VI. How Eean and Bird-of-Gold Went from Babylon

We went into the King’s gardens, carrying with us the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians. We saw the great cedar¹ tree, and we went and sat under its branches and spoke² of what we should do. The Magic Mirror would have to be given to the King, but for long Eean was fearful of going into the palace.

At last we went to the doors. They were unguarded, and we went within the palace. We came to the chamber³ where the King was wont⁴ to sit upon his throne, and we saw the King there, and around him there were bearded men with fierce eyes; by their fashion of carrying swords we knew them to be the leaders of the King’s armies. These fierce-eyed men stood with their feet upon the steps of the throne, speaking in anger[Pg 107] to the King. They did not see us as we came into the chamber. But in a while one caught sight of us, and he uttered a fierce word. I went to them, holding the Magic Mirror raised in my hands. The King raised his head, and he saw the mirror, and he cried out to us.

I went and left the Magic Mirror on the throne, beside the King. I lifted my voice and I told him how I had taken the mirror from the top of the tower, and that now the tower was overthrown⁵, but the mirror was saved for the Babylonians. Then the King said to the fierce-eyed men, “This is the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians, and I say to you that Babylon is yet in safety.” Again he said to them, “Speak now and say what is to be done about this girl who brought the mirror down from the tower.”

One of the fierce-eyed men said, “Who is the boy who is with her?”

The King looked on Eean and knew who he was. He said, “This is the boy who was with the Enchanter on whom be evil.”

The man said, “Banish the girl and the boy also,[Pg 108] but do no evil to them inasmuch as they have brought to us the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians.”

The King said, “Take them from the city, but let some treasure be given to them because they have brought to me the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians.”

One of the fierce-eyed men took us, and he brought us into a chamber in which there were many open jars. In some of the jars there were gold, and in others there were silver coins. The fierce-eyed man who was with us spoke to me, and he said I might take from the jar with the gold coins. I took many of them, and I tied them in different parts of my dress. Then he bade us follow him, and he led us out of the palace and to a place where a chariot with two horses was standing⁶.

He put Eean and me into the chariot, and he bade the charioteer drive with us out of the city. The charioteer, a silent man, stood up in his chariot, and lashed⁷ the horses. We drove through one street, and then another and another street,[Pg 109] and all the streets were empty. The charioteer called to the guards of a gateway⁸, and the gate was opened, and we passed out of the city. We drove on until we came to where there was a great river. Then the charioteer halted, and he called across the river, and a man with a ferry came from the other side. He was a very ancient man, and he had a beard of great length. The charioteer said to him, “Old Man of the River, take these two across and away from us!”

We went into the ferry, and the ferryman took his pole and pushed across to the other side of the river. The man in the chariot turned his horses and drove back to Babylon.

When the ferryman had left us on the other side of the river, Eean said to me, “Where now shall we go?” I made answer and said, “We shall go to my country, and to the place where my father is. And it may be that Zabulun when he comes from the cave that is under the sea will not be able to find you there.”

1 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

4 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

5 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。