How Bacbuc, the high-priestess, brought Panurge before the Holy Bottle.

There the noble priestess Bacbuc made Panurge stoop and kiss the brink of the fountain; then bade him rise and dance three ithymbi [’Dances in the honour of Bacchus.’— Motteux.]. Which done, she ordered him to sit down between two stools placed there for that purpose, his arse upon the ground. Then she opened her ceremonial book, and, whispering in his left ear, made him sing an epileny, inserted here in the figure of the bottle.

Bottle, whose Mysterious Deep

Do’s ten thousand Secrets keep,

With attentive Ear I wait;

Ease my Mind, and speak my Fate.

Soul of Joy! Like Bacchus, we

More than India gain by thee.

Truths unborn thy Juice reveals,

Which Futurity conceals.

Antidote to Frauds and Lies,

Wine, that mounts us to the Skies,

May thy Father Noah’s Brood

Like him drown, but in thy Flood.

Speak, so may the Liquid Mine

Of Rubies, or of Diamonds shine.

Bottle, whose Mysterious Deep

Do’s ten thousand Secrets keep,

With attentive Ear I wait;

Ease my Mind, and speak my Fate.

When Panurge had sung, Bacbuc threw I don’t know what into the fountain, and strai............