Chapter 40 Summary

The pilgrims take their small donkeys on the train to Ephesus. The donkeys are fairly useless. First of all, they are too short, so the travelers have to pile homemade saddles high on their backs to keep from dragging their feet. The donkeys never go in the right direction, and their backs are so wobbly, things keep plunging down over the hill. Twain is certain he'll have to kill his before the night is through.

Ephesus is more wondrous than imaginable. Twain says that it is best to see it from above, at a distance, where the entire area can be viewed at once. He first mentions all the renowned ancients who have had a part in Ephesus's history — Homer, Cicero, Scipio and Augustus. Then he write of the biblical figures such as Mary Magdalen and the Virgin Mary, whose last moments...