HE LOOKED AWFUL. His hair reached down to the hollows of his knees, his scraggly beard to his navel. His nails were like talons1, and the skin on his arms and legs, where the rags no longer covered his body, was peeling off in shreds2.
The first people he met, farmers in a field near the town of Pierrefort, ran off screaming at the sight of him. But in the town itself, he caused a sensation. By the hundreds people came running to gape3 at him. Many of them believed he was an escaped galley4 slave. Others said he was not really a human being, but some mixture of man and bear, some kind of forest creature. One fellow, who had been to sea, claimed that he looked like a member of a wild Indian tribe in Cayenne, which lay on the other side of the great ocean. They led him before the mayor. There, to the astonishment5 of the assembly, he produced his journeyman’s papers, opened his mouth, and related in a few gabbled but sufficiently6 comprehensible words- for these were the first words that he had uttered in seven years-how he had been attacked by robbers, dragged off, and held captive in a cave for seven years.
He had seen neither daylight nor another human being during that time, had been fed by an invisible hand that let down a basket in the dark, and finally set free by a ladder-without his ever knowing why and without ever having seen his captors or his rescuer. He had thought this story up, since it seemed to him more believable than the truth; and so it was, for similar attacks by robbers occurred not infrequently in the mountains of the Auvergne and Languedoc, and in the Cevennes. At least the mayor recorded it all without protest and passed his report on to the marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse, liege lord of the town and member of parliament in Toulouse.
At the age of forty, the marquis had turned his back on life at the court of Versailles and retired7 to his estates, where he lived for science alone. From his pen had come an important work concerning dynamic political economy. In it he had proposed the abolition8 of all taxes on real estate and agricultural products, as well as the introduction of an upside-down progressive income tax, which would hit the poorest citizens the hardest and so force them to a more vigorous development of their economic activities. Encouraged by the success of his little book, he authored a tract9 on the raising of boys and girls between the ages of five and ten. Then he turned to experimental agriculture. By spreading the semen of bulls over various grasses, he attempted to produce a milk-yielding animal-vegetable hybrid10, a sort of udder flower. After initial successes that enabled him to produce a cheese from his milk grass-described by the Academy of Sciences of Lyon as “tasting of goat, though slightly bitter”- he had to abandon his experiments because of the enormous cost of spewing bull semen by the hundreds of quarts across his fields. In any case, his concern with matters agro-biological had awakened11 his interest not only in the plowed12 clod, so to speak, but in the earth in general and its relationship to the biosphere13 in particular.
He had barely concluded his work with the milk-yielding udder flower when he threw himself with great elan into unflagging research for a grand treatise14 on the relationship between proximity15 to the earth and vital energy. His thesis was that life could develop only at a certain distance from the earth, since the earth itself constantly emits a corrupting16 gas, a so-called fluidum letale, which lames17 vital energies and sooner or later totally extinguishes them. All living creatures therefore endeavor to distance themselves from the earth by growing-that is, they grow away from it and not, for instance, into it; which is why their most valuable parts are lifted heavenwards: the ears of grain, the blossoms of flowers, the head of man; and therefore, as they begin to bend and buckle18 back toward the earth in old age, they will inevitably19 fall victim to the lethal20 gas, into which they are in turn finally changed once they have decomposed21 after death.
When the marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse received word that in Pierrefort an individual had been found who had dwelt in a cave for seven years-that is, completely encapsulated by the corrupting element of the earth-he was beside himself with delight and immediately had Grenouille brought to his laboratory, where he subjected him to a thorough examination. He found his theories confirmed most graphically22: the fluidum letale had already so assaulted Grenouille that his twenty-five-year-old body clearly showed the marks of senile deterioration23. All that had prevented his death, Taillade-Espinasse declared, was that during his imprisonment24 Grenouille had been given earth-removed plants, presumably bread and fruits, for nourishment25. And now his former healthy condition could be restored only by the wholesale26 expulsion of the fluidum, using a vital ventilation machine, devised by Taillade-Espinasse himself. He had such an apparatus27 standing28 in his manor29 in Montpellier, and if Grenouille was willing to make himself available as the object of a scientific demonstration30, he was willing not only to free him from hopeless contamination by earth gas, but he would also provide him with a handsome sum of money....
