JUST when Dora was resigning herself to the irksome but unavoidable duty of carrying them about in the saddle; just when she had learned in this state of her bondage1 to get from the plains she would cover, carrying them, that finer sustenance2 which the soul requires; just when she had learned to get all the happiness that it is possible to get in a condition of physical encumbrance3 and spiritual domination by an unshakable and hateful will, there came a change. The middle summer went by and the winds that blew golden waves over oceans of ripe grain ushered4 in the harvest season.
When heavy harness was placed upon her body, Queen showed her displeasure but curbed5 her impulses. The collar and the hames choked and oppressed her and the blinders on her bridle6 tormented7 and frightened her. But for something they did which they did not do for her sake at all, Queen would have fought as hard as she had fought when the saddle was first placed upon her. They had led her out and tied her to a wagon9 wheel between two of three horses and she found herself next to the little bay mare10. A few moments of sniffing11 noses and Queen would have endured almost anything rather than be taken away from her old friend again. She had been harnessed first and Queen was willing to tolerate anything she tolerated so long as she could be there with her; and the farmer wondered at the constant whinnying that went on between the two. All the while, the big horse on the other side of Queen and the big horse on the other side of the bay mare stood with their heads at the same level, motionless, like the mere12 machines that they were, awaiting orders to move.
They were hitched13 to a binder14 and ordered to move and Queen’s nerves tingled15 with the strangeness of the situation. Every move she made resulted in some disagreeable pull and the feeling of being trapped, of being held in on every side was fast arousing her resentment16 and the slumbering17 desire to rebel. But not only did the weight of the thing they were dragging subdue18 that desire, but the horses on both sides of her seemed to beat into her soul, with the beating of their hoofs19, the utter hopelessness of showing resentment or attempting to rebel.
When they reached the wheat fields, the thing grew many times heavier, many times harder to pull and the deafening20 noise it made was distracting to Queen. But the morning was delightful21; the creatures of her own kind beside her gave her the feeling of having companionship; and though her muscles found pulling most arduous22, they were still fresh from a night’s rest. When the morning wore along toward noon her strength was well nigh exhausted23 and the struggle to keep from going under, stimulated24 by the whip, suffused25 her soul with agony. The day was hot and her sides dripped with perspiration26. The new harness rubbed her skin in a thousand places and made her very bones ache. The dust of the fields and the particles of broken straw filled the air she breathed and settled down in her nose and eyes.
When her aching muscles began to wear out and the pain she felt frightened her, she tried to lag a bit but the watchful27 eye of her owner soon discovered her lagging and there was a threatening cry of “Dora!” and the long whip came down upon her haunches without mercy.
Noon came at last. Queen limped on her way back home, moving along as if the other horses were carrying her, seeing nothing before her, feeling only her agony of soul and body. Painful sores, under rubbing leather and iron, smarted with the touch of perspiration, and the hard collar choked her unmercifully. The weight of the harness seemed to be pressing her to the ground.
Her water she drank at once in great draughts28, but her food she did not touch for some time and though she stood next to the little bay mare all through the noon-hour she did not turn to her once. Her misery29 was overwhelming and in its salty waves she was alone.
Though she had not eaten a full meal, she went back to work just the same and a thousand times the whip came down upon her back adding pain as a stimulant30, as if she had not experienced pain enough. When at last the seemingly endless day came to its close and the harness was removed, leaving red bloody31 sores with rims32 of black dirt exposed, Queen lay down at the feet of the little bay mare and with her eyes closed, lay as if in a stupor33 for half the night before she rose to feed her hunger.
Yet when the first few unspeakably torturous34 days went by, she seemed to have become more able to endure the torment8. The stolidity35 about the old sorrel work-horse and other work-horses in Queen’s experience, which she had so often wondered at in her limited way, now came down like a sort of mask upon Queen’s head and put a strange dullness into her eyes.
But with the end of the harvest period came the autumn plowing37. Had that been her first experience she would hardly have lived through it. It was not only harder work to drag the plow36, that so often struck the rocks in its path and fairly pulled them from their feet, but the dust rising in clouds from under them added to labour and pain the last ounce of endurable agony. Life to Queen, in its endless repetition of toil38 and pain and abysmal39 discomfort40, relieved periodically by a few hours’ rest, was not only without purpose but without excuse. Queen did not reason her way to such a conclusion, she just felt; and in this feeling there was not even the light of illusionary hope. The knowledge that a given labour will end at a certain time, gave the hope and the courage to her master which the strange ruling of life denied to Queen.
So Queen lived through the days which she could not know were ever to end, enduring labour without compensation, getting food and water that was not as good as that which the wilds had lavishly41 bestowed42 upon her. What it was to lead to, she did not know. She could not even ask. Death was but a nameless fear and the relief of death was beyond her understanding. The images of those she had known and loved in her happier past came back often in dozing43 moments, coming into her dreamy vision as imperceptibly as the evening comes into the day; and in going they left in her soul something that resembled hope. That was all that life offered her and it was as uncertain as were the whims44 of the creatures who dominated and overshadowed her existence; yet never did she reach a hilltop from which she caught a glimpse of the open prairie spaces but the hope that freedom would come to her expressed itself like a hazy45 light in the dark uncertainty46 that engulfed47 her.
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1
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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encumbrance
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| n.妨碍物，累赘 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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14
binder
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| n.包扎物，包扎工具；[法]临时契约；粘合剂；装订工 | |
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tingled
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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suffused
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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31
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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rims
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| n.（圆形物体的）边( rim的名词复数 )；缘；轮辋；轮圈 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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torturous
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| adj. 痛苦的 | |
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stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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plowing
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| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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39
abysmal
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| adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的 | |
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40
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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42
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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44
WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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45
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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46
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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47
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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