# XXVIII explained — The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

> Chapter companion for The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe.

## What happens

The Baron sets the entire empire to work building a monumental bridge from Africa to Great Britain, using a clever architectural trick with numbskulls to counteract planetary attraction. He inscribes a grand prophecy on the arch, establishes mail coach service, and returns to England with his retinue. From the bridge's summit, he surveys the kingdoms below and encounters Don Quixote advancing toward him.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Marvelous and the Absurd

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

### Satire of Politics and Society

The Baron's manipulation of the populace with kava and fudge, and the cabal against him in England, satirize political manipulation and public opinion.

### Self-Aggrandizement and Heroism

The Baron's grandiose description of the bridge, his divine view from the summit, and his self-appointed role as governor underscore his exaggerated self-importance.

## Character check-ins

### Baron Munchausen

Directs the construction of the bridge, orders the inscription, and returns to England.

### Hilaro Frosticos

Advises the Baron to set the people to work while their minds are in a ferment.

### Gog

Part of the Baron's retinue traveling back to England.

### Magog

Part of the Baron's retinue traveling back to England.

### Sphinx

Part of the Baron's retinue traveling back to England.

### Don Quixote

Spotted by the Baron advancing on the bridge in armor, promising amusement.

## Key lines

> I took care to supply them with their favourite kava and fudge, and they worked like horses.

I kept them supplied with their preferred stimulants and sweets, and they labored with great energy.

_Shows the Baron's manipulative but effective leadership._

> I ordered the architects to get the heads of some hundred numbskulls and blockheads, and fix them to the interior surface of the arch, at certain intervals, all the whole length, by which means the arch was held together firm, and its inclination to the earth eternally established; because of all the things in the world, the skulls of these kind of animals have a strange facility of tending to the centre of the earth.

I had the architects attach the skulls of fools to the arch's underside at intervals, which kept the structure stable because such skulls naturally gravitate downward.

_A satirical pseudo-scientific explanation for the bridge's stability._

> I soon discovered by a telescope that it could be no other than Don Quixote, and promised myself much amusement in the rencounter.

Through my telescope I identified the figure as Don Quixote and looked forward to an entertaining encounter.

_Sets up a humorous meeting with a literary character._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_surprising_adventures_of_baron_munchausen_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxviii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_surprising_adventures_of_baron_munchausen_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_surprising_adventures_of_baron_munchausen_se/chapters