Two hours later they were sitting in the carriage. Although the roads were in miserable31 condition, they traveled the sixty-four miles to Montpellier in just under two days, for despite his advanced age, the marquis would not be denied his right personally to whip both driver and horses and to lend a hand whenever, as frequently happened, an axle or spring broke-so excited was he by his find, so eager to present it to an educated audience as soon as possible. Grenouille, however, was not allowed to leave the carriage even once. He was forced to sit there all wrapped up in his rags and a blanket drenched32 with earth and clay. During the trip he was given raw vegetable roots to eat. The marquis hoped these procedures would preserve the contamination by earth’s fluidum in its ideal state for a while yet.
Upon their arrival in Montpellier, he had Grenouille taken at once to the cellar of his mansion33, and sent out invitations to all the members of the medical faculty34, the botanical association, the agricultural school, the chemophysical club, the Freemason lodge35, and the other assorted36 learned societies, of which the city had no fewer than a dozen. And several days later-exactly one week after he had left his mountain solitude-Grenouille found himself on a dais in the great hall of the University of Montpellier and was presented as the scientific sensation of the year to a crowd of several hundred people.
In his lecture, Taillade-Espinasse described him as living proof for the validity of his theory of earth’s fluidum letale. While he stripped Grenouille of his rags piece by piece, he explained the devastating38 effect that the corruptive39 gas had perpetrated on Gre-nouille’s body: one could see the pustules and scars caused by the corrosive40 gas; there on his breast a giant, shiny-red gas cancer; a general disintegration41 of the skin; and even clear evidence of fluidal deformation42 of the bone structure, the visible indications being a clubfoot and a hunchback. The internal organs as well had been damaged by the gas-pancreas, liver, lungs, gallbladder, and intestinal43 tract-as the analysis of a stool sample (accessible to the public in a basin at the feet of the exhibit) had proved beyond doubt. In summary, it could be said that the paralysis44 of the vital energies caused by a seven-year contamination with fluidum letale Taillade had progressed so far that the exhibit-whose external appearance, by the way, already displayed significant molelike traits -could be described as a creature more disposed toward death than life. Nevertheless, the lecturer pledged that within eight days, using ventilation therapy in combination with a vital diet, he would restore this doomed45 creature to the point where the signs of a complete recovery would be self-evident to everyone, and he invited those present to return in one week to satisfy themselves of the success of this prognosis, which, of course, would then have to be seen as valid37 proof that his theory concerning earth’s fluidum was likewise correct.
The lecture was an immense success. The learned audience applauded the lecturer vigorously and lined up to pass the dais where Grenouille was standing. In his state of preserved deterioration and with all his old scars and deformities, he did indeed look so impressively dreadful that everyone considered him beyond recovery and already half decayed, although he himself felt quite healthy and robust46. Many of the gentlemen tapped him up and down in a professional manner, measured him, looked into his mouth and eyes. Several of them addressed him directly and inquired about his life in the cave and his present state of health. But he kept strictly47 to the instructions the marquis had given him beforehand and answered all such questions with nothing more than a strained death rattle48, making helpless gestures with his hands to his larynx, as if to indicate that too was already rotted away by thefluidum letale Taillade.
At the end of the demonstration, Taillade-Espinasse packed him back up and transported him home to the storage room of his manor. There, in the presence of several selected doctors from the medical faculty, he locked Grenouille in his vital ventilation machine, a box made of tightly jointed49 pine boards, which by means of a suction flue extending far above the house roof could be flooded with air extracted from the higher regions, and thus free of lethal gas. The air could then escape through a leather flap-valve placed in the floor. The apparatus was kept in operation by a staff of servants who tended it day and night, so that the ventilators inside the flue never stopped pumping. And so, surrounded by the constant purifying stream of air, Grenouille was fed a diet of foods from earth-removed regions-dove bouillon, lark50 pie, ragout of wild duck, preserves of fruit picked from trees, bread made from a special wheat grown at high altitudes, wine from the Pyrenees, chamois milk, and frozen frothy meringue from hens kept in the attic51 of the mansion-all of which was presented at hourly intervals52 through the door of a double-walled air lock built into the side of the chamber53.
This combined treatment of decontamination and revitalization lasted for five days. Then the marquis had the ventilators stopped and Grenouille brought to a washroom, where he was softened54 for several hours in baths of lukewarm rainwater and finally waxed from head to toe with nut-oil soap from Potosi in the Andes. His finger- and toenails were trimmed, his teeth cleaned with pulverized55 lime from the Dolomites, he was shaved, his hair cut and combed, coifFed and powdered. A tailor, a cobbler were sent for, and Grenouille was fitted out in a silk shirt, with white jabot and white ruffles56 at the cuffs57, silk stockings, frock coat, trousers, and vest of blue velvet58, and handsome buckled59 shoes of black leather, the right one cleverly elevated for his crippled foot. The marquis personally applied60 white talcum makeup61 to Gre-nouille’s scarred face, dabbed62 his lips and cheeks with crimson63, and gave a truly noble arch to his eyebrows64 with the aid of a soft stick of linden charcoal65. Then he dusted him with his own personal perfume, a rather simple violet fragrance66, took a few steps back, and took some time to find words for his delight.
