An old man came painfully down the mountain-track. He wore a white burnoos, and a brown garment of camel’s hair, with a leathern belt that girt it high about his bare legs. He carried a staff, and tapped the ground carefully before planting his feet. It was the time of barley7 harvest, and a scorching8 afternoon. On the burnt plain below, the road to Megiddo shone and quivered in the heat. But he could not see it. Cataract9 veiled his eyes and blurred10 the whole landscape for them.
The track now wound about a foot-hill that broke away in a sharp slope on his right and plunged11 to a stony12 ravine. Once or twice he paused on its edge and peered downward, as if seeking for a landmark13. He was leaning forward to peer again, but suddenly straightened his body and listened.
Far down in the valley a solitary14 dog howled. But the old man’s ear had caught another sound, that came from the track, not far in front.
Cling — cling — clink! Cling — clink!
It was the sound of hammering; of stone on metal.
Cling — cling — clink!
He stepped forward briskly, rounded an angle of rock, and found himself face to face with a man — as well as he could see, a tall man — standing15 upright by a heap of stones on the left edge of the path.
“May it be well with you, my son: and with every man who repairs a path for the traveller. But tell me if the way be unsafe hereabouts? For my eyes are very dim, and it is now many years since last I came over the hills to Shunem.”
The man did not reply.
“— So many years that for nigh upon an hour I have been saying, ‘Surely here should Shunem come in sight — or here — its white walls among the oaks below — the house of Miriam of Shunem’. But I forget the curtain on my eyes, and the oaks will have grown tall.”
Still there came no answer. Slightly nettled16, the old man went on —
“My son, it is said ‘To return a word before hearing the matter is folly17.’ But also, ‘Every man shall kiss the lips of him who answereth fit words.’ And further, ‘To the aged18 every stranger shall be a staff, nor shall he twice inquire his way.’ Though I may not scan thy face, thou scannest mine; and I, who now am blind, have been a seer in Israel.”
As he ceased, another figure — a woman’s — stepped out, as it seemed to him, from behind the man; stepped forward and touched him on the arm.
“Hail, then, Elisha, son of Shaphat!”
“Thou knowest? . . .”
“Who better than Miriam of Shunem? Put near thy face and look.”
“My eyes are very dim.”
“And the oaks are higher than Shunem. My face has changed: my voice also.”
“For the moment it was strange to me. As I came along I was reckoning thy years at three-score.”
“Mayst add five.”
“We may not complain. And thy son, how fares he?”
“That is he, behind us. He is a good son, and leaves his elders to speak first. If we sit awhile and talk he will wait for us.”
“And thy house and the farm-steading?”
The woman threw a glance down towards the valley, and answered quickly —
“My master, shall we not sit awhile? The track here looks towards the plain. Sit, and through my eyes thou shalt see again distant Carmel and the fields between that used so to delight thee. Ah! not there!”
The old man had made as if to seat himself on one of the larger stones on the edge of the heap. But she prevented him quickly; was gone for a moment; and returned, rolling a moss-covered boulder19 to the right-hand of the path. The prophet sat himself down on this, and she on the ground at his feet.
“Just here, from my window below, I saw thee coming down the mountain with Gehazi, thy servant, on that day when it was promised to me that I should bear a son.”
He nodded.
“For as often as we passed by,” he said, “we found food and a little room prepared upon the wall. ‘Thou hast been careful for us,’ said I, ‘with all this care. What is to be done for thee? Shall I speak to the King for thee, or to the captain of the host?’ Thine answer was, ‘I dwell in Shunem, among my own people.’”
“There is no greener spot in Israel.”
“‘But,’ said my servant Gehazi, ‘Every spot is greener where a child plays.’ Therefore this child was promised thee.”
She said, “But once a year the plain is yellow and not green; yellow away to the foot of Carmel; and that is in this season of the barley harvest. It was on such a day as this that my son fell in the field among the reapers21, and his father brought him in and set him on my knees. On such a day as this I left him dead, and saddled the ass20 and rode between the same yellow fields to Megiddo, and thence towards Carmel, seeking thee. See the white road winding22, and the long blue chine yonder, by the sea. By and by, when the sun sinks over it, the blue chine and the oaks beneath will turn to one dark colour; and that will be the hour that I met thee on the slope, and lighted off the ass and caught thee by the feet. As yet it is all parched23 fields and sky of brass24 and a white road running endless — endless.”
“But what are these black shadows that pass between me and the sun?”
“They are crows, my master.”
“What should they do here in these numbers?”
The woman rose and flung a stone at the birds. Seating herself again, she said —
“Below, the reapers narrow the circle of the corn; and there are conies within the circle. The kites and crows know it.”
“But that day of which thou hast spoken — it ended in gladness. The Lord restored thy son to thee.”
“Thou rather, man of God.”
“My daughter, His mercy was very great upon thee. Speak no blasphemy25, thou of all women.”
“The Lord had denied me a son; but thou persuadedst Him, and He gave me one. Again, the Lord had taken my child in the harvest-field, but on thy wrestling gave him back. And again the Lord meditated26 to take my child by famine, but at thy warning I arose and conveyed him into the land of the Philistines27, nor returned to Shunem till seven years’ end. My master, thou art a prophet in Israel, but I am thinking —”
She broke off, rose, and flung another stone at the birds.
“My daughter, think not slightly of God’s wisdom.”
“Nay, man of God, I am thinking that God was wiser than thou or I.”
The old prophet rose from his stone. His dull eyes tried to read her face. She touched his hand.
“Come, and see.”
The figure of the man still stood, three paces behind them, upright against the hillside, as when Elisha had first turned the corner and come upon him. But now, led by Miriam, the prophet drew quite close and peered. Dimly, and then less dimly, he discerned first that the head had fallen forward on the breast, and that the hair upon the scalp was caked in dry blood; next, that the figure did not stand of its own will at all, but was held upright to a stout28 post by an iron ring about the neck and a rope about the waist. He put out a finger and touched the face. It was cold.
“Thy son?”
“They stoned him with these stones. His wife stood by.”
“The Syrians?”
“The Syrians. They went northward29 before noon, taking her. The plain is otherwise burnt than on the day when I sought across it for his sake to Carmel.”
“Well did King David entreat30 the hand of the Lord rather than the hand of man. I had not heard of thy son’s marrying.”
“Five years ago he went down with a gift to Philistia, to them that sheltered us in the famine. He brought back this woman.”
“She betrayed him?”
“He heard her speak with a Syrian, and fled up the hill. From the little window in the wall — see, it smokes yet — she called and pointed31 after him. And they ran and overtook him. With this iron they fastened him, and with these stones they stoned him. Man of God, I am thinking that God was wiser than thou or I.”
The old man stood musing32, and touched the heap of stones gently, stone after stone, with the end of his staff.
“He was wiser.”
Cling — cling — clink!
Miriam had taken up a stone, and with it was hammering feebly, impotently, upon the rivets33 in the iron band.
As the sun dropped below Carmel the prophet cast down his staff and stretched out two groping hands to help her.
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1
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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evergreen
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| n.常青树；adj.四季常青的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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arable
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| adj.可耕的，适合种植的 | |
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barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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10
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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11
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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12
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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13
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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14
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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15
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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16
nettled
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| v.拿荨麻打，拿荨麻刺（nettle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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17
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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18
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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19
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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20
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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21
reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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22
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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23
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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blasphemy
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| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
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26
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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27
philistines
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| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
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29
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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30
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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31
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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32
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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33
rivets
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| 铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
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