Steven Millhauser - The Barnum Museum - Stories

And when the Rukh was thus caught, the King ordered that a great cage be built on the meadow, to keep the bird captive; for he said, it was the most wondrous bird that ever lived. Then the King ordered that the ships be raised from the harbor and made seaworthy; and when my ship was ready, he had it filled with pieces of gold. So I gave thanks to the King, and set sail with the blessing of Allah (whose name be extolled!) with some merchants of that city. We pursued our voyage and sailed from island to island and sea to sea, ceasing not to buy and sell; and whenever we stopped, I purchased goods with my gold pieces and traded with them at the next port. In this manner Allah the Most High requited me more than I erst had. In the Island of Al-Kamar I took in a great store of teakwood and an abundance of ginger and cinnamon; and there in the waves I saw fishes with wings that lay their eggs in the branches of trees that hang down in the water. In this island is a beast like a lion but covered with long black hair; this beast feedeth upon horses and hath a great tooth that it thrusts into the horses’ bellies. So we fared forth from island to island and sea to sea, committing ourselves to the care of Allah, till we arrived safely at Bassorah. Here I abode a few days packing up my bales and then went on to Baghdad-city. I repaired to my quarter and entered my home, where I foregathered with my friends and relations, who rejoiced at my happy return; and I laid up my goods and valuables in my storehouses. Then I distributed alms and largesse and clothed the widow and the orphan, and fell to feasting and making merry with my companions, and soon forgot the perils and hardships I had suffered; and I applied myself to all manner of joys and pleasures and delights.

Cover.The cover is glossy and catches the light. Bright orange fish with big eyes and curving eyelashes swim among rubbery plants, dark red and dark green, that rise from the ocean floor. All the eyes are looking down. In the yellow sand a creature part crustacean and part man is lying on his stomach. He is wearing a long-tailed blue coat and a high white collar, and his light brown hair is lifted in the green water. Two immense orange-brown claws grow from his shoulders and sweep out before him in the sand. His face is that of a crab or lobster. From the shell of the face two long antennae rise into the green water and point in different directions. In the lower left-hand corner, not far from the claws, we see a prickly starfish, a pink rock, and a crab with bulging startled eyes. In the lower right-hand corner a tilted blue anchor, with one fluke visible, lies half buried in the sand beside a slightly open oyster that reveals two frowning eyes and a pearl.

Panel 1.A city panorama at evening. The sky is red above a row of tall black buildings with yellow windows. Stretched over the tops of the buildings, in the sky, is the supine figure of a man with a white sheet up to his chin. A dim doctor in a surgical mask bends over him, holding against his mouth a white cloth. In one hand the doctor holds a bottle marked ETHER.

Panel 2.A youngish man of indeterminate age, wearing a blue cutaway and lemon gloves and a high wing collar, stands beneath a streetlamp shaped like a lantern. Yellow light streams from the lantern into purplish darkness. His eyes are dark and melancholy and his cheeks faintly hollowed. His light brown hair is parted neatly in the middle and he rests both gloved hands on top of a polished walking stick. From his feet stretches a long shadow, which rests its hands on the shadow of a walking stick. Behind him, barely visible in the darkness, loom the wheels of a passing barouche. In the balloon beside the youngish man’s head, attached by small white circles indicating thought, are the words: LET US GO THEN, YOU AND I…

Panel 3.He is seen from behind, walking along a narrow crooked street. The dark buildings on both sides lean toward each other. They are so close that they nearly touch at the top. Wooden signs hang before shops on both sides. One sign says TAVERN, another says HOTEL: NIGHTLY RATES. The flaps of the tavern door are open and a man with a stubble beard, a patch over one eye, and a red-and-blue-striped jersey is falling backward through the door toward the street. Above the man’s head is the word CRASH!! In the tavern we see part of a table, at which men sit playing cards. A red-haired waitress bends over the table with a mug of foaming beer, exposing the top halves of large round breasts above her short lacy black costume. Across the narrow street, on the drawn shade of a yellow fourth-story window, the silhouette of a woman with thrust-out rump and upward-tilted breasts is combing her hair. In the thought balloon beside the head of the youngish man in the blue cutaway appear the words: THESE STREETS ARE PRETTY DESERTED. I’D BETTER WATCH MY STEP…

Panel 4.On a darker street, the close-up of a yellow window. In the window, printed in red letters, is the word ESTAURAN. At a dim-lit table an old man sits bent over a bowl of steaming soup. There are drifts of sawdust on the floor, and here and there in the sawdust lie oyster shells. In the left-hand corner of the panel a lemon glove resting on a polished walking stick is visible beside the edge of the window. In the thought balloon above the glove are the words: MAYBE I OUGHT TO STOP HERE. NO, NO, BETTER KEEP GOING…OH, DO NOT ASK WHAT IS IT…

Panel 5.In a well-lit square, elegantly dressed couples walk arm in arm. Wisps of yellow fog float in the air. The men wear black cutaways and black top hats with a white stripe running up the crown to indicate shine. The women wear muffs and boas and broad hats with feathers. In the background, a raven-haired woman in a long black dress is emerging from a carriage. The youngish man in the blue cutaway is shown standing among the moving couples, consulting a large gold pocket watch. In the thought balloon beside his head are the words: LET US GO AND MAKE OUR VISIT.

Panel 6.He is standing on a portico before a partly open white door. A servant in red livery looks at him with a suspicious frown.

Panel 7.He is seen from behind as he climbs a stairway. There is a small bald spot near the top of his head. Paintings of bearded men hang on both walls in heavy frames carved with fruit and leaves. On the landing above stands the white marble statue of a woman. She has white marble breasts and white marble drapery that falls in folds from white marble hips. She is taking aim with a bow and arrow.

Panel 8.A crowded lamplit room. Men in cutaways and bare-armed women in shawls and trained dresses stand holding teacups or sit languorously on couches, armchairs, and wing chairs. In the center of the room is a mahogany table on which stand a silver teapot, a silver sugar bowl, and a silver platter of buttered toast. A man with mustache and monocle leans against a white mantelpiece, reading a red book. On the cover of the book is the word POETRY. In the background a bay window gives a view of black rooftops barely visible through swatches of yellow fog. The raven-haired woman in the long black dress is standing sideways by the window, looking out. She has a very narrow waist, no wider than her wrist, and very round hips. The tightness of her corset is indicated by her thrust-out bosom, her tiny waist, and her slightly tilted appearance, as if she is straining forward at the waist. Her arms are bare and porcelain-white and her long dress, reaching to the floor, is flared and very full at the feet. Her luminous blue-black hair is pulled back tightly from her face and rests in masses of tight curls at the top of her head. Her lips are black. Over her shoulders she wears a lacy fichu, which does not conceal the round tops of her ivory breasts. Women with high-piled hair and serious expressions stand here and there, straining forward at the waist. Beside the head of a yellow-haired woman facing sideways is a speech balloon with the word: MICHELANGELO…Beside the head of a gray-haired woman facing forward is a speech balloon with the word: MICHELANGELO…