Now it so happened when leaving the earth on such occasions he did so by way of the North Pole—it may have been the south pole, for our language at that date was so meager it is impossible to discover any real distinction between the word which stands for “north” and the word representing “south,” and I am inclined to think at that early date it had not become necessary to make any distinction between the two directions, as the inhabitants were then hardly conscious of direction at all.
But be that as it may, the Pole projected a great distance into space, so that he could run out upon it and use it as a spring-board to gain momentum in starting on his journey.
And so it was one night while on earth in sleep he divulged the fact he had taken to himself another wife in one of the other planets, which knowledge so enraged his wife she went forth in search for a suitable instrument for cracking his skull. While she was gone a servant awoke him and gave him the above information. He, well knowing the capacity of his better half, conceived it a wise plan, a very wise plan indeed, to start on one of his journeys, which he lost no time in doing; but just before he reached the Pole, on glancing over his shoulder he observed his irate spouse coming after him at a tremendous rate, which so accelerated his speed that he made such a terrific spring from the Pole the earth was thrown out of plumb, and it has so remained to this day.
And the narration concludes with the information, which may be safely regarded as remarkably accurate, that his wife was so put out by his escape she vented her spite by hacking viciously at the Pole, which she thumped so heartily she loosened the masses of ice thereabouts, which immediately began to slide toward the middle of the earth, and have so continued to do down to this date, and they are now termed “icebergs,” “glaciers,” and the like.
By way of ending then.
I wish to impress upon him to whom this document shall descend it will always be found in company with a document written and compiled by one of my fathers, and no change must be made in the same, not so much as in a single word, for no one could be possessed of sufficient knowledge so to do properly and might by so doing convey an erroneous impression to future generations.
VIIII
Being the first item of the Third Document, and contains the history of the rapidly growing tree with the golden fruit which undid a king and made another. This document, in its several items, gives many startling details of facts and fables not generally known and heretofore unpublished.