CHAPTER XV. HOW OLD KING GRANDGOUSIER RECEIVED THE NEWS.

 While Friar John was cracking skulls¹, and breaking limbs, and flattening² noses, and ramming³ teeth down throats, Picrochole, King of Lerne, had, with his Bunmakers and in the greatest haste, crossed the Ford⁴ of Vede and ordered the town of Roche-Clermaud to surrender, which did not make him wait long before opening its gates to him. We shall leave him there while we see how King Grandgousier had received the news of this sudden war.

One rainy evening, the fine old gentleman happened to be in a very good humor. He was, as usual after supper, seated warming his knees, which were somewhat rheumatic, before a blazing fire; and, while waiting for the chestnuts⁵ to be roasted to a turn, was passing the time by writing on the red hearth⁶ with a burnt stick and making Queen Gargamelle laugh by telling his funny stories of old times. While he was in the very midst of one of these funny old stories, and the chestnuts were smelling as if they wanted to be eaten, here comes a servant to tell King Grandgousier that one of his Shepherds was down in the court-yard begging to see him.

"What does the varlet want?" asked the old King. He didn't mean to be angry, but his surprise made his big voice sound very loud and very gruff.

"To see Your Majesty⁷."

"And what does he want to see My Majesty for? But bring him up. I shan't know any sooner by waiting for thee to tell me."

Who should it be but one of the very Shepherds, who had been watching the vines and the rich purple grapes when the trouble began? He was full of it,—so brimming full that he could hardly speak for his eagerness to tell all he knew. At last, he managed to let the King know what the bad Bunmakers of Lerne had done with his subjects' vineyards; how the wicked King Picrochole had been running over his lands, doing pretty much what he liked in the way of burning houses, sacking towns, and tramping down vines; and how he was, just at this time, shutting the gates of Roche-Clermaud against His Majesty.

Engraving⁸

PICROCHOLE'S ARMY.

It was sad to see how the old Giant received this bad news. He was the kindest and friendliest of neighbors to all the Kings around him. He had never been known to go to war with any of them, and no neighbor had ever once thought before of going to war with him. What the good old man liked was peace, so that he could, every day after supper, eat roasted chestnuts, and tell fine stories of old times, while writing with a burnt stick on the red hearth.

"Holos! holos!" cried Grandgousier; "what is all this, good people? Am I dreaming? Or is this really true that I hear? Can Picrochole, the dear friend of my youth, close to me in blood and alliance, mean to war against me and my people? Who leads him on? Who has induced him to do this? Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! May he believe me when I say that I have never done any harm to him or his people! On the contrary, I have helped him whenever he wanted money; and that was very often. Ho! ho ho! my good people, my friends, and all my faithful servants, I cannot prevent your coming to my aid. Las! I am getting old. All my life I have worked for peace. Now I must have war. Las! Las!"

While saying all this, he roared in his despair, without knowing it, so fiercely that the chestnut-roasters ran away in their fright, leaving their chestnuts to pop and burn on the griddles. Only the Council remained, who always made it a point to be present at supper. King Grandgousier at once called the Council together for special deliberation, by inviting⁹ them to sit at the supper-table without eating, and talk about affairs. After three hours of close debate, two points were fully¹⁰ agreed on:—

1. To send an army to Picrochole to treat about matters.

2. To write to Prince Gargantua.

It was further resolved to send Ulrich Gallet, the very next day, with five carts full of buns, with instructions to tell Picrochole that the old King was willing to give these five cart-loads of buns to make good those five dozen buns which had been taken by his Shepherds.

Engraving

GRANDGOUSIER WRITES TO GARGANTUA.

Then Grandgousier wrote a letter to Gargantua, telling about the war on his hands, in which he said: "My resolve is not to provoke, rather to pacify¹¹; but, if assailed¹², to defend myself. Come, my Gargantua, my well-beloved, come! Thy Father wants thee!"

By this time the chestnuts were all burnt black, and there wasn't a single spark to be seen among the ashes.

1 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

2 flattening   

n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词

参考例句：

• Flattening of the right atrial border is also seen in constrictive pericarditis. 右心房缘变平亦见于缩窄性心包炎。
• He busied his fingers with flattening the leaves of the book. 他手指忙着抚平书页。

3 ramming   

n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• They are ramming earth down. 他们在夯实泥土。 来自辞典例句
• Father keeps ramming it down my throat that I should become a doctor. 父亲一直逼我当医生。 来自辞典例句

4 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

5 chestnuts   

n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马

参考例句：

• A man in the street was selling bags of hot chestnuts. 街上有个男人在卖一包包热栗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Talk of chestnuts loosened the tongue of this inarticulate young man. 因为栗子，正苦无话可说的年青人，得到同情他的人了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

7 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！

8 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

9 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 pacify   

vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰

参考例句：

• He tried to pacify the protesters with promises of reform.他试图以改革的承诺安抚抗议者。
• He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part of the money.他为安抚债权人偿还了部分借款。

12 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》