CHAPTER I THE PEOPLE

 Many years ago, there lived in the high regions of Switzerland and France a people called the Lake-Dwellers.

 

These people did not live on land, as we do, but on the many lakes hidden among the high mountains.

 

The mountain-sides were thick with forests which hid the lake-houses from the people who lived on the land.

 

 

Lodrix was the chief’s son, and he was a very brave boy though he was only twelve years old.

 

This little boy had flaxen hair and blue eyes. His fair skin was very much tanned, because he was out of doors much of the time.

 

His clothing was of deerskin and was thrown loosely about him.

 

 

Lodrix looked very much like his mother, but her dress was very different.

 

Her waist was of coarse brown cloth fastened under a skirt of deerskin, and her shoulders and arms were bare.

 

Her thick light hair was coiled on the top of her head and had many bone and bronze pins in it.

 

Around her neck were beads¹ of amber², bone and glass, and a necklace made from the teeth of wolves.

 

 

On her arms and legs she wore wide bronze bracelets³. She was very proud of them, because not many women among the Lake-Dwellers had bracelets made of bronze.

 

Lodrix’s father, the chief of the Dormorants, was a very brave man.

 

 

His people loved him and always obeyed him.

 

One day, when the chief and his son were on the lake fishing, they heard the sound of a horn.

 

Lodrix listened, then said, “That is mother’s call; she must need us.”

 

In great haste they paddled toward the sound of the horn, and across the lake they could see the mother waving her hands to them.

 

 

She stood on a platform which was built upon thousands of cedar⁴ piles, driven into the bottom of the lake.

 

These piles were held in place by stones and rushes that had been let down into the water.

 

As they paddled nearer, they could see that something had happened.

 

 

They hurried to climb the notched⁵ ladder which led to the platform.

 

Then they followed the mother into the one-room hut which was their home.

 

They sat down on blocks of wood about the stone fire-place, while the mother told the chief what had happened.

 

She said that one of their tribe, who had just returned from hunting, had told her that the Bear tribe on the land was getting ready to burn down the Lake-Dweller homes.

 

When Lodrix heard this, he ran to his father and said, “May I get ready to fight, father?”

 

The chief put his hands on his son’s head, saying, “My brave boy.”

 

Then he told Lodrix to go out and call the people together.

 

Soon they came, hundreds of them, from the many square huts which were crowded about the chief’s home.

 

These houses were built from cedar poles matted together with twigs⁶ and plastered both inside and out with two or three inches of clay.

 

 

There were one or two small windows without shutters⁷ and one low door.

 

The roofs were made of straw or rushes and the floors were often plastered with clay and gravel⁸.

 

In the center of the roof was a hole through which the smoke escaped, and in the floor was a small trap-door that opened over the lake.

 

The Lake-Dwellers often fished from these doors.

1 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

2 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

3 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 notched   

a.有凹口的，有缺口的

参考例句：

• Torino notched up a 2-1 win at Lazio. 都灵队以2 比1 赢了拉齐奧队。
• He notched up ten points in the first five minutes of the game. 他在比赛开始后的五分钟里得了十分。

6 twigs   

细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
• Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。

7 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

8 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。