Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later, Both by the Original Discoverer of the Country and by His SonButler, Samuel
Philosophy
Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later, Both by the Original Discoverer of the Country and by His Son
Butler, Samuel
Satire; Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
“This offence, at all times deplored by those who desire that his Majesty
should enjoy good sport when he honours us with a visit, is doubly
deplorable during the season when, on the higher parts of the preserves,
the young birds are not yet able to shift for themselves; the Ranger,
therefore, is indefatigable in his efforts to break up the gang, and with
this end in view, for the last fortnight has been out night and day on
the remoter sections of the forest--little suspecting that the marauders
would venture so near Sunch’ston as it now seems they have done. It is
to his extreme anxiety to detect and punish these miscreants that we must
ascribe the arrest of a man, who, however foolish, and indeed guilty, he
is in other respects, is innocent of the particular crime imputed to him.
The circumstances that led to his arrest have reached us from an
exceptionally well-informed source, and are as follows:-
“Our distinguished guests, Professors Hanky and Panky, both of them
justly celebrated archaeologists, had availed themselves of the
opportunity afforded them by their visit to Sunch’ston, to inspect the
mysterious statues at the head of the stream that comes down near this
city, and which have hitherto baffled all those who have tried to
ascertain their date and purpose.
“On their descent after a fatiguing day the Professors were benighted,
and lost their way. Seeing the light of a small fire among some trees
near them, they made towards it, hoping to be directed rightly, and found
a man, respectably dressed, sitting by the fire with several brace of
quails beside him, some of them plucked. Believing that in spite of his
appearance, which would not have led them to suppose that he was a
poacher, he must unquestionably be one, they hurriedly enquired their
way, intending to leave him as soon as they had got their answer; he,
however, attacked them, or made as though he would do so, and said he
would show them a way which they should be in no fear of losing, whereon
Professor Hanky, with a well-directed blow, felled him to the ground. The
two Professors, fearing that other poachers might come to his assistance,
made off as nearly as they could guess in the direction of Sunch’ston.
When they had gone a mile or two onward at haphazard, they sat down under
a large tree, and waited till day began to break; they then resumed their
journey, and before long struck a path which led them to a spot from
which they could see the towers of the new temple.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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