“Come hither to me—hither, hither,”
said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost
startled me. “Look ye, lad; never say that
on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere.
Captain Ahab did not name himself .’Twas a foolish,
ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died
when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet
the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name
would somehow prove prophetic. And, perhaps,
other fools like her may tell thee the same.
I wish to warn thee. It’s a lie.
I know Captain Ahab well; I’ve sailed with him
as mate years ago; I know what he is— a
good man—not a pious, good man, like Bildad,
but a swearing good man—something like
me—only there’s a good deal more
of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very
jolly; and I know that on the passage home he was
a little out of his mind for a spell; but it was the
sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump that brought
that about, as any one might see. I know, too,
that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that
accursed whale, he’s been a kind of moody—
desperate moody, and savage sometimes; but that will
all pass off. And once for all, let me tell thee
and assure thee, young man, it’s better to sail
with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one.
So good-bye to thee—and wrong not Captain
Ahab, because he happens to have a wicked name.
Besides, my boy, he has a wife—not three
voyages wedded—a sweet, resigned girl.
Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man had
a child: hold ye then there can be any utter,
hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken,
blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!”
As I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what
had been incidentally revealed to me of Captain Ahab,
filled me with a certain wild vagueness of painfulness
concerning him. And somehow, at the time, I felt
a sympathy and a sorrow for him, but for I don’t
know what, unless it was the cruel loss of his leg.
And yet I also felt a strange awe of him; but that
sort of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was not
exactly awe; I do not know what it was. But
I felt it; and it did not disincline me towards him;
though I felt impatience at what seemed like mystery
in him, so imperfectly as he was known to me then.
However, my thoughts were at length carried in other
directions, so that for the present dark Ahab slipped
my mind.
CHAPTER 17
The Ramadan
As Queequeg’s Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation,
was to continue all day, I did not choose to disturb
him till towards night-fall; for I cherish the greatest
respect towards everybody’s religious obligations,
never mind how comical, and could not find it in my
heart to undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping
a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain
parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism
quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before
the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on
account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and
rented in his name.
