"But how can I travel with the Equinox, with a fictitious1 thing, with a mere2 convention?" Jurgen had said. "To demand any such proceeding3 of me is preposterous4."
"Is it any more preposterous than to travel with an imaginary creature like a centaur5?" they had retorted. "Why, Prince Jurgen, we wonder how you, who have done that perfectly6 unheard-of thing, can have the effrontery7 to call anything else preposterous! Is there no reason at all in you? Why, conventions are respectable, and that is a deal more than can be said for a great many centaurs8. Would you be throwing stones at respectability, Prince Jurgen? Why, we are unutterably astounded9 at your objection to any such well-known phenomenon as the Equinox!" And so on, and so on, and so on, said they.
And in fine, they kept at him until Jurgen was too confused to argue, and his head was in a whirl, and one thing seemed as preposterous as another: and he ceased to notice any especial improbability in his traveling with the Equinox, and so passed without any further protest or argument about it, from Cocaigne to Leukê. But he would not have been thus readily flustered10 had Jurgen not been thinking all the while of Queen Helen and of the beauty that was hers.
So he inquired forthwith the way that one might quickliest come into the presence of Queen Helen.
"Why, you will find Queen Helen," he was told, "in her palace at Pseudopolis." His informant was a hamadryad, whom Jurgen encountered upon the outskirts12 of a forest overlooking the city from the west. Beyond broad sloping stretches of ripe corn, you saw Pseudopolis as a city builded of gold and ivory, now all a dazzling glitter under a hard-seeming sky that appeared unusually remote from earth.
"And is the Queen as fair as people report?" asks Jurgen.
"Men say that she excels all other women," replied the Hamadryad, "as immeasurably as all we women perceive her husband to surpass all other men—"
"But, oh, dear me!" says Jurgen.
"—Although, for one, I see nothing remarkable13 in Queen Helen's looks. And I cannot but think that a woman who has been so much talked about ought to be more careful in the way she dresses."
"So this Queen Helen is already provided with a husband!" Jurgen was displeased14, but saw no reason for despair. Then Jurgen inquired as to the Queen's husband, and learned that Achilles, the son of Peleus, was now wedded15 to Helen, the Swan's daughter, and that these two ruled in Pseudopolis.
"For they report," said the Hamadryad, "that in Adês' dreary16 kingdom Achilles remembered her beauty, and by this memory was heartened to break the bonds of Adês: so did Achilles, King of Men, and all his ancient comrades come forth11 resistlessly upon a second quest of this Helen, whom people call—and as I think, with considerable exaggeration—the wonder of this world. Then the Gods fulfilled the desire of Achilles, because, they said, the man who has once beheld17 Queen Helen will never any more regain18 contentment so long as his life lacks this wonder of the world. Personally, I would dislike to think that all men are so foolish."
"Men are not always rational, I grant you: but then," says Jurgen, slyly, "so many of their ancestresses are feminine."
"But an ancestress is always feminine. Nobody ever heard of a man being an ancestress. Men are ancestors. Why, whatever are you talking about?"
"Well, we were speaking, I believe, of Queen Helen's marriage."
"To be sure we were! And I was telling you about the Gods, when you made that droll19 mistake about ancestors. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes, however, and foreigners are always apt to get words confused. I could see at once you were a foreigner—"
"Yes," said Jurgen, "but you were not telling me about myself but about the Gods."
"Why, you must know the aging Gods desired tranquillity21. So we will give her to Achilles, they said; and then, it may be, this King of Men will retain her so safely that his littler fellows will despair, and will cease to war for Helen: and so we shall not be bothered any longer by their wars and other foolishnesses. For this reason it was that the Gods gave Helen to Achilles, and sent the pair to reign20 in Leukê: though, for my part," concluded the Hamadryad, "I shall never cease to wonder what he saw in her—no, not if I live to be a thousand."
"I must," says Jurgen, "observe this monarch22 Achilles before the world is a day older. A king is all very well, of course, but no husband wears a crown so as to prevent the affixion of other head-gear."
And Jurgen went down into Pseudopolis, swaggering.
* * * * *
So in the evening, just after sunset, Jurgen returned to the
Thersitês had given Jurgen, and Jurgen was mirthless and rather
"I have observed your King Achilles," Jurgen says, "and he is a better man than I. Queen Helen, as I confess with regret, is worthily25 mated."
"And what have you to say about her?" inquires the Hamadryad.
"Why, there is nothing more to say than that she is worthily mated, and fit to be the wife of Achilles." For once, poor Jurgen was really miserable26. "For I admire this man Achilles, I envy him, and I fear him," says Jurgen: "and it is not fair that he should have been created my superior."
"But is not Queen Helen the loveliest of ladies that you have ever seen?"
"As to that—!" says Jurgen. He led the Hamadryad to a forest pool hard-by the oak-tree in which she resided. The dusky water lay unruffled, a natural mirror. "Look!" said Jurgen, and he spoke27 with a downward waving of his staff.
The silence gathering28 in the woods was wonderful. Here the air was sweet and pure: and the little wind which went about the ilex boughs29 in search of night was a tender and peaceful wind, because it knew that the all-healing night was close at hand.
The Hamadryad replied, "But I see only my own face."
"It is the answer to your question, none the less. Now do you tell me your name, my dear, so that I may know who in reality is the loveliest of all the ladies I have ever seen."
The Hamadryad told him that her name was Chloris, and that she always looked a fright with her hair arranged as it was to-day, and that he was a strangely impudent30 fellow. So he in turn confessed to her he was King Jurgen of Eubonia, drawn31 from his remote kingdom by exaggerated reports as to the beauty of Queen Helen. Chloris agreed with him that rumor32 was in such matters invariably untrustworthy.
