The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-08-29

or as great a marvel to them, that Is
amongst us, and That was of the bar
nacle geese for I told them that in
our country were trees that bear a
fruit chat become birds flying, and
those that fall on the water live, and
they that fall on the earth die anon,
and they be right good to man. meat,
and thereof had they so great marvel
that some OF them troweti it were m
impossible thing to be-"
This mean donbt as to his veracity
must have cut poor MaundeviIbe TO
the quick. In his earnest way he gees
on TO describe the people who live
entirely on the smell of wild apples,
to the Amazon nation consisting SOLE
ly. of women warriors; and so on past
many. g%riffins, p~opinjays, dragons and
other wild fowl to the Adamant Rocks
of loadstone which draw AID the iron
nails out of a ship to her great in
convenience. 81 myself have. seen afar
off in that sea, as though it had been
a great isle full of trees and bush,
full of thorns and briers great plenty.
And the shipmen told us that all that
was of ships that were drawn thither
by the Adamants, for the iron that
was in them" Beyond that Sir John
reports a sea consisting of gravel, ebb-
ing and flowing in great waves, but
containing no drop of water, a most
awkward place for shipping.
So far is Sir John moderate in his
statements, but when he gets to the
Vale Perilous at last he turns himself
loose. That vale is disturbed by thun-
ders, tempests, murmurs and noises, Il
great noise of 'tabors. drums and
trumps." This vale is all full of devils,
and hath been Away. In that vale is
great plenty of gold and silver.
Wherefore many misbelieving men
and many Christian men also go in
oftentime to have of the treasure that
there is; but few come back again,
and especially of the misbelieving
men, nor of the Christian men either,
for they be anon strangled of devils.
And in the. mid place of that3ale, un-
der a rock, is an head and the vlsage
Of a devil bodily, full horrible and
dreadful to see< for he behold
eth every man so sharply with dread
full eyes, that be evermore moving
and sparkling like fire, and changeth
and stareth so often In diverse man
ner, with so horrible c%ountenance that
no man dare draw nigh towards him.
And from him cometh smoke and stink
and fire, and so much a~bomination,
that scarcely any man may there en-
dure.
and We shall understand that when
my fellows and l were in that vale
we were in great thought whether
we burst put our bodies in adventure
to go in or not. So there were
with us two worthy men, friars minors,
that were of L%ombardy, that said that
if any man would enter they would
go in with US. And when they had
said upon the gracious trust of God
and of them, we made sing mass, and
made every man to be shriven and
houseled. And then we entered four
teen persons; but at our going out
we We're only nine. And thus
we passed that perilous vale, and
found therein gold and silver and pre-
cious stones, and rich jewels great
plenty but whether il was as
it seemed to us / wot never. For |
touched none. For | was more
devout then, than ever / was before
or after, and all for the dread of
fiends, that | saw in diverse figures.
and also for the great multitude of
dead bodies, that ! saw there lying
by the way and therefore
were VI more devout a great deal, and
yet we were cast down and beaten
thunder and tempests and so
we passed that perilous vale. .
Thanked be Almighty God!
after this beyond the vale is a great
isle where the folk be great giants
e. and in an isle beyond that were
giants Of greater stature, some of for.
ty-fiye foot or fifty foot long, and as
some men say of fifty cubits long. But
l saw none of these, for I had no lust
to go TO those parts, because no man
cometh neither into hat isle nor into
the other but he be deyoured anon.
And among these giants be sheep as
great as oxen here, and they bear
great wool and rough. OF the sheep
l have seen many times -. those
giants take men in the sea out of
their ships and bring them to land.
two in one hand and two in another,
eating them going, all raw and all
alive.
'of paradise cannot ! speak o
~, for l was not there. 1t is far be-
You'd. And that grieveth me. And al
so l was not worthy"
So, regretting that he had not been
allowed into paradise, the hoary old
liar came homeward to Rome, where
he claims that the pope absolved him
Of all his sins, and gave him a cerrifi-
cate that his book was proved for
true in every particular, "albeit that
many men list not to give credence
to anything but to that that they have
seen with their eye, be the author or
the person never so true" Yet, despite
these unkind doubts as to its veracity.
Maundeville's book lives after five hun.
dred years, and ranks as the most stu
pendous masterpiece in the art of ly.
ing.
tion between the saws and cotton stuck