Who binds bound-shark?
What would be so cruel,
To build a beastly armature,
Then toss it in the pool?
Left to be a-roamin 'neath,
That mighty, inky drip,
Yes, the shark lay dead now, true,
But at least I’ve fixed my ship.
found scribbled in the margins of a recovered ship’s log
Some questions are best left unanswered.
I think I remember reading somewhere that Bound Sharks are Bound up in the Empire of Hands. But for the life of me I can’t remember where…
I heard that the New Sequence are responsible for them. Or was that a dream I had? Either way. (Is it true, do you suppose, that the New Sequence intends to back London’s currency with Drowning-Pearls? I knew one dockside tale-teller who suggested that echoes would be better described as "sounds pearling".)
While we’re sharing verse, too, I have here a song, composed by Messrs. Gillibrand and Searle on a commission from the First Lord of the Admiralty, to discourage independent thought and action in the lower branches of the Royal Navy. I shall reprint it here, and you may hum it at your leisure.
A London tar is a servile soul,
As strong as a stout zee-bat,
His considerable verve should be ready to observe
An admiral’s dictat.
His nose should bulge and his lip should purse,
His cheeks should glow and his brow reverse,
His bosom should twist and his heart should grow,
And his mind should have the texture of fresh-mix’d dough.
His eyes should flash with a Dawn-like fire,
His brow with awe be bowed;
He never should bow down to a tiger’s striped frown
Or by the Khan be cowed.
His foot should kick and his throat should close,
His hair should float (as should his nose),
His eyes should flash and his trews protrude,
And this should be his customary attitude.
Well, with the latest exceptional story in Fallen London, we know it’s the New Sequencers.
We still don’t know why, though.
In the Fallen London universe? I agree. :D