úterý 28. února 2023

❤ Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - Stories for Kids | Fairy Tales

Petr Pan je fiktivní postava nestárnoucího chlapce z původních děl, jejichž autorem je skotský novinář, dramatik a spisovatel James Matthew Barrie. Jde o fiktivní postavu malého divokého chlapce, který nechtěl dospět a zažíval různá fantastická dobrodružství v magické fiktivní Zemi Nezemi.




Chapter one

  All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will growup, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years oldshe was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran withit to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, forMrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't youremain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them onthe subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You alwaysknow after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.

  Of course they lived at 14 [their house number on their street], anduntil Wendy came her mother was the chief one. She was a lovely lady,with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romanticmind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from thepuzzling East, however many you discover there is always one more; andher sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get,though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner.

  The way Mr. Darling won her was this: the many gentlemen who had beenboys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her,and they all ran to her house to propose to her except Mr. Darling, whotook a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her. He got all of her,except the innermost box and the kiss. He never knew about the box, andin time he gave up trying for the kiss. Wendy thought Napoleon couldhave got it, but I can picture him trying, and then going off in apassion, slamming the door.

  Mr. Darling used to boast to Wendy that her mother not only loved himbut respected him. He was one of those deep ones who know about stocksand shares. Of course no one really knows, but he quite seemed to know,and he often said stocks were up and shares were down in a way thatwould have made any woman respect him.

  Mrs. Darling was married in white, and at first she kept the booksperfectly, almost gleefully, as if it were a game, not so much as aBrussels sprout was missing; but by and by whole cauliflowers droppedout, and instead of them there were pictures of babies without faces.She drew them when she should have been totting up. They were Mrs.Darling's guesses.

  Wendy came first, then John, then Michael.

  For a week or two after Wendy came it was doubtful whether they wouldbe able to keep her, as she was another mouth to feed. Mr. Darling wasfrightfully proud of her, but he was very honourable, and he sat on theedge of Mrs. Darling's bed, holding her hand and calculating expenses,while she looked at him imploringly. She wanted to risk it, come whatmight, but that was not his way; his way was with a pencil and a pieceof paper, and if she confused him with suggestions he had to begin atthe beginning again.

  "Now don't interrupt," he would beg of her.

  "I have one pound seventeen here, and two and six at the office; I cancut off my coffee at the office, say ten shillings, making two nineand six, with your eighteen and three makes three nine seven, with fivenaught naught in my cheque-book makes eight nine seven--who is thatmoving?--eight nine seven, dot and carry seven--don't speak, my own--andthe pound you lent to that man who came to the door--quiet, child--dotand carry child--there, you've done it!--did I say nine nine seven? yes,I said nine nine seven; the question is, can we try it for a year onnine nine seven?"

  "Of course we can, George," she cried. But she was prejudiced in Wendy'sfavour, and he was really the grander character of the two.

  "Remember mumps," he warned her almost threateningly, and off he wentagain. "Mumps one pound, that is what I have put down, but I daresayit will be more like thirty shillings--don't speak--measles one five,German measles half a guinea, makes two fifteen six--don't waggle yourfinger--whooping-cough, say fifteen shillings"--and so on it went, andit added up differently each time; but at last Wendy just got through,with mumps reduced to twelve six, and the two kinds of measles treatedas one.

  There was the same excitement over John, and Michael had even a narrowersqueak; but both were kept, and soon, you might have seen the three ofthem going in a row to Miss Fulsom's Kindergarten school, accompanied bytheir nurse.

  Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had apassion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they hada nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the childrendrank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who hadbelonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. She hadalways thought children important, however, and the Darlings had becomeacquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of herspare time peeping into perambulators, and was much hated by carelessnursemaids, whom she followed to their homes and complained of to theirmistresses. She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse. 

How thoroughshe was at bath-time, and up at any moment of the night if one of hercharges made the slightest cry. Of course her kennel was in the nursery.She had a genius for knowing when a cough is a thing to have no patiencewith and when it needs stocking around your throat. She believed to herlast day in old-fashioned remedies like rhubarb leaf, and made sounds ofcontempt over all this new-fangled talk about germs, and so on. It was alesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to school, walkingsedately by their side when they were well behaved, and butting themback into line if they strayed. 