This led to further talk as twilight33 deepened: and the while that a little by a little this pretty girl was converted into a warm breathing shadow, hardly visible to the eye, the shadow of Jurgen departed from him, and he began to talk better and better. He had seen Queen Helen face to face, and other women now seemed unimportant. Whether or not he got into the graces of this Hamadryad did not greatly matter, one way or the other: and in consequence Jurgen talked with such fluency34, such apposite remarks and such tenderness as astounded him.
So he sat listening with delight to the seductive tongue of that monstrous35 clever fellow, Jurgen. For this plump brown-haired bright-eyed little creature, this Chloris, he was honestly sorry. Into the uneventful life of a hamadryad, here in this uncultured forest, could not possibly have entered much pleasurable excitement, and it seemed only right to inject a little. "Why, simply in justice to her!" Jurgen reflected. "I must deal fairly."
Now it grew darker and darker under the trees, and in the dark nobody can see what happens. There were only two voices that talked, with lengthy36 pauses: and they spoke gravely of unimportant trifles, like children at play together.
"Why, I travel with a staff, my dear, as you perceive: and it suffices me."
"Certainly it is large enough, in all conscience. Alas38, young outlander, who call yourself a king! you carry the bludgeon of a highwayman, and I am afraid of it."
"My staff is a twig39 from Yggdrasill, the tree of universal life: Thersitês gave it me, and the sap that throbs40 therein arises from the Undar fountain, where the grave Norns make laws for men and fix their destinies."
The two began to wrangle42, not at all angrily, as to what Jurgen had best do with his prized staff. "Do you take it away from me, at any rate!" says Chloris. So Jurgen hid his staff where Chloris could not possibly see it; and he drew the Hamadryad close to him, and he laughed contentedly43.
"Oh, oh! O wretched King," cried Chloris, "I fear that you will be the death of me! And you have no right to oppress me in this way, for I am not your subject."
"Rather shall you be my queen, dear Chloris, receiving all that I most prize."
"But you are too domineering: and I am afraid to be alone with you and your big staff! Ah! not without knowing what she talked about did my mother use to quote her Æolic saying, The king is cruel and takes joy in bloodshed!"
"Presently you will not be afraid of me, nor will you be afraid of my staff. Custom is all. For this likewise is an Æolic saying, The taste of the first olive is unpleasant, but the second is good."
Now for a while was silence save for the small secretive rumors44 of the forest. One of the large green locusts45 which frequent the Island of Leukê began shrilling47 tentatively.
"Wait now, King Jurgen, for surely I hear footsteps, and one comes to trouble us."
"It is a wind in the tree-tops: or perhaps it is a god who envies me. I pause for neither."
"Ah, but speak reverently48 of the Gods! For is not Love a god, and a jealous god that has wings with which to leave us?"
"Then am I a god, for in my heart is love, and in every fibre of me is love, and from me now love emanates49."
"But certainly I heard somebody approaching through the forest—"
"Ah, you have great faith in that staff of yours!"
Another locust46 had answered the first one. Now the two insects were in full dispute, suffusing52 the warm darkness with their pertinacious53 whirrings.
"King of Eubonia, it is certainly true, that which you told me about olives."
"Not 'Jurgen' now, but 'love'."
"Indeed, they tell that even so, in such deep darkness, Love came to his sweetheart Psychê."
"Then why do you complain because I piously57 emulate58 the Gods, and offer unto Love the sincerest form of flattery?" And Jurgen shook his staff at her.
"Ah, but you are strangely ready with your flattery! and Love threatened Psychê with no such enormous staff."
"That is possible: for I am Jurgen. And I deal fairly with all women, and raise my staff against none save in the way of kindness."
So they talked nonsense, in utter darkness, while the locusts, and presently a score of locusts, disputed obstinately59. Now Chloris and Jurgen were invisible, even to each other, as they talked under her oak-tree: but before them the fields shone mistily60 under a gold-dusted dome61, for this night seemed builded of stars. And the white towers of Pseudopolis also could Jurgen see, as he laughed there and took his pleasure with Chloris. He reflected that very probably Achilles and Helen were laughing thus, and were not dissimilarly occupied, out yonder, in this night of wonder.
He sighed. But in a while Jurgen and the Hamadryad were speaking again, just as inconsequently, and the locusts were whirring just as obstinately. Later the moon rose, and they all slept.
With the dawn Jurgen arose, and left this Hamadryad Chloris still asleep. He stood where he overlooked the city and the shirt of Nessus glittered in the level sun rays: and Jurgen thought of Queen Helen. Then he sighed, and went back to Chloris and wakened her with the sort of salutation that appeared her just due.
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1
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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centaur
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| n.人首马身的怪物 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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centaurs
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| n.（希腊神话中）半人半马怪物( centaur的名词复数 ) | |
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9
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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worthily
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| 重要地，可敬地，正当地 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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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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28
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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33
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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fluency
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| n.流畅，雄辩，善辩 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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throbs
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| 体内的跳动( throb的名词复数 ) | |
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41
scoffer
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| 嘲笑者 | |
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42
wrangle
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| vi.争吵 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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45
locusts
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| n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树 | |
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locust
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| n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐 | |
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47
shrilling
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的现在分词 )； 凄厉 | |
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reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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emanates
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的第三人称单数 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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50
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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brandish
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| v.挥舞，挥动；n.挥动，挥舞 | |
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52
suffusing
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的现在分词 ) | |
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pertinacious
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| adj.顽固的 | |
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begets
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| v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起 | |
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beget
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| v.引起；产生 | |
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truthfulness
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| n. 符合实际 | |
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piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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emulate
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| v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿 | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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mistily
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| adv.有雾地，朦胧地，不清楚地 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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