Ahab throws the lit pipe into the sea, then paces the planks with a slouched hat as the ship passes the sinking pipe’s bubble.
In a decisive gesture, Ahab tosses the still-lighted pipe into the sea. The fire hisses as it meets the waves, and at the same instant, the Pequod shoots past the bubble created by the sinking pipe. The chapter ends with Ahab lurchingly pacing the planks, his hat slouched low. This final image captures Ahab’s restless energy and the symbolic severance from the pipe’s former comfort, marking a transition as the ship continues its relentless pursuit through the ocean.
第三十一章 : Queen Mab
This is Chapter 31 (titled Queen Mab, indexed as chapter 31, numbered as chapter 35 of the full work). The chapter opens the morning after prior events with Stubb approaching Flask to share a strange dream.
Stubb Recounts His Bizarre Dream to Flask
Stubb recounts a bizarre dream to Flask: in the dream, Captain Ahab kicked Stubb with his ivory leg, leading Stubb to kick back and break his own leg off. Ahab then transforms into a pyramid Stubb repeatedly kicks, while Stubb rationalizes the original kick is not a true insult, as Ahab used a false whalebone leg rather than a living limb. A hunchbacked merman intervenes, turning his marlinspike-covered stern toward Stubb when Stubb threatens to kick him, and argues that Ahab’s kick is an honor, not an insult, before Stubb wakes in his hammock. Flask dismisses the dream as foolish.
Stubb Advises Flask to Avoid Ahab
Stubb tells Flask the dream has made him wise, and advises Flask to leave Captain Ahab alone entirely, never speaking to Ahab no matter what he says, to avoid conflict.
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