It was a calm and clear night. The wild geese did not trouble themselves to seek shelter in any of the grottoes, but stood and slept upon the mountain top; and the boy had lain down in the short, dry grass beside the geese.
It was bright moonlight that night; so bright that it was difficult for the boy to go to sleep. He lay there and thought about just how long he had been away from home; and he figured out that it was three weeks since he had started on the trip. At the same time he remembered that this was Easter-eve.
"It is to-night that all the witches come home from Blakulla," thought he, and laughed to himself. For he was just a little afraid of both the sea-nymph and the elf, but he didn't believe in witches the least little bit.
If there had been any witches out that night, he should have seen them, to be sure. It was so light in the heavens that not the tiniest black speck1 could move in the air without his seeing it.
While the boy lay there with his nose in the air and thought about this, his eye rested on something lovely! The moon's disc was whole and round, and rather high, and over it a big bird came flying. He did not fly past the moon, but he moved just as though he might have flown out from it. The bird looked black against the light background, and the wings extended from one rim2 of the disc to the other. He flew on, evenly, in the same direction, and the boy thought that he was painted on the moon's disc. The body was small, the neck long and slender, the legs hung down, long and thin. It couldn't be anything but a stork3.
A couple of seconds later Herr Ermenrich, the stork, lit beside the boy.
Instantly the boy sat up. "I'm not asleep, Herr Ermenrich," he said.
"How does it happen that you are out in the middle of the night, and how
is everything at Glimminge castle? Do you want to speak with mother
Akka?"
"It's too light to sleep to-night," answered Herr Ermenrich. "Therefore I concluded to travel over here to Karl's Island and hunt you up, friend Thumbietot. I learned from the seamew that you were spending the night here. I have not as yet moved over to Glimminge castle, but am still living at Pommern."
The boy was simply overjoyed to think that Herr Ermenrich had sought him out. They chatted about all sorts of things, like old friends. At last the stork asked the boy if he wouldn't like to go out riding for a while on this beautiful night.
Oh, yes! that the boy wanted to do, if the stork would manage it so that he got back to the wild geese before sunrise. This he promised, so off they went.
Again Herr Ermenrich flew straight toward the moon. They rose and rose; the sea sank deep down, but the flight went so light and easy that it seemed almost as if the boy lay still in the air.
When Herr Ermenrich began to descend9, the boy thought that the flight had lasted an unreasonably10 short time.
They landed on a desolate11 bit of seashore, which was covered with fine, even sand. All along the coast ran a row of flying-sand drifts, with lyme-grass on their tops. They were not very high, but they prevented the boy from seeing any of the island.
Herr Ermenrich stood on a sand-hill, drew up one leg and bent his head backward, so he could stick his bill under the wing. "You can roam around on the shore for a while," he said to Thumbietot, "while I rest myself. But don't go so far away but what you can find your way back to me again!"
To start with, the boy intended to climb a sand-hill and see how the land behind it looked. But when he had walked a couple of paces, he stubbed the toe of his wooden shoe against something hard. He stooped down, and saw that a small copper12 coin lay on the sand, and was so worn with verdigris13 that it was almost transparent14. It was so poor that he didn't even bother to pick it up, but only kicked it out of the way.
But when he straightened himself up once more he was perfectly15 astounded16, for two paces away from him stood a high, dark wall with a big, turreted17 gate.
The moment before, when the boy bent down, the sea lay there—shimmering and smooth, while now it was hidden by a long wall with towers and battlements. Directly in front of him, where before there had been only a few sea-weed banks, the big gate of the wall opened.
The boy probably understood that it was a spectre-play of some sort; but this was nothing to be afraid of, thought he. It wasn't any dangerous trolls, or any other evil—such as he always dreaded18 to encounter at night. Both the wall and the gate were so beautifully constructed that he only desired to see what there might be back of them. "I must find out what this can be," thought he, and went in through the gate.
In the deep archway there were guards, dressed in brocaded and purred suits, with long-handled spears beside them, who sat and threw dice19. They thought only of the game, and took no notice of the boy who hurried past them quickly.
Just within the gate he found an open space, paved with large, even stone blocks. All around this were high and magnificent buildings; and between these opened long, narrow streets. On the square—facing the gate—it fairly swarmed20 with human beings. The men wore long, fur-trimmed capes21 over satin suits; plume-bedecked hats sat obliquely22 on their heads; on their chests hung superb chains. They were all so regally gotten up that the whole lot of them might have been kings.
