And they said: “No sensible body cares 189for its soul. A soul is a little thing, and should not rule a body. You should drink and smoke more till he ceases to trouble you.” But the body only wept, and said, “Mine is a fearful soul. I have driven him away for a little while with drink. But he will soon come back. Oh, he will soon come back!”
And the body went to bed hoping to rest, for it was drowsy5 with drink. But just as sleep was near it, it looked up, and there was its soul sitting on the windowsill, a misty6 blaze of light, and looking into the street.
“Come,” said that tyrannous soul, “and look into the street.”
“I have need of sleep,” said the body.
“But the street is a beautiful thing,” the soul said vehemently7; “a hundred of the people are dreaming there.”
“I am ill through want of rest,” the body said.
“That does not matter,” the soul said to it. “There are millions like you in the earth, and millions more to go there. The people’s dreams are wandering afield; they pass the seas and the mountains of fa?ry, 190threading the intricate passes led by their souls; they come to golden temples a-ring with a thousand bells; they pass up steep streets lit by paper lanterns, where the doors are green and small; they know their way to witches’ chambers8 and castles of enchantment9; they know the spell that brings them to the causeway along the ivory mountains—on one side looking downward they behold10 the fields of their youth and on the other lie the radiant plains of the future. Arise and write down what the people dream.”
“What reward is there for me,” said the body, “if I write down what you bid me?”
“There is no reward,” said the soul.
“Then I shall sleep,” said the body.
And the soul began to hum an idle song sung by a young man in a fabulous11 land as he passed a golden city (where fiery12 sentinels stood), and knew that his wife was within it, though as yet but a little child, and knew by prophecy that furious wars, not yet arisen in far and unknown mountains, should roll above him with their dust and thirst before he ever came to that city again—the young man sang it as he 191passed the gate, and was now dead with his wife a thousand years.
“I cannot sleep for that abominable13 song,” the body cried to the soul.
“Then do as you are commanded,” the soul replied. And wearily the body took a pen again. Then the soul spoke14 merrily as he looked through the window. “There is a mountain lifting sheer above London, part crystal and part mist. Thither15 the dreamers go when the sound of the traffic has fallen. At first they scarcely dream because of the roar of it, but before midnight it stops, and turns, and ebbs17 with all its wrecks18. Then the dreamers arise and scale the shimmering19 mountain, and at its summit find the galleons21 of dream. Thence some sail East, some West, some into the Past and some into the Future, for the galleons sail over the years as well as over the spaces, but mostly they head for the Past and the olden harbours, for thither the sighs of men are mostly turned, and the dream-ships go before them, as the merchantmen before the continual trade-winds go down the African coast. I see the galleons even now raise anchor after anchor; 192the stars flash by them; they slip out of the night; their prows22 go gleaming into the twilight23 of memory, and night soon lies far off, a black cloud hanging low, and faintly spangled with stars, like the harbour and shore of some low-lying land seen afar with its harbour lights.”
Dream after dream that soul related as he sat there by the window. He told of tropical forests seen by unhappy men who could not escape from London, and never would—forests made suddenly wondrous24 by the song of some passing bird flying to unknown eeries and singing an unknown song. He saw the old men lightly dancing to the tune25 of elfin pipes—beautiful dances with fantastic maidens—all night on moonlit imaginary mountains; he heard far off the music of glittering Springs; he saw the fairness of blossoms of apple and may thirty years fallen; he heard old voices—old tears came glistening26 back; Romance sat cloaked and crowned upon southern hills, and the soul knew him.
One by one he told the dreams of all that slept in that street. Sometimes he stopped to revile27 the body because it worked 193badly and slowly. Its chill fingers wrote as fast as they could, but the soul cared not for that. And so the night wore on till the soul heard tinkling28 in Oriental skies far footfalls of the morning.
“See now,” said the soul, “the dawn that the dreamers dread29. The sails of light are paling on those unwreckable galleons; the mariners30 that steer31 them slip back into fable32 and myth; that other sea the traffic is turning now at its ebb16, and is about to hide its pallid33 wrecks, and to come swinging back, with its tumult34, at the flow. Already the sunlight flashes in the gulfs behind the east of the world; the gods have seen it from their palace of twilight that they built above the sunrise; they warm their hands at its glow as it streams through their gleaming arches, before it reaches the world; all the gods are there that have ever been, and all the gods that shall be; they sit there in the morning, chanting and praising Man.”
“I am numb35 and very cold for want of sleep,” said the body.
“You shall have centuries of sleep,” said the soul, “but you must not sleep 194now, for I have seen deep meadows with purple flowers flaming tall and strange above the brilliant grass, and herds36 of pure white unicorns37 that gambol38 there for joy, and a river running by with a glittering galleon20 on it, all of gold, that goes from an unknown inland to an unknown isle39 of the sea to take a song from the King of Over-the-Hills to the Queen of Far-Away.
“I will sing that song to you, and you shall write it down.”
“I have toiled40 for you for years,” the body said. “Give me now but one night’s rest, for I am exceeding weary.”
“Oh, go and rest. I am tired of you. I am off,” said the soul.
And he arose and went, we know not whither. But the body they laid in the earth. And the next night at midnight the wraiths41 of the dead came drifting from their tombs to felicitate that body.
“You are free here, you know,” they said to their new companion.
“Now I can rest,” said the body.
The End
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1
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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4
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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6
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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9
enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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10
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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11
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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12
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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13
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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14
spoke
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| 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 | |
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15
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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16
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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17
ebbs
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| 退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退 | |
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18
wrecks
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| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
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19
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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20
galleon
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| n.大帆船 | |
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galleons
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| n.大型帆船( galleon的名词复数 ) | |
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22
prows
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| n.船首( prow的名词复数 ) | |
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23
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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24
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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25
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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26
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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27
revile
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| v.辱骂，谩骂 | |
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28
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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29
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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30
mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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31
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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32
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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33
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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34
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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35
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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36
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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37
unicorns
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| n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记 | |
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38
gambol
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| v.欢呼，雀跃 | |
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39
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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40
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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41
wraiths
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| n.幽灵( wraith的名词复数 )；（传说中人在将死或死后不久的）显形阴魂 | |
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