On John's footer [in England soccerwas called football, "footer" for short] days she never once forgot hissweater, and she usually carried an umbrella in her mouth in case ofrain. There is a room in the basement of Miss Fulsom's school where thenurses wait. They sat on forms, while Nana lay on the floor, but thatwas the only difference. They affected to ignore her as of an inferiorsocial status to themselves, and she despised their light talk. Sheresented visits to the nursery from Mrs. Darling's friends, but if theydid come she first whipped off Michael's pinafore and put him into theone with blue braiding, and smoothed out Wendy and made a dash at John'shair.

  No nursery could possibly have been conducted more correctly, andMr. Darling knew it, yet he sometimes wondered uneasily whether theneighbours talked.

  He had his position in the city to consider.

  Nana also troubled him in another way. He had sometimes a feeling thatshe did not admire him. "I know she admires you tremendously, George,"Mrs. Darling would assure him, and then she would sign to the childrento be specially nice to father. Lovely dances followed, in which theonly other servant, Liza, was sometimes allowed to join. Such a midgetshe looked in her long skirt and maid's cap, though she had sworn, whenengaged, that she would never see ten again. The gaiety of those romps!And gayest of all was Mrs. Darling, who would pirouette so wildly thatall you could see of her was the kiss, and then if you had dashed at heryou might have got it. There never was a simpler happier family untilthe coming of Peter Pan.

  Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children'sminds. It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her childrenare asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for nextmorning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that havewandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course youcan't) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find itvery interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. Youwould see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some ofyour contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up,making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek asif it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight.When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions withwhich you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottomof your mind and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out yourprettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.

  I don't know whether you have ever seen a map of a person's mind.Doctors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you, and your own map canbecome intensely interesting, but catch them trying to draw a map of achild's mind, which is not only confused, but keeps going round a
llthe time. There are zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on acard, and these are probably roads in the island, for the Neverland isalways more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour hereand there, and coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, andsavages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and cavesthrough which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and ahut fast going to decay, and one very small old lady with a hooked nose.

It would be an easy map if that were all, but there is also first dayat school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needle-work, murders,hangings, verbs that take the dative, chocolate pudding day, gettinginto braces, say ninety-nine, three-pence for pulling out your toothyourself, and so on, and either these are part of the island or they areanother map showing through, and it is all rather confusing, especiallyas nothing will stand still.

  Of course the Neverlands vary a good deal. John's, for instance, had alagoon with flamingoes flying over it at which John was shooting, whileMichael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoons flying overit. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands, Michael ina wigwam, Wendy in a house of leaves deftly sewn together. John had nofriends, Michael had friends at night, Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken byits parents, but on the whole the Neverlands have a family resemblance,and if they stood still in a row you could say of them that they haveeach other's nose, and so forth. On these magic shores children at playare for ever beaching their coracles [simple boat]. We too have beenthere; we can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land nomore.

  Of all delectable islands the Neverland is the snuggest and mostcompact, not large and sprawly, you know, with tedious distances betweenone adventure and another, but nicely crammed. When you play at it byday with the chairs and table-cloth, it is not in the least alarming,but in the two minutes before you go to sleep it becomes very real. Thatis why there are night-lights.

  Occasionally in her travels through her children's minds Mrs. Darlingfound things she could not understand, and of these quite the mostperplexing was the word Peter. She knew of no Peter, and yet he washere and there in John and Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to bescrawled all over with him. The name stood out in bolder letters thanany of the other words, and as Mrs. Darling gazed she felt that it hadan oddly cocky appearance.

  "Yes, he is rather cocky," Wendy admitted with regret. Her mother hadbeen questioning her.

  "But who is he, my pet?"

  "He is Peter Pan, you know, mother."

  At first Mrs. Darling did not know, but after thinking back into herchildhood she just remembered a Peter Pan who was said to live with thefairies. There were odd stories about him, as that when children died hewent part of the way with them, so that they should not be frightened.She had believed in him at the time, but now that she was married andfull of sense she quite doubted whether there was any such person.

  "Besides," she said to Wendy, "he would be grown up by this time."
  "Oh no, he isn't grown up," Wendy assured her confidently, "and he isjust my size." She meant that he was her size in both mind and body; shedidn't know how she knew, she just knew it.

  Mrs. Darling consulted Mr. Darling, but he smiled pooh-pooh. "Mark mywords," he said, "it is some nonsense Nana has been putting into theirheads; just the sort of idea a dog would have. Leave it alone, and itwill blow over."
  But it would not blow over and soon the troublesome boy gave Mrs.Darling quite a shock.

