106 Moby Dick, Czytamy w oryginale
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//-->Moby DickHerman Melvillec z y t a m yw o r y g i n a l eRetold by Graham ReadChapter I© Mediasat Poland Bis 2004Mediasat Poland Bis sp. z o.o.ul. Mikołajska 2631-027 Krakówwww.czytamy.plczytamy@czytamy.plProjekt okładki i ilustracje: Małgorzata FlisSkład: Marek SzwarnógCall me IshmaelISBN 83 - 89652 - 06 - 4Wszelkie prawa do książki przysługują Mediasat Poland Bis. Jakiekolwiek publiczne korzystanie w całości, jak i wpostaci fragmentów, a w szczególności jej zwielokrotnianie jakąkolowiek techniką, wprowadzanie do pamięci kom-putera, publiczne odtwarzanie, nadawanie za pomocą wizji oraz fonii przewodowej lub bezprzewodowej, wymagawcześniejszej zgody Mediasat Poland Bis.23Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – howlong is not important – I found myself withno money, and nothing to interest me onland. Whenever I feel depressed like this,I know it is time to go to sea. However, Inever go as a passenger, I never have themoney to pay. And why should I pay? Ialways go to sea as a simple sailor, to getpaid, to get exercise and to breathe thepure sea air.I had never been on a whaling ship before,I normally sail on ships that take spicesand treasure from one part of the worldto another. But this time I decided that Iwanted to sail in the hunt for whales, thosegreat monsters of the deep seas.So I travelled to a town called NewBedford, and on my arrival I found that Ihad to wait a night and a day for a ship totake me to Nantucket. At the time thiswas the most famous whaling port in thewhole world. After walking the streets forsome time I arrived at a place called “TheSpouter Inn” – I decided to go in.4There were no free beds in the inn, butthe owner told me there was a large bedthat I could share with a harpooner from awhaling ship. He told me the man was out,walking around the town trying to sell somehuman heads. I was not sure I wanted toshare a bed, even a large one, with anotherman, especially a man trying to sell humanheads. However, the only alternative wasto sleep on a table in the bar, so I askedthe owner to show me the room. When Iarrived it was empty, so I got into the bedand quickly went to sleep.Later on that night I was woken up by aman entering the room holding a candlein one hand and a human head in theother. He didn’t see me, and I was ableto watch him in the candle light. He wasa huge man, with a shaved head and thewhole of his body was covered in tattoos.He was clearly from the south sea islandsand I wondered if he was even a cannibal.At that moment I was as scared of him asI am scared of the devil.5He looked into a bag he had and took outa wooden idol in the shape of a small baby.For perhaps a minute he whispered someprayers to this tiny god. Then he put outhis candle and jumped into bed. He wasvery surprised to see me.“Who-e you? I kill-e,” shouted thecannibal as he jumped back out of bed.“Landlord!” I screamed.Thankfully the landlord came quickly tothe room holding a candle.“Don’t be afraid of Queequeg, he wouldn’tharm a hair on your head,” the landlord saidwith a big smile on his face.“Why didn’t you tell me he was acannibal?”“ I thought you would know, I did tell youhe was out selling heads. Queequeg, thisman sleep-e you – you sabbee?”“Me sabbee a lot,” said Queequeg in a lowvoice.For a moment I was able to have a goodlook at the savage. He was generally quiteclean and friendly looking. So I decided6that it was better to sleep with a sobersavage than a drunken Christian.When I woke up the next day, my newfriend was shaving with his harpoon,which must have been incredibly sharp. Ispent some time with Queequeg duringthe day and he told me about his life. Hewas from the South Seas and his home was20,000 miles away. That evening we atesupper together and then smoked someof Queequeg’s tobacco. He told me that Iwas a great friend and gave me the humanhead he had been trying to sell.The next day we decided to sail toNantucket together and look for a whalingship we could work on. During the journeyI noticed that the crew were making a jokeof Queequeg. While he walked around theship they would follow him and mimic hiswalk.Queequeg saw one of them doing this andquite calmly dropped his bag and harpoon,picked the man up and threw him acrossthe deck.7“Captain! Captain! It’s the devil,” theman cried.“Hey you! You could have killed thatman,” the Captain shouted.“What him say?” he asked me.‘Him say you near kill-e that man there,”I said, trying to speak in his strange way sohe could understand me easily.“Him? No, him small fish. Queequeg nokill-e him, Queequeg kill-e big whale.”When we arrived in Nantucket therewere three whaling ships in the harbour.Queequeg told me he had been talking withhis little god, Yojo, and that I should decidewhich boat to take. I walked to wherethe ships were, and had a look around. Itseemed there were three ships, the Devil-Dam, the Tit-bit and the Pequod. ThePequod is the name of a famous tribe ofAmerican Indians, now extinct. I decidedthat this was the ship that Queequeg and Iwould travel on.On the deck of the ship there was astrange tent, in the shape of a wigwam.89
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