Felix rose at once; and his Shadow, rising before him, and unbolting the loose wooden fastener of the door, went out in haste to see who called beyond the white taboo3-line of their sacred precincts.
A native woman, tall, lithe4, and handsome, stood there in the full light of morning, beckoning5. A strange glow of hatred6 gleamed in her large gray eyes. Her shapely brown bosom7 heaved and panted heavily. Big beads8 glistened9 moistly on her smooth, high brow. It was clear she had run all the way in haste. She was deeply excited and full of eager anxiety.
“Why, what do you want here so early, Ula?” the Shadow asked, in surprise—for it was indeed she. “How have you slipped away, as soon as the sun is risen, from the sacred hut of Tu-Kila-Kila?”
Ula’s gray eyes flashed angry fire as she answered. “He has beaten me again,” she cried, in revengeful tones; “see the weals on my back! See my arms and shoulders! He has drawn10 blood from my wounds. He is the most hateful of gods. I should love to kill him. Therefore I slipped away from him with the early dawn and came to consult with his enemy, the King of the Birds, because I heard the words that the Eyes of Tu-Kila-Kila, who pervade11 the world, report to their master. The Eyes have told him that the King of the Rain, the Queen of the Clouds, and the King of the Birds are plotting together in secret against Tu-Kila-Kila. When I heard that, I was glad; I went to the King of the Birds to warn him of his danger; and the King of the Birds, concerned for your safety, has sent me in haste to ask his brother gods to go at once to him.”
In a minute Felix was up and had called out Mali from the neighboring hut. “Tell Missy Queenie,” he cried, “to come with me to see the man-a-oui-oui! The man-a-oui-oui has sent me for us to come. She must make great haste. He wants us immediately.”
With a word and a sign to Toko, Ula glided12 away stealthily, with the cat-like tread of the native Polynesian woman, back to her hated husband.
Felix went out to the door and heliographed with his bright metal plate, turned on the Frenchman’s hill, “What is it?”
In a moment the answer flashed back, word by word, “Come quick, if you want to hear. Methuselah is reciting!”
A few seconds later Muriel emerged from her hut, and the two Europeans, closely followed, as always, by their inseparable Shadows, took the winding13 side-path that led through the jungle by a devious14 way, avoiding the front of Tu-Kila-Kila’s temple, to the Frenchman’s cottage.
They found M. Peyron very much excited, partly by Ula’s news of Tu-Kila-Kila’s attitude, but more still by Methuselah’s agitated15 condition. “The whole night through, my dear friends,” he cried, seizing their hands, “that bird has been chattering16, chattering, chattering. Oh, mon Dieu, quel oiseau! It seems as though the words heard yesterday from mademoiselle had struck some lost chord in the creature’s memory. But he is also very feeble. I can see that well. His garrulity17 is the garrulity of old age in its last flickering18 moments. He mumbles19 and mutters. He chuckles20 to himself. If you don’t hear his message now and at once, it’s my solemn conviction you will never hear it.”
He led them out to the aviary21, where Methuselah, in effect, was sitting on his perch22, most tremulous and woebegone. His feathers shuddered23 visibly; he could no longer preen24 himself. “Listen to what he says,” the Frenchman exclaimed, in a very serious voice. “It is your last, last chance. If the secret is ever to be unravelled25 at all, by Methuselah’s aid, now is, without doubt, the proper moment to unravel26 it.”
Muriel put out her hand and stroked the bird gently. “Pretty Poll,” she said, soothingly27, in a sympathetic voice. “Pretty Poll! Poor Poll! Was he ill! Was he suffering?”
At the sound of those familiar words, unheard so long till yesterday, the parrot took her finger in his beak28 once more, and bit it with the tenderness of his kind in their softer moments. Then he threw back his head with a sort of mechanical twist, and screamed out at the top of his voice, for the last time on earth, his mysterious message:
“Pretty Poll! Pretty Poll! God save the king! Confound the Duke of York! Death to all arrant29 knaves30 and roundheads!
“In the nineteenth year of the reign31 of his most gracious majesty32, King Charles the Second, I, Nathaniel Cross, of the borough33 of Sunderland, in the county of Doorham, in England, an able-bodied mariner34, then sailing the South Seas in the good bark Martyr35 Prince, of the Port of Great Grimsby, whereof one Thomas Wells, gent., under God, was master, was, by stress of weather, wrecked37 and cast away on the shores of this island, called by its gentile inhabitants by the name of Boo Parry. In which wreck36, as it befell, Thomas Wells, gent., and his equipment were, by divine disposition38, killed and drowned, save and except three mariners39, whereof I am one, who in God’s good providence40 swam safely through an exceeding great flood of waves and landed at last on this island. There my two companions, Owen Williams, of Swansea, in the parts of Wales, and Lewis le Pickard, a French Hewgenott refugee, were at once, by the said gentiles, cruelly entreated41, and after great torture cooked and eaten at the temple of their chief god, Too-Keela-Keela. But I, myself, having through God’s grace found favor in their eyes, was promoted to the post which in their speech is called Korong, the nature of which this bird, my mouthpiece, will hereafter, to your ears, more fully42 discover.”
Having said so much, in a very jerky way, Methuselah paused, and blinked his eyes wearily.
