CHAPTER VII. THE NEW MASTER FOUND FOR GARGANTUA.

 "What! not know thy Latin! After forty-eight years, seven months, and two days! Then, my little rogue¹, it is to Paris thou must go."

This is what Grandgousier said to Gargantua just one week after that luckless dinner. I will tell you how it all happened. The first thing the old King did the next morning was to send, post-haste, to his good friend, Don Philip of the Marshes², Viceroy of Papeligosse, who knew Latin, and who had told him, years and years before, that poor Master Holofernes was nothing but a bit of an old humbug³ (humbug was not quite the word used at that time, but the meaning was all the same). "Come to me, my friend," he wrote, "thou art always prating⁴ of thy Latin scholars. Now bring one of thy wonders along with thee."

So Don Philip came in great state, as befitted a visit to his King, accompanied by the prettiest, the jauntiest⁵, the sharpest, the politest, the sweetest-voiced little fellow ever seen. Don Philip introduced the curled darling as Master Eudemon, his page.

"Your Majesty⁶ sees this child?" he asked. "He is not yet twelve years old; yet I dare promise that he will prove to Your Majesty, if it be your pleasure, what difference there really is between the old dreamers of the past and the lads of the present."

"So be it," cried the old Giant, gaily⁷, as he put on his glasses, to see the better.

When his eyes first fell on the young page, he swore under his breath—which sounded for all the world like stifled⁸ thunder—that he resembled rather "a little angel than a human child." As soon as Eudemon was called to show what he knew, he rose with youthful modesty⁹, and bowed with charming grace to the King, then to his master, and then to Gargantua, who was frowning at him, and wondering within himself what all those pretty ways meant. Then the young page opened in a Latin so good, so pure, and so musical that what he said sounded rather like a speech made by a Gracchus, or a Cicero, or an Emilius, in the old days of Roman glory, than one made by a youth of that day. After a little, Eudemon—cunning rogue that he was!—began to praise Gargantua to the skies. He spoke¹⁰ first of his young Prince's virtue¹¹ and good manners; secondly¹², of his knowledge; thirdly, of his noble birth; fourthly, of his personal beauty; and fifthly, the little fellow exhorted¹³ him so movingly to revere¹⁴ his great father in all things that Gargantua was so ashamed at not understanding a word of what he was saying, and at not being able to Latin away as he did, forgetting that a dwarf¹⁵ had no business whatever to criticise¹⁶ a young Giant, that he began to moo-moo like a cow, and to hide his face in his cap without having ever a word to say for himself.

Engraving¹⁷

EUDEMON.

Here it was that Father Grandgousier grew really angry. He praised Eudemon and scolded Gargantua by turns, until at last he fell asleep among all the big bottles that had been emptied during the pretty tale of the learned little angel, which nobody around the table understood but Don Philip of the Marshes and the pretty little angel himself. It is a bold thing at all times to awake a King without his own orders; but when that King is a Giant, it is a bolder thing to do than ever. No one dares, for his head, disturb him, and yet, he has to be waked, or else the next morning his sneezes will make all the houses around tumble down, as Giant's colds in the head are just about as big as their bodies. Now, Gargantua being a young Giant himself, was the only one who could venture upon the liberty of waking his Father, and I have already said what he got for his pains:—

"What! not know thy Latin! After forty-eight years, seven months, and two days, too! Then, my little rogue, it is to Paris thou shalt go."

1 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

2 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 humbug   

n.花招，谎话，欺骗

参考例句：

• I know my words can seem to him nothing but utter humbug.我知道，我说的话在他看来不过是彻头彻尾的慌言。
• All their fine words are nothing but humbug.他们的一切花言巧语都是骗人的。

4 prating   

v.（古时用语）唠叨，啰唆( prate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Listen to him prating on about nothing. 听他瞎唠叨。 来自辞典例句
• He is always prating about her wealthy relations, if anybody cared. 他总是对别人炫耀她的阔亲戚，好像别人对此感兴趣似的。 来自互联网

5 jauntiest   

adj.心满意足的样子，洋洋得意的( jaunty的最高级 )

参考例句：

6 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

7 gaily   

adv.欢乐地，高兴地

参考例句：

• The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
• She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

8 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

9 modesty   

n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素

参考例句：

• Industry and modesty are the chief factors of his success.勤奋和谦虚是他成功的主要因素。
• As conceit makes one lag behind,so modesty helps one make progress.骄傲使人落后，谦虚使人进步。

10 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。

11 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

12 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

13 exhorted   

v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The party leader exhorted his members to start preparing for government. 该党领袖敦促党员着手准备筹建政府。
• He exhorted his elder. 他规劝长辈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。

15 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

16 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

17 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句