57. CHAPTER LVII.
TAJI TAKES COUNSEL WITH HIMSELF.
My brief intercourse with our host, had by this time enabled
me to form a pretty good notion of the light, in which
I was held by him and his more intelligent subjects.
His free and easy carriage evinced, that though acknowledging
my assumptions, he was no way overawed
by them; treating me as familiarly, indeed, as if I were
a mere mortal, one of the abject generation of mushrooms.
The scene in the temple, however, had done much toward
explaining this demeanor of his. A demi-god in his
own proper person, my claims to a similar dignity neither
struck him with wonder, nor lessened his good opinion of
himself.
As for any thing foreign in my aspect, and my ignorance
of Mardian customs:—all this, instead of begetting a doubt
unfavorable to my pretensions, but strengthened the conviction
of them as verities. Thus has it been in similar instances;
but to a much greater extent. The celebrated
navigator referred to in a preceding chapter, was hailed by
the Hawaiians as one of their demi-gods, returned to earth,
after a wide tour of the universe. And they worshiped
him as such, though incessantly he was interrogating them,
as to who under the sun his worshipers were; how their
ancestors came on the island; and whether they would have
the kindness to provide his followers with plenty of pork
during his stay.
But a word or two concerning the idols in the shrine at
Odo. Superadded to the homage rendered him as a temporal
prince, Media was there worshiped as a spiritual being.
In his corporeal absence, his effigy receiving all oblations intended
for him. And in the days of his boyhood, listening
to the old legends of the Mardian mythology, Media had
conceived a strong liking for the fabulous Taji; a deity
whom he had often declared was worthy a niche in any
temple extant. Hence he had honored my image with a
place in his own special shrine; placing it side by side with
his worshipful likeness.
I appreciated the compliment. But of the close companionship
of the other image there, I was heartily ashamed.
And with reason. The nuisance in question being the
image of a deified maker of plantain-pudding, lately deceased;
who had been famed far and wide as the most
notable fellow of his profession in the whole Archipelago
During his sublunary career, having been attached to the
household of Media, his grateful master had afterward seen
fit to crown his celebrity by this posthumous distinction: a
circumstance sadly subtracting from the dignity of an apotheosis.
Nor must it here be omitted, that in this part of
Mardi culinary artists are accounted worthy of high consideration.
For among these people of Odo, the matter of eating
and drinking is held a matter of life and of death.
“Drag away my queen from my arms,” said old Tyty when
overcome of Adommo, “but leave me my cook.”
Now, among the Mardians there were plenty of incarnated
deities to keep me in countenance. Most of the
kings of the Archipelago, besides Media, claiming homage
as demi-gods; and that, too, by virtue of hereditary descent,
the divine spark being transmissable from father to
son. In illustration of this, was the fact, that in several
instances the people of the land addressed the supreme god
Oro, in the very same terms employed in the political adoration
of their sublunary rulers.
Ay: there were deities in Mardi far greater and taller
than I: right royal monarchs to boot, living in jolly round
tabernacles of jolly brown clay; and feasting, and roystering,
and lording it in yellow tabernacles of bamboo. These
demi-gods had wherewithal to sustain their lofty pretensions.
If need were, could crush out of him the infidelity
of a non-conformist. And by this immaculate union of
church and state, god and king, in their own proper persons
reigned supreme Cæsars over the souls and bodies of their
subjects.
Beside these mighty magnates, I and my divinity shrank
into nothing. In their woodland ante-chambers plebeian
deities were kept lingering. For be it known, that in due
time we met with several decayed, broken down demi-gods:
magnificos of no mark in Mardi; having no temples wherein
to feast personal admirers, or spiritual devotees. They
wandered about forlorn and friendless. And oftentimes in
their dinnerless despair hugely gluttonized, and would fain
have grown fat, by reflecting upon the magnificence of their
genealogies. But poor fellows! like shabby Scotch lords in
London in King James's time, the very multitude of them
confounded distinction. And since they could show no rentroll,
they were permitted to fume unheeded.
Upon the whole, so numerous were living and breathing
gods in Mardi, that I held my divinity but cheaply. And
seeing such a host of immortals, and hearing of multitudes
more, purely spiritual in their nature, haunting woodlands
and streams; my views of theology grew strangely confused;
I began to bethink me of the Jew that rejected the
Talmud, and his all-permeating principle, to which Goethe
and others have subscribed.
Instead, then, of being struck with the audacity of endeavoring
to palm myself off as a god—the way in which
the thing first impressed me—I now perceived that I
might be a god as much as I pleased, and yet not whisk a
lion's tail after all; at least on that special account.
As for Media's reception, its graciousness was not wholly
owing to the divine character imputed to me. His, he believed
to be the same. But to a whim, a freakishness in
his soul, which led him to fancy me as one among many,
not as one with no peer.
But the apparent unconcern of King Media with respect
to my godship, by no means so much surprised me, as his
unaffected indifference to my amazing voyage from the sun;
his indifference to the sun itself; and all the wonderful circumstances
that must have attended my departure. Whether
he had ever been there himself, that he regarded a solar trip
with so much unconcern, almost became a question in my
mind. Certain it is, that as a mere traveler he must have
deemed me no very great prodigy.
My surprise at these things was enhanced by reflecting,
that to the people of the Archipelago the map of Mardi
was the map of the world. With the exception of certain
islands out of sight and at an indefinite distance, they had
no certain knowledge of any isles but their own.
And, no long time elapsed ere I had still additional
reasons to cease wondering at the easy faith accorded to the
story which I had given of myself. For these Mardians
were familiar with still greater marvels than mine; verily
believing in prodigies of all sorts. Any one of them put my
exploits to the blush.
Look to thy ways then, Taji, thought I, and carry not
thy crest too high. Of a surety, thou hast more peers
than inferiors. Thou art overtopped all round. Bear thyself
discreetly and not haughtily, Taji. It will not answer
to give thyself airs. Abstain from all consequential allusions
to the other world, and the genteel deities among
whom thou hast circled. Sport not too jauntily thy raiment,
because it is novel in Mardi; nor boast of the fleetness
of thy Chamois, because it is unlike a canoe. Vaunt
not of thy pedigree, Taji; for Media himself will measure
it with thee there by the furlong. Be not a “snob,” Taji.
So then, weighing all things well, and myself severely, I
resolved to follow my Mentor's wise counsel; neither arrogating
aught, nor abating of just dues; but circulating
freely, sociably, and frankly, among the gods, heroes, high-priests,
kings, and gentlemen, that made up the principalities
of Mardi.
