teenth year. She has founded masses for the repose
of her soul in such great numbers that every priest in the Penguin
Church is, so to speak, transformed into a taper lighted in the sight of
heaven to draw down the divine mercy upon the august Crucha."

From these lines and from some others with which have enriched my text
the reader can judge of the historical and literary value of the "Gesta
Penguinorum." Unhappily, that chronicle suddenly comes suddenly to an
end at third year of Draco the Simple, the successor of Gun the Weak.
Having reached that point of my history, I deplore the loss of an
agreeable and trustworthy guide.

During the two centuries that followed, the Penguins remained plunged
in blood-stained disorder. All the arts perished. In the midst of the
general ignorance, the monks in the shadow of their cloister devoted
themselves to study, and copied the Holy Scriptures with indefatigable
zeal. As parchment was scarce, they scraped the writing off old
manuscripts in order to transcribe upon them the divine word. Thus
throughout the breadth of Penguinia Bibles blossomed forth like roses on
a bush.

A monk of the order of St. Benedict, Ermold the Penguin, had himself
alone defaced four thousand Greek and Latin manuscripts so as to copy
out the Gospel of St. John four thousand times. Thus the masterpieces of
ancient poetry and eloquence were destroyed in great numbers. Historians
are unanimous in recognising that the Penguin convents were the refuge
of learning during the Middle Ages.

Unending wars between the Penguins and the Porpoises filled the close
of this period. It is extremely difficult to know the truth concerning
these wars, not because accounts are wanting, but because there are so
many of them. The Porpoise Chronicles contradict the Penguin Chronicles
at every point. And, moreover, the Penguins contradict each other as
well as the Porpoises. I have discovered two chronicles that are in
agreement, but one has copied from the other. A single fact is certain,
namely, that massacres, rapes, conflagrations, and plunder succeeded one
another without interruption.

Under the unhappy prince Bosco IX. the kingdom was at the verge of
ruin. On the news that the Porpoise fleet, composed of six hundred great
ships, was in sight of Alca, the bishop ordered a solemn procession. The
cathedral chapter, the elected magistrates, the members of Parliament,
and the clerics of the University entered the Cathedra