Now they open, to the beautiful April morning, the shutters1 of their narrow windows, pierced like portholes in the thickness of the very old wall.
And suddenly, it is a flood of light that dazzles their eyes. Outside, the spring is resplendent. Never had they seen, before this, summits so high and so near. But along the slopes full of leaves, along the mountains decked with trees, the sun descends2 to radiate in this valley on the whiteness of the village, on the kalsomine of the ancient houses with green shutters.
Both awakened3 with veins4 full of youth and hearts full of joy. They have formed the project this morning to go into the country, to the house of Madame Dargaignaratz's cousins, and see the two little girls, who must have arrived the night before in the carriage, Gracieuse and Pantchika.—After a glance at the ball-game square, where they shall return to practice in the afternoon, they go on their way through small paths, magnificently green, hidden in the depths of the valleys, skirting the cool torrents5. The foxglove flowers start everywhere like long, pink rockets above the light and infinite mass of ferns.
It is at a long distance, it seems, that house of the Olhagarray cousins, and they stop from time to time to ask the way from shepherds, or they knock at the doors of solitary7 houses, here and there, under the cover of branches. They had never seen Basque houses so old nor so primitive8, under the shade of chestnut9 trees so tall.
The ravines through which they advance are strangely enclosed. Higher than all these woods of oaks and of beeches10, which seem as if suspended above, appear ferocious11, denuded12 summits, a zone abrupt13 and bald, sombre brown, making points in the violent blue of the sky. But here, underneath14, is the sheltered and mossy region, green and deep, which the sun never burns and where April has hidden its luxury, freshly superb.
And they also, the two who are passing through these paths of foxglove and of fern, participate in this splendor15 of spring.
Little by little, in their enjoyment16 at being there, and under the influence of this ageless place, the old instincts to hunt and to destroy are lighted in the depths of their minds. Arrochkoa, excited, leaps from right to left, from left to right, breaks, uproots17 grasses and flowers; troubles about everything that moves in the green foliage18, about the lizards19 that might be caught, about the birds that might be taken out of their nests, and about the beautiful trout20 swimming in the water; he jumps, he leaps; he wishes he had fishing lines, sticks, guns; truly he reveals his savagery21 in the bloom of his robust22 eighteen years.—Ramuntcho calms himself quickly; after breaking a few branches, plucking a few flowers, he begins to meditate23; and he thinks—
Here they are stopped now at a cross-road where no human habitation is visible. Around them are gorges24 full of shade wherein grand oaks grow thickly, and above, everywhere, a piling up of mountains, of a reddish color burned by the sun. There is nowhere an indication of the new times; there is an absolute silence, something like the peace of the primitive epochs. Lifting their heads toward the brown peaks, they perceive at a long distance persons walking on invisible paths, pushing before them donkeys of smugglers: as small as insects at such a distance, are these silent passers-by on the flank of the gigantic mountain; Basques of other times, almost confused, as one looks at them from this place, with this reddish earth from which they came—and where they are to return, after having lived like their ancestors without a suspicion of the things of our times, of the events of other places—
They take off their caps, Arrochkoa and Ramuntcho, to wipe their foreheads; it is so warm in these gorges and they have run so much, jumped so much, that their entire bodies are in a perspiration26. They are enjoying themselves, but they would like to come, nevertheless, near the two little, blonde girls who are waiting for them. But of whom shall they ask their way now, since there is no one?
“Ave Maria,” cries at them from the thickness of the branches an old, rough voice.
And the salutation is prolonged by a string of words spoken in a rapid decrescendo, quick; quick; a Basque prayer rattled27 breathlessly, begun very loudly, then dying at the finish. And an old beggar comes out of the fern, all earthy, all hairy, all gray, bent28 on his stick like a man of the woods.
“Yes,” says Arrochkoa, putting his hand in his pocket, “but you must take us to the Olhagarray house.”
“The Olhagarray house,” replies the old man. “I have come from it, my children, and you are near it.”
In truth, how had they failed to see, at a hundred steps further, that black gable among branches of chestnut trees?
At a point where sluices29 rustle30, it is bathed by a torrent6, that Olhagarray house, antique and large, among antique chestnut trees. Around, the red soil is denuded and furrowed31 by the waters of the mountain; enormous roots are interlaced in it like monstrous32 gray serpents; and the entire place, overhung on all sides by the Pyrenean masses, is rude and tragic33.
But two young girls are there, seated in the shade; with blonde hair and elegant little pink waists; astonishing little fairies, very modern in the midst of the ferocious and old scenes.—They rise, with cries of joy, to meet the visitors.
It would have been better, evidently, to enter the house and salute34 the old people. But the boys say to themselves that they have not been seen coming, and they prefer to sit near their sweethearts, by the side of the brook35, on the gigantic roots. And, as if by chance, the two couples manage not to bother one another, to remain hidden from one another by rocks, by branches.
There then, they talk at length in a low voice, Arrochkoa with Pantchika, Ramuntcho with Gracieuse. What can they be saying, talking so much and so quickly?
Although their accent is less chanted than that of the highland36, which astonished them yesterday, one would think they were speaking scanned stanzas37, in a sort of music, infinitely38 soft, where the voices of the boys seem voices of children.
What are they saying to one another, talking so much and so quickly, beside this torrent, in this harsh ravine, under the heavy sun of noon? What they are saying has not much sense; it is a sort of murmur39 special to lovers, something like the special song of the swallows at nesting time. It is childish, a tissue of incoherences and repetitions. No, what they are saying has not much sense—unless it be what is most sublime40 in the world, the most profound and truest things which may be expressed by terrestrial words.—It means nothing, unless it be the eternal and marvellous hymn41 for which alone has been created the language of men and beasts, and in comparison with which all is empty, miserable42 and vain.
The heat is stifling43 in the depth of that gorge25, so shut in from all sides; in spite of the shade of the chestnut trees, the rays, that the leaves sift44, burn still. And this bare earth, of a reddish color, the extreme oldness of this nearby house, the antiquity45 of these trees, give to the surroundings, while the lovers talk, aspects somewhat harsh and hostile.
Ramuntcho has never seen his little friend made so pink by the sun: on her cheeks, there is the beautiful, red blood which flushes the skin, the fine and transparent46 skin; she is pink as the foxglove flowers.
Flies, mosquitoes buzz in their ears. Now Gracieuse has been bitten on the chin, almost on the mouth, and she tries to touch it with the end of her tongue, to bite the place with the upper teeth. And Ramuntcho, who looks at this too closely, feels suddenly a langour, to divert himself from which he stretches himself like one trying to awake.
She begins again, the little girl, her lip still itching—and he again stretches his arms, throwing his chest backward.
“What is the matter, Ramuntcho, and why do you stretch yourself like a cat?—”
But when, for the third time, Gracieuse bites the same place, and shows again the little tip of her tongue, he bends over, vanquished47 by the irresistible48 giddiness, and bites also, takes in his mouth, like a beautiful red fruit which one fears to crush, the fresh lip which the mosquito has bitten—
A silence of fright and of delight, during which both shiver, she as much as he; she trembling also, in all her limbs, for having felt the contact of the growing black mustache.
“You are not angry, tell me?”
“No, my Ramuntcho.—Oh, I am not angry, no—”
Then he begins again, quite frantic, and in this languid and warm air, they exchange for the first time in their lives, the long kisses of lovers—
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1
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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2
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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3
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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4
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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5
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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6
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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7
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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8
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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9
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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10
beeches
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| n.山毛榉( beech的名词复数 )；山毛榉木材 | |
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11
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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12
denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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13
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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14
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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15
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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16
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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17
uproots
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的第三人称单数 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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18
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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19
lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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20
trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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21
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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22
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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23
meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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24
gorges
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| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
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25
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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26
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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27
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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28
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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29
sluices
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| n.水闸( sluice的名词复数 )；（用水闸控制的）水；有闸人工水道；漂洗处v.冲洗( sluice的第三人称单数 )；（指水）喷涌而出；漂净；给…安装水闸 | |
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30
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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31
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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33
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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34
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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35
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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36
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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37
stanzas
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| 节，段( stanza的名词复数 ) | |
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38
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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39
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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40
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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41
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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42
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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43
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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44
sift
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| v.筛撒，纷落，详察 | |
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45
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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46
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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47
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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48
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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