  Children have the strangest adventures without being troubled by them.For instance, they may remember to mention, a week after the eventhappened, that when they were in the wood they had met their deadfather and had a game with him. It was in this casual way that Wendy onemorning made a disquieting revelation. Some leaves of a tree had beenfound on the nursery floor, which certainly were not there when thechildren went to bed, and Mrs. Darling was puzzling over them when Wendysaid with a tolerant smile:

  "I do believe it is that Peter again!"
  "Whatever do you mean, Wendy?"
  "It is so naughty of him not to wipe his feet," Wendy said, sighing. Shewas a tidy child.

  She explained in quite a matter-of-fact way that she thought Petersometimes came to the nursery in the night and sat on the foot of herbed and played on his pipes to her. Unfortunately she never woke, so shedidn't know how she knew, she just knew.

  "What nonsense you talk, precious. No one can get into the house withoutknocking."

  "I think he comes in by the window," she said.
  "My love, it is three floors up."
  "Were not the leaves at the foot of the window, mother?"
  It was quite true; the leaves had been found very near the window.
  Mrs. Darling did not know what to think, for it all seemed so natural toWendy that you could not dismiss it by saying she had been dreaming.
  "My child," the mother cried, "why did you not tell me of this before?"
  "I forgot," said Wendy lightly. She was in a hurry to get her breakfast.
  Oh, surely she must have been dreaming.

  But, on the other hand, there were the leaves. Mrs. Darling examinedthem very carefully; they were skeleton leaves, but she was sure theydid not come from any tree that grew in England. She crawled about thefloor, peering at it with a candle for marks of a strange foot. Sherattled the poker up the chimney and tapped the walls. She let down atape from the window to the pavement, and it was a sheer drop of thirtyfeet, without so much as a spout to climb up by.

  Certainly Wendy had been dreaming.
  But Wendy had not been dreaming, as the very next night showed, thenight on which the extraordinary adventures of these children may besaid to have begun.

  On the night we speak of all the children were once more in bed. Ithappened to be Nana's evening off, and Mrs. Darling had bathed them andsung to them till one by one they had let go her hand and slid away intothe land of sleep.
  All were looking so safe and cosy that she smiled at her fears now andsat down tranquilly by the fire to sew.

  It was something for Michael, who on his birthday was getting intoshirts. The fire was warm, however, and the nursery dimly lit by threenight-lights, and presently the sewing lay on Mrs. Darling's lap. Thenher head nodded, oh, so gracefully. She was asleep. Look at the four ofthem, Wendy and Michael over there, John here, and Mrs. Darling by thefire. There should have been a fourth night-light.

  While she slept she had a dream. She dreamt that the Neverland had cometoo near and that a strange boy had broken through from it. He did notalarm her, for she thought she had seen him before in the faces of manywomen who have no children. Perhaps he is to be found in the faces ofsome mothers also. But in her dream he had rent the film that obscuresthe Neverland, and she saw Wendy and John and Michael peeping throughthe gap.

  The dream by itself would have been a trifle, but while she was dreamingthe window of the nursery blew open, and a boy did drop on the floor.He was accompanied by a strange light, no bigger than your fist, whichdarted about the room like a living thing and I think it must have beenthis light that wakened Mrs. Darling.

  She started up with a cry, and saw the boy, and somehow she knew at oncethat he was Peter Pan. If you or I or Wendy had been there we shouldhave seen that he was very like Mrs. Darling's kiss. He was a lovelyboy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees butthe most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth.When he saw she was a grown-up, he gnashed the little pearls at her.


Stories for Kids | Fairy Tales




















pondělí 27. února 2023

The story Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting [21 epizod] / Příběh Dr. Dolittle B1-PRE-INTERMEDIATE

 

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

by Hugh Lofting

CHAPTER 1: PUDDLEBY

Once upon a time, many years ago when our grandfathers were little children—there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle—John Dolittle, M.D. "M.D." means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot.

He lived in a little town called, Puddleby–on–the–Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, "There goes the Doctor!—He's a clever man." And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church–tower would caw and nod their heads.

The house he lived in, on the edge of the town, was quite small; but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn and stone seats and weeping–willows hanging over. His sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself.