The women went about in high head-dresses and long robes with tight-fitting sleeves. They, too, were beautifully dressed, but their splendour was not to be compared with that of the men.
This was exactly like the old story-book which mother took from the chest—only once—and showed to him. The boy simply couldn't believe his eyes.
But that which was even more wonderful to look upon than either the men or the women, was the city itself. Every house was built in such a way that a gable faced the street. And the gables were so highly ornamented23, that one could believe they wished to compete with each other as to which one could show the most beautiful decorations.
When one suddenly sees so much that is new, he cannot manage to treasure it all in his memory. But at least the boy could recall that he had seen stairway gables on the various landings, which bore images of the Christ and his Apostles; gables, where there were images in niche24 after niche all along the wall; gables that were inlaid with multi-coloured bits of glass, and gables that were striped and checked with white and black marble. As the boy admired all this, a sudden sense of haste came over him. "Anything like this my eyes have never seen before. Anything like this, they would never see again," he said to himself. And he began to run in toward the city—up one street, and down another.
The streets were straight and narrow, but not empty and gloomy, as they were in the cities with which he was familiar. There were people everywhere. Old women sat by their open doors and spun25 without a spinning-wheel—only with the help of a shuttle. The merchants' shops were like market-stalls—opening on the street. All the hand-workers did their work out of doors. In one place they were boiling crude oil; in another tanning hides; in a third there was a long rope-walk.
If only the boy had had time enough he could have learned how to make all sorts of things. Here he saw how armourers hammered out thin breast-plates; how turners tended their irons; how the shoemakers soled soft, red shoes; how the gold-wire drawers twisted gold thread, and how the weavers27 inserted silver and gold into their weaving.
But the boy did not have the time to stay. He just rushed on, so that he could manage to see as much as possible before it would all vanish again.
The high wall ran all around the city and shut it in, as a hedge shuts in a field. He saw it at the end of every street—gable-ornamented and crenelated. On the top of the wall walked warriors28 in shining armour26; and when he had run from one end of the city to the other, he came to still another gate in the wall. Outside of this lay the sea and harbour. The boy saw olden-time ships, with rowing-benches straight across, and high structures fore8 and aft. Some lay and took on cargo29, others were just casting anchor. Carriers and merchants hurried around each other. All over, it was life and bustle30.
But not even here did he seem to have the time to linger. He rushed into the city again; and now he came up to the big square. There stood the cathedral with its three high towers and deep vaulted31 arches filled with images. The walls had been so highly decorated by sculptors32 that there was not a stone without its own special ornamentation. And what a magnificent display of gilded33 crosses and gold-trimmed altars and priests in golden vestments, shimmered34 through the open gate! Directly opposite the church there was a house with a notched35 roof and a single slender, sky-high tower. That was probably the courthouse. And between the courthouse and the cathedral, all around the square, stood the beautiful gabled houses with their multiplicity of adornments.
The boy had run himself both warm and tired. He thought that now he had seen the most remarkable36 things, and therefore he began to walk more leisurely37. The street which he had turned into now was surely the one where the inhabitants purchased their fine clothing. He saw crowds of people standing38 before the little stalls where the merchants spread brocades, stiff satins, heavy gold cloth, shimmery39 velvet40, delicate veiling, and laces as sheer as a spider's web.
Before, when the boy ran so fast, no one had paid any attention to him. The people must have thought that it was only a little gray rat that darted41 by them. But now, when he walked down the street, very slowly, one of the salesmen caught sight of him, and began to beckon42 to him.
At first the boy was uneasy and wanted to hurry out of the way, but the salesman only beckoned43 and smiled, and spread out on the counter a lovely piece of satin damask as if he wanted to tempt44 him.
The boy shook his head. "I will never be so rich that I can buy even a metre of that cloth," thought he.
But now they had caught sight of him in every stall, all along the street. Wherever he looked stood a salesman and beckoned to him. They left their costly45 wares46, and thought only of him. He saw how they hurried into the most hidden corner of the stall to fetch the best that they had to sell, and how their hands trembled with eagerness and haste as they laid it upon the counter.
When the boy continued to go on, one of the merchants jumped over the counter, caught hold of him, and spread before him silver cloth and woven tapestries47, which shone with brilliant colours.