“What does he say?” the Frenchman began, eager to know the truth. But Felix, fearful lest any interruption might break the thread of the bird’s discourse43 and cheat them of the sequel, held up a warning finger, and then laid it on his lips in mute injunction. Methuselah threw back his head at that and laughed aloud. “God save the king!” he cried again, in a still feebler way, “and to hell with all papists!”
It was strange how they all hung on the words of that unconscious messenger from a dead and gone age, who himself knew nothing of the import of the words he was uttering. Methuselah laughed at their earnestness, shook his head once or twice, and seemed to think to himself. Then he remembered afresh the point he had broken off at.
“More fully discover. For seven years have I now lived on this island, never having seen or h’ard Christian44 face or voice; and at the end of that time, feeling my health feail, and being apprehensive45 lest any of my fellow-countrymen should hereafter suffer the same fate as I have done, I began to teach this parrot his message, a few words at a time, impressing it duly and fully on his memory.
“Larn, then, O wayfarer46, that the people of Boo Parry are most arrant gentiles, heathens, and carribals. And this, as I discover, is the nature and method of their vile47 faith. They hold that the gods are each and several incarnate48 in some one particular human being. This human being they worship and reverence49 with all ghostly respect as his incarnation. And chiefly, above all, do they revere50 the great god Too-Keela-Keela, whose representative (may the Lord in Heaven forgive me for the same) I myself am at this present speaking. Having thus, for my sins, attained51 to that impious honor.
“God save the king! Confound the Duke of York! To hell with all papists!
“It is the fashion of this people to hold that their gods must always be strong and lusty. For they argue to themselves thus: that the continuance of the rain must needs depend upon the vigor52 and subtlety53 of its Soul, the rain-god. So the continuance and fruitfulness of the trees and plants which yield them food must needs depend upon the health of the tree-god. And the life of the world, and the light of the sun, and the well-being54 of all things that in them are, must depend upon the strength and cunning of the high god of all, Too-Keela-Keela. Hence they take great care and woorship of their gods, surrounding them with many rules which they call Taboo, and restricting them as to what they shall eat, and what drink, and wherewithal they shall seemly clothe themselves. For they think that if the King of the Rain at’ anything that might cause the colick, or like humor or distemper, the weather will thereafter be stormy and tempestuous55; but so long as the King of the Rain fares well and retains his health, so long will the weather over their island of Boo Parry be clear and prosperous.
“Furthermore, as I have larned from their theologians, being myself, indeed, the greatest of their gods, it is evident that they may not let any god die, lest that department of nature over which he presideth should wither56 away and feail, as it were, with him. But reasonably no care that mortal man can exercise will prevent the possibility of their god—seeing he is but one of themselves—growing old and feeble and dying at last. To prevent which calamity57, these gentile folk have invented (as I believe by the aid and device of Sathan) this horrid58 and most unnatural59 practice. The man-god must be killed so soon as he showeth in body or mind that his native powers are beginning to feail. And it is necessary that he be killed, according to their faith, in this ensuing fashion.
“If the man-god were to die slowly by a death in the course of nature, the ways of the world might be stopped altogether. Hence these savages60 catch the soul of their god, as it were, ere it grow old and feeble, and transfer it betimes, by a magic device, to a suitable successor. And surely, they say, this suitable successor can be none other than him that is able to take it from him. This, then, is their horrid counsel and device—that each one of their gods should kill his antecessor. In doing thus, he taketh the old god’s life and soul, which thereupon migrates and dwells within him. And by this tenure—may Heaven be merciful to me, a sinner—do I, Nathaniel Cross, of the county of Doorham, now hold this dignity of Too-Keela-Keela, having slain61, therefor, in just quarrel, my antecessor in the high godship.”
As he reached these words Methuselah paused, and choked in his throat slightly. The mere62 mechanical effort of continuing the speech he had learned by heart two hundred years before, and repeated so often since that it had become part of his being, was now almost too much for him. The Frenchman was right. They were only just in time. A few days later, and the secret would have died with the bird that preserved it.
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收听单词发音
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1
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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2
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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3
taboo
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| n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止 | |
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4
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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5
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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6
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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7
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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8
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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9
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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11
pervade
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| v.弥漫，遍及，充满，渗透，漫延 | |
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12
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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13
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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14
devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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15
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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16
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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17
garrulity
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| n.饶舌，多嘴 | |
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18
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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19
mumbles
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| 含糊的话或声音，咕哝( mumble的名词复数 ) | |
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20
chuckles
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的名词复数 ) | |
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21
aviary
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| n.大鸟笼，鸟舍 | |
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22
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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23
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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24
preen
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| v.（人）打扮修饰 | |
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25
unravelled
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| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的过去式和过去分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
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26
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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27
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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28
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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29
arrant
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| adj.极端的；最大的 | |
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30
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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31
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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32
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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33
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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34
mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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35
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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36
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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37
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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38
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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39
mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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40
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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41
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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43
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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44
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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45
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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46
wayfarer
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| n.旅人 | |
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47
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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48
incarnate
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| adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的 | |
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49
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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50
revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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51
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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52
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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53
subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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54
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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55
tempestuous
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| adj.狂暴的 | |
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56
wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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57
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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58
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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59
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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60
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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61
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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62
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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