He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the gold–fish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet and a hedgehog in the cellar. He had a cow with a calf too, and an old lame horse–twenty–five years of age—and chickens, and pigeons, and two lambs, and many other animals. But his favorite pets were Dab–Dab the duck, Jip the dog, Gub–Gub the baby pig, Polynesia the parrot, and the owl Too–Too.

His sister used to grumble about all these animals and said they made the house untidy. And one day when an old lady with rheumatism came to see the Doctor, she sat on the hedgehog who was sleeping on the sofa and never came to see him any more, but drove every Saturday all the way to Oxenthorpe, another town ten miles off, to see a different doctor.

Then his sister, Sarah Dolittle, came to him and said,

"John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It's a fine doctor would have his parlor full of hedgehogs and mice! That's the fourth personage these animals have driven away. Squire Jenkins and the Parson say they wouldn't come near your house again—no matter how sick they are. We are getting poorer every day. If you go on like this, none of the best people will have you for a doctor."

"But I like the animals better than the 'best people'," said the Doctor.

"You are ridiculous," said his sister, and walked out of the room.

So, as time went on, the Doctor got more and more animals; and the people who came to see him got less and less. Till at last he had no one left—except the Cat's–meat–Man, who didn't mind any kind of animals. But the Cat's–meat Man wasn't very rich and he only got sick once a year—at Christmas–time, when he used to give the Doctor sixpence for a bottle of medicine.

Sixpence a year wasn't enough to live on—even in those days, long ago; and if the Doctor hadn't had some money saved up in his money–box, no one knows what would have happened.

And he kept on getting still more pets; and of course it cost a lot to feed them. And the money he had saved up grew littler and littler.

Then he sold his piano, and let the mice live in a bureau–drawer. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he wore on Sundays and went on becoming poorer and poorer.

And now, when he walked down the street in his high hat, people would say to one another, "There goes John Dolittle, M.D.! There was a time when he was the best known doctor in the West Country—Look at him now—He hasn't any money and his stockings are full of holes!"

But the dogs and the cats and the children still ran up and followed him through the town—the same as they had done when he was rich.

CHAPTER 2: ANIMAL LANGUAGE
A suggestion from the Cat's-meat-man prompts John Dolittle to undertake a new venture, starting with the understanding of the animal language. Amongst the animals, word spreads of a new doctor with a special ability.
CHAPTER 3: MORE MONEY TROUBLES
As time passes the good doctor's collection of animals only continues to increase. A visiting crocodile further exacerbates the doctor's money troubles. Intending to be married, Sarah leaves Puddley-on-the-Marsh.
CHAPTER 4: A MESSAGE FROM AFRICA
After receiving an urgent message regarding an epidemic, Dr. Dolittle prepares for a voyage to Africa.
CHAPTER 5: THE GREAT JOURNEY
Dr. Dolittle's maritime travels come to an abrupt end. As the doctor and his passengers prepare to go ashore, a stowaway is discovered aboard ship. Dr. Dolittle introduces himself to the natives before embarking on the next leg of his journey.
CHAPTER 6: POLYNESIA AND THE KING
After a less than pleasant encounter with the King of Jolliginki, Polynesia helps the doctor gain his freedom.
CHAPTER 7: THE BRIDGE OF APES
The king, angered Polynesia's deception, pursues Doctor Dolittle as he rushes towards the Land of the Monkeys. Chee-Chee uses his knowledge of the island to ensure the Doctor's safety. Doctor Dolittle witnesses the famous "Bridge of Apes".
CHAPTER 8: THE LEADER OF THE LIONS
The doctor, busy taking care of the sick and dying monkeys, asks a favor of the the King of Beast. Exhausted, the doctor finally gets some much needed sleep.
CHAPTER 9: THE MONKEYS COUNCIL
The monkey council, disappointed by news of the doctor's inevitable departure, decide to give a gift to show their gratitude.
CHAPTER 10: THE RAREST ANIMAL OF ALL
The monkeys, intent on giving the doctor a gift, set out to hunt down the extremely rare and unusual pusmi-pullyu. The good doctor is honored with a dinner and a monument of sorts.
CHAPTER 11: THE BLACK PRINCE
Having become lost while heading towards the shore, Doctor Dolittle and the animals are once again taken prisoner by the King of Jolliginki. Polynesia has a conversation with Prince Bumpo.
CHAPTER 12: MEDICINE AND MAGIC
Polynesia gives word to Gub-Gub before Prince Bumpo pays a visit to Doctor Dolittle. After the doctor fulfills his promise, Prince Bumpo prepares a ship for the parting doctor. Doctor Dolittle and the animals head back to Puddleby.
CHAPTER 13: RED SAILS AND BLUE WINGS
Sailing off the Barbary Coast, the doctor and his crew encounter a hostile ship.
CHAPTER 14: THE RATS' WARNING
As the ship come to rest of the coast of the Canary Islands, Doctor Dolittle receives a dire warning from a departing rat. Two sparrows bring word of pirates.
CHAPTER 15: THE BARBARY DRAGON
With the pirates having boarded the doctor's ship, the doctor and animals take control of the pirate ship. The sinking of the doomed ship puts Ben Ali at the mercy of the doctor and a large fish.
CHAPTER 16: TOO-TOO, THE LISTENER
Once again set sail on their journey home, the doctor and the animals take a look around the pirate ship. Another castaway is found.
CHAPTER 17: THE OCEAN GOSSIPS
After breaking down the panel, Doctor Dolittle discovers a young prisoner aboard the pirate ship. Doctor Dolittle brings some positive news back from the sea.
CHAPTER 18: SMELLS
Failing to find any sign of the boy's uncle in the ocean, the doctor devises another plan to locate him.
CHAPTER 19: THE ROCK
Jip, having picked up the scent of the boy's uncle, guides the ship to his location.
CHAPTER 20: THE FISHERMAN'S TOWN
The red haired fisherman shares his story. Doctor Dolittle takes the fisherman home. For there efforts, both the doctor and Jip receive tokens of gratitude.
CHAPTER 21: HOME AGAIN
Doctor Dolittle returns to England where he displays the pushmi-pullyu for all to see. The doctor returns to Puddleby a rich man. Life begins to return to normal for the doctor and his animals. Meanwhile, far away in Africa, the other animals ponder the good doctor's fate.


Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne / Dvacet tisíc mil pod mořem

 




PART 1 - CHAPTER 1: A RUNAWAY REEF

The year 1866 was marked by a bizarre development, an unexplained and downright inexplicable phenomenon that surely no one has forgotten. Without getting into those rumors that upset civilians in the seaports and deranged the public mind even far inland, it must be said that professional seamen were especially alarmed. Traders, shipowners, captains of vessels, skippers, and master mariners from Europe and America, naval officers from every country, and at their heels the various national governments on these two continents, were all extremely disturbed by the business.

In essence, over a period of time several ships had encountered "an enormous thing" at sea, a long spindle–shaped object, sometimes giving off a phosphorescent glow, infinitely bigger and faster than any whale.

The relevant data on this apparition, as recorded in various logbooks, agreed pretty closely as to the structure of the object or creature in question, its unprecedented speed of movement, its startling locomotive power, and the unique vitality with which it seemed to be gifted. If it was a cetacean, it exceeded in bulk any whale previously classified by science. No naturalist, neither Cuvier nor Lacépède, neither Professor Dumeril nor Professor de Quatrefages, would have accepted the existence of such a monster sight unseen—specifically, unseen by their own scientific eyes.

Striking an average of observations taken at different times—rejecting those timid estimates that gave the object a length of 200 feet, and ignoring those exaggerated views that saw it as a mile wide and three long—you could still assert that this phenomenal creature greatly exceeded the dimensions of anything then known to ichthyologists, if it existed at all.

Now then, it did exist, this was an undeniable fact; and since the human mind dotes on objects of wonder, you can understand the worldwide excitement caused by this unearthly apparition. As for relegating it to the realm of fiction, that charge had to be dropped.

In essence, on July 20, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson, from the Calcutta & Burnach Steam Navigation Co., encountered this moving mass five miles off the eastern shores of Australia.

Captain Baker at first thought he was in the presence of an unknown reef; he was even about to fix its exact position when two waterspouts shot out of this inexplicable object and sprang hissing into the air some 150 feet. So, unless this reef was subject to the intermittent eruptions of a geyser, the Governor Higginson had fair and honest dealings with some aquatic mammal, until then unknown, that could spurt from its blowholes waterspouts mixed with air and steam.

Similar events were likewise observed in Pacific seas, on July 23 of the same year, by the Christopher Columbus from the West India & Pacific Steam Navigation Co. Consequently, this extraordinary cetacean could transfer itself from one locality to another with startling swiftness, since within an interval of just three days, the Governor Higginson and the Christopher Columbus had observed it at two positions on the charts separated by a distance of more than 700 nautical leagues.

