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- CHAPTER XX.
Babbalanja Quotes From An Antique Pagan; And Earnestly Presses It Upon
The Company, That What He Recites Is Not His But Another’s
Journeying on, we stopped by a gurgling spring, in a beautiful grove;
and here, we stretched out on the grass, and our attendants unpacked
their hampers, to provide us a lunch.
But as for that Babbalanja of ours, he must needs go and lunch by
himself, and, like a cannibal, feed upon an author; though in other
respects he was not so partial to bones.
Bringing forth the treasure he had buried in his bosom, he was soon
buried in it; and motionless on his back, looked as if laid out, to
keep an appointment with his undertaker.
“What, ho! Babbalanja!” cried Media from under a tree, “don’t be a
duck, there, with your bill in the air; drop your metaphysics, man, and
fall to on the solids. Do you hear?”
“Come, philosopher,” said Mohi, handling a banana, “you will weigh more
after you have eaten.”
“Come, list, Babbalanja,” cried Yoomy, “I am going to sing.”
“Up! up! I say,” shouted Media again. “But go, old man, and wake him:
rap on his head, and see whether he be in.”
Mohi, obeying, found him at home; and Babbalanja started up.
“In Oro’s name, what ails you, philosopher? See you Paradise, that you
look so wildly?”
“A Happy Life! a Happy Life!” cried Babbalanja, in an ecstasy. “My
lord, I am lost in the dream of it, as here recorded. Marvelous book!
its goodness transports me. Let me read:—‘I would bear the same mind,
whether I be rich or poor, whether I get or lose in the world. I will
reckon benefits well placed as the fairest part of my possession, not
valuing them by number or weight, but by the profit and esteem of the
receiver; accounting myself never the poorer for any thing I give. What
I do shall be done for conscience, not ostentation. I will eat and
drink, not to gratify my palate, but to satisfy nature. I will be
cheerful to my friends, mild and placable to my enemies. I will prevent
an honest request, if I can foresee it; and I will grant it, without
asking. I will look upon the whole world as my country; and upon Oro,
both as the witness and the judge of my words and my deeds. I will live
and die with this testimony: that I loved a good conscience; that I
never invaded another man’s liberty; and that I preserved my own. I
will govern my life and my thoughts, as if the whole world were to see
the one, and to read the other; for what does it signify, to make any
thing a secret to my neighbor, when to Oro all our privacies are
open.’”
“Very fine,” said Media.
“The very spirit of the first followers of Alma, as recorded in the
legends,” said Mohi.
“Inimitable,” said Yoomy.
Said Babbalanja, “Listen again:—‘Righteousness is sociable and gentle;
free, steady, and fearless; full of inexhaustible delights.’ And here
again, and here, and here:—The true felicity of life is to understand
our duty to Oro.’—‘True joy is a serene and sober motion.’ And here,
and here,—my lord, ’tis hard quoting from this book;—but listen—‘A
peaceful conscience, honest thoughts, and righteous actions are
blessings without end, satiety, or measure. The poor man wants many
things; the covetous man, all. It is not enough to know Oro, unless we
obey him.’”
“Alma all over,” cried Mohi; “sure, you read from his sayings?”
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