While he was thus wailing10 and gnashing his teeth in darkness and torture, he heard a faint noise above his head. Then something seemed to leap from the ceiling and alight softly on the floor. He shuddered11 with terror. Was it some new torture of the Wondersmith’s invention? The next moment, he felt some small animal crawling over his body, and a soft, silky paw was pushed timidly across his face. His heart leaped with joy.
“It is Furbelow!” he cried. “Zonela has sent him. He came through the stove-pipe hole.”
It was Furbelow, indeed, restored to life by Zonela’s care, and who had come down a narrow tube, that no human being could have threaded, to console the poor captive. The monkey nestled closely into the hunchback’s bosom12, and, as he did so, Solon felt something cold and hard hanging from his neck. He touched it. It was sharp. By the dim light that struggled through the aperture high up in the wall, he discovered a knife, suspended by a bit of cord. Ah! how the blood came rushing through the veins13 that crossed over and through his heart, when life and liberty came to him in this bit of rusty14 steel! With his manacled hands he loosened the heaven-sent weapon; a few cuts were rapidly made in the cunning network of cord that enveloped15 his limbs, and in a few seconds he was free! — cramped16 and faint with hunger, but free! — free to move, to use the limbs that God had given him for his preservation17 — free to fight — to die fighting, perhaps — but still to die free. He ran to the door. The bolt was a weak one, for the Wondersmith had calculated more surely on his prison of cords than on any jail of stone — and more; and with a few efforts the door opened. He went cautiously out into the darkness, with Furbelow perched on his shoulder, pressing his cold muzzle18 against his cheek. He had made but a few steps when a trembling hand was put into his, and in another moment Zonela’s palpitating heart was pressed against his own. One long kiss, an embrace, a few whispered words, and the hunchback and the girl stole softly towards the door of the chamber in which the four gypsies slept. All seemed still; nothing but the hard breathing of the sleepers19, and the monotonous20 rocking of Madame Filomel’s chair broke the silence. Solon stooped down and put his eye to the keyhole, through which a red bar of light streamed into the entry. As he did so, his foot crushed some brittle21 substance that lay just outside the door; at the same moment a howl of agony was heard to issue from the room within. Solon started; nor did he know that at that instant he had crushed into dust Monsieur Kerplonne’s supernumerary eye, and the owner, though wrapt in a drunken sleep, felt the pang22 quiver through his brain.
While Solon peeped through the keyhole, all in the room was motionless. He had not gazed, however, for many seconds, when the chair of the fortune-teller gave a sudden lurch23, and the black bottle, already hanging half out of her wide pocket, slipped entirely24 from its resting-place, and, falling heavily to the ground, shivered into fragments.
Then took place an astonishing spectacle. The myriads25 of armed dolls, that lay in piles about the room, became suddenly imbued26 with motion. They stood up straight, their tiny limbs moved, their black eyes flashed with wicked purposes, their thread-like swords gleamed as they waved them to and fro. The villanous souls imprisoned27 in the bottle began to work within them. Like the Liliputians, when they found the giant Gulliver asleep, they scaled in swarms28 the burly sides of the four sleeping gypsies. At every step they took, they drove their thin swords and quivering daggers29 into the flesh of the drunken authors of their being. To stab and kill was their mission, and they stabbed and killed with incredible fury. They clustered on the Wondersmith’s sallow cheeks and sinewy30 throat, piercing every portion with their diminutive31 poisoned blades. Filomel’s fat carcass was alive with them. They blackened the spare body of Monsieur Kerplonne. They covered Oaksmith’s huge form like a cluster of insects.
Overcome completely with the fumes32 of wine, these tiny wounds did not for a few moments awaken33 the sleeping victims. But the swift and deadly poison Macousha, with which the weapons had been so fiendishly anointed, began to work. Herr Hippe, stung into sudden life, leaped to his feet, with a dwarf34 army clinging to his clothes and his hands — always stabbing, stabbing, stabbing. For an instant, a look of stupid bewilderment clouded his face; then the horrible truth burst upon him. He gave a shriek8 like that which a horse utters when he finds himself fettered35 and surrounded by fire — a shriek that curdled36 the air for miles and miles.
“Oaksmith! Kerplonne! Filomel! Awake! awake! We are lost! The souls have got loose! We are dead! poisoned! Oh, accursed ones! Oh, demons37, ye are slaying38 me! Ah! fiends of Hell!”
