CHAPTER XXVII

　　Prince Chultun Beyli and I were ready to leave the Narabanchi Kure.

While the Hutuktu was holding service for the Sait in the Temple ofBlessing, I wandered around through the narrow alleyways betweenthe walls of the houses of the various grades of Lama Gelongs,Getuls, Chaidje and Rabdjampa; of schools where the learned doctorsof theology or Maramba taught together with the doctors of medicineor Ta Lama; of the residences for students called Bandi; of stores,archives and libraries. When I returned to the yurta of theHutuktu, he was inside. He presented me with a large hatyk andproposed a walk around the monastery¹. His face wore a preoccupiedexpression from which I gathered that he had something he wished todiscuss with me. As we went out of the yurta, the liberatedPresident of the Russian Chamber² of Commerce and a Russian officerjoined us. The Hutuktu led us to a small building just back of abright yellow stone wall.

"In that building once stopped the Dalai Lama and Bogdo Khan and wealways paint the buildings yellow where these holy persons havelived. Enter!"The interior of the building was arranged with splendor³. On theground floor was the dining-room, furnished with richly carved,heavy blackwood Chinese tables and cabinets filled with porcelainsand bronze. Above were two rooms, the first a bed-room hung withheavy yellow silk curtains; a large Chinese lantern richly set withcolored stones hung by a thin bronze chain from the carved woodenceiling beam. Here stood a large square bed covered with silkenpillows, mattresses⁴ and blankets. The frame work of the bed wasalso of the Chinese blackwood and carried, especially on the poststhat held the roof-like canopy⁵, finely executed carvings⁶ with thechief motive⁷ the conventional dragon devouring⁸ the sun. By theside stood a chest of drawers completely covered with carvingssetting forth⁹ religious pictures. Four comfortable easy chairscompleted the furniture, save for the low oriental throne whichstood on a dais at the end of the room.

"Do you see this throne?" said the Hutuktu to me. "One night inwinter several horsemen rode into the monastery and demanded thatall the Gelongs and Getuls with the Hutuktu and Kanpo at their headshould congregate¹⁰ in this room. Then one of the strangers mountedthe throne, where he took off his bashlyk or cap-like headcovering. All of the Lamas fell to their knees as they recognizedthe man who had been long ago described in the sacred bulls ofDalai Lama, Tashi Lama and Bogdo Khan. He was the man to whom thewhole world belongs and who has penetrated¹¹ into all the mysteriesof Nature. He pronounced a short Tibetan prayer, blessed all hishearers and afterwards made predictions for the coming halfcentury. This was thirty years ago and in the interim¹² all hisprophecies are being fulfilled. During his prayers before thatsmall shrine¹³ in the next room this door opened of its own accord,the candles and lights before the altar lighted themselves and thesacred braziers without coals gave forth great streams of incensethat filled the room. And then, without warning, the King of theWorld and his companions disappeared from among us. Behind himremained no trace save the folds in the silken throne coveringswhich smoothed themselves out and left the throne as though no onehad sat upon it."The Hutuktu entered the shrine, kneeled down, covering his eyeswith his hands, and began to pray. I looked at the calm,indifferent face of the golden Buddha¹⁴, over which the flickeringlamps threw changing shadows, and then turned my eyes to the sideof the throne. It was wonderful and difficult to believe but Ireally saw there the strong, muscular figure of a man with aswarthy face of stern and fixed¹⁵ expression about the mouth andjaws, thrown into high relief by the brightness of the eyes.

Through his transparent¹⁶ body draped in white raiment I saw theTibetan inscriptions¹⁷ on the back of the throne. I closed my eyesand opened them again. No one was there but the silk thronecovering seemed to be moving.

"Nervousness," I thought. "Abnormal and over-emphasizedimpressionability growing out of the unusual surroundings andstrains."The Hutuktu turned to me and said: "Give me your hatyk. I havethe feeling that you are troubled about those whom you love, and Iwant to pray for them. And you must pray also, importune¹⁸ God anddirect the sight of your soul to the King of the World who was hereand sanctified this place."The Hutuktu placed the hatyk on the shoulder of the Buddha and,prostrating himself on the carpet before the altar, whispered thewords of prayer. Then he raised his head and beckoned²⁰ me to himwith a slight movement of his hand.