The boy couldn't do anything but laugh at him. The salesman certainly must understand that a poor little creature like him couldn't buy such things. He stood still and held out his two empty hands, so they would understand that he had nothing and let him go in peace.
But the merchant raised a finger and nodded and pushed the whole pile of beautiful things over to him.
"Can he mean that he will sell all this for a gold piece?" wondered the boy.
The merchant brought out a tiny worn and poor coin—the smallest that one could see—and showed it to him. And he was so eager to sell that he increased his pile with a pair of large, heavy, silver goblets48.
Then the boy began to dig down in his pockets. He knew, of course, that he didn't possess a single coin, but he couldn't help feeling for it.
All the other merchants stood still and tried to see how the sale would come off, and when they observed that the boy began to search in his pockets, they flung themselves over the counters, filled their hands full of gold and silver ornaments49, and offered them to him. And they all showed him that what they asked in payment was just one little penny.
But the boy turned both vest and breeches pockets inside out, so they should see that he owned nothing. Then tears filled the eyes of all these regal merchants, who were so much richer than he. At last he was moved because they looked so distressed50, and he pondered if he could not in some way help them. And then he happened to think of the rusty51 coin, which he had but lately seen on the strand52.
He started to run down the street, and luck was with him so that he came to the self-same gate which he had happened upon first. He dashed through it, and commenced to search for the little green copper penny which lay on the strand a while ago.
He found it too, very promptly53; but when he had picked it up, and wanted to run back to the city with it—he saw only the sea before him. No city wall, no gate, no sentinels, no streets, no houses could now be seen—only the sea.
The boy couldn't help that the tears came to his eyes. He had believed in the beginning, that that which he saw was nothing but an hallucination, but this he had already forgotten. He only thought about how pretty everything was. He felt a genuine, deep sorrow because the city had vanished.
That moment Herr Ermenrich awoke, and came up to him. But he didn't hear him, and the stork had to poke6 the boy with his bill to attract attention to himself. "I believe that you stand here and sleep just as I do," said Herr Ermenrich.
"Oh, Herr Ermenrich!" said the boy. "What was that city which stood here just now?"
"Have you seen a city?" said the stork. "You have slept and dreamt, as I say."
"No! I have not dreamt," said Thumbietot, and he told the stork all that he had experienced.
Then Herr Ermenrich said: "For my part, Thumbietot, I believe that you fell asleep here on the strand and dreamed all this.
"But I will not conceal54 from you that Bataki, the raven55, who is the most learned of all birds, once told me that in former times there was a city on this shore, called Vineta. It was so rich and so fortunate, that no city has ever been more glorious; but its inhabitants, unluckily, gave themselves up to arrogance56 and love of display. As a punishment for this, says Bataki, the city of Vineta was overtaken by a flood, and sank into the sea. But its inhabitants cannot die, neither is their city destroyed. And one night in every hundred years, it rises in all its splendour up from the sea, and remains57 on the surface just one hour."
"Yes, it must be so," said Thumbietot, "for this I have seen."
"But when the hour is up, it sinks again into the sea, if, during that time, no merchant in Vineta has sold anything to a single living creature. If you, Thumbietot, only had had an ever so tiny coin, to pay the merchants, Vineta might have remained up here on the shore; and its people could have lived and died like other human beings."
"Herr Ermenrich," said the boy, "now I understand why you came and fetched me in the middle of the night. It was because you believed that I should be able to save the old city. I am so sorry it didn't turn out as you wished, Herr Ermenrich."
He covered his face with his hands and wept. It wasn't easy to say which one looked the more disconsolate—the boy, or Herr Ermenrich.
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1
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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stork
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| n.鹳 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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5
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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6
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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7
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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8
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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9
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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10
unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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11
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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12
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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13
verdigris
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| n.铜锈；铜绿 | |
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14
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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15
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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16
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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17
turreted
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| a.(像炮塔般)旋转式的 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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19
dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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20
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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21
capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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22
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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26
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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weavers
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| 织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 ) | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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30
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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32
sculptors
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| 雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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34
shimmered
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
notched
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| a.有凹口的，有缺口的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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38
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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shimmery
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| adj.微微发亮的 | |
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40
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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41
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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42
beckon
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| v.(以点头或打手势)向...示意，召唤 | |
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43
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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45
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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46
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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47
tapestries
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| n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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48
goblets
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| n.高脚酒杯( goblet的名词复数 ) | |
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49
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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51
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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52
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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53
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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54
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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55
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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56
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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57
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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