Aroused by these frightful40 howls, the three gypsies sprang also to their feet, to find themselves stung to death by the manikins. They raved41, they shrieked42, they swore. They staggered round the chamber. Blinded in the eyes by the ever-stabbing weapons — with the poison already burning in their veins like red-hot lead — their forms swelling43 and discoloring visibly every moment — their howls and attitudes and furious gestures made the scene look like a chamber in Hell.
Maddened beyond endurance, the Wondersmith, half-blind and choking with the venom44 that had congested all the blood-vessels of his body, seized dozens of the manikins and dashed them into the fire, trampling45 them down with his feet.
“Ye shall die too, if I die,” he cried, with a roar like that of a tiger. “Ye shall burn, if I burn. I gave ye life — I give ye death. Down! — down! — burn! — flame! Fiends that ye are, to slay39 us! Help me, brothers! Before we die, let us have our revenge!”
On this, the other gypsies, themselves maddened by approaching death, began hurling46 manikins, by handfuls, into the fire. The little creatures, being wooden of body, quickly caught the flames, and an awful struggle for life took place in miniature in the grate. Some of them escaped from between the bars and ran about the room, blazing, writhing47 in agony, and igniting the curtains and other draperies that hung around. Others fought and stabbed one another in the very core of the fire, like combating salamanders. Meantime, the motions of the gypsies grew more languid and slow, and their curses were uttered in choked guttural tones. The faces of all four were spotted48 with red and green and violet, like so many egg-plants. Their bodies were swollen49 to a frightful size, and at last they dropped on the floor, like over~ripe fruit shaken from the boughs50 by the winds of autumn.
The chamber was now a sheet of fire. The flames roared round and round, as if seeking for escape, licking every projecting cornice and sill with greedy tongues, as the serpent licks his prey51 before he swallows it. A hot, putrid52 breath came through the keyhole and smote53 Solon and Zonela like a wind of death. They clasped each other’s hands with a moan of terror, and fled from the house.
The next morning, when the young Year was just unclosing its eyes, and the happy children all over the great city were peeping from their beds into the myriads of stockings hanging near by, the blue skies of heaven shone through a black network of stone and charred54 rafters. These were all that remained of the habitation of Herr Hippe, the Wondersmith.
The End
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subsisted
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v.(靠很少的钱或食物)维持生活,生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prospect
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n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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appalled
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v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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chamber
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n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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aperture
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n.孔,隙,窄的缺口 | |
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groaned
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v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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writhed
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(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shriek
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v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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shrieking
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v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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wailing
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v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱 | |
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shuddered
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v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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bosom
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n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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veins
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n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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rusty
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adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 | |
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enveloped
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v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cramped
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a.狭窄的 | |
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preservation
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n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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muzzle
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n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
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sleepers
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n.卧铺(通常以复数形式出现);卧车( sleeper的名词复数 );轨枕;睡觉(呈某种状态)的人;小耳环 | |
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monotonous
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adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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brittle
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adj.易碎的;脆弱的;冷淡的;(声音)尖利的 | |
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pang
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n.剧痛,悲痛,苦闷 | |
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lurch
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n.突然向前或旁边倒;v.蹒跚而行 | |
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entirely
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ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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myriads
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n.无数,极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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imbued
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v.使(某人/某事)充满或激起(感情等)( imbue的过去式和过去分词 );使充满;灌输;激发(强烈感情或品质等) | |
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imprisoned
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下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swarms
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蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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daggers
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匕首,短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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sinewy
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adj.多腱的,强壮有力的 | |
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diminutive
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adj.小巧可爱的,小的 | |
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fumes
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n.(强烈而刺激的)气味,气体 | |
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awaken
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vi.醒,觉醒;vt.唤醒,使觉醒,唤起,激起 | |
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dwarf
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n.矮子,侏儒,矮小的动植物;vt.使…矮小 | |
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fettered
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v.给…上脚镣,束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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curdled
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v.(使)凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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demons
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n.恶人( demon的名词复数 );恶魔;精力过人的人;邪念 | |
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slaying
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杀戮。 | |
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slay
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v.杀死,宰杀,杀戮 | |
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frightful
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adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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raved
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v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 );愤怒地说;咆哮;痴心地说 | |
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shrieked
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v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swelling
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n.肿胀 | |
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venom
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n.毒液,恶毒,痛恨 | |
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trampling
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踩( trample的现在分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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hurling
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n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的现在分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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writhing
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(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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spotted
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adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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swollen
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adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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50
boughs
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大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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51
prey
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n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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putrid
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adj.腐臭的;有毒的;已腐烂的;卑劣的 | |
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smote
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v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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charred
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v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦 | |
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