"Ha! you wild breeze! you have been plundering11 the gardens of Hautia," cried Yoomy.
"No sweets can be sweeter," said Braid-Beard, "but no Upas more deadly."
Anon we came nearer; sails idly flapping, and paddles suspended; sleek12 currents our coursers. And round about the isle, like winged rainbows, shoals of dolphins were leaping over floating fragments of wrecks13:— dark-green, long-haired ribs14, and keels of canoes. For many shallops, inveigled15 by the eddies16, were oft dashed to pieces against that flowery strand17. But what cared the dolphins? Mardian wrecks were their homes. Over and over they sprang: from east to west: rising and setting: many suns in a moment; while all the sea, like a harvest plain, was stacked with their glittering sheaves of spray.
And far down, fathoms18 on fathoms, flitted rainbow hues:—as seines- full of mermaids19; half-screening the bones of the drowned.
There, beneath an arch of spray, three dark-eyed maidens21 stood; garlanded with columbines, their nectaries nodding like jesters' bells; and robed in vestments blue.
"The pilot-fish transformed!" cried Yoomy.
Following the maidens, we now took our way along a winding23 vale; where, by sweet-scented hedges, flowed blue-braided brooks24; their tributaries25, rivulets26 of violets, meandering27 through the meads.
On one hand, forever glowed the rosy28 mountains with a tropic dawn; and on the other; lay an Arctic eve;—the white daisies drifted in long banks of snow, and snowed the blossoms from the orange boughs29. There, summer breathed her bridal bloom; her hill-top temples crowned with bridal wreaths.
We wandered on, through orchards31 arched in long arcades32, that seemed baronial halls, hung o'er with trophies:—so spread the boughs in antlers. This orchard30 was the frontlet of the isle.
Here, the peach tree showed her thousand cheeks of down, kissed often by the wooing winds; here, in swarms34; the yellow apples hived, like golden bees upon the boughs; here, from the kneeling, fainting trees, thick fell the cherries, in great drops of blood; and here, the pomegranate, with cold rind and sere35, deep pierced by bills of birds revealed the mellow36 of its ruddy core. So, oft the heart, that cold and withered37 seems, within yet hides its juices.
This orchard passed, the vale became a lengthening38 plain, that seemed the Straits of Ormus bared so thick it lay with flowery gems39: torquoise-hyacinths, ruby-roses, lily-pearls. Here roved the vagrant40 vines; their flaxen ringlets curling over arbors, which laughed and shook their golden locks. From bower41 to bower, flew the wee bird, that ever hovering42, seldom lights; and flights of gay canaries passed, like jonquils, winged.
But now, from out half-hidden bowers43 of clematis, there issued swarms of wasps44, which flying wide, settled on all the buds.
And, fifty nymphs preceding, who now follows from those bowers, with gliding45, artful steps:—the very snares46 of love!—Hautia. A gorgeous amaryllis in her hand; Circe-flowers in her ears; her girdle tied with vervain.
She came by privet hedges, drooping47; downcast honey-suckles; she trod on pinks and pansies, blue-bells, heath, and lilies. She glided48 on: her crescent brow calm as the moon, when most it works its evil influences.
Her eye was fathomless49.
But the same mysterious, evil-boding gaze was there, which long before had haunted me in Odo, ere Yillah fled.—Queen Hautia the incognito50! Then two wild currents met, and dashed me into foam.
"Yillah! Yillah!—tell me, queen!" But she stood motionless; radiant, and scentless51: a dahlia on its stalk. "Where? Where?"
"Is not thy voyage now ended?—Take flowers! Damsels, give him wine to drink. After his weary hunt, be the wanderer happy."
I dashed aside their cups, and flowers; still rang the vale with Yillah!
"Taji! did I know her fate, naught52 would I now disclose; my heralds pledged their queen to naught. Thou but comest here to supplant53 thy mourner's night-shade, with marriage roses. Damsels! give him wreaths; crowd round him; press him with your cups!"
Once more I spilled their wine, and tore their garlands. Is not that, the evil eye that long ago did haunt me? and thou, the Hautia who hast followed me, and wooed, and mocked, and tempted54 me, through all this long, long voyage? I swear! thou knowest all."
"I am Hautia. Thou hast come at last. Crown him with your flowers! Drown him in your wine! To all questions, Taji! I am mute.—Away!— damsels dance; reel round him; round and round!"
Then, their feet made music on the rippling55 grass, like thousand leaves of lilies on a lake. And, gliding nearer, Hautia welcomed Media; and said, "Your comrade here is sad:—be ye gay. Ho, wine!—I. — pledge ye, guests!"
Then, marking all, I thought to seem what I was not, that I might learn at last the thing I sought.
So, three cups in hand I held; drank wine, and laughed; and half-way met Queen Hautia's blandishments.
点击收听单词发音
1 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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2 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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3 ledge | |
n.壁架,架状突出物;岩架,岩礁 | |
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4 crevices | |
n.(尤指岩石的)裂缝,缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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5 gush | |
v.喷,涌;滔滔不绝(说话);n.喷,涌流;迸发 | |
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6 zoned | |
adj.划成区域的,束带的v.(飞机、汽车等)急速移动( zoom的现在分词 );(价格、费用等)急升,猛涨 | |
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7 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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8 tapering | |
adj.尖端细的 | |
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9 cone | |
n.圆锥体,圆锥形东西,球果 | |
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10 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
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11 plundering | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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12 sleek | |
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢 | |
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13 wrecks | |
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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14 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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15 inveigled | |
v.诱骗,引诱( inveigle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16 eddies | |
(水、烟等的)漩涡,涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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17 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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18 fathoms | |
英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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19 mermaids | |
n.(传说中的)美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 ) | |
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20 prows | |
n.船首( prow的名词复数 ) | |
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21 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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22 heralds | |
n.使者( herald的名词复数 );预报者;预兆;传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 );宣布(好或重要) | |
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23 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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24 brooks | |
n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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25 tributaries | |
n. 支流 | |
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26 rivulets | |
n.小河,小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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27 meandering | |
蜿蜒的河流,漫步,聊天 | |
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28 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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29 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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30 orchard | |
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场 | |
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31 orchards | |
(通常指围起来的)果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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32 arcades | |
n.商场( arcade的名词复数 );拱形走道(两旁有商店或娱乐设施);连拱廊;拱形建筑物 | |
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33 beaks | |
n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 );鹰钩嘴;尖鼻子;掌权者 | |
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34 swarms | |
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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35 sere | |
adj.干枯的;n.演替系列 | |
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36 mellow | |
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟 | |
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37 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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38 lengthening | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的现在分词 ); 加长 | |
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39 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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40 vagrant | |
n.流浪者,游民;adj.流浪的,漂泊不定的 | |
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41 bower | |
n.凉亭,树荫下凉快之处;闺房;v.荫蔽 | |
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42 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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43 bowers | |
n.(女子的)卧室( bower的名词复数 );船首锚;阴凉处;鞠躬的人 | |
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44 wasps | |
黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 ); 胡蜂; 易动怒的人; 刻毒的人 | |
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45 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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46 snares | |
n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 );圈套;诱人遭受失败(丢脸、损失等)的东西;诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉,诱陷,陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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47 drooping | |
adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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48 glided | |
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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49 fathomless | |
a.深不可测的 | |
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50 incognito | |
adv.匿名地;n.隐姓埋名;adj.化装的,用假名的,隐匿姓名身份的 | |
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51 scentless | |
adj.无气味的,遗臭已消失的 | |
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52 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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53 supplant | |
vt.排挤;取代 | |
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54 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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55 rippling | |
起涟漪的,潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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