CHAPTER VI THE SAD STORY OF THE TRANSFORMATION

I soon learned to feel so much affection and admiration¹ for Fiam that even now I never light a match without thinking of him.

“Was that the end?” I asked him.

“No; every year at that date in May there was a festival in the wood. You see, I had become a god to these people; they adored me. But as the years passed the festival grew very sad. The men became old. The army dwindled² away. The musicians lost their voices, and each year the songs were slower and feebler. Prince Funato’s hair turned white, then his back was bent³, then he came up the mountain leaning on a cane⁴, then he was carried on a litter, and then he came no more.

“The first year his followers⁵ returned without him; they wept as they burned incense⁶ under my boughs⁷. Funato was dead. From that time the pilgrimage was more and more melancholy⁸.

[54]

“Fifty years after the battle there were left only one musician, two servants and nine soldiers. At the end of another year, that day in May, only one man came. He looked as if he were a hundred years old. He could hardly drag himself along. He laid his wrinkled forehead against me and murmured:

“‘Honorable Willow⁹, we shall never meet again.’

“After that I saw no one; I was forgotten. How could I tell what men were doing in the valley? But I am tiring you with all these old memories.”

“Fiam!” I exclaimed, after a few minutes of silence, “I not only love you, but respect you. You have done some beautiful things in your life.”

“But think what I have come to be—a match!”

“Tell me how it happened.”

“Well, some years passed; then one day I heard voices and the sound of axes in the woods, and I saw that companies of men were chopping down the trees. This work lasted for months. Near me there was another Haji living in a beautiful elm half-way up the mountain. One evening I heard the crash of a great tree falling, and in the midst of the noise I could hear the voice of my friend, who called out to me:

[55]

“‘Farewell, Mikara.’

“I looked over the tops of the trees. He was gone, and I never saw him again. The next morning a man passed near me, looked at me and, with a brush soaked in paint as red as blood, he made on my trunk the words that mean, ‘To be cut down.’

“I shook my bark in the way horses shake their skins to drive away flies, hoping to make those horrible words drop off, but I didn’t succeed. Some days later a group of ragged¹⁰ men arrived with axes; they read the words and fell upon me.”

“And what did you do?”

“I? In that moment of danger I revealed myself for the second time. You know, I told you that Hajis could make themselves known three times. I shouted, ‘Stop!’”

“And did they?”

“Yes, for an instant. They listened and I repeated, ‘Stop!’ They laughed and said it was an echo. I don’t know what sort of a thing an echo is. Once on a time when we heard a voice in the wood we all knew it was a Haji speaking. Now they say: ‘It is an echo,’ and laugh.”

[56]

“And they cut you down?”

“Yes, indeed, they cut me down. They worked a whole day. They took me first into the valley; next I felt myself carried quickly by a monster that spit fire.”

“The train.”

“Call it that, if you like. I was taken into a great house where there was another monster that cut the trees in sheets.”

“A sawmill.”

[57]

“Call it that if you like. I was cut into eight hundred parts, and each part was caught by iron jaws¹¹, swallowed and spit out, turned into thousands and thousands of little sticks, all exactly alike. A real army of sticks, whole regiments¹², were put at one time into a suffocating¹³ bath, from which they came out with phosphorus heads.

“At last they were shut up in little boxes, and then they were piled in pyramids in an immense room.”

“A store.”

“Call it that if you like.”

“And what became of you?”

“You know that a Haji before dying can take refuge in whatever part of the tree still remains¹⁴. So I passed from box to box. As the boxes were packed in larger boxes and carried away, I went from one to another of those that remained.

“At last the pyramid became very small; only a hundred and forty-four boxes were left. They were all put together and I was carried to this city. The boxes were sold one by one. I lived in the last, in this one where you found me. All this time I had before me the picture of the frightful¹⁵ end that awaited me. At [58] first when I realized that my power, my peace and happiness were over, I supposed I should still live, so imagine my terror when.... It makes me crazy to think of it.”

1 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

2 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

4 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

5 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

6 incense   

v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气

参考例句：

• This proposal will incense conservation campaigners.这项提议会激怒环保人士。
• In summer,they usually burn some coil incense to keep away the mosquitoes.夏天他们通常点香驱蚊。

7 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

8 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。

9 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。

10 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

11 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

12 regiments   

（军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物

参考例句：

• The three regiments are all under the command of you. 这三个团全归你节制。
• The town was garrisoned with two regiments. 该镇有两团士兵驻守。

13 suffocating   

a.使人窒息的

参考例句：

• After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
• That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。