A calamity2 shortly afterwards overtook the Master of the Horse, whose spouse—a gift from the monarch3 to his faithful subject—was seized with alarming influenza4, and became an object of universal attention. The first intimation of the disorder5 being serious was received from himself, when he came one morning to Graham’s tent, in order to perform the interesting operation of shaving with a notched6 razor that he invariably patronised, and also to demand how it occurred that our inquiries7 were not more frequent. The not dispatching couriers daily to ascertain8 how each of your acquaintance fares and has rested, is perhaps the greatest offence that can be committed against Abyssinian etiquette9. “Send to me” is a caution invariably given; and such being an indispensable ceremony when people are believed to be well, what must not be exacted when it is supposed that they are invalids10? If hourly inquiries be not made, the best friends are sure to become the worst; and in every case the amount of real solicitude11 felt, is estimated by the frequency of “amicable correspondence.”
“The patient’s uvula has been cleverly plucked out with a silken thread,” observed the visitor exultingly12, when his toilet was happily completed:—“the thorax has been well scarified, and furthermore, we are giving ya medur oomboi (Cucumis Africanus, Linn). This medicine is infallible; but remember,” he added, lowering his voice, and looking suspiciously round to see that no eaves-dropper profited by the wisdom he was about to impart in confidence—“remember that it must be gathered by a finger on which there is a silver ring, or, by Michael, it possesses no virtue13 whatever.”
The good lady did not, however, long stand in need either of treatment or inquiry14. She closed her bright eyes shortly after swallowing the infallible nostrum15, administered by her quack16 husband in a jorum of oatmeal gruel17, stirred with honey and rancid butter to such a consistency18 that the spoon would stand—and death left her barely time for confession19 and absolution.
Every priest in the neighbourhood was instantly called in to the rescue; and the enchifchif (i.e. belt of charms and amulets) and máteb having been immersed in water, and restored to the body, the sacrament was administered; and under the blazing light of the torch, prayers were chanted for the soul of the deceased until the morning dawned. Then commenced the frantic20 shrieks21 of the female crowd that flocked to the house of mourning. Cloths were torn in shreds22 from the bosom23, and the skin plucked from the temples, whilst the low moaning dirge24 was at frequent intervals25 interrupted by the hysterical26 sob27 of some new arrival, who came to add her voice to the dismal28 coronach, and to excite renewed bursts of lamentation29.
Preceded by the gay orange umbrellas of the church of the “Covenant of Mercy,” the funeral procession wound up the palace hill. A pall30 of printed Surat chintz, supported by six bearers, was waved alternately with a fanning motion, whilst a numerous train of mourners followed, with loud wails31, all having their hands clasped behind their neck in token of the triumph obtained by Death over Sin. The corpse32 was laid in the sacred edifice33, surrounded by twelve lighted tapers34 betokening35 purity of life; and when these were nearly consumed, they were lowered with the bier into the sepulchre. The head was laid to the west, in order that on the morn of resurrection the face might be towards the rising sun. A quantity of frankincense was deposited in the grave; and a copy of the book styled Lefáfa Zádik, “The supplication36 of Righteousness,” having been placed on the body, the mortal clay was returned whence it came, “ashes to ashes, and dust to dust.”
Ecclesiastics37 alone possess the privilege of a last resting-place within the walls of the church, or on the eastern side, four paces from the porch. The aristocracy occupy the north, and warriors38, women, and children, the south and west. All who die without confession or absolution are either interred39 by the highway-side or in some unconsecrated ground. Governors, men of rank, and all wealthy commoners who have not during life worked in wood, iron, or precious metals, are covered in the sepulchre with the green branches of the juniper; but smiths and artificers being regarded as sorcerers, every care is taken to keep them under ground when once deposited, to which end great stones are heaped over the body, and the earth is well trampled40 and secured.
Funeral obsequies concluded, the dirge of mourning, as usual, gave place to the notes of the violin, for harpers and fiddlers usually attend to the last resting-place the mortal remains41 of the great, and exert their utmost endeavours to raise the spirits of the return party by the liveliest airs. At the funeral feast which followed, oxen and sheep were freely slaughtered42, and charity was liberally distributed, in order that requiems43 might be chanted during forty consecutive44 days for the soul of the departed.