Fifteen days later and 2,000 leagues farther, the Helvetia from the Compagnie Nationale and the Shannon from the Royal Mail line, running on opposite tacks in that part of the Atlantic lying between the United States and Europe, respectively signaled each other that the monster had been sighted in latitude 42° 15' north and longitude 60° 35' west of the meridian of Greenwich. From their simultaneous observations, they were able to estimate the mammal's minimum length at more than 350 English feet;* this was because both the Shannon and the Helvetia were of smaller dimensions, although each measured 100 meters stem to stern. Now then, the biggest whales, those rorqual whales that frequent the waterways of the Aleutian Islands, have never exceeded a length of 56 meters—if they reach even that.

*Author's Note: About 106 meters. An English foot is only 30.4 centimeters.

One after another, reports arrived that would profoundly affect public opinion: new observations taken by the transatlantic liner Pereire, the Inman line's Etna running afoul of the monster, an official report drawn up by officers on the French frigate Normandy, dead–earnest reckonings obtained by the general staff of Commodore Fitz–James aboard the Lord Clyde. In lighthearted countries, people joked about this phenomenon, but such serious, practical countries as England, America, and Germany were deeply concerned.

In every big city the monster was the latest rage; they sang about it in the coffee houses, they ridiculed it in the newspapers, they dramatized it in the theaters. The tabloids found it a fine opportunity for hatching all sorts of hoaxes. In those newspapers short of copy, you saw the reappearance of every gigantic imaginary creature, from "Moby Dick," that dreadful white whale from the High Arctic regions, to the stupendous kraken whose tentacles could entwine a 500–ton craft and drag it into the ocean depths. They even reprinted reports from ancient times: the views of Aristotle and Pliny accepting the existence of such monsters, then the Norwegian stories of Bishop Pontoppidan, the narratives of Paul Egede, and finally the reports of Captain Harrington—whose good faith is above suspicion—in which he claims he saw, while aboard the Castilian in 1857, one of those enormous serpents that, until then, had frequented only the seas of France's old extremist newspaper, The Constitutionalist.

An interminable debate then broke out between believers and skeptics in the scholarly societies and scientific journals. The "monster question" inflamed all minds. During this memorable campaign, journalists making a profession of science battled with those making a profession of wit, spilling waves of ink and some of them even two or three drops of blood, since they went from sea serpents to the most offensive personal remarks.

For six months the war seesawed. With inexhaustible zest, the popular press took potshots at feature articles from the Geographic Institute of Brazil, the Royal Academy of Science in Berlin, the British Association, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., at discussions in The Indian Archipelago, in Cosmos published by Father Moigno, in Petermann's Mittheilungen,* and at scientific chronicles in the great French and foreign newspapers. When the monster's detractors cited a saying by the botanist Linnaeus that "nature doesn't make leaps," witty writers in the popular periodicals parodied it, maintaining in essence that "nature doesn't make lunatics," and ordering their contemporaries never to give the lie to nature by believing in krakens, sea serpents, "Moby Dicks," and other all–out efforts from drunken seamen. Finally, in a much–feared satirical journal, an article by its most popular columnist finished off the monster for good, spurning it in the style of Hippolytus repulsing the amorous advances of his stepmother Phædra, and giving the creature its quietus amid a universal burst of laughter. Wit had defeated science.

*German: "Bulletin." Ed.

During the first months of the year 1867, the question seemed to be buried, and it didn't seem due for resurrection, when new facts were brought to the public's attention. But now it was no longer an issue of a scientific problem to be solved, but a quite real and serious danger to be avoided. The question took an entirely new turn. The monster again became an islet, rock, or reef, but a runaway reef, unfixed and elusive.

On March 5, 1867, the Moravian from the Montreal Ocean Co., lying during the night in latitude 27° 30' and longitude 72° 15', ran its starboard quarter afoul of a rock marked on no charts of these waterways. Under the combined efforts of wind and 400–horsepower steam, it was traveling at a speed of thirteen knots. Without the high quality of its hull, the Moravian would surely have split open from this collision and gone down together with those 237 passengers it was bringing back from Canada.

