Mr. Munchausen

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Bangs John Kendrick. Mr. Munchausen

I. I ENCOUNTER THE OLD GENTLEMAN

II. THE SPORTING TOUR OF MR. MUNCHAUSEN

III. THREE MONTHS IN A BALLOON

IV. SOME HUNTING STORIES FOR CHILDREN

V. THE STORY OF JANG

VI. HE TELLS THE TWINS OF FIRE-WORKS

VII. SAVED BY A MAGIC LANTERN

VIII. AN ADVENTURE IN THE DESERT

IX. DECORATION DAY IN THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS

X. MR. MUNCHAUSEN’S ADVENTURE WITH A SHARK

XI. THE BARON AS A RUNNER

XII. MR. MUNCHAUSEN MEETS HIS MATCH

XIII. WRIGGLETTO

XIV. THE POETIC JUNE-BUG, TOGETHER WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE GILLYHOOLY BIRD

XV. A LUCKY STROKE

Отрывок из книги

There are moments of supreme embarrassment in the lives of persons given to veracity, – indeed it has been my own unusual experience in life that the truth well stuck to is twice as hard a proposition as a lie so obvious that no one is deceived by it at the outset. I cannot quite agree with my friend, Caddy Barlow, who says that in a tight place it is better to lie at once and be done with it than to tell the truth which will need forty more truths to explain it, but I must confess that in my forty years of absolute and conscientious devotion to truth I have found myself in holes far deeper than any my most mendacious of friends ever got into. I do not propose, however, to desert at this late hour the Goddess I have always worshipped because she leads me over a rough and rocky road, and whatever may be the hardships involved in my wooing I intend to the very end to remain the ever faithful slave of Mademoiselle Veracité. All of which I state here in prefatory mood, and in order, in so far as it is possible for me to do so, to disarm the incredulous and sniffy reader who may be inclined to doubt the truth of my story of how the manuscript of the following pages came into my possession. I am quite aware that to some the tale will appear absolutely and intolerably impossible. I know that if any other than I told it to me I should not believe it. Yet despite these drawbacks the story is in all particulars, essential and otherwise, absolutely truthful.

The facts are briefly these:

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“Can’t do it,” said he. “There isn’t any post-office where I am.”

“What?” I cried. “No post-office? Where in Hades are you?”

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