THEY were always having grand tournaments there at Camelot; and very stirring and picturesque1 and ridiculous human bull-fights they were, too, but just a little wearisome to the practical mind. However, I was generally on hand -- for two reasons: a man must not hold himself aloof2 from the things which his friends and his community have at heart if he would be liked -- especially as a statesman; and both as business man and statesman I wanted to study the tournament and see if I couldn't invent an improvement on it. That reminds me to remark, in passing, that the very first official thing I did, in my administration -- and it was on the very first day of it, too -was to start a patent office; for I knew that a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab4, and couldn't travel any way but sideways or backways.
Things ran along, a tournament nearly every week; and now and then the boys used to want me to take a hand -- I mean Sir Launcelot and the rest -- but I said I would by and by; no hurry yet, and too much government machinery5 to oil up and set to rights and start a-going.
We had one tournament which was continued from day to day during more than a week, and as many as five hundred knights7 took part in it, from first to last. They were weeks gathering8. They came on horseback from everywhere; from the very ends of the country, and even from beyond the sea; and many brought ladies, and all brought squires9 and troops of servants. It was a most gaudy10 and gorgeous crowd, as to costumery, and very characteristic of the country and the time, in the way of high animal spirits, innocent indecencies of language, and happy-hearted indifference11 to morals. It was fight or look on, all day and every day; and sing, gamble, dance, carouse12 half the night every night. They had a most noble good time. You never saw such people. Those banks of beautiful ladies, shining in their barbaric splendors13, would see a knight6 sprawl14 from his horse in the lists with a lanceshaft the thickness of your ankle clean through him and the blood spouting15, and instead of fainting they would clap their hands and crowd each other for a better view; only sometimes one would dive into her handkerchief, and look ostentatiously broken-hearted, and then you could lay two to one that there was a scandal there somewhere and she was afraid the public hadn't found it out.
The noise at night would have been annoying to me ordinarily, but I didn't mind it in the present circumstances, because it kept me from hearing the quacks16 detaching legs and arms from the day's cripples. They ruined an uncommon17 good old cross-cut saw for me, and broke the saw-buck, too, but I let it pass. And as for my axe18 -- well, I made up my mind that the next time I lent an axe to a surgeon I would pick my century.
I not only watched this tournament from day to day, but detailed19 an intelligent priest from my Department of Public Morals and Agriculture, and ordered him to report it; for it was my purpose by and by, when I should have gotten the people along far enough, to start a newspaper. The first thing you want in a new country, is a patent office; then work up your school system; and after that, out with your paper. A newspaper has its faults, and plenty of them, but no matter, it's hark from the tomb for a dead nation, and don't you forget it. You can't resurrect a dead nation without it; there isn't any way. So I wanted to sample things, and be finding out what sort of reportermaterial I might be able to rake together out of the sixth century when I should come to need it.
Well, the priest did very well, considering. He got in all the details, and that is a good thing in a local item: you see, he had kept books for the undertakerdepartment of his church when he was younger, and there, you know, the money's in the details; the more details, the more swag: bearers, mutes, candles, prayers -- everything counts; and if the bereaved20 don't buy prayers enough you mark up your candles with a forked pencil, and your bill shows up all right. And he had a good knack21 at getting in the complimentary22 thing here and there about a knight that was likely to advertise -- no, I mean a knight that had influence; and he also had a neat gift of exaggeration, for in his time he had kept door for a pious23 hermit24 who lived in a sty and worked miracles.
Of course this novice's report lacked whoop25 and crash and lurid26 description, and therefore wanted the true ring; but its antique wording was quaint27 and sweet and simple, and full of the fragrances28 and flavors of the time, and these little merits made up in a measure for its more important lacks. Here is an extract from it:
Then Sir Brian de les Isles29 and Grummore Grummorsum, knights of the castle, encountered with Sir Aglovale and
Sir Tor, and Sir Tor smote30 down Sir Grummore Grummorsum to the earth. Then came Sir Carados of the dolorous31 tower, and Sir Turquine, knights of the castle, and there encountered with them Sir Percivale de Galis and Sir Lamorak de Galis, that were two brethren, and there encountered Sir Percivale with Sir Carados, and either brake their spears unto their hands, and then
Sir Turquine with Sir Lamorak, and either of them smote down other, horse and all, to the earth, and either parties rescued other and horsed them again. And Sir
Arnold, and Sir Gauter, knights of the castle, encountered with Sir Brandiles and Sir Kay, and these four knights encountered mightily32, and brake their spears to their hands. Then came Sir Pertolope from the castle, and there encountered with him Sir Lionel, and there Sir Pertolope the green knight smote down Sir
Lionel, brother to Sir Launcelot. All this was marked by noble heralds33, who bare him best, and their names.
Then Sir Bleobaris brake his spear upon Sir Gareth, but of that stroke Sir Bleobaris fell to the earth.
When Sir Galihodin saw that, he bad Sir Gareth keep him, and Sir Gareth smote him to the earth. Then Sir Galihud gat a spear to avenge34 his brother, and in the same wise
Sir Gareth served him, and Sir Dinadan and his brother
La Cote Male Taile, and Sir Sagramore le Disirous, and
Sir Dodinas le Savage35; all these he bare down with one spear. When King Aswisance of Ireland saw Sir Gareth fare so he marvelled36 what he might be, that one time seemed green, and another time, at his again coming, he seemed blue. And thus at every course that he rode to and fro he changed his color, so that there might neither king nor knight have ready cognizance of him.