This accident happened around five o'clock in the morning, just as day was beginning to break. The officers on watch rushed to the craft's stern. They examined the ocean with the most scrupulous care. They saw nothing except a strong eddy breaking three cable lengths out, as if those sheets of water had been violently churned. The site's exact bearings were taken, and the Moravian continued on course apparently undamaged. Had it run afoul of an underwater rock or the wreckage of some enormous derelict ship? They were unable to say. But when they examined its undersides in the service yard, they discovered that part of its keel had been smashed.

This occurrence, extremely serious in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten like so many others, if three weeks later it hadn't been reenacted under identical conditions. Only, thanks to the nationality of the ship victimized by this new ramming, and thanks to the reputation of the company to which this ship belonged, the event caused an immense uproar.

No one is unaware of the name of that famous English shipowner, Cunard. In 1840 this shrewd industrialist founded a postal service between Liverpool and Halifax, featuring three wooden ships with 400–horsepower paddle wheels and a burden of 1,162 metric tons. Eight years later, the company's assets were increased by four 650–horsepower ships at 1,820 metric tons, and in two more years, by two other vessels of still greater power and tonnage. In 1853 the Cunard Co., whose mail–carrying charter had just been renewed, successively added to its assets the Arabia, the Persia, the China, the Scotia, the Java, and the Russia, all ships of top speed and, after the Great Eastern, the biggest ever to plow the seas. So in 1867 this company owned twelve ships, eight with paddle wheels and four with propellers.

If I give these highly condensed details, it is so everyone can fully understand the importance of this maritime transportation company, known the world over for its shrewd management. No transoceanic navigational undertaking has been conducted with more ability, no business dealings have been crowned with greater success. In twenty–six years Cunard ships have made 2,000 Atlantic crossings without so much as a voyage canceled, a delay recorded, a man, a craft, or even a letter lost. Accordingly, despite strong competition from France, passengers still choose the Cunard line in preference to all others, as can be seen in a recent survey of official documents. Given this, no one will be astonished at the uproar provoked by this accident involving one of its finest steamers.

On April 13, 1867, with a smooth sea and a moderate breeze, the Scotia lay in longitude 15° 12' and latitude 45° 37'. It was traveling at a speed of 13.43 knots under the thrust of its 1,000–horsepower engines. Its paddle wheels were churning the sea with perfect steadiness. It was then drawing 6.7 meters of water and displacing 6,624 cubic meters.

At 4:17 in the afternoon, during a high tea for passengers gathered in the main lounge, a collision occurred, scarcely noticeable on the whole, affecting the Scotia's hull in that quarter a little astern of its port paddle wheel.

The Scotia hadn't run afoul of something, it had been fouled, and by a cutting or perforating instrument rather than a blunt one. This encounter seemed so minor that nobody on board would have been disturbed by it, had it not been for the shouts of crewmen in the hold, who climbed on deck yelling:

"We're sinking! We're sinking!"

At first the passengers were quite frightened, but Captain Anderson hastened to reassure them. In fact, there could be no immediate danger. Divided into seven compartments by watertight bulkheads, the Scotia could brave any leak with impunity.

Captain Anderson immediately made his way into the hold. He discovered that the fifth compartment had been invaded by the sea, and the speed of this invasion proved that the leak was considerable. Fortunately this compartment didn't contain the boilers, because their furnaces would have been abruptly extinguished.

Captain Anderson called an immediate halt, and one of his sailors dived down to assess the damage. Within moments they had located a hole two meters in width on the steamer's underside. Such a leak could not be patched, and with its paddle wheels half swamped, the Scotia had no choice but to continue its voyage. By then it lay 300 miles from Cape Clear, and after three days of delay that filled Liverpool with acute anxiety, it entered the company docks.

The engineers then proceeded to inspect the Scotia, which had been put in dry dock. They couldn't believe their eyes. Two and a half meters below its waterline, there gaped a symmetrical gash in the shape of an isosceles triangle. This breach in the sheet iron was so perfectly formed, no punch could have done a cleaner job of it. Consequently, it must have been produced by a perforating tool of uncommon toughness—plus, after being launched with prodigious power and then piercing four centimeters of sheet iron, this tool had needed to withdraw itself by a backward motion truly inexplicable.

This was the last straw, and it resulted in arousing public passions all over again. Indeed, from this moment on, any maritime casualty without an established cause was charged to the monster's account. This outrageous animal had to shoulder responsibility for all derelict vessels, whose numbers are unfortunately considerable, since out of those 3,000 ships whose losses are recorded annually at the marine insurance bureau, the figure for steam or sailing ships supposedly lost with all hands, in the absence of any news, amounts to at least 200!

Now then, justly or unjustly, it was the "monster" who stood accused of their disappearance; and since, thanks to it, travel between the various continents had become more and more dangerous, the public spoke up and demanded straight out that, at all cost, the seas be purged of this fearsome cetacean.




The narrator introduces himself to the reader. Different theories are debated as to the cause of the recent shipwrecks. The narrator is invited to join an impending expedition.
PART 1, CHAPTER 3: AS MASTER WISHES
Aronnax feels compelled to hunt the monster. Aronnax meets Captain Farragut.
PART 1, CHAPTER 4: NED LAND
Aronnax gives is account of Captain Farragut, Ned Land, and the the capabilities of the Abraham Lincoln
PART 1, CHAPTER 5: AT RANDOM
Ned Land impresses the crew with his abilities.
PART 1, CHAPTER 6: AT FULL STEAM
Fearing the loss of his ship, Farragut chooses not to attack until morning. Ned Land's harpooning of the creature fails to produce the desired result. Arronnax finds himself in a precarious situation.
PART 1, CHAPTER 7: A WHALE OF UNKNOWN SPECIES
Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land have a close encounter with the creature.
PART 1, CHAPTER 8: "MOBILIS IN MOBILI"
The three men find themselves in strange, but hospitable surroundings.
PART 1, CHAPTER 9: THE TANTRUMS OF NED LAND
As the men discuss their situation, Ned Land continues to become more and more agitated.
PART 1, CHAPTER 10: THE MAN OF THE WATERS
The commander of the vessel speaks with the captured men, and offers them some limited freedom. Aronnax is invited to eat with commander.
PART 1, CHAPTER 11: THE NAUTILUS
Captain Nemo gives Aronnax a personal tour of the ship.
PART 1, CHAPTER 12: EVERYTHING THROUGH ELECTRICITY
Captain Nemo explains the various instruments and equipment throughout the Nautilus.
PART 1, CHAPTER 13: SOME FIGURES
Captain Nemo presents the blueprints of the Nautilus to Aronnax in the hopes of answering his questions further.
PART 1, CHAPTER 14: THE BLACK CURRENT
The vast nature of the sea is discussed. Aronnax learns some unsettling information about Captain Nemo. Aronnax attempts to persuade Ned Land. The men have a debate about fish.
PART 1, CHAPTER 15: AN INVITATION IN WRITING
Conseil continues to perform his domestic duties. Aronnax starts his diary. Aronnax, Land, and Conseil receive an invitation from Captain Nemo.
PART 1, CHAPTER 16: STROLLING THE PLAINS
The men commence their underwater hunt.
PART 1, CHAPTER 17: AN UNDERWATER FOREST
The men reach the forest, where they encounter the various wildlife of the area.
PART 1, CHAPTER 18: FOUR-THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
Aronnax returns to the Nautilus's platform. Captain Nemo discusses the personality of the sea. Aronnax and Conseil continue to witness amazing scenes from the inside of the Nautilus.
PART 1, CHAPTER 19: VANIKORO
As the Nautilus continues its travels into more populated areas, the underwater destruction continues to increase. The ship arrives at the island Vanikoro, where Aronnax and Captain Nemo discuss the the tale of La Pérouse's shipwreck.
PART 1, CHAPTER 20: THE TORRES STRAIT
Conseil wishes Aronnax a Happy New Year before discussing their extended imprisonment. The Nautilus finds itself at the mercy of the tides.
PART 1, CHAPTER 21: SOME DAYS ASHORE
The men explore the island in hopes of finding some food not available on ship. Land finally gets a chance to hunt.
PART 1, CHAPTER 22: THE LIGHTNING BOLTS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
Natives drive the men off the island then proceed towards the Nautilus.
PART 1, CHAPTER 23: "AEGRI SOMNIA" (LATIN: "TROUBLED DREAMS.")
Captain Nemo discusses his many experiments with Aronnax. As the Nautilus approaches the shore, Captain Nemo becomes overwhelmed with anger.
PART 1, CHAPTER 24: THE CORAL REALM
A distracted Captain Nemo asks Aronnax for some medical assistance. The men travel to the coral kingdom to bury the dead.