Moby-Dick

In this short chapter, Stubb tells Flask of a dream he had the night before—the night he was told off by Ahab. Stubb dreams that Ahab kicked him with his ivory leg, and after doing so, that Ahab turned into a kind of “pyramid,” and Stubb did his best to kick this pyramid back, but did no damage. Stubb muses, in the dream, as to whether it is better to be hit with a “living” or a “dead” thing—a living hand or foot, rather than an ivory one—and concludes it is far worse to be hit with something living. Then, in the dream, a “merman” with a hunched back appears, and tells Stubb that it was in fact an honor to be kicked by so noble a man as Ahab, and with an ivory leg—a leg worth a great deal of money.

Flask hears out this dream and concludes that it sounds like a “foolish” one. But Stubb believes it has given him some useful information about Ahab, and tells Flask that he will not fight with Ahab anymore—he will simply follow the man’s orders. Stubb also tells the third mate that Ahab has been ordering men around to keep their eyes out for whales, especially a white whale. Stubb wonders what this could mean—white whales are exceedingly rare—and hurries to prepare the deck according to Ahab’s wishes.