THE KITCHEN
alhoon wrote:Ugo was scared. The too-bigs came with flashy magics, sharp steel and an even bigger too-big and severely harmed the Masters! That's something he didn't think possible.
He puts a large kettle over the fireplace and puts more water in it than necessary. He also puts a little less firewood than usual; this will delay the process, but if the Masters check they won't be able to blame Ugo, will they?
After peeling a potato and throws it in the kettle, he chops a carrot slowly as he looks at the caged fellow to see if he came back to be able to move and speak.
The door shakes as if something bumped it hard on the other side.
Ugo hears the Masters' voices:
''More wood, more wood!"
''Bah, I've no appetite for this joinery work. 'Tis fit for servants, not for our likes."
"And why, pray tell, have we got but one servant left? Someone's appetites..."
"Oh, very droll. Hand me that blasted hammer."
The voices fade away with the receding sound of footsteps.
Ugo sees that the other
short one, in the cage, now stirs and pokes about.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)