Chapter 63 Chapter two

The majestic Panegaeus is born In the year when Gao Kangda was four hundred and eighty plus forty-four years old, his wife, Princess Budbek, the princess of King Utopia Amauroti, gave birth to his son Pangguai.Baderbeck died in childbirth because the child had grown so prodigiously fat that it could not have been born without suffocating his mother. But, in order to fully illustrate the reason and significance of the name he took at the time of his baptism, you must remember that the year was very dry all over Africa, with thirty-six months, three weeks, and four days, plus Thirteen hours and a little more, with no rain, the sun was as hot as a steamer, and the whole earth was parched, as it had never been in the time of Elia, for there was not a single tree left on the ground. and spent.The grass has dried up, the river has dried up, and the springs have dried up; the unfortunate fish have no water to swim in, and are so dry that they jump around on the ground; because there is no water in the sky, the birds all fall down by themselves; wolves, foxes, etc. , deer, wild boar, spotted deer, hares, rabbits, weasels, weasels, weasels, etc., and other animals died in the fields with their mouths hanging out.As for people, it is even more pitiful.You'll see them all sticking out their tongues, like hounds running for six hours.Many people jumped into the well, and some lay down in the shade under the cow's belly. Homer once called them "dry people".The whole earth stood still as if at anchor.It is tragic to see what man has done to meet the terrible thirst, for it is enough to protect the holy water in the church from drying up; The order is that no matter who it is, only one dip in the holy water is allowed.

So one enters the church alone, and you see twenty thirsty men follow behind, with mouths open, waiting for the man who dipped them in the holy water to give them a drop, like the wicked rich man, Don't miss anything.Really, what a blessing it would be for anyone to have a cool and well-stocked wine cellar this year! Philosopher ② When talking about why the sea is salty, he once said that when Forbes ③ handed over his car of light ④ to his son Fa Aitong ⑤, Fa Aitong was not good at driving. Will not walk along the ecliptic line that separates the solstice ⑥ in the orbit of the sun, so that you go the wrong way, get close to the earth, and dry up all the regions under the car, and even burn a large part of the sky, That is what philosophers call Via lactea ①, drinkers call Jacob ②, and some of the most brilliant poets say ① Utopia: Thomas More's imaginary country, the original meaning is "the land of nowhere".

②Amauroti: The capital of Utopia, according to the Greek, it means "ambiguous". ③ Badbeck, in the western and southwestern part of France, refers to a person who looks stupid and "opens his tongue". In the Bergerac dialect, "Badbeck" means "candle holder". ④ Elia: The Hebrew prophet, born about 900 BC, predicted that there would be a three-year drought in the country, and it came true. ⑤ St. Augustine said that low altitude birds can fly because of the moisture. ⑥ The original text is Alibantes. The tenth-century Greek philologist Suidas said that "Alibas" (Alibas) is a river in hell that can suck up everything. The word Alibantes may come from here.Homer did not mention the "dry man", but Plutarch mentioned it when he explained the "Odyssey" in the third section of the tenth question of the eighth volume of "The Banquet".

① The evil rich man suffered in Hades after his death, and begged Abraham to let Lazarus dip his finger in a little water to moisten his tongue.See the story of "New Testament? Luke Gospel" chapter sixteen nineteenth to twenty-five. ② Refers to Ampedocles in the sixth chapter of the third volume of Plutarch's "Philosopher's Ideas".The other said it refers to Aristotle. ③ Forbes: the god of light in mythology, the son of Jupiter. ④ refers to the sun. ⑤ With the permission of his father, Fa Aitong drove the sun for a day and almost burned the whole world. In a rage, Jupiter shot him dead with a thunderbolt.

⑥ Two solstice lines: the summer solstice line and the winter solstice line. ① Latin: "milk road", that is, the Milky Way. ② Jacob's Road: Legend has it that the Milky Way once guided the way for the pilgrims of St. Jacob de Don Postella (that is, Santiago, Spain). It's where the milk fell when Juno nursed Hercules.At that time, the earth was very hot and sweated a lot. The sweat became the sea, so it was salty, because sweat is salty.If you tasted your own sweat, or the sweat of a man with syphilis — or whatever — you'd say it was true. That's pretty much the case this year.That day was Friday, and everyone was praying devoutly, making a parade of blessings, reciting a lot of prayers, giving beautiful lectures, and begging the Almighty God to look down on their suffering with His merciful eyes, and they begged so earnestly , watching big drops of water come out of the ground, exactly the same as when a person sweats profusely.The unfortunate people began to be happy as if something good had happened. Some said that there was no water in the sky originally, because everyone hoped that it would rain, and now the earth made up for this defect; "It rained" ④, as Seneca ⑤ said in the fourth volume of his Questionum naturalium ⑥ when he talked about the origin of the Nile ⑧.However, these people were all wrong, because after the prayer parade, when everyone wanted to collect some of this dew and drink it from a bowl, they found that the water was salty, saltier than sea water, and even more unpalatable .

Because it was on this day that Paguguet was born, his father gave him this name: "Great" means "everything" according to the Greek, and "Guai" means "thirst" according to the interpretation of Agalena.He meant that when Pagoda was born, the whole world was thirsty, and he seemed to have foreseen in his mind that one day Pagoda would be the king of the thirsty country. The omen showed him that when his mother Badbeck gave birth to him, and the women were waiting to deliver him there, sixty-eight mule drivers came out of the belly of Badbeck, each with a A mule was led by the bridle, laden with salt, and when they came out came nine dromedaries laden with ham and smoked ox tongues, seven bactrian camels laden with salted eels, and then another Twenty-five carts of leeks, garlic, shallots, shallots; this frightened the midwives, and some of them said:

"What a bountiful meal. We've always drank furtively, never quite. This is great, because they are all things that stimulate drinking. " Their gossip had hardly ceased when Pagoda was born, furry like a bear, and one of the midwives said prophetically: "When he was born with hair, he will do great things, and when he becomes an adult, he will live a long life." ③③ Using a steam bath to make people suffering from syphilis sweat was a treatment method at that time. ④ "It rains down": It means that the water passes through the earth and comes from the opposite side.

⑤ Seneca (2-6): A famous Roman philosopher. ⑥ Latin: "Natural Problems". ⑦ It is not the fourth volume, but the fourth forty-fourth page of the third volume. ⑧ Nile River: A major African river, originating from Lake Victoria, passing through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt, and entering the Mediterranean Sea. ① Agalena: Mauritania in Africa. ② Refers to the green onions of the previous year.