ABOUT this time, the gentlemen whom the king had left behind him to watch over the princess, had each occasion to doubt the testimony2 of his own eyes, for more than strange were the objects to which they would bear witness. They were of one sort—creatures—but so grotesque3 and misshapen as to be more like a child's drawings upon his slate4 than anything natural. They saw them only at night, while on guard about the house. The testimony of the man who first reported having seen one of them was that, as he was walking slowly round the house, while yet in the shadow, he caught sight of a creature standing5 on its hind1 legs in the moonlight, with its fore6 feet upon a window-ledge, staring in at the window. Its body might have been that of a dog or wolf—he thought, but he declared on his honor that its head was twice the size it ought to have been for the size of its body, and as round as a ball, while the face, which it turned upon him as it fled, was more like one carved by a boy upon the turnip7 inside which he is going to put a candle, than anything else he could think of. It rushed into the garden. He sent an arrow after it, and thought he must have struck it; for it gave an unearthly howl, and he could not find his arrow any more than the beast, although he searched all about the place where it vanished. They laughed at him until he was driven to hold his tongue; and said he must have taken too long a pull at the ale-jug. But before two nights were over, he had one to side with him; for he too had seen something strange, only quite different from that reported by the other. The description the second man gave of the creature he had seen was yet more grotesque and unlikely. They were both laughed at by the rest; but night after night another came over to their side, until at last there was only one left to laugh at all his companions. Two nights more passed, and he saw nothing; but on the third, he came rushing from the garden to the other two before the house, in such an agitation8 that they declared—for it was their turn now—that the band of his helmet was cracking under his chin with the rising of his hair inside it. Running with him into that part of the garden which I have already described, they saw a score of creatures, to not one of which they could give a name, and not one of which was like another, hideous9 and ludicrous at once, gamboling on the lawn in the moonlight. The supernatural or rather subnatural ugliness of their faces, the length of legs and necks in some, and the apparent absence of both or either in others, made the spectators, although in one consent as to what they saw, yet doubtful, as I have said, of the evidence of their own eyes—and ears as well; for the noises they made, although not loud, were as uncouth10 and varied11 as their forms, and could be described neither as grunts12 nor squeaks13 nor roars nor howls nor barks nor yells nor screams nor croaks14 nor hisses15 nor mews nor shrieks16, but only as something like all of them mingled17 in one horrible dissonance. Keeping in the shade, the watchers had a few moments to recover themselves before the hideous assembly suspected their presence; but all at once, as if by common consent, they scampered18 off in the direction of a great rock, and vanished before the men had come to sufficiently19 to think of following them.
My readers will suspect what these were; but I will now give them full information concerning them. They were of course household animals belonging to the goblins, whose ancestors had taken their ancestors many centuries before from the upper regions of light into the lower regions of darkness. The original stocks of these horrible creatures were very much the same as the animals now seen about farms and homes in the country, with the exception of a few of them, which had been wild creatures, such as foxes, and indeed wolves and small bears, which the goblins, from their proclivity20 toward the animal creation, had caught when cubs21 and tamed. But in the course of time, all had undergone even greater changes than had passed upon their owners. They had altered—that is, their descendants had altered—into such creatures as I have not attempted to describe except in the vaguest manner—the various parts of their bodies assuming, in an apparently22 arbitrary and self-willed manner, the most abnormal developments. Indeed, so little did any distinct type predominate in some of the bewildering results, that you could only have guessed at any known animal as the original, and even then, what likeness23 remained would be more one of general expression than of definable conformation. But what increased the gruesomeness tenfold, was that, from constant domestic, or indeed rather family association with the goblins, their countenances24 had grown in grotesque resemblance to the human. No one understands animals who does not see that every one[88] of them, even amongst the fishes, it may be with a dimness and vagueness infinitely25 remote, yet shadows the human: in the case of these the human resemblance had greatly increased: while their owners had sunk toward them, they hod risen toward their owners. But the conditions of subterranean26 life being equally unnatural27 for both, while the goblins were worse, the creatures had not improved by the approximation, and its result would have appeared far more ludicrous than consoling to the warmest lover of animal nature. I shall now explain how it was that just then these animals began to show themselves about the king's country house.
The goblins, as Curdie had discovered, were mining on—at work both day and night, in divisions, urging the scheme after which he lay in wait. In the course of their tunneling, they had broken into the channel of a small stream, but the break being in the top of it, no water had escaped to interfere28 with their work. Some of the creatures, hovering29 as they often did about their masters, had found the hole, and had, with the curiosity which had grown to a passion from the restraints of their unnatural circumstances, proceeded to explore the channel. The stream was the same which ran out by the seat on which Irene and her king-papa had sat as I have told, and the goblin-creatures found it jolly fun to get out for a romp30 on a smooth lawn such as they had never seen in all their poor miserable31 lives. But although they had partaken enough of the nature of their owners to delight in annoying and alarming any of the people whom they met on the mountain, they were of course incapable32 of designs of their own, or of intentionally33 furthering those of their masters.
For several nights after the men-at-arms were at length of one mind as to the facts of the visits of some horrible creatures, whether bodily or spectral34 they could not yet say, they watched with special attention that part of the garden where they had last seen them. Perhaps indeed they gave in consequence too little attention to the house. But the creatures were too cunning to be easily caught; nor were the watchers quick-eyed enough to descry35 the head, or the keen eyes in it, which, from the opening whence the stream issued, would watch them in turn, ready, the moment they left the lawn to report the place clear.
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1
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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2
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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3
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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5
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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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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turnip
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| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
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8
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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9
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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10
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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11
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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12
grunts
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说； 石鲈 | |
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13
squeaks
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| n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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14
croaks
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的第三人称单数 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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15
hisses
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| 嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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scampered
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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proclivity
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| n.倾向，癖性 | |
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cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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23
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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25
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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26
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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27
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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28
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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29
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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30
romp
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| n.欢闹；v.嬉闹玩笑 | |
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31
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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32
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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33
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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34
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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35
descry
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| v.远远看到；发现；责备 | |
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