Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER 17

  The Ramadan

  As Queequeg's Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continueall day, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall;for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religiousobligations, never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heartto undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool;or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who witha degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets,bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merelyon account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rentedin his name.

  I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitablein these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superiorto other mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazyconceits on these subjects. There was Queequeg, now, certainlyentertaining the most absurd notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;--but what of that? Queequeg thought he knew what he was about,I suppose; he seemed to be content; and there let him rest.All our arguing with him would not avail; let him be, I say:and Heaven have mercy on us all--Presbyterians and Pagans alike--for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head,and sadly need mending.

  Towards evening, when I felt assured that all his performances andrituals must be over, I went up to his room and knocked at the door;but no answer. I tried to open it, but it was fastened inside."Queequeg," said I softly through the key-hole:--all silent."I say, Queequeg! why don't you speak? It's I--Ishmael." But allremained still as before. I began to grow alarmed. I had allowed himsuch abundant time; I thought he might have had an apoplectic fit.I looked through the key-hole; but the door opening into an odd cornerof the room, the key-hole prospect was but a crooked and sinister one.I could only see part of the foot-board of the bed and a line of the wall,but nothing more. I was surprised to behold resting against the wallthe wooden shaft of Queequeg's harpoon, which the landlady the eveningprevious had taken from him, before our mounting to the chamber.That's strange, thought I; but at any rate, since the harpoonstands yonder, and he seldom or never goes abroad without it,therefore he must be inside here, and no possible mistake.

  "Queequeg!--Queequeg!"--all still. Something musthave happened. Apoplexy! I tried to burst open the door;but it stubbornly resisted. Running down stairs, I quicklystated my suspicions to the first person I met--the chamber-maid."La! la!" she cried, "I thought something must be the matter.I went to make the bed after breakfast, and the door was locked;and not a mouse to be heard; and it's been just so silent ever since.But I thought, may be, you had both gone off and locked yourbaggage in for safe keeping. La! La, ma'am!--Mistress! murder!Mrs. Hussey! apoplexy!"--and with these cries she ran towardsthe kitchen, I following.

  Mrs. Hussey soon appeared, with a mustard-pot in one handand a vinegar-cruet in the other, having just broken awayfrom the occupation of attending to the castors, and scoldingher little black boy meantime.

  "Wood-house!" cried I, "which way to it? Run for God's sake, and fetchsomething to pry open the door--the axe!--the axe! he's had a stroke;depend upon it!"--and so saying I was unmethodically rushing up stairsagain empty-handed, when Mrs. Hussey interposed the mustard-pot andvinegar-cruet, and the entire castor of her countenance.

  "What's the matter with you, young man?"

  "Get the axe! For God's sake, run for the doctor, some one,while I pry it open!"

  "Look here," said the landlady, quickly putting downthe vinegar-cruet, so as to have one hand free; "look here;are you talking about prying open any of my doors?"--and with that she seized my arm. "What's the matter with you?What's the matter with you, shipmate?"

  In as calm, but rapid a manner as possible, I gave her to understandthe whole case. Unconsciously clapping the vinegar-cruetto one side of her nose, she ruminated for an instant;then exclaimed--"No! I haven't seen it since I put it there."Running to a little closet under the landing of the stairs, she glancedin, and returning, told me that Queequeg's harpoon was missing."He's killed himself," she cried. "It's unfort'nate Stiggs doneover again there goes another counterpane--God pity his poor mother!--it will be the ruin of my house. Has the poor lad a sister?Where's that girl?--there, Betty, go to Snarles the Painter,and tell him to paint me a sign, with--"no suicides permitted here,and no smoking in the parlor;"--might as well kill bothbirds at once. Kill? The Lord be merciful to his ghost!What's that noise there? You, young man, avast there!"

  And running up after me, she caught me as I was again trying to forceopen the door.

  "I won't allow it; I won't have my premises spoiled.Go for the locksmith, there's one about a mile from here. But avast!"putting her hand in her side pocket, "here's a key that'll fit, I guess;let's see." And with that, she turned it in the lock; but alas!Queequeg's supplemental bolt remained unwithdrawn within.

  "Have to burst it open," said I, and was running down the entrya little, for a good start, when the landlady caught at me,again vowing I should not break down her premises; but I torefrom her, and with a sudden bodily rush dashed myself fullagainst the mark.

  With a prodigious noise the door flew open, and the knobslamming against the wall, sent the plaster to the ceiling;and there, good heavens! there sat Queequeg, altogether cooland self-collected; right in the middle of the room;squatting on his hams, and holding Yojo on top of his head.He looked neither one way nor the other way but sat like a carvedimage with scarce a sign of active life.

  "Queequeg," said I, going up to him, "Queequeg, what'sthe matter with you?"

  "He hain't been a sittin' so all day, has he?" said the landlady.

  But all we said, not a word could we drag out of him;I almost felt like pushing him over, so as to change his position,for it was almost intolerable, it seemed so painfully andunnaturally constrained; especially, as in all probabilityhe had been sitting so for upwards of eight or ten hours,going too without his regular meals.