"Look at the dark space behind the statue of Buddha and he willshow your beloved to you."Readily obeying his deep-voiced command, I began to look into thedark niche²¹ behind the figure of the Buddha. Soon out of thedarkness began to appear streams of smoke or transparent threads.

They floated in the air, becoming more and more dense²² andincreasing in number, until gradually they formed the bodies ofseveral persons and the outlines of various objects. I saw a roomthat was strange to me with my family there, surrounded by somewhom I knew and others whom I did not. I recognized even the dressmy wife wore. Every line of her dear face was clearly visible.

Gradually the vision became too dark, dissipated itself into thestreams of smoke and transparent threads and disappeared. Behindthe golden Buddha was nothing but the darkness. The Hutuktu arose,took my hatyk from the shoulder of the Buddha and handed it to mewith these words:

"Fortune is always with you and with your family. God's goodnesswill not forsake²³ you."We left the building of this unknown King of the World, where hehad prayed for all mankind and had predicted the fate of peoplesand states. I was greatly astonished to find that my companionshad also seen my vision and to hear them describe to me in minutedetail the appearance and the clothes of the persons whom I hadseen in the dark niche behind the head of Buddha.** In order that I might have the evidence of others on thisextraordinarily impressive vision, I asked them to make protocolsor affidavits²⁴ concerning what they saw. This they did and I nowhave these statements in my possession.

The Mongol officer also told me that Chultun Beyli had the daybefore asked the Hutuktu to reveal to him his fate in thisimportant juncture²⁵ of his life and in this crisis of his countrybut the Hutuktu only waved his hand in an expression of fear andrefused. When I asked the Hutuktu for the reason of his refusal,suggesting to him that it might calm and help Chultun Beyli as thevision of my beloved had strengthened me, the Hutuktu knitted hisbrow and answered:

"No! The vision would not please the Prince. His fate is black.

Yesterday I thrice sought his fortune on the burned shoulder bladesand with the entrails of sheep and each time came to the same direresult, the same dire¹⁹ result! . . ."He did not really finish speaking but covered his face with hishands in fear. He was convinced that the lot of Chultun Beyli wasblack as the night.

In an hour we were behind the low hills that hid the NarabanchiKure from our sight.

1 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 splendor   

n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌

参考例句：

• Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor.他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
• All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。

4 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

5 canopy   

n.天篷，遮篷

参考例句：

• The trees formed a leafy canopy above their heads.树木在他们头顶上空形成了一个枝叶茂盛的遮篷。
• They lay down under a canopy of stars.他们躺在繁星点点的天幕下。

6 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

8 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

9 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

10 congregate   

v.(使)集合，聚集

参考例句：

• Now they can offer a digital place for their readers to congregate and talk.现在他们可以为读者提供一个数字化空间，让读者可以聚集和交谈。
• This is a place where swans congregate.这是个天鹅聚集地。

11 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

12 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

13 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

14 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

15 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

16 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

17 inscriptions   

（作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记

参考例句：

• Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the gravestones. 几个世纪的风雨已磨损了墓碑上的碑文。
• The inscriptions on the stone tablet have become blurred with the passage of time. 年代久了，石碑上的字迹已经模糊了。

18 importune   

v.强求；不断请求

参考例句：

• It is not cost-efficient that sometimes we make ourselves exhausted just to importune something.有时候为了强求一样东西而令自己的身心都疲惫不堪，是很不划算的。
• One can no longer walk the streets without seeing beggars importuning passers by.走在街上总能看到乞丐纠缠行人乞讨。

19 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

20 beckoned   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He beckoned to the waiter to bring the bill. 他招手示意服务生把账单送过来。
• The seated figure in the corner beckoned me over. 那个坐在角落里的人向我招手让我过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

22 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

23 forsake   

vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃

参考例句：

• She pleaded with her husband not to forsake her.她恳求丈夫不要抛弃她。
• You must forsake your bad habits.你必须革除你的坏习惯。

24 affidavits   

n.宣誓书，（经陈述者宣誓在法律上可采作证据的）书面陈述( affidavit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The woman offered written affidavits proving that she was the widow of Pancho Villa. 这女人提供书面证书，证明自己是庞科·比亚的遗孀。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The appeal was adjourned for affidavits to be obtained. 为获得宣誓证明书，上诉被推迟。 来自口语例句

25 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。