“This is most curious, most interesting,” observed Coldstream. “To have such a full, independent account of the Fall is such a confirmation2 of the record contained in the book of Genesis as may well silence infidel objections.”
“I don’t see that,” quoth pragmatical Thud, speaking with his mouth full of pudding. “Of course these Karens got that story of theirs from Christians4.”
“Pardon me,” said Mr. Lawrence politely; “the tradition of the Fall, and a good many others, existed before a Christian3 had set his foot in Burmah, Siam, or Pegu.”
“I found that Maha knows nothing at all about our Saviour,” observed Io, “and Christians would assuredly have spoken of Him.”
Thud was not easily put down. “Then the Karens got their old stories from Jews,” he said authoritatively6. “Jews are always wandering about, and turning up in every country under the sun.”
“Permit me again to correct you,” said the chaplain. “I happen to have made some researches amongst Karen traditions, and I find that they do not contain the slightest allusion7 to either Abraham or Moses. This shows that the ancestor whose accounts they rehearse must have lived at a yet more remote period. No son of Abraham would have omitted all mention of the father of the faithful, or of the great lawgiver Moses. The traditions cannot have come from the Jews.”
Thud was not yet beaten from his ground. “The traditions came from Jews who were not descended8 from Abraham,” he boldly asserted.
The clergyman and Oscar exchanged glances; Io smiled; Dr. Pinfold burst into a roar of laughter. “You’re a rare scholar, you are,” he exclaimed to Thud.
“I’m glad that you’ve found that out at last,” said Thud with perfect gravity, as if he had received a well-merited compliment. This misapprehension of the doctor’s playful satire9 made Pinfold throw himself back in his chair with a louder explosion of mirth than the first.
“Thucydides Thorn, if I die of apoplexy from a fit of laughing, my death will lie at your door!” cried the doctor as soon as he had recovered some amount of gravity. He pushed back his chair and rose from the table. “Excuse me, Io. I must be off to a patient; I’ve a leg to cut off while the daylight lasts.—Mr. Coldstream, look after that sage10 brother-in-law of yours; if you don’t get him into regular harness quickly, he’ll die of theories on the brain.” As Dr. Pinfold walked along the veranda11 he was heard laughing to himself still, though the words which he muttered did not reach their subject—“O Thucydides Thorn, thou art indeed an incomparable owl12!”
“Dr. Pinfold gives sound advice, Thud,” said Oscar; “it is high time that you should be harnessed to regular work. I am afraid that you have not even begun to study the language.”
“Oh! no need to study it; I’ll drink it in,” replied Thud, with sublime13 indifference14 to anything like reproof15. “I’ve a theory that language floats about in the air in invisible globules, like cholera16 or small-pox. We don’t set babies to learn grammar or idioms; they catch them exactly as they catch measles17.”
“It is a pity that Dr. Pinfold is not here to benefit by your medical theory,” said Io playfully.
“Dr. Pinfold is a man of very dull wit; he cannot take my theories in,” said the learned Thud. “I don’t like a fellow who is always cutting stupid jokes: when he wishes to laugh at nothing he laughs at me.”
“Surely you do not reckon yourself nothing,” observed Io.
Thud did not see the point of the observation, so went on with his explanation of the nature of speech. “My theory about the existence of a variety of languages is this,”—the head of the speaker inclined to its position of deep thought as he went on after a pause,—“every country has its peculiar18 language, just as it has its peculiar fauna19 and flora20: we don’t meet with alligators21 in Oxford22 Street, or gather buttercups at the North Pole. When tribes of ancient times wandered to India, Japan, or England, they gradually, by absorbing air-globules in each region, breathed them out again in various tongues.”
The chaplain slightly raised his eye-brows in surprise on hearing notions so original propounded23 in so solemn a manner.
Io observed, “We have a very different reason for the confusion of tongues given in the Bible.”
“Oh, the Bible is an antiquated24 book,” said the owl; “the present enlightened age demands fresh theories and ideas.”
“Boy!” exclaimed Oscar Coldstream sternly, “take off the shoes of thy folly25 when treading on holy ground.”
