Chapter 117 112．Berth's tragedy

Every whaling ship has a story, full of risks and happy or sad endings. Everyone on the whaling ship has a story too. Although their respective stories melted together as soon as they boarded the whaling ship, they had to stand the test together and experience a happy or tragic story together. However, before they came to the whaling ship and started their whaling career, their respective stories were independent. Although the final results of the whaling careers of the men on a whaling ship may be the same, the reasons that induce them to start their own whaling careers are definitely not the same.

If you don’t believe me, you can give it a try. There are a hundred sailors, and there will be a hundred real reasons, or stories. We have already talked about how several people came to the "Pequode", now let's talk about the blacksmith. The blacksmith's name was Bosi, who was nearly sixty years old, and no one knew where his hometown was. According to himself, he was originally a well-behaved blacksmith. His craftsmanship is well-known in his hometown, so there are many people looking for him to work, and he cannot do the job at all. He has his own house and family, and his wife is young and beautiful, who is often mistaken for his daughter.

His three children are all lively and healthy. The family lived a happy life. The blacksmith is shrewd and capable. He sets up his workshop in the basement of his own house, and is busy there every day. The sound of the blacksmith at work carried to the house of his wife and children, to their great delight. Sometimes, a young and beautiful wife would come to the door of her husband's workshop and happily watch her husband work, full of joy and hope in her heart. The whole family went to church every Sunday, which was the happiest day of the week for them. They sang all the way, in high spirits, through the grove around the church, to hear the voice of the Lord.

But this happy day was finally ruined. At midnight in a severe winter, the old blacksmith was rushing back from the outer town. When he got between the two towns, he suddenly felt that his whole body began to gradually become paralyzed. It got worse after a while, and he began to faint. He groped into a broken house, and after that, his feet could no longer support him. Misfortunes never come singly, and since then his tragedies have begun scene by scene. One dark night, a thief visited his home and took advantage of the night to steal his home completely. The old blacksmith lost almost everything except his family.

A happy family has since gone into decline. The old blacksmith began to age, his wife's happy voice disappeared, and the voice in the workshop became weaker and weaker day by day. Finally, the bellows could not be pulled up, and the furnace was filled with ashes. The wife looked at her crying child, with tears streaming down her face, frozen by the window. Soon the children followed her, and together they went to the churchyard, which was their favorite place. The old blacksmith saw his home destroyed. Wearing a black gauze, he staggered away from his hometown and started his wandering career.

He was limping, shaking his white hair, struggling to live in the eyes of others. When Bourne was in pain in his wandering life, the call of the ocean touched his nerves. "Rather than being disgusting, it's better to die in the boundless sea. Maybe there is my destination, and there is my cemetery." Thinking this way, Bosi stepped aboard the Pequod. When looking forward to the early arrival of death and not wanting to kill oneself, there is a way, and that is to plunge into a terrifying new life, to experience adventure and death's real call. Whenever the thought of death arises, you will hear the sincere voice of the ocean calling to you, saying:

"Come on, heartbroken friends, this is the only place where you can completely end your sorrow. Accept my call, and you will get the most natural life here." He only told what happened to Both when people asked him again and again, and when they finished listening, they couldn't help but sigh for him. From then on, whenever people heard Both's sound of beating iron tools, they would feel sad for his life experience. Even if the sound was soft and slow, it never showed any light atmosphere.