The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen · Chapter
Chapter VI explained
The Baron is captured, sold as a slave, and tasked with tending the Sultan's bees.
What happens
The Baron is captured, sold as a slave, and tasked with tending the Sultan's bees. After a bear attack, he throws his silver hatchet at the bears, but it flies to the moon. He grows a beanstalk to retrieve it, then descends using a rope of chopped straw, falls into a deep pit, and escapes. Later, during a severe winter, he encounters a narrow road where his postillion's horn is frozen silent; he lifts his carriage over a hedge to avoid a collision, and the horn's tunes thaw by the fire.
Themes in this chapter
Veracity and Lying
The Baron's outlandish claims (beanstalk to moon, rope of straw, lifting carriage) are presented as fact, challenging the listener's belief.
The Marvelous and the Absurd
Events like the hatchet flying to the moon, the beanstalk, and the frozen horn tunes exemplify the absurd and marvelous.
Adventure and Exploration
The Baron's journey to the moon and his inventive escape from the pit highlight adventurous exploration.
Characters to notice
- Baron Munchausen
Narrator and protagonist; captured, sold as a slave, tends bees, retrieves hatchet from moon, lifts carriage over hedge.
Key passages
“I had the misfortune to be overpowered by numbers, to be made prisoner of war; and, what is worse, but always usual among the Turks, to be sold for a slave.”
I was captured by a larger force, taken as a prisoner of war, and, as was common with the Turks, sold into slavery.
The Baron describes his capture and enslavement.
“I threw it at the robbers, with an intention to frighten them away, and set the poor bee at liberty; but, by an unlucky turn of my arm, it flew upwards, and continued rising till it reached the moon.”
I threw the hatchet to scare off the bears and free the bee, but my arm twisted and the hatchet flew all the way to the moon.
The hatchet's accidental journey to the moon.
“I planted one immediately; it grew, and actually fastened itself to one of the moon’s horns.”
I planted a bean right away, and it grew until it attached itself to a horn of the moon.
The beanstalk reaching the moon.
“I fell to the ground with such amazing violence, that I found myself stunned, and in a hole nine fathoms deep at least, made by the weight of my body falling from so great a height.”
I hit the ground so hard that I was knocked out and landed in a pit at least 54 feet deep, created by the impact of my fall.
The Baron's fall creates a deep pit.
“I got out of my carriage, and being pretty strong, placed it, wheels and all, upon my head: I then jumped over a hedge about nine feet high ... into a field, and came out again by another jump into the road beyond the other carriage.”
I stepped out, lifted the entire carriage onto my head, leaped over a nine-foot hedge into a field, then jumped back onto the road past the other coach.
The Baron lifts his carriage over a hedge to avoid a collision.
“Suddenly we heard a tereng! tereng! teng! teng! We looked round, and now found the reason why the postillion had not been able to sound his horn; his tunes were frozen up in the horn, and came out now by thawing, plain enough.”
Suddenly we heard sounds from the horn, and realized that the postillion's tunes had been frozen inside and were now thawing out.
The frozen horn thaws and plays tunes.