16. Silverweed

He said, "Dance for me" and he said,"You are too beautiful for the windTo pick at, or the sun to burn." He said,"I'm a poor tattered¹ thing, but not unkindTo the sad dancer and the dancing dead."Sidney Keyes, Four Postures² of Death"Well done," said Hazel, as Dandelion ended.
"He's very good, isn't he?" said Silver. "We're lucky to have him with us. Itraises your spirits just to hear him.""That's put their ears flat for them," whispered Bigwig. "Let's just see them finda storyteller to beat him."They were all in no doubt that Dandelion had done them credit. Ever sincetheir arrival most of them had felt out of their depth among these magnificent,well-fed strangers, with their detached manners, their Shapes on the wall, theirelegance, their adroit³ evasion⁴ of almost all questions -- above all, their fits of un-rabbitlike melancholy⁵. Now, their own storyteller had shown that they were nomere bunch of tramps. Certainly, no reasonable rabbit could withholdadmiration. They waited to be told as much, but after a few moments realizedwith surprise that their hosts were evidently less enthusiastic.
"Very nice," said Cowslip. He seemed to be searching for something more tosay, but then repeated, "Yes, very nice. An unusual tale.""But he must know it, surely?" muttered Blackberry to Hazel.
"I always think these traditional stories retain a lot of charm," said another ofthe rabbits, "especially when they're told in the real, old-fashioned spirit.""Yes," said Strawberry. "Conviction, that's what it needs. You really have tobelieve in El-ahrairah and Prince Rainbow, don't you? Then all the rest follows.""Don't say anything, Bigwig," whispered Hazel: for Bigwig was scuffling hispaws indignantly. "You can't force them to like it if they don't. Let's wait and seewhat they can do themselves." Aloud, he said, "Our stories haven't changed ingenerations, you know. After all, we haven't changed ourselves. Our lives havebeen the same as our fathers' and their fathers' before them. Things are differenthere. We realize that, and we think your new ideas and ways are very exciting.
We're all wondering what kind of things you tell stories about.""Well, we don't tell the old stories very much," said Cowslip. "Our stories andpoems are mostly about our own lives here. Of course, that Shape of Laburnumthat you saw -- that's old-fashioned now. El-ahrairah doesn't really mean much tous. Not that your friend's story wasn't very charming," he added hastily.
"El-ahrairah is a trickster," said Buckthorn, "and rabbits will always needtricks.""No," said a new voice from the further end of the hall, beyond Cowslip.
"Rabbits need dignity and, above all, the will to accept their fate.""We think Silverweed is one of the best poets we've had for many months,"said Cowslip. "His ideas have a great following. Would you like to hear him now?""Yes, yes," said voices from all sides. "Silverweed!""Hazel," said Fiver suddenly, "I want to get a clear idea of this Silverweed, but Idaren't go closer by myself. Will you come with me?""Why, Fiver, whatever do you mean? What is there to be afraid of?""Oh, Frith help me!" said Fiver, trembling. "I can smell him from here. Heterrifies me.""Oh, Fiver, don't be absurd! He just smells the same as the rest of them.""He smells like barley⁷ rained down and left to rot in the fields. He smells like awounded mole⁸ that can't get underground.""He smells like a big, fat rabbit to me, with a lot of carrots inside. But I'll comewith you."When they had edged their way through the crowd to the far end of theburrow, Hazel was surprised to realize that Silverweed was a mere⁶ youngster. Inthe Sandleford warren no rabbit of his age would have been asked to tell a story,except perhaps to a few friends alone. He had a wild, desperate air and his earstwitched continually. As he began to speak, he seemed to grow less and less awareof his audience and continually turned his head, as though listening to somesound, audible only to himself, from the entrance tunnel behind him. But therewas an arresting fascination¹⁰ in his voice, like the movement of wind and light on ameadow, and as its rhythm entered into his hearers the whole burrow⁹ becamesilent.
The wind is blowing, blowing over the grass.
It shakes the willow¹¹ catkins; the leaves shine silver.
Where are you going, wind? Far, far awayOver the hills, over the edge of the world.
Take me with you, wind, high over the sky.
I will go with you, I will be rabbit-of-the-wind,Into the sky, the feathery sky and the rabbit.
The stream is running, running over the gravel,Through the brooklime, the kingcups, the blue and gold of spring.
Where are you going, stream? Far, far awayBeyond the heather, sliding away all night.
Take me with you, stream, away in the starlight.
I will go with you, I will be rabbit-of-the-stream,Down through the water, the green water and the rabbit.
In autumn the leaves come blowing, yellow and brown.
They rustle¹² in the ditches, they tug¹³ and hang on the hedge.
Where are you going leaves? Far, far awayInto the earth we go, with the rain and the berries.
Take me, leaves, O take me on your dark journey.
I will go with you, I will be rabbit-of-the-leaves,In the deep places of the earth, the earth and the rabbit.
Frith lies in the evening sky. The clouds are red about him.
I am here, Lord Frith, I am running through the long grass.
O take me with you, dropping behind the woods,Far away, to the heart of light, the silence.
For I am ready to give you my breath, my life,The shining circle of the sun, the sun and the rabbit.