Even Thud looked somewhat startled at his brother-in-law’s unexpected rebuke26. The soul of Io was quivering with joy, as when the chalice27 of the white water-lily trembles in the soft south breeze. Her joy was not on account of Thud’s receiving a well-earned reproof, though she thought that it might do him good; it was because her husband had been able and willing to give it. Oscar, since his illness, had appeared so crushed that he had almost lost not only his spirits but his spirit. Even Thud had never roused him to a display of indignation till now.
“That flash of anger was just like the gleam of lightning which tells us that longed-for rain is coming!” thought the hopeful young wife. “Oscar, my darling, looked almost like his former self for a moment; and he spoke5 in defence of God’s Word. Oh, all will be well yet; we shall be so happy again!”
Thud was by no means so well pleased as his sister. To be called a boy, and reprimanded for folly, was more than the poor owl could bear. “I am going out,” he said sulkily, rising and moving towards the door, but not before providently28 filling one of his hands with almonds and raisins29 from the dish before him.
“Stay,” said Oscar in a milder tone: “I want to come to a clear understanding with you, Thud, about this matter of work; for I am sure that Dr. Pinfold is right in saying that you should now be put into harness, and do something to gain your own living. I am willing, as far as possible, to indulge your natural tastes and inclination30. For what kind of employment do you think yourself most fit?”
“What do you think would suit you?” asked Oscar.
Thud reflected for a few moments, and then sententiously replied, “I should like the charge of an elephant-stud.”
“There is no elephant-stud in Moulmein,” observed Oscar Coldstream.
“I’ve seen elephants here,” said Thucydides Thorn.
“I think that the rajah has three,” observed the chaplain.
“And why should you wish to have charge of elephants, Thud?” asked Io smiling.
“I wish it because I want to substantiate33 a theory which I have formed about the proboscis34 of the elephant,” said Thud, with his air of most profound reflection. “I believe that the proboscis is but an elongated35 snout, developed and gradually lengthened36 by cultivation37 and civilization—or rather, I may say, by practical science.”
“O Thud, Thud, you are joking!” cried Io.
“I am not joking at all; I scorn jokes!” said Thucydides Thorn. “You women understand nothing about development. Man can alter the shapes of living organizations to an indefinite extent. Look at China: did nature form the tiny feet of its women? See how English ladies can gradually, by tight-lacing, alter their figures till they resemble wasps38. I tell you, science can work unimagined wonders. Man saw that elephants would be far more useful creatures if possessing something like a hand, something that could hold and pull—not a mere39 snout that could only grub in the ground. Gradually, slowly no doubt, the transformation40 was effected; I will make it my business to find out in what way.”
“How is your theory to be reconciled with the fact that the wild elephant possesses a proboscis?” asked Mr. Lawrence with a smile.
“I deny the fact,” said Thud. “I believe the elephant to be only a large species of a highly-developed pig, and that the wild one has only a good long snout.”
“You can easily test your theory,” observed the chaplain, “for one of the elephants of the rajah is quite untamed; it was caught in the jungle only last week.”
“I’ll be off and see it at once,” said Thud, moving more quickly than he usually did, for he desired no repetition of the conversation regarding putting him into harness.
“I shall send the boy to the warehouse41 to-morrow morning,” said Oscar Coldstream. “I will place him under my clerk Smith, appoint Thud a certain task to perform before dinner-time, and let him understand that he is not expected back here until the task is finished.”
“I rather pity Smith,” thought the chaplain; “it is no easy task to bring such a born philosopher to submit to being harnessed.”
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1
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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spoke
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| 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 | |
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authoritatively
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| 命令式地，有权威地，可信地 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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16
cholera
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| n.霍乱 | |
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measles
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| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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alligators
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| n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 ) | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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chalice
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| n.圣餐杯；金杯毒酒 | |
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providently
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| adv.有远虑地 | |
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raisins
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| n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 ) | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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31
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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32
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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33
substantiate
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| v.证实；证明...有根据 | |
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proboscis
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| n.（象的）长鼻 | |
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35
elongated
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| v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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38
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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39
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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40
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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41
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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