The Marvelous and the Absurd

Where it surfaces

• I

  The storm that lifts trees with a couple gathering cucumbers, and the lion jumping into the crocodile's mouth, exemplify the marvelous and absurd.

• II

  The wolf devouring the horse from within and then being harnessed to pull the sledge exemplifies the absurd and fantastical elements of the story.

• III

  Improbable events such as eye-sparks igniting a gun, nailing a fox's tail, and bending a boar's tusks with a stone highlight the absurdity of the narrative.

• IV

  The Baron's impossible feats—shooting a stag with cherry stones that later bears fruit, turning a wolf inside out, and a mad cloak—exemplify the absurd and marvelous nature of his adventures.

• V

  The greyhound and hare both littering during a chase, and the horse being severed and healed with laurel sprigs, are absurdly marvelous events.

• Chapter VI

  Events like the hatchet flying to the moon, the beanstalk, and the frozen horn tunes exemplify the absurd and marvelous.

• VII

  The Baron's head being pressed into his stomach and his use of his posterior to stop a leak are absurd and marvelous.

• VIII

  The Baron's fantastic escape from a fish's stomach by dancing a hornpipe exemplifies the absurd and marvelous nature of his adventures.

• IX

  The Baron shoots down a balloon with a French philosopher and survives six weeks in an almond tree during the Nile flood.

• X

  Cannonballs colliding mid-air, a ball lodging in an old woman's throat, and using David's sling in the 18th century.

• Chapter XI

  The sling's divine origin, the seahorse ride, and Queen Elizabeth's abstinence are absurdly marvelous.

• The Frolic

  The Baron's balloon and sling enable impossible feats, such as moving buildings and suspending an entire college in the air for months.

• A Trip to the North

  The Baron's scheme of wearing a bear's skin to deceive and slaughter an entire herd, along with his miraculous recovery from a fall, exemplifies absurd and marvelous feats.

• XV

  The Baron describes an underwater world with mountains, trees bearing shellfish, and a blind sea-horse that runs on the seabed.

• XVI

  The absurd image of the Baron flying with giant wings and lifting an entire ship out of the water exemplifies the marvelous and whimsical nature of his adventures.

• XVII

  The discovery of live partridges inside a shark, including a hatching egg, exemplifies the marvelous and absurd events typical of Munchausen's tales.

• XVIII: A Second Trip to the Moon

  The entire chapter is a fantastical description of the moon's inhabitants, their giant size, and their bizarre customs.

• XIX

  The Baron's improbable journey—falling asleep in a cannon, being shot across the Thames, sleeping for three months on a haystack—epitomizes the absurd and marvelous adventures characteristic of the narrative.

• Chapter XX

  Includes descending into Mount Etna, visiting Vulcan, falling through the Earth, an island of cheese, and a sea of milk.

• Supplement

  The flight on an eagle, encounters with devils and beautiful creatures, and the discovery of roast-beef fruit exemplify the marvelous and absurd.

• Preparations for the Baron’s expedition into Africa

  The chariot made of a giant hazelnut, bulls shod with skulls, and crickets as postillions exemplify the absurd and marvelous.

• Chapter XXIII

  The Baron's chariot towing warships, damaging itself on ancient monuments, and splitting Table Mountain are absurd and marvelous events.

• XXIV

  The ice island in warm latitudes, the breadfruit and pudding-fruit trees growing on the ice, and the Sphinx towing a boat with Westminster Hall are absurd and marvelous inventions.

• XXV

  Count Gosamer being swallowed and spit out by Sphinx, the whirlwind of sand, and the lion stratagem with tar and gunpowder are marvelously absurd.

• XXVI

  The absurd plan to import fudge to civilize the population and the pseudo-scholarly etymology linking the Africans to moon inhabitants exemplify the marvelous and absurd.

• Chapter XXVII

  The nonsensical ode and the surreal obsession with fudge exemplify the absurd and marvelous elements of the narrative.

• XXVIII

  The construction of an impossibly high arch bridge from Africa to Britain, stabilized by numbskulls' skulls, exemplifies the blend of wonder and ridiculousness.

• XXIX

  Features fantastical combat with frogs, bladders, gingerbread weapons, and a cat that tears out bulls' eyes.

• The Baron's Return and the Grand Concert

  The Colossus of Rhodes manipulates London landmarks into musical instruments, and Gog and Magog turn Windsor Castle into a drum.

• A Litigated Contention and the Chase of the Wauwau

  The chase of the Wauwau, the floating island, and the tunneling Magog exemplify fantastical and absurd adventures.

• XXXII

  The Baron heals his scalp with tree glue, rides hobby horses, and cuts a canal across the isthmus of Darien.

• The Baron goes to Petersburgh, and converses with the Empress—Persuades the Russians and Turks to cease cutting one another’s throats, and in concert cut a canal across the Isthmus of Suez—The Baron discovers the Alexandrine Library, and meets with Hermes Trismegistus—Besieges Seringapatam, and challenges Tippoo Sahib to single combat—They fight—The Baron receives some wounds to his face, but at last vanquishes the tyrant—The Baron returns to Europe, and raises the hull of the Royal George

  Falling into the Alexandrine Library, catching cannonballs, and raising a ship with a balloon are absurd and marvelous events.

• The Baron makes a speech to the National Assembly, and drives out all the members—Routs the fishwomen and the National Guards—Pursues the whole rout into a Church, where he defeats the National Assembly, etc., with Rousseau, Voltaire, and Beelzebub at their head, and liberates Marie Antoinette and the Royal Family.

  The appearance of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Beelzebub as supernatural specters, and the Baron's supernatural victory over them, exemplify the marvelous and absurd tone.