Dostoevsky, The Brothers KaramazovActs of injustice3 doneBetween the setting and the rising sunIn history lie like bones, each one.
W.H. Auden, The Ascent4 of F.6"The night you left the warren, the Owsla were turned out to look for you. Howlong ago it seems now! We followed your scent5 down to the brook7, but when wetold the Threarah that you appeared to have set off downstream, he said therewas no point in risking lives by following you. If you were gone, you were gone.
But anyone who came back was to be arrested. So then I called off the search.
"Nothing unusual happened the next day. There was a certain amount of talkabout Fiver and the rabbits who'd gone with him. Everyone knew that Fiver hadsaid that something bad was going to happen and all sorts of rumors8 started. A lotof rabbits said there was nothing in it, but some thought that Fiver might haveforeseen men with guns and ferrets. That was the worst thing anyone could thinkof -- that or the white blindness.
"Willow9 and I talked things over with the Threarah. 'These rabbits,' he said,'who claim to have the second sight -- I've known one or two in my time. But it'snot usually advisable to take much notice of them. For one thing, many are justplain mischievous10. A weak rabbit who can't hope to get far by fighting sometimestries to make himself important by other means and prophecy is a favorite. Thecurious thing is that when he turns out to be wrong, his friends seldom seem tonotice, as long as he puts on a good act and keeps talking. But then again, youmay get a rabbit who really has this odd power, for it does exist. He foretells11 aflood perhaps, or ferrets and guns. All right; so a certain number of rabbits willstop running. What's the alternative? To evacuate12 a warren is a tremendousbusiness. Some refuse to go. The Chief Rabbit leaves with as many as will come.
His authority is likely to be put to the most severe test and if he loses it he won'tget it back in a hurry. At the best, you've got a big bunch of hlessil trailing roundin the open, probably with does and kittens tacked13 on. Elil appear in hordes14. Theremedy's worse than the disease. Almost always, it's better for the warren as awhole if rabbits sit tight and do their best to dodge15 their dangers underground.'""Of course, I never sat down and thought," said Fiver. "It would take theThrearah to think all that out. I simply had the screaming horrors. Great goldenFrith, I hope I never have them like that again! I shall never forget it -- that andthe night I spent under the yew16 tree. There's terrible evil in the world.""It comes from men," said Holly17. "All other elil do what they have to do andFrith moves them as he moves us. They live on the earth and they need food. Menwill never rest till they've spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals. But I'dbetter go on with this tale of mine.
"The next day in the afternoon, it began to rain.
("Those scrapes we dug in the bank," whispered Buckthorn to Dandelion.)"Everyone was underground, just chewing pellets or sleeping. I'd gone up for afew minutes to pass hraka. I was on the edge of the wood, quite near the ditch,when I saw some men come through the gate at the top of the opposite slope, upby that board thing. I don't know how many there were -- three or four, Isuppose. They had long black legs and they were burning white sticks in theirmouths. They didn't seem to be going anywhere. They began walking slowlyabout in the rain, looking at the hedges and the brook. After a time they crossedthe brook and came clumping18 up toward the warren. Whenever they came to arabbit hole, one of them would prod19 at it; and they kept talking all the time. Iremember the smell of the elder bloom in the rain and the smell of the whitesticks. Later, when they came closer, I slipped underground again. I could hearthem for some time, thumping20 about and talking. I kept thinking, 'Well, they'vegot no guns and no ferrets.' But somehow I didn't like it.""What did the Threarah say?" asked Silver.
"I've no idea. I didn't ask him and neither did anyone else, as far as I know. Iwent to sleep and when I woke there was no sound up above. It was evening and Idecided to silflay. The rain had settled in, but I pottered round and fed for a whileall the same. I couldn't see that anything was altered, except that here and therethe mouth of a hole had been poked22 in.
"The next morning was clear and fine. Everyone was out for silflay as usual. Iremember Nightshade told the Threarah that he ought to be careful not to tirehimself now that he was getting on in years: and the Threarah said he'd show himwho was getting on in years and cuffed23 him and pushed him down the bank. Itwas all quite good-humored, you know, but he did it just to show Nightshade thatthe Chief Rabbit was still a match for him. I was going out for lettuces24 thatmorning and for some reason or other I'd decided21 to go alone.""Three's the usual number for a lettuce25 party," said Bigwig.
"Yes, I know three used to be the usual number, but there was some specialreason why I went alone that day. Oh, yes, I remember -- I wanted to see if therewere any early carrots. I thought they might just be ready, and I reckoned that if Iwas going hunting about in a strange part of the garden I'd be better off bymyself. I was out most of the morning and it can't have been long before ni-Frithwhen I came back through the wood. I was coming down Silent Bank -- I knowmost rabbits preferred the Green Loose, but I nearly always went by Silent Bank.