  "Mrs. Hussey," said I, "he's alive at all events; so leave us,if you please, and I will see to this strange affair myself."

  Closing the door upon the landlady, I endeavored to prevailupon Queequeg to take a chair; but in vain. There he sat;and all he could do--for all my polite arts and blandishments--he would not move a peg, nor say a single word, nor even lookat me, nor notice my presence in any the slightest way.

  I wonder, thought I, if this can possibly be a part of his Ramadan;do they fast on their hams that way in his native island.It must be so; yes, it's a part of his creed, I suppose;well, then, let him rest; he'll get up sooner or later, no doubt.It can't last for ever, thank God, and his Ramadan only comesonce a year; and I don't believe it's very punctual then.

  I went down to supper. After sitting a long time listening to the longstories of some sailors who had just come from a plum-pudding voyage,as they called it (that is, a short whaling-voyage in a schooner or brig,confined to the north of the line, in the Atlantic Ocean only);after listening to these plum-puddingers till nearly eleven o'clock, Iwent up stairs to go to bed, feeling quite sure by this time Queequegmust certainly have brought his Ramadan to a termination. But no;there he was just where I had left him; he had not stirred an inch.I began to grow vexed with him; it seemed so downright senselessand insane to be sitting there all day and half the night on his hamsin a cold room, holding a piece of wood on his head.

  "For heaven's sake, Queequeg, get up and shake yourself; get up and havesome supper. You'll starve; you'll kill yourself, Queequeg." But nota word did he reply.

  Despairing of him, therefore, I determined to go to bed and to sleep;and no doubt, before a great while, he would follow me.But previous to turning in, I took my heavy bearskin jacket,and threw it over him, as it promised to be a very cold night;and he had nothing but his ordinary round jacket on.For some time, do all I would, I could not get into the faintest doze.I had blown out the candle; and the mere thought of Queequeg--not four feet off--sitting there in that uneasy position,stark alone in the cold and dark; this made me really wretched.Think of it; sleeping all nig
ht in the same room with a wideawake pagan on his hams in this dreary, unaccountable Ramadan!

  But somehow I dropped off at last, and knew nothing more tillbreak of day; when, looking over the bedside, there squattedQueequeg, as if he had been screwed down to the floor.But as soon as the first glimpse of sun entered the window,up he got, with stiff and grating joints, but with a cheerful look;limped towards me where I lay; pressed his forehead againagainst mine; and said his Ramadan was over.

  Now, as I before hinted, I have no objection to any person's religion,be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insultany other person, because that other person don't believe it also.But when a man's religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positivetorment to him; and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortableinn to lodge in; then I think it high time to take that individualaside and argue the point with him.

  And just so I now did with Queequeg. "Queequeg," said I,"get into bed now, and lie and listen to me." I then went on,beginning with the rise and progress of the primitive religions,and coming down to the various religions of the present time,during which time I labored to show Queequeg that allthese Lents, Ramadans, and prolonged ham-squattings in cold,cheerless rooms were stark nonsense; bad for the health;useless for the soul; opposed, in short, to the obvious lawsof Hygiene and common sense. I told him, too, that he beingin other things such an extremely sensible and sagacious savage,it pained me, very badly pained me, to see him now so deplorablyfoolish about this ridiculous Ramadan of his. Besides, argued I,fasting makes the body cave in; hence the spirit caves in;and all thoughts born of a fast must necessarily behalf-starved. This is the reason why most dyspeptic religionistscherish such melancholy notions about their hereafters.In one word, Queequeg, said I, rather digressively;hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling;and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsiasnurtured by Ramadans.

  I then asked Queequeg whether he himself was ever troubled with dyspepsia;expressing the idea very plainly, so that he could take it in.He said no; only upon one memorable occasion. It was after a great feastgiven by his father the king on the gaining of a great battle whereinfifty of the enemy had been killed by about two o'clock in the afternoon,and all cooked and eaten that very evening.

  "No more, Queequeg," said I, shuddering; "that will do;"for I knew the inferences without his further hinting them.I had seen a sailor who had visited that very island, and he told methat it was the custom, when a great battle had been gained there,to barbecue all the slain in the yard or garden of the victor;and then, one by one, they were placed in great wooden trenchers,and garnished round like a pilau, with breadfruit and cocoanuts;and with some parsley in their mouths, were sent round withthe victor's compliments to all his friends, just as thoughthese presents were so many Christmas turkeys.

  After all, I do not think that my remarks about religion mademuch impression upon Queequeg. Because, in the first place,he somehow seemed dull of hearing on that important subject,unless considered from his own point of view; and, in thesecond place, he did not more than one third understand me,couch my ideas simply as I would; and, finally, he no doubt thoughthe knew a good deal more about the true religion than I did.He looked at me with a sort of condescending concern and compassion,as though he thought it a great pity that such a sensible youngman should be so hopelessly lost to evangelical pagan piety.

  At last we rose and dressed; and Queequeg, taking a prodigiously heartybreakfast of chowders of all sorts, so that the landlady should not makemuch profit by reason of his Ramadan, we sallied out to board the Pequod,sauntering along, and picking our teeth with halibut bones.