"And now that every obligation is lifted, and we are reunited, my dear Niafer," says Manuel, as they sat resting after his fight with the dragon, "we will, I repeat, be traveling every whither, so that we may see the ends of this world and may judge them."
"Dearest," replied Niafer, "I have been thinking about that, and I am sure it would be delightful5, if only people were not so perfectly6 horrid7."
"You see, Manuel, now that you have fetched me back from paradise, people will be saying you ought to give me, in exchange for the abodes9 of bliss10 from which I have been summoned, at least a fairly comfortable and permanent terrestrial residence. Yes, dearest, you know what people are, and the evil-minded will be only too delighted to be saying everywhere that you are neglecting an obvious duty if you go wandering off to see and judge the ends of this world, with which, after all, you have really no especial concern."
"Oh, well, and if they do?" says Manuel, shrugging lordily. "There is no hurt in talking."
"Yes, Manuel, but such shiftless wandering, into uncomfortable places that nobody ever heard of, would have that appearance. Now there is nothing I would more thoroughly11 enjoy then to go traveling about at adventure with you, and to be a countess means nothing whatever to me. I am sure I do not in the least care to live in a palace of my own, and be bothered with fine clothes and the responsibility of looking after my rubies12, and with servants and parties every day. But you see, darling, I simply could not bear to have people thinking ill of my dear husband, and so, rather than have that happen, I am willing to put up with these things."
"Oh, oh!" says Manuel, and he began pulling vexedly at his little gray beard, "and does one obligation beget13 another as fast as this! Now whatever would you have me do?"
"Obviously, you must get troops from King Ferdinand, and drive that awful Asmund out of Poictesme."
"Dear me!" says Manuel, "but what a simple matter you make of it! Shall I attend to it this afternoon?"
"Now, Manuel, you speak without thinking, for you could not possibly re-conquer all Poictesme this afternoon—."
"Oh!" says Manuel.
"No, not single-handed, my darling. You would first have to get troops to help you, both horse and foot."
"My dearest, I only meant—"
"—Even then, it will probably take quite a while to kill off all the Northmen."
"Niafer, will you let me explain—"
"—Besides, you are miles away from Poictesme. You could not even manage to get there this afternoon."
Manuel put his hand over her mouth. "Niafer, when I spoke14 of subjugating15 Poictesme this afternoon I was attempting a mild joke. I will never any more attempt light irony16 in your presence, for I perceive that you do not appreciate my humor. Meanwhile I repeat to you, No, no, a thousand times, no! To be called Count of Poictesme sounds well, it strokes the hearing: but I will not be set to root and vegetate17 in a few hundred spadefuls of dirt. No, for I have but one lifetime here, and in that lifetime I mean to see this world and all the ends of this world, that I may judge them. And I," he concluded, decisively, "am Manuel, who follow after my own thinking and my own desire."
Niafer began to weep. "I simply cannot bear to think of what people will say of you."
"Come, come, my dear," says Manuel, "this is preposterous18."
Niafer wept.
"You will only end by making yourself ill!" says Manuel.
Niafer continued to weep.
"My mind is quite made up," says Manuel, "so what, in God's name, is the good of this?"
Niafer now wept more and more broken-heartedly. And the big champion sat looking at her, and his broad shoulders relaxed. He viciously kicked at the heavy glistening19 green head of the dragon, still bleeding uglily there at his feet, but that did no good whatever. The dragon-queller was beaten. He could do nothing against such moisture, his resolution was dampened and his independence was washed away by this salt flood. And they say too that, now his youth was gone, Dom Manuel began to think of quietness and of soft living more resignedly than he acknowledged.
"Very well, then," Manuel says, by and by, "let us cross the Loir, and ride south to look for our infernal coronet with the rubies in it, and for your servants, and for some of your palaces."
So in the Christmas holidays they bring a tall burly squinting20 gray-haired warrior21 to King Ferdinand, in a lemon grove22 behind the royal palace. Here the sainted King, duly equipped with his halo and his goose-feather, was used to perform the lesser23 miracles on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The King was delighted by the change in Manuel's looks, and said that experience and maturity24 were fine things to be suggested by the appearance of a nobleman in Manuel's position. But, a pest! as for giving him any troops with which to conquer Poictesme, that was quite another matter. The King needed his own soldiers for his own ends, which necessitated25 the immediate26 capture of Cordova. Meanwhile here were the Prince de Gâtinais and the Marquess di Paz, who also had come with this insane request, the one for soldiers to help him against the Philistines27, and the other against the Catalans.
