- description
- # CHAPTER XI. A Nursery-Tale Of Babbalanja’s
## Overview
This is a chapter from the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN) by Herman Melville. It is located on lines 1365-1457 of the source file, [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9). The chapter is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.
## Context
The chapter is preceded by [CHAPTER X. Mohi Tells Of One Ravoo, And They Land To Visit Hevaneva, A Flourishing Artisan](arke:01KG8AJQ15YACHJS0946CXB5WD) and followed by [CHAPTER XII. Landing To Visit Hivohitee The Pontiff, They Encounter An Extraordinary Old Hermit; With Whom Yoomy Has A Confidential Interview, But Learns Little](arke:01KG8AJQ13BDK91849MWT5SA42).
## Contents
This chapter primarily contains a story told by the character Babbalanja. The story is about nine blind men who travel to see the great island on which they were born. They come to a valley ruled by King Tammaro, who is puzzled by an immense wild banian tree with many trunks. The blind men claim they can identify the original trunk, but each ends up feeling a different branch and arguing about which is the true one. Tammaro dismisses them all as silly. After the story, Media praises Babbalanja, while Mohi seeks the meaning of the story. Babbalanja calls it a "polysensuum." The chapter's text is divided into two chunks: [Chunk 1](arke:01KG8AKMHFHSEARPCK3HHRG06F) and [Chunk 2](arke:01KG8AKMH9WHRNXFK4DVX1Y8GK).
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:59.509Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- CHAPTER XI. A Nursery-Tale Of Babbalanja’s
- end_line
- 1457
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:38.723Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1365
- text
- null
- title
- CHAPTER XI. A Nursery-Tale Of Babbalanja’s