Then Sir Agwisance the King of Ireland encountered with Sir Gareth, and there Sir Gareth smote him from his horse, saddle and all. And then came King Carados of Scotland, and Sir Gareth smote him down horse and man. And in the same wise he served King Uriens of the land of Gore37. And then there came in Six Bagdemagus, and Sir Gareth smote him down horse and man to the earth. And Bagdemagus's son Meliganus brake a spear upon Sir Gareth mightily and knightly38. And then Sir
Galahault the noble prince cried on high, Knight with the many colors, well hast thou justed; now make thee ready that I may just with thee. Sir Gareth heard him, and he gat a great spear, and so they encountered together, and there the prince brake his spear; but Sir
Gareth smote him upon the left side of the helm, that he reeled here and there, and he had fallen down had not his men recovered him. Truly, said King Arthur, that knight with the many colors is a good knight. Wherefore the king called unto him Sir Launcelot, and prayed him to encounter with that knight. Sir, said Launcelot, I may as well find in my heart for to forbear him at this time, for he hath had travail39 enough this day, and when a good knight doth so well upon some day, it is no good knight's part to let him of his worship, and, namely, when he seeth a knight hath done so great labour; for peradventure, said Sir Launcelot, his quarrel is here this day, and peradventure he is best beloved with this lady of all that be here, for I see well he paineth himself and enforceth him to do great deeds, and therefore, said Sir Launcelot, as for me, this day he shall have the honour; though it lay in my power to put him from it, I would not.
There was an unpleasant little episode that day, which for reasons of state I struck out of my priest's report. You will have noticed that Garry was doing some great fighting in the engagement. When I say Garry I mean Sir Gareth. Garry was my private pet name for him; it suggests that I had a deep affection for him, and that was the case. But it was a private pet name only, and never spoken aloud to any one, much less to him; being a noble, he would not have endured a familiarity like that from me. Well, to proceed: I sat in the private box set apart for me as the king's minister. While Sir Dinadan was waiting for his turn to enter the lists, he came in there and sat down and began to talk; for he was always making up to me, because I was a stranger and he liked to have a fresh market for his jokes, the most of them having reached that stage of wear where the teller40 has to do the laughing himself while the other person looks sick. I had always responded to his efforts as well as I could, and felt a very deep and real kindness for him, too, for the reason that if by malice41 of fate he knew the one particular anecdote42 which I had heard oftenest and had most hated and most loathed43 all my life, he had at least spared it me. It was one which I had heard attributed to every humorous person who had ever stood on American soil, from Columbus down to Artemus Ward44. It was about a humorous lecturer who flooded an ignorant audience with the killingest jokes for an hour and never got a laugh; and then when he was leaving, some gray simpletons wrung45 him gratefully by the hand and said it had been the funniest thing they had ever heard, and "it was all they could do to keep from laughin' right out in meetin'." That anecdote never saw the day that it was worth the telling; and yet I had sat under the telling of it hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of times, and cried and cursed all the way through. Then who can hope to know what my feelings were, to hear this armorplated ass3 start in on it again, in the murky46 twil
ight of tradition, before the dawn of history, while even Lactantius might be referred to as "the late Lactantius," and the Crusades wouldn't be born for five hundred years yet? Just as he finished, the call-boy came; so, haw-hawing like a demon47, he went rattling48 and clanking out like a crate49 of loose castings, and I knew nothing more. It was some minutes before I came to, and then I opened my eyes just in time to see Sir Gareth fetch him an awful welt, and I unconsciously out with the prayer, "I hope to gracious he's killed!" But by ill-luck, before I had got half through with the words, Sir Gareth crashed into Sir Sagramor le Desirous and sent him thundering over his horse's crupper, and Sir Sagramor caught my remark and thought I meant it for HIM.
Well, whenever one of those people got a thing into his head, there was no getting it out again. I knew that, so I saved my breath, and offered no explanations. As soon as Sir Sagramor got well, he notified me that there was a little account to settle between us, and he named a day three or four years in the future; place of settlement, the lists where the offense50 had been given. I said I would be ready when he got back. You see, he was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years' cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious51 way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don't think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he HAD run across it. You see, it was just the Northwest Passage of that day, as you may say; that was all. Every year expeditions went out holy grailing, and next year relief expeditions went out to hunt for THEM. There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money. Why, they actually wanted ME to put in! Well, I should smile.
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1
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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carouse
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| v.狂欢；痛饮；n.狂饮的宴会 | |
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splendors
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| n.华丽( splendor的名词复数 )；壮丽；光辉；显赫 | |
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sprawl
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| vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延 | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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quacks
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| abbr.quacksalvers 庸医，骗子(16世纪习惯用水银或汞治疗梅毒的人)n.江湖医生( quack的名词复数 )；江湖郎中；（鸭子的）呱呱声v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的第三人称单数 ) | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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fragrances
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| n.芳香，香味( fragrance的名词复数 )；香水 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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dolorous
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| adj.悲伤的；忧愁的 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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heralds
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| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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34
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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knightly
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| adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
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travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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41
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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43
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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44
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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45
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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46
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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48
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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49
crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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50
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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51
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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