"Everybody to whom I ever granted a fief seems to need troops nowadays," the King grumbled28, "and if any one of you had any judgment29 whatever you would have retained your lands once they were given you."
"Our deficiencies, sire," says the young Prince de Gâtinais, with considerable spirit, "have not been altogether in judgment, but rather in the support afforded us by our liege-lord."
This was perfectly true; but inasmuch as such blunt truths are not usually flung at a king and a saint, now Ferdinand's thin brows went up.
"Do you think so?" said the King. "We must see about it. What is that, for example?"
He pointed30 to the pool by which the lemon-trees were watered, and the Prince glanced at the yellow object afloat in this pool. "Sire," said de Gâtinais, "it is a lemon which has fallen from one of the trees."
"So you judge it to be a lemon. And what do you make of it, di Paz?" the King inquired.
The Marquess was a statesman who took few chances. He walked to the edge of the pool, and looked at the thing before committing himself: and he came back smiling. "Ah, sire, you have indeed contrived31 a cunning sermon against hasty judgment, for, while the tree is a lemon-tree, the thing that floats beneath it is an orange."
"So you, Marquess, judge it to be an orange. And what do you make of it, Count of Poictesme?" the King asks now.
If di Paz took few chances, Manuel took none at all. He waded32 into the pool, and fetched out the thing which floated there. "King," says big Dom Manuel, sagely33 blinking his bright pale eyes, "it is the half of an orange."
Said the King: "Here is a man who is not lightly deceived by the vain shows of this world, and who values truth more than dry shoes. Count Manuel, you shall have your troops, and you others must wait until you have acquired Count Manuel's powers of judgment, which, let me tell you, are more valuable than any fief I have to give."
So when the spring had opened, Manuel went into Poictesme at the head of a very creditable army, and Dom Manuel summoned Duke Asmund to surrender all that country. Asmund, who was habitually34 peevish35 under the puckerel curse, refused with opprobrious36 epithets37, and the fighting began.
Manuel had, of course, no knowledge of generalship, but King Ferdinand sent the Conde de Tohil Vaca as Manuel's lieutenant38. Manuel now figured imposingly39 in jeweled armor, and the sight of his shield bearing the rampant40 stallion and the motto Mundus vult decipi became in battle a signal for the more prudent41 among his adversaries42 to distinguish themselves in some other part of the conflict. It was whispered by backbiters that in counsel and in public discourse43 Dom Manuel sonorously45 repeated the orders and opinions provided by Tohil Vaca: either way, the official utterances46 of the Count of Poictesme roused everywhere the kindly47 feeling which one reserves for old friends, so that no harm was done.
To the contrary, Dom Manuel now developed an invaluable48 gift for public speaking, and in every place which he conquered and occupied he made powerful addresses to the surviving inhabitants before he had them hanged, exhorting49 all right-thinking persons to crush the military autocracy50 of Asmund. Besides, as Manuel pointed out, this was a struggle such as the world had never known, in that it was a war to end war forever, and to ensure eternal peace for everybody's children. Never, as he put it forcefully, had men fought for a more glorious cause. And so on and go on, said he, and these uplifting thoughts had a fine effect upon everyone.
And Manuel would look at her queerly, and reply: "I am earning your home, my dear, and your servants' wages, and some day these verbal jewels will be perpetuated52 in a real coronet. For I perceive that a former acquaintance of mine was right in pointing out the difference between men and the other animals."
"Ah, yes, indeed!" said Niafer, very gravely, and not attaching any particular meaning to it, but generally gathering53 that she and Manuel were talking about something edifying54 and pious55. For Niafer was now a devout56 Christian57, as became a Countess of Poictesme, and nobody anywhere entertained a more sincere reverence58 for solemn noises.
"For instance," Dame Niafer continued, "they tell me that these lovely speeches of yours have produced such an effect upon the Philistines yonder that their Queen Stultitia has proffered59 an alliance, and has promised to send you light cavalry60 and battering-rams."
"It is true she has promised to send them, but she has not done so."
"None the less, Manuel, you will find that the moral effect of her approbation61 will be invaluable; and, as I so often think, that is the main thing after all—"
"Yes, yes," says Manuel, impatiently, "we have plenty of moral approbation and fine speaking here, and in the South we have a saint to work miracles for us, but it is Asmund who has that army of splendid reprobates62, and they do not value morality and rhetoric63 the worth of an old finger-nail."