I'd got into the open part of the wood, where it comes down, toward the old fence,when I noticed a hrududu in the lane at the top of the opposite slope. It wasstanding at the gate by the board and a lot of men were getting out. There was aboy with them and he had a gun. They took down some big, long things -- I don'tknow how to describe them to you -- they were made of the same sort of stuff as ahrududu and they must have been heavy, because it took two men to carry one ofthem. The men carried these things into the field and the few rabbits who wereabove ground went down. I didn't. I'd seen the gun and I thought they wereprobably going to use ferrets and perhaps nets. So I stayed where I was andwatched. I thought, 'As soon as I'm sure what they're up to, I'll go and warn theThrearah.'
"There was more talking and more white sticks. Men never hurry, do they?
Then one of them got a spade and began filling in the mouths of all the holes hecould find. Every hole he came to, he cut out the turf above and pushed it into thehole. That puzzled me, because with ferrets they want to drive the rabbits out. ButI was expecting that they'd leave a few holes open and net them: although thatwould have been a foolish way to ferret, because a rabbit that went up a blockedrun would be killed underground and then the man wouldn't get his ferret backvery easily, you know.""Don't make it too grim, Holly," said Hazel, for Pipkin was shuddering26 at thethought of the blocked run and the pursuing ferret.
"Too grim?" replied Holly bitterly. "I've hardly started yet. Would anyone liketo go away?" No one moved and after a few moments he continued.
"Then another of the men fetched some long, thin, bending things. I haven'tgot words for all these men things, but they were something like lengths of verythick bramble. Each of the men took one and put it on one of the heavy things.
There was a kind of hissing27 noise and -- and -- well, I know you must find thisdifficult to understand, but the air began to turn bad. For some reason I got astrong scent of this stuff that came out of the bramble things, even though I wassome way off: and I couldn't see or think. I seemed to be falling. I tried to jumpup and run, but I didn't know where I was and I found I'd run down to the edge ofthe wood, toward the men. I stopped just in time. I was bewildered and I'd lost allidea of warning the Threarah. After that I just sat where I was.
"The men put a bramble into each hole they'd left open and after that nothinghappened for a little while. And then I saw Scabious -- you remember Scabious?
He came out of a hole along the hedge -- one they hadn't noticed. I could see atonce that he'd smelled this stuff. He didn't know what he was doing. The mendidn't see him for a few moments and then one of them stuck out his arm to showwhere he was and the boy shot him. He didn't kill him -- Scabious began toscream -- and one of the men went over and picked him up and hit him. I reallybelieve he may not have suffered very much, because the bad air had turned himsilly: but I wish I hadn't seen it. After that, the man stopped up the hole thatScabious had come out of.
"By this time the poisoned air must have been spreading through the runs andburrows underground. I can imagine what it must have been like--""You can't," said Bluebell29. Holly stopped and after a pause Bluebell went on.
"I heard the commotion30 beginning before I smelled the stuff myself. The doesseemed to get it first and some of them began trying to get out. But the ones whohad litters wouldn't leave the kittens and they were attacking any rabbit whocame near them. They wanted to fight -- to protect the kittens, you know. Verysoon the runs were crammed31 with rabbits clawing and clambering over eachother. They went up the runs they were accustomed to use and found themblocked. Some managed to turn round, but they couldn't get back because of therabbits coming up. And then the runs began to be blocked lower down with deadrabbits and the live rabbits tore them to pieces.
"I shall never know how I got away with what I did. It was a chance in athousand. I was in a burrow28 near one of the holes that the men were using. Theymade a lot of noise putting the bramble thing in and I've got an idea it wasn'tworking properly. As soon as I picked up the smell of the stuff I jumped out of theburrow, but I was still fairly clear-headed. I came up the run just as the men weretaking the bramble out again. They were all looking at it and talking and theydidn't see me. I turned round, actually in the mouth of the hole, and went downagain.
"Do you remember the Slack Run? I suppose hardly a rabbit went down therein our lifetime -- it was so very deep and it didn't lead anywhere in particular. Noone knows even who made it. Frith must have guided me, for I went straightdown into the Slack Run and began creeping along it. I was actually digging attimes. It was all loose earth and fallen stones. There were all sorts of forgottenshafts and drops that led in from above, and down those were coming the mostterrible sounds -- cries for help, kittens squealing33 for their mothers, Owsla tryingto give orders, rabbits cursing and fighting each other. Once a rabbit cametumbling down one of the shafts32 and his claws just scratched me, like a horse-chestnut bur falling in autumn. It was Celandine and he was dead. I had to tear athim before I could get over him -- the place was so low and narrow -- and then Iwent on. I could smell the bad air, but I was so deep down that I must have beenbeyond the worst of it.
"Suddenly I found there was another rabbit with me. He was the only one Imet in the whole length of the Slack Run. It was Pimpernel and I could tell atonce that he was in a bad way. He was spluttering and gasping34, but he was able tokeep going. He asked if I was all right, but all I said was, 'Where do we get out?' 'Ican show you that,' he said, 'if you can help me along.' So I followed him andevery time he stopped -- he kept forgetting where we were -- I shoved him hard. Ieven bit him once. I was terrified that he was going to die and block the run. Atlast we began to come up and I could smell fresh air. We found we'd got into oneof those runs that led out into the wood.""The men had done their work badly," resumed Holly. "Either they didn't knowabout the wood holes or they couldn't be bothered to come and block them.
Almost every rabbit that came up in the field was shot, but I saw two get away.
One was Nose-in-the-Air, but I don't remember who the other was. The noise wasvery frightening and I would have run myself, but I kept waiting to see whetherthe Threarah would come. After a while I began to realize that there were a fewother rabbits in the wood. Pine Needles was there, I remember, and Butterburand Ash. I got hold of all I could and told them to sit tight under cover.
"After a long time the men finished. They took the bramble things out of theholes and the boy put the bodies on a stick--"Holly stopped and pressed his nose under Bigwig's flank.
"Well, never mind about that bit," said Hazel in a steady voice. "Tell us howyou came away.""Before that happened," said Holly, "a great hrududu came into the field fromthe lane. It wasn't the one the men came in. It was very noisy and it was yellow --as yellow as charlock: and in front there was a great silver, shining thing that itheld in its huge front paws. I don't know how to describe it to you. It looked likeInlé, but it was broad and not so bright. And this thing -- how can I tell you -- ittore the field to bits. It destroyed the field."He stopped again.
"Captain," said Silver, "we all know you've seen things bad beyond telling. Butsurely that's not quite what you mean?""Upon my life," said Holly, trembling, "it buried itself in the ground andpushed great masses of earth in front of it until the field was destroyed. Thewhole place became like a cattle wade35 in winter and you could no longer tellwhere any part of the field had been, between the wood and the brook. Earth androots and grass and bushes it pushed before it and -- and other things as well,from underground.
"After a long time I went back through the wood. I'd forgotten any idea ofcollecting other rabbits, but there were three who joined me all the same --Bluebell here and Pimpernel and young Toadflax. Toadflax was the only memberof the Owsla I'd seen and I asked him about the Threarah, but he couldn't talk anykind of sense. I never found out what happened to the Threarah. I hope he diedquickly.
"Pimpernel was light-headed -- chattering36 nonsense -- and Bluebell and Iweren't much better. For some reason all I could think of was Bigwig. Iremembed how I'd gone to arrest him -- to kill him, really -- and I felt I had tofind him and tell him I'd been wrong: and this idea was all the sense I had left.
The four of us went wandering away and we must have gone almost in a half-circle, because after a long time we came to the brook, below what had been ourfield. We followed it down into a big wood; and that night, while we were still inthe wood, Toadflax died. He was clear-headed for a short time before and Iremember something he said. Bluebell had been saying that he knew the menhated us for raiding their crops and gardens, and Toadflax answered, 'That wasn'twhy they destroyed the warren. It was just because we were in their way. Theykilled us to suit themselves.' Soon after that he went to sleep, and a little later,when we were alarmed by some noise or other, we tried to wake him and realizedhe was dead.
"We left him lying where he was and went on until we reached the river. Ineedn't describe it because I know you were all there. It was morning by thistime. We thought you might be somewhere near and we began to go along thebank, upstream, looking for you. It wasn't long before we found the place whereyou must have crossed. There were tracks -- a great many -- in the sand under asteep bank, and hraka about three days old. The tracks didn't go upstream ordownstream, so I knew you must have gone over. I swam across and found moretracks on the other side: so then the others came over, too. The river was high. Isuppose you must have had it easier, before all the rain.
"I didn't like the fields on the other side of the river. There was a man with agun who kept walking everywhere. I took the other two on, across a road, andsoon we came to a bad place -- all heather and soft black earth. We had a hardtime there, but again I came upon hraka about three days old and no sign of holesor rabbits, so I thought there was a chance that they were yours. Bluebell was allright, but Pimpernel was feverish38 and I was afraid he was going to die, too.
"Then we had a bit of luck -- or so we thought at the time. That night we fell inwith a hlessi on the edge of the heather -- an old, tough rabbit with his nose allscratched and scarred -- and he told us that there was a warren not far off andshowed us which way to go. We came to woods and fields again, but we were somuch exhausted39 that we couldn't start looking for the warren. We crept into aditch and I hadn't the heart to tell one of the others to keep awake. I tried to keepawake myself, but I couldn't.""When was this?" asked Hazel.
"The day before yesterday," said Holly, "early in the morning. When I woke itwas still some time before ni-Frith. Everything was quiet and all I could smell wasrabbit, but I felt at once that something was wrong. I woke Bluebell and I was justgoing to wake Pimpernel when I realized that there was a whole bunch of rabbitsall round us. They were great, big fellows and they had a very odd smell. It waslike -- well, like--""We know what it was like," said Fiver.
"I thought you probably did. Then one of them said, 'My name's Cowslip. Whoare you and what are you doing here?' I didn't like the way he spoke40, but Icouldn't see that they had any reason to wish us harm, so I told him that we'd hada bad time and come a long way and that we were looking for some rabbits fromour warren -- Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig. As soon as I said those names this rabbitturned to the others and cried, 'I knew it! Tear them to pieces!' And they all set onus41. One of them got me by the ear and ripped it up before Bluebell could pull himoff. We were fighting the lot of them. I was so much taken by surprise that Icouldn't do a great deal at first. But the funny thing was that although they wereso big and yelling for our blood, they couldn't fight at all: they obviously didn'tknow the first thing about fighting. Bluebell knocked down a couple twice hissize, and although my ear was pouring with blood I was never really in danger. Allthe same, they were too many for us, and we had to run. Bluebell and I had justgot clear of the ditch when we realized that Pimpernel was still there. He was ill,as I told you, and he didn't wake in time. So after all he'd been through, poorPimpernel was killed by rabbits. What do you think of that?""I think it was a damned shame," said Strawberry, before anyone else couldspeak.
"We were running down the fields, beside a little stream," Holly went on.
"Some of these rabbits were still chasing us and suddenly I thought, 'Well, I'llhave one of them anyway.' I didn't care for the idea of doing nothing more thanjust run away to save our skins -- not after Pimpernel. I saw that this Cowslip wasahead of the others and out on his own, so I let him catch me up and then Isuddenly turned and went for him. I had him down and I was just going to riphim up when he squealed42 out, 'I can tell you where your friends have gone.'
'Hurry up, then,' I said, with my back legs braced43 in his stomach. 'They've gone tothe hills,' he panted. 'The high hills you can see away over there. They wentyesterday morning.' I pretended not to believe him and acted as though I wasgoing to kill him. But he didn't alter his story, so I scratched him and let him goand away we came. It was clear weather and we could see the hills plainly enough.
"After that we had the worst time of all. If it hadn't been for Bluebell's jokesand chatter37 we'd have stopped running for certain.""Hraka one end, jokes the other," said Bluebell. "I used to roll a joke along theground and we both followed it. That was how we kept going.""I can't really tell you much about the rest of it," said Holly. "My ear wasterribly painful and all the time I kept thinking that Pimpernel's death was myfault. If I hadn't gone to sleep he wouldn't have died. Once we tried to sleep again,but my dreams were more than I could bear. I was out of my mind, really. I hadonly this one idea -- to find Bigwig and tell him that he'd been right to leave thewarren.
"At last we reached the hills, just at nightfall of the next day. We were pastcaring -- we came over the flat, open land at owl6 time. I don't know what I'd beenexpecting. You know how you let yourself think that everything will be all right ifyou can only get to a certain place or do a certain thing. But when you get thereyou find it's not that simple. I suppose I'd had some sort of foolish notion thatBigwig would be waiting to meet us. We found the hills were enormous -- biggerthan anything we'd ever seen. No woods, no cover, no rabbits: and night settingin. And then everything seemed to go to pieces. I saw Scabious, as plain as grass --and heard him crying, too: and I saw the Threarah and Toadflax and Pimpernel. Itried to talk to them. I was calling Bigwig, but I didn't really expect him to hearbecause I was sure he wasn't there. I can remember coming out from a hedge intothe open and I know I was really hoping that the elil would come and make anend of me. But when I came to my senses, there was Bigwig. My first thought wasthat I must be dead, but then I began to wonder whether he was real or not. Well,you know the rest. It's a pity I frightened you so much. But if I wasn't the -- theBlack Rabbit, there's hardly a living creature that can ever have been closer tohim than we have."After a silence, he added, "You can imagine what it means to Bluebell and meto find ourselves underground, among friends. It wasn't I who tried to arrest you,Bigwig -- that was another rabbit, long, long ago."
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1
rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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harass
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| vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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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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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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foretells
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的第三人称单数 ) | |
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evacuate
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| v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便 | |
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tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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yew
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| n.紫杉属树木 | |
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holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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clumping
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| v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的现在分词 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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prod
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| vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励 | |
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thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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poked
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cuffed
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lettuces
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| n.莴苣，生菜（ lettuce的名词复数 ）；生菜叶 | |
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lettuce
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| n.莴苣；生菜 | |
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shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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burrow
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| vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞 | |
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bluebell
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| n.风铃草 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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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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onus
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| n.负担；责任 | |
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squealed
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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