It has been shown that the Abyssinian Christian45, whilst execrating46 Mohammadanism, and forswearing all its abominations, can take unto his bosom four wives and more, and that the solemnisation of matrimony is almost the only occasion on which the priest is not called in. Such had ever been the case in the house of the Master of the Horse, who was nevertheless inconsolable under his present bereavement. Certain malicious47 whispers had flown abroad, to the effect that applications of the cudgel were sometimes resorted to by the epicure48 in support of his marital49 authority; but whether true or without foundation, these scandalous tales were known to have been circulated by Dinkoo, a mischief-making brat50, with the falsest of tongues, and the offspring of one whose divorce, from incompatibility51 of temper, had left the deceased undisputed mistress of the premises52, whereas of the matchless “Etagainya” now no more, the neighbours were ever wont53 to exclaim, “Where shall you find her equal?”
At the appointed season, Graham and myself went in compliance54 with Abyssinian custom, to pay a visit of condolence, after having with considerable difficulty succeeded in shaking off the attentions of the court buffoon55, who, with his wonted politeness, exerted somewhat mal-à-propos to so melancholy56 an occasion, insisted upon the exercise of his ingenuity57 in the comic drama. The widower58, enveloped59 in a black woollen mantle60, was seated in a gloomy corner, the very personification of mourning—his temples deeply scarified with his little finger nail, as were those also of the wrinkled old woman who wept beside him. In an opposite corner, equally the victim of grief, and supported by the family priest with cross, crutch61, and cowl, sat Marietta, a fat daughter of the former unfortunate union, who, like her mother, had been wedded62 and divorced, and having taken shelter again under her father’s roof, was now sobbing63 aloud.
“God hath taken her,” said one of the guests, breaking silence after the conclusion of the customary salutations. “The life of man is in His hand.”
“Alas!” sobbed64 the bereaved65, “that it had pleased Heaven to spare her until after you had left Abyssinia, that I alone might have found cause for affliction. Who could prepare shiro, and wotz, and dilli, like Etagainya? When was the house ever destitute66 of quanta or of qualima? (Note 1) and who ever asked for tullah or for tedj, that she did not reply, ‘Malto,’ There is abundance? ‘Waiye, waiye,’ Woe67 is me. Where shall I find her equal? But there could have been no ring on the finger that gathered the medánit!”
Note 1. Shiro, a sauce composed of peas or lentils boiled with grease and spices. Wotz, another, consisting of grease and red pepper. Dilli, a third abominable68 condiment69. Quanta, sun-dried flesh. Qualima, sausages.
点击收听单词发音
1 bereavement | |
n.亲人丧亡,丧失亲人,丧亲之痛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 influenza | |
n.流行性感冒,流感 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 notched | |
a.有凹口的,有缺口的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 ascertain | |
vt.发现,确定,查明,弄清 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 etiquette | |
n.礼仪,礼节;规矩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 invalids | |
病人,残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 solicitude | |
n.焦虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 exultingly | |
兴高采烈地,得意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 nostrum | |
n.秘方;妙策 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 quack | |
n.庸医;江湖医生;冒充内行的人;骗子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 gruel | |
n.稀饭,粥 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 consistency | |
n.一贯性,前后一致,稳定性;(液体的)浓度 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 confession | |
n.自白,供认,承认 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 shrieks | |
n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 dirge | |
n.哀乐,挽歌,庄重悲哀的乐曲 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 hysterical | |
adj.情绪异常激动的,歇斯底里般的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 sob | |
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 lamentation | |
n.悲叹,哀悼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 pall | |
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 wails | |
痛哭,哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 edifice | |
n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿,教室) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 tapers | |
(长形物体的)逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 ); 微弱的光; 极细的蜡烛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 betokening | |
v.预示,表示( betoken的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 supplication | |
n.恳求,祈愿,哀求 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 ecclesiastics | |
n.神职者,教会,牧师( ecclesiastic的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 interred | |
v.埋,葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 requiems | |
(天主教)安魂弥撒仪式,安魂曲( requiem的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 consecutive | |
adj.连续的,联贯的,始终一贯的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 execrating | |
v.憎恶( execrate的现在分词 );厌恶;诅咒;咒骂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 epicure | |
n.行家,美食家 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 marital | |
adj.婚姻的,夫妻的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 brat | |
n.孩子;顽童 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 incompatibility | |
n.不兼容 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 compliance | |
n.顺从;服从;附和;屈从 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 buffoon | |
n.演出时的丑角 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 ingenuity | |
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 widower | |
n.鳏夫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 crutch | |
n.T字形拐杖;支持,依靠,精神支柱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 wedded | |
adj.正式结婚的;渴望…的,执著于…的v.嫁,娶,(与…)结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 sobbing | |
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 sobbed | |
哭泣,啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 ); 哭诉,呜咽地说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 bereaved | |
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) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 condiment | |
n.调味品 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |