The librarian walked on in silence, and I walked silent as he. Time and space glided4 past us. The sun set; it began to grow dark, and I felt in the air the spreading cold of the chamber5 of death. My heart sank lower and lower. I began to lose sight of the lean, long-coated figure, and at length could no more hear his swishing stride through the heather. But then I heard instead the slow-flapping wings of the raven6; and, at intervals7, now a firefly, now a gleaming butterfly rose into the rayless air.
By and by the moon appeared, slow crossing the far horizon.
“You are tired, are you not, Mr. Vane?” said the raven, alighting on a stone. “You must make acquaintance with the horse that will carry you in the morning!”
He gave a strange whistle through his long black beak8. A spot appeared on the face of the half-risen moon. To my ears came presently the drumming of swift, soft-galloping hoofs10, and in a minute or two, out of the very disc of the moon, low-thundered the terrible horse. His mane flowed away behind him like the crest11 of a wind-fighting wave, torn seaward in hoary12 spray, and the whisk of his tail kept blinding the eye of the moon. Nineteen hands he seemed, huge of bone, tight of skin, hard of muscle—a steed the holy Death himself might choose on which to ride abroad and slay13! The moon seemed to regard him with awe14; in her scary light he looked a very skeleton, loosely roped together. Terrifically large, he moved with the lightness of a winged insect. As he drew near, his speed slackened, and his mane and tail drifted about him settling.
Now I was not merely a lover of horses, but I loved every horse I saw. I had never spent money except upon horses, and had never sold a horse. The sight of this mighty15 one, terrible to look at, woke in me longing16 to possess him. It was pure greed, nay17, rank covetousness18, an evil thing in all the worlds. I do not mean that I could have stolen him, but that, regardless of his proper place, I would have bought him if I could. I laid my hands on him, and stroked the protuberant19 bones that humped a hide smooth and thin, and shiny as satin—so shiny that the very shape of the moon was reflected in it; I fondled his sharp-pointed ears, whispered words in them, and breathed into his red nostrils20 the breath of a man’s life. He in return breathed into mine the breath of a horse’s life, and we loved one another. What eyes he had! Blue-filmy like the eyes of the dead, behind each was a glowing coal! The raven, with wings half extended, looked on pleased at my love-making to his magnificent horse.
“That is well! be friends with him,” he said: “he will carry you all the better to-morrow!—Now we must hurry home!”
My desire to ride the horse had grown passionate21.
“May I not mount him at once, Mr. Raven?” I cried.
“By all means!” he answered. “Mount, and ride him home.”
The horse bent22 his head over my shoulder lovingly. I twisted my hands in his mane and scrambled23 onto his back, not without aid from certain protuberant bones.
“Not that way at night,” answered the raven; “the road is difficult.—But come; loss now will be gain then! To wait is harder than to run, and its meed is the fuller. Go on, my son—straight to the cottage. I shall be there as soon as you. It will rejoice my wife’s heart to see son of hers on that horse!”
I sat silent. The horse stood like a block of marble.
“Why do you linger?” asked the raven.
“I long so much to ride after the leopardess,” I answered, “that I can scarce restrain myself!”
“You have promised!”
“My debt to the Little Ones appears, I confess, a greater thing than my bond to you.”
“What matters it for me? I love them; and love works no evil. I will go.”
But the truth was, I forgot the children, infatuate with the horse.
Eyes flashed through the darkness, and I knew that Adam stood in his own shape beside me. I knew also by his voice that he repressed an indignation almost too strong for him.
“Mr. Vane,” he said, “do you not know why you have not yet done anything worth doing?”
“Because I have been a fool,” I answered.
“Wherein?”
“In everything.”
“Which do you count your most indiscreet action?”
“Bringing the princess to life: I ought to have left her to her just fate.”
“Nay, now you talk foolishly! You could not have done otherwise than you did, not knowing she was evil!—But you never brought any one to life! How could you, yourself dead?”
“I dead?” I cried.
“Yes,” he answered; “and you will be dead, so long as you refuse to die.”
“Be persuaded, and go home with me,” he continued gently. “The most—nearly the only foolish thing you ever did, was to run from our dead.”
I pressed the horse’s ribs26, and he was off like a sudden wind. I gave him a pat on the side of the neck, and he went about in a sharp-driven curve, “close to the ground, like a cat when scratchingly she wheels about after a mouse,” leaning sideways till his mane swept the tops of the heather.
Through the dark I heard the wings of the raven. Five quick flaps I heard, and he perched on the horse’s head. The horse checked himself instantly, ploughing up the ground with his feet.
“Mr. Vane,” croaked27 the raven, “think what you are doing! Twice already has evil befallen you—once from fear, and once from heedlessness: breach29 of word is far worse; it is a crime.”
“The Little Ones are in frightful30 peril31, and I brought it upon them!” I cried. “—But indeed I will not break my word to you. I will return, and spend in your house what nights—what days—what years you please.”
“I tell you once more you will do them other than good if you go to-night,” he insisted.
But a false sense of power, a sense which had no root and was merely vibrated into me from the strength of the horse, had, alas32, rendered me too stupid to listen to anything he said!
“Would you take from me my last chance of reparation?” I cried. “This time there shall be no shirking! It is my duty, and I will go—if I perish for it!”
“Go, then, foolish boy!” he returned, with anger in his croak28. “Take the horse, and ride to failure! May it be to humility33!”
He spread his wings and flew. Again I pressed the lean ribs under me.
He turned his head this way and that, snuffing the air; then started, and went a few paces in a slow, undecided walk. Suddenly he quickened his walk; broke into a trot35; began to gallop9, and in a few moments his speed was tremendous. He seemed to see in the dark; never stumbled, not once faltered36, not once hesitated. I sat as on the ridge37 of a wave. I felt under me the play of each individual muscle: his joints38 were so elastic39, and his every movement glided so into the next, that not once did he jar me. His growing swiftness bore him along until he flew rather than ran. The wind met and passed us like a tornado40.
Across the evil hollow we sped like a bolt from an arblast. No monster lifted its neck; all knew the hoofs that thundered over their heads! We rushed up the hills, we shot down their farther slopes; from the rocky chasms41 of the river-bed he did not swerve42; he held on over them his fierce, terrible gallop. The moon, half-way up the heaven, gazed with a solemn trouble in her pale countenance43. Rejoicing in the power of my steed and in the pride of my life, I sat like a king and rode.
We were near the middle of the many channels, my horse every other moment clearing one, sometimes two in his stride, and now and then gathering44 himself for a great bounding leap, when the moon reached the key-stone of her arch. Then came a wonder and a terror: she began to descend45 rolling like the nave46 of Fortune’s wheel bowled by the gods, and went faster and faster. Like our own moon, this one had a human face, and now the broad forehead now the chin was uppermost as she rolled. I gazed aghast.
Across the ravines came the howling of wolves. An ugly fear began to invade the hollow places of my heart; my confidence was on the wane47! The horse maintained his headlong swiftness, with ears pricked48 forward, and thirsty nostrils exulting49 in the wind his career created. But there was the moon jolting50 like an old chariot-wheel down the hill of heaven, with awful boding51! She rolled at last over the horizon-edge and disappeared, carrying all her light with her.
The mighty steed was in the act of clearing a wide shallow channel when we were caught in the net of the darkness. His head dropped; its impetus52 carried his helpless bulk across, but he fell in a heap on the margin53, and where he fell he lay. I got up, kneeled beside him, and felt him all over. Not a bone could I find broken, but he was a horse no more. I sat down on the body, and buried my face in my hands.
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收听单词发音
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1
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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2
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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3
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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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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8
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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10
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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11
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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12
hoary
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| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
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13
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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14
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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15
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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16
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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17
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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18
covetousness
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protuberant
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| adj.突出的，隆起的 | |
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20
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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21
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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22
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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23
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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24
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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riddling
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| adj.谜一样的，解谜的n.筛选 | |
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26
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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27
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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28
croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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29
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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30
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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32
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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33
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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34
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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35
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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36
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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37
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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38
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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39
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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40
tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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41
chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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42
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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43
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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44
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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45
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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46
nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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47
wane
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| n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦 | |
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48
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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49
exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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50
jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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51
boding
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| adj.凶兆的，先兆的n.凶兆，前兆，预感v.预示，预告，预言( bode的现在分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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52
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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53
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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