u003cbr\u003eyou almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New\u003cbr\u003eEngland hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint\u003cbr\u003eof much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and\u003cbr\u003eespecially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the\u003cbr\u003eentry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however\u003cbr\u003ewild, might not be altogether unwarranted.\u003cbr\u003eBut what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber,\u003cbr\u003eportentous,\u003cbr\u003eblack mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over\u003cbr\u003ethree\u003cbr\u003eblue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy,\u003cbr\u003esoggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man\u003cbr\u003edistracted.\u003cbr\u003eYet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable\u003cbr\u003esublimity about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily\u003cbr\u003etook an oath with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting\u003cbr\u003emeant. Ever and anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart\u003cbr\u003eyou\u003cbr\u003ethrough.--It's the Black Sea in a midnight gale.--It's the unnatural\u003cbr\u003ecombat of the four primal elements.--It's a blasted heath.--It's a\u003cbr\u003eHyperborean winter scene.--It's the breaking-up of the icebound stream\u003cbr\u003eof Time. But at last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous\u003cbr\u003esomething in the picture's midst. THAT once found out, and all the\u003cbr\u003erest\u003cbr\u003ewere plain. But stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a\u003cbr\u003egigantic\u003cbr\u003efish? even the great leviathan himself?\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, the artist's design seemed this: a final theory of my own,\u003cbr\u003epartly based upon the aggregated opinions of many aged persons with\u003cbr\u003ePage 20\u003cbr\u003eMoby Dick, or, the whale\u003cbr\u003ewhom\u003cbr\u003eI conversed upon the subject. The picture represents a Cape-Horner in\u003cbr\u003ea\u003cbr\u003egreat hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its\u003cbr\u003ethree\u003cbr\u003edismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to\u003cbr\u003espring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling\u003cbr\u003ehimself\u003cbr\u003eupon the three mast-heads.\u003cbr\u003eThe opposite wall of this entry was hung all over with a heathenish\u003cbr\u003earray of monstrous clubs and spears. Some were thickly set with\u003cbr\u003eglittering teeth resembling ivory saws; others were tufted with knots\u003cbr\u003eof\u003cbr\u003ehuman hair; and one was sickle-shaped, with a vast handle sweeping\u003cbr\u003eround\u003cbr\u003elike the segment made in the new-mown grass by a long-armed mower. You\u003cbr\u003eshuddered as you gazed, and wondered what monstrous cannibal and\u003cbr\u003esavage\u003cbr\u003ecould ever have gone a death-harvesting with such a hacking,\u003cbr\u003ehorrifying\u003cbr\u003eimplement. Mixed with these were rusty old whaling lances and harpoons\u003cbr\u003eall broken and deformed. Some were storied weapons. With this once\u003cbr\u003elong\u003cbr\u003elance, now wildly elbowed, fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill\u003cbr\u003efifteen\u003cbr\u003ewhales between a sunrise and a sunset. And that harpoon--so like a\u003cbr\u003ecorkscrew now--was flung in Javan seas, and run away with by a whale,\u003cbr\u003eyears afterwards slain off the Cape of Blanco. The original iron\u003cbr\u003eentered\u003cbr\u003enigh the tail, and, like a restless needle sojourning in the body of a\u003cbr\u003eman, travelled full forty feet, and at last was found imbedded in the\u003cbr\u003ehump.\u003cbr\u003eCrossing this dusky entry, and on through yon low-arched way--cut\u003cbr\u003ethrough what in old times must have been a great central chimney with\u003cbr\u003efireplaces all round--you enter the public room. A still duskier place\u003cbr\u003eis this, with such low ponderous beams above, and such old wrinkled\u003cbr\u003eplanks beneath, that you would almost fancy you trod some old craft's\u003cbr\u003ecockpits, especially of such a howling night, when this\u003cbr\u003ecorner-anchored\u003cbr\u003eold ark rocked so furiously. On one side stood a long, low, shelf-like\u003cbr\u003etable covered with cracked glass cases, filled with dusty rarities\u003cbr\u003egathered from this wide world's remotest nooks. Projecting from the\u003cbr\u003efurther angle of the room stands a dark-looking den--the bar--a rude\u003cbr\u003eattempt at a right whale's head. Be that how it may, there stands the\u003cbr\u003evast arched bone of the whale's jaw, so wide, a coach might almost\u003cbr\u003edrive\u003cbr\u003ebeneath it. Within are shabby shelves, ranged round with old\u003cbr\u003edecanters,\u003cbr\u003ebottles, flasks; and in those jaws of swift destruction, like another\u003cbr\u003ecursed Jonah (by which name indeed they called him), bustles a little\u003cbr\u003e...","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47176136229104,"sku":"2940014476768","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014476768_p0.jpg?v=1763609576","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014476768","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}