So the fighting continued throughout that spring, and in Poictesme it all seemed very important and unexampled, just as wars usually appear to the people that are engaged in them. Thousands of men were slain64, to the regret of their mothers and sweethearts, and very often of their wives. And there was the ordinary amount of unparalleled military atrocities65 and perfidies66 and ravishments and burnings and so on, and the endurers took their agonies so seriously that it is droll67 to think of how unimportant it all was in the outcome.
For this especial carnage was of supreme68 and world-wide significance so long ago that it is now not worth the pains involved to rephrase for inattentive hearing the combat of the knights69 at Perdigon—out of which came alive only Guivric and Coth and Anavalt and Gonfal,—or to speak of the once famous battle of the tinkers, or to retell how the inflexible70 syndics of Montors were imprisoned in a cage and slain by mistake. It no longer really matters to any living person how the Northmen burned the bridge of boats at Manneville; nor how Asmund trod upon a burned-through beam at the disastrous71 siege of Évre, and so fell thirty feet into the midst of his enemies and broke his leg, but dealt so valorously that he got safe away; nor how at Lisuarte unarmored peasants beat off Manuel's followers72 with scythes73 and pitchforks and clubs.
Time has washed out the significance of these old heroisms as the color is washed from flimsy cloths; so that chroniclers act wisely when they wave aside, with undipped pens, the episode of the brave Siennese and their green poison at Bellegarde, and the doings of the Anti-Pope there, and grudge74 the paper needful to record the remarkable75 method by which gaunt Tohil Vaca levied76 a tax of a livre on every chimney in Poictesme.
It is not even possible, nowadays, to put warm interest in those once notable pots of blazing sulphur and fat and quicklime that were emptied over the walls of Storisende, to the discomfort77 of Manuel's men. For although this was a very heroic war, with a parade of every sort of high moral principle, and with the most sonorous44 language employed upon both sides, it somehow failed to bring about either the reformation or the ruin, of humankind: and after the conclusion of the murdering and general breakage, the world went on pretty much as it has done after all other wars, with a vague notion that a deal of time and effort had been unprofitably invested, and a conviction that it would be inglorious to say so.
Therefore it suffices to report that there was much killing78 and misery79 everywhere, and that in June, upon Corpus Christi day, the Conde de Tohil Vaca was taken, and murdered, with rather horrible jocosity80 which used unusually a heated poker81, and Manuel's forces were defeated and scattered82.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
narrate
|
|
| v.讲，叙述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
confiscated
|
|
| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
victoriously
|
|
| adv.获胜地，胜利地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
imprisoned
|
|
| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
snip
|
|
| n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
abodes
|
|
| 住所( abode的名词复数 )； 公寓； （在某地的）暂住； 逗留 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
bliss
|
|
| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
rubies
|
|
| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
beget
|
|
| v.引起；产生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
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： |
|
|
|
|
15
subjugating
|
|
| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
16
irony
|
|
| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
vegetate
|
|
| v.无所事事地过活 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
preposterous
|
|
| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
glistening
|
|
| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
squinting
|
|
| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
warrior
|
|
| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
grove
|
|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
maturity
|
|
| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
necessitated
|
|
| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
philistines
|
|
| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
waded
|
|
| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
sagely
|
|
| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
habitually
|
|
| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
peevish
|
|
| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
opprobrious
|
|
| adj.可耻的，辱骂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
epithets
|
|
| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
imposingly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
40
rampant
|
|
| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
prudent
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
adversaries
|
|
| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
discourse
|
|
| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
sonorous
|
|
| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
sonorously
|
|
| adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；堂皇地；朗朗地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
utterances
|
|
| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
invaluable
|
|
| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
exhorting
|
|
| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
autocracy
|
|
| n.独裁政治，独裁政府 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
dame
|
|
| n.女士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
perpetuated
|
|
| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
edifying
|
|
| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
pious
|
|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
devout
|
|
| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
reverence
|
|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
proffered
|
|
| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
cavalry
|
|
| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
approbation
|
|
| n.称赞；认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
reprobates
|
|
| n.道德败坏的人，恶棍( reprobate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
63
rhetoric
|
|
| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
slain
|
|
| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
atrocities
|
|
| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
perfidies
|
|
| n.背信弃义，背叛，出卖( perfidy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
67
droll
|
|
| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
knights
|
|
| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
inflexible
|
|
| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
disastrous
|
|
| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
followers
|
|
| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
scythes
|
|
| n.（长柄）大镰刀( scythe的名词复数 )v.（长柄）大镰刀( scythe的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
grudge
|
|
| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
levied
|
|
| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
discomfort
|
|
| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
jocosity
|
|
| n.诙谐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
81
poker
|
|
| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |