Without looking at the fair Orberosia, who was spinning, he seated himself in front of the fireplace, ON which a sheep was roasting, and he muttered: “Ignoble Penguins4. . . . There is no worse trade than a dragon’s.”
“What does my master say?” asked the fair Orberosia.
“They fear me no longer,” continued Kraken. “Formerly everyone fled at my approach. I carried away hens and rabbits in my bag; I drove sheep and pigs, cows, and oxen before me. To-day these clod-hoppers keep a good guard; they sit up at night. Just now I was pursued in the village of Anis by doughty5 labourers armed with flails6 and scythes7 and pitchforks. I had to drop the hens and rabbits, put my tail under my arm, and run as fast as I could. Now I ask you, is it seemly for a dragon of Cappadocia to run away like a robber with his tail under his arm? Further, incommoded as I was by crests9, horns, hooks, claws, and scales, I barely escaped a brute10 who ran half an inch of his pitchfork into my left thigh11.”
As he said this he carefully ran his hand over the insulted part, and, after giving himself up for a few moments to bitter meditation12:
“What idiots those Penguins are! I am tired of blowing flames in the faces of such imbeciles. Orberosia, do you hear me?”
Having thus spoken the hero raised his terrible helmet in his hands and gazed at it for a long time in gloomy silence. Then he pronounced these rapid words:
“I have made this helmet with my own hands in the shape of a fish’s head, covering it with the skin of a seal. To make it more terrible I have put on it the horns of a bull and I have given it a boar’s jaws13; I have hung from it a horse’s tail dyed vermilion. When in the gloomy twilight14 I threw it over my shoulders no inhabitant of this island had courage to withstand its sight. Women and children, young men and old men fled distracted at its approach, and I carried terror among the whole race of Penguins. By what advice does that insolent15 people lose its earlier fears and dare today to behold16 these horrible jaws and to attack this terrible crest8?”
And throwing his helmet on the rocky soil:
“Perish, deceitful helmet!” cried Kraken. “I swear by all the demons17 of Armor that I will never bear you upon my head again.”
And having uttered this oath he stamped upon his helmet, his gloves, his boots, and upon his tail with its twisted folds.
“Kraken,” said the fair Orberosia, “will you allow your servant to employ artifice18 to save your reputation and your goods? Do not despise a woman’s help. You need it, for all men are imbeciles.”
“Woman,” asked Kraken, “what are your plans?”
And the fair Orberosia informed her husband that the monks19 were going through the villages teaching the inhabitants the best way of combating the dragon; that, according to their instructions, the beast would be overcome by a virgin20, and that if a maid placed her girdle around the dragon’s neck she could lead him as easily as if he were a little dog.
“How do you know that the monks teach this?” asked Kraken.
“My friend,” answered Orberosia, “do not interrupt a serious subject by frivolous21 questions. . . . ‘If, then,’ added the monks, ‘there be in Alca a pure virgin, let her arise!’ Now, Kraken, I have determined22 to answer their call. I will go and find the holy Mael and I will say to him: ‘I am the virgin destined23 by Heaven to overthrow24 the dragon.’”
At these words Kraken exclaimed: “How can you be that pure virgin? And why do you want to overthrow me, Orberosia? Have you lost your reason? Be sure that I will not allow myself to be conquered by you!”
“Can you not try and understand me before you get angry?” sighed the fair Orberosia with deep though gentle contempt.
And she explained the cunning designs that she had formed.
As he listened, the hero remained pensive25. And when she ceased speaking:
“Orberosia, your cunning is deep,” said he. “And if your plans are carried out according to your intentions I shall derive26 great advantages from them. But how can you be the virgin destined by heaven?”
“Don’t bother about that,” she replied, “and come to bed.”
The next day in the grease-laden atmosphere of the cavern, Kraken plaited a deformed27 skeleton out of osier rods and covered it with bristling28, scaly29, and filthy30 skins. To one extremity31 of the skeleton Orberosia sewed the fierce crest and the hideous32 mask that Kraken used to wear in his plundering33 expeditions, and to its other end she fastened the tail with twisted folds which the hero was wont34 to trail behind him. And when the work was finished they showed little Elo and the other five children who waited on them how to get inside this machine, how to make it walk, how to blow horns and burn tow in it so as to send forth35 smoke and flames through the dragon’s mouth.
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1
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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2
beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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grotto
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| n.洞穴 | |
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penguins
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| n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 ) | |
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doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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flails
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| v.鞭打( flail的第三人称单数 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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7
scythes
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| 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 ) | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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10
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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13
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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artifice
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| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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scaly
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| adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的 | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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32
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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