Fiver, as he listened, had shown a mixture of intense absorption andincredulous horror. At one and the same time he seemed to accept every wordand yet to be stricken with fear. Once he drew in his breath, as though startled torecognize his own half-known thoughts; and when the poem was ended heseemed to be struggling to come to himself. He bared his teeth and licked his lips,as Blackberry had done before the dead hedgehog on the road.
A rabbit in fear of an enemy will sometimes crouch¹⁴ stock still, either fascinatedor else trusting to its natural inconspicuousness to remain unnoticed. But then,unless the fascination is too powerful, there comes the point when keeping still isdiscarded and the rabbit, as though breaking a spell, turns in an instant to itsother resource -- flight. So it seemed to be with Fiver now. Suddenly he leaped upand began to push his way violently across the great burrow. Several rabbits werejostled and turned angrily on him, but he took no notice. Then he came to a placewhere he could not push between two heavy warren bucks¹⁵. He became hysterical,kicking and scuffling, and Hazel, who was behind him, had difficulty inpreventing a fight.
"My brother's a sort of poet, too, you know," he said to the bristling¹⁶ strangers.
"Things affect him very strongly sometimes and he doesn't always know why."One of the rabbits seemed to accept what Hazel had said, but the other replied,"Oh, another poet? Let's hear him, then. That'll be some return for my shoulder,anyway. He's scratched a great tuft of fur out."Fiver was already beyond them and thrusting toward the further entrancetunnel. Hazel felt that he must follow him. But after all the trouble that hehimself had taken to be friendly, he felt so cross at the way in which Fiver hadantagonized their new friends that as he passed Bigwig, he said, "Come and helpme to get some sense into him. The last thing we want is a fight now." He felt thatFiver really deserved a short touch of Bigwig.
They followed Fiver up the run and overtook him at the entrance. Before eitherof them could say a word, he turned and began to speak as though they had askedhim a question.
"You felt it, then? And you want to know whether I did? Of course I did. That'sthe worst part of it. There isn't any trick. He speaks the truth. So as long as hespeaks the truth it can't be folly¹⁷ -- that's what you're going to say, isn't it? I'm notblaming you, Hazel. I felt myself moving toward him like one cloud drifting intoanother. But then at the last moment I drifted wide. Who knows why? It wasn'tmy own will; it was an accident. There was just some little part of me that carriedme wide of him. Did I say the roof of that hall was made of bones? No! It's like agreat mist of folly that covers the whole sky: and we shall never see to go byFrith's light any more. Oh, what will become of us? A thing can be true and still bedesperate folly, Hazel.""What on earth's all this?" said Hazel to Bigwig in perplexity.
"He's talking about that lop-eared nitwit of a poet down there," answeredBigwig. "I know that much. But why he seems to think we should want to haveanything to do with him and his fancy talk -- that's more than I can imagine. Youcan save your breath, Fiver. The only thing that's bothering us is the row you'vestarted. As for Silverweed, all I can say is, I'll keep Silver and he can be just plainWeed."Fiver gazed back at him with eyes that, like a fly's, seemed larger than his head.
"You think that," he said. "You believe that. But each of you, in his own way, isthick in that mist. Where is the--"Hazel interrupted him and as he did so Fiver started. "Fiver, I won't pretendthat I didn't follow you up here to speak angrily. You've endangered our goodstart in this warren--"Endangered?" cried Fiver. "Endangered? Why, the whole place--""Be quiet. I was going to be angry, but you're obviously so much upset that itwould be pointless. But what you are going to do now is to come undergroundwith the two of us and sleep. Come on! And don't say any more for the moment."One respect in which rabbits' lives are less complicated than those of humansis that they are not ashamed to use force. Having no alternative, Fiveraccompanied Hazel and Bigwig to the burrow where Hazel had spent the previousnight. There was no one there and they lay down and slept.

1 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

2 postures   

姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场

参考例句：

• Modern consciousness has this great need to explode its own postures. 现代意识很有这种摧毁本身姿态的需要。
• They instinctively gathered themselves into more tidy postures. 她们本能地恢复了端庄的姿态。

3 adroit   

adj.熟练的，灵巧的

参考例句：

• Jamie was adroit at flattering others.杰米很会拍马屁。
• His adroit replies to hecklers won him many followers.他对质问者的机敏应答使他赢得了很多追随者。

4 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

5 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

8 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

9 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。

10 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

11 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。

12 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

13 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

14 crouch   

v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏

参考例句：

• I crouched on the ground.我蹲在地上。
• He crouched down beside him.他在他的旁边蹲下来。

15 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

17 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。