“Monsieur,” he began at last, “I am thrilled with myself. I am overwhelmed at my own genius. I have, to be sure, never doubted the correctness of my fluidal theory; of course not; but to find it so gloriously confirmed by an applied therapy overwhelms me. You were a beast, and I have made a man of you. A veritable divine act. Do forgive me, I am so touched! -Stand in front of that mirror there and regard yourself. You will realize for the first time in your life that you are a human being; not a particularly extraordinary or in any fashion distinguished67 one, but nevertheless a perfectly68 acceptable human being. Go on, monsieur! Regard yourself and admire the miracle that I have accomplished69 with you!”
It was the first time that anyone had ever said “monsieur” to Grenouille.
He walked over to the mirror and looked into it.
Before that day he had never seen himself in a mirror. He saw a gentleman in a handsome blue outfit70, with a white shirt and silk stockings; and instinctively71 he ducked, as he had always ducked before such fine gentlemen. The fine gentleman, however, ducked as well, and when Grenouille stood up straight again, the fine gentleman did the same, and then they both stared straight into each other’s eyes.
What dumbfounded Grenouille most was the fact that he looked so unbelievably normal. The marquis was right: there was nothing special about his looks, nothing handsome, but then nothing especially ugly either. He was a little short of stature72, his posture73 was a little awkward, his face a little expressionless-in short, he looked like a thousand other people. If he were now to go walking down the street, not one person would turn around to look at him. A man such as he now was, should he chance to meet him, would not even strike him as in any way unusual. Unless, of course, he would smell that the man, except for a hint of violets, had as little odor as the gentleman in the mirror-or himself, standing there in front of it.
And yet only ten days before, farmers had run away screaming at the sight of him. He had not felt any different from the way he did now; and now, if he closed his eyes, he felt not one bit different from then. He inhaled74 the air that rose up from his own body and smelled the bad perfume and the velvet and the freshly glued leather of his shoes; he smelled the silk cloth, the powder, the makeup, the light scent75 of the soap from Potosi. And suddenly he knew that it had not been the dove bouillon nor the ventilation hocus-pocus that had made a normal person out of him, but solely76 these few clothes, the haircut, and the little masquerade with cosmetics77.
He blinked as he opened his eyes and saw how the gentleman in the mirror blinked back at him and how a little smile played about his carmine78 lips, as if signaling to him that he did not find him totally unattractive. And Grenouille himself found that the gentleman in the mirror, this odorless figure dressed and made up like a man, was not all that bad either; at least it seemed to him as if the figure-once its costume had been perfected-might have an effect on the world outside that he, Grenouille, would never have expected of himself. He nodded to the figure and saw that in nodding back it flared79 its nostrils80 surreptitiously.
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1
talons
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| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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3
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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hybrid
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| n.(动，植）杂种，混合物 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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biosphere
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| n.生命层，生物圈 | |
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treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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corrupting
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的现在分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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lames
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| 瘸的( lame的第三人称单数 )； 站不住脚的； 差劲的； 蹩脚的 | |
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buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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lethal
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| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
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decomposed
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| 已分解的，已腐烂的 | |
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graphically
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| adv.通过图表；生动地，轮廓分明地 | |
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deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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corruptive
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| 使堕落的，使腐败的，腐败性的 | |
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corrosive
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| adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的 | |
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disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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deformation
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| n.形状损坏；变形；畸形 | |
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intestinal
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| adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌 | |
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paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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48
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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49
jointed
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| 有接缝的 | |
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50
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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51
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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52
intervals
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| 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 | |
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53
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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54
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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pulverized
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| adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎 | |
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56
ruffles
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| 褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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57
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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makeup
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| n.组织；性格；化装品 | |
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dabbed
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| （用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）… | |
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63
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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67
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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68
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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69
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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71
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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72
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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74
inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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76
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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77
cosmetics
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| n.化妆品 | |
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78
carmine
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| n.深红色，洋红色 | |
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79
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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80
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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