It seemed as if all the inhabitants of the forest would migrate with us. A multitude of birds flew in front, imagining themselves, no doubt, the leading division; great companies of butterflies and other insects played about our heads; and a crowd of four-footed creatures followed us. These last, when night came, left us almost all; but the birds and the butterflies, the wasps3 and the dragon-flies, went with us to the very gates of the city.
We halted and slept soundly through the afternoon: it was our first real march, but none were tired. In the night we went faster, because it was cold. Many fell asleep on the backs of their beasts, and woke in the morning quite fresh. None tumbled off. Some rode shaggy, shambling bears, which yet made speed enough, going as fast as the elephants. Others were mounted on different kinds of deer, and would have been racing4 all the way had I not prevented it. Those atop of the hay on the elephants, unable to see the animals below them, would keep talking to them as long as they were awake. Once, when we had halted to feed, I heard a little fellow, as he drew out the hay to give him, commune thus with his “darling beast”:
“Nosy dear, I am digging you out of the mountain, and shall soon get down to you: be patient; I’m a coming! Very soon now you’ll send up your nose to look for me, and then we’ll kiss like good elephants, we will!”
The same night there burst out such a tumult5 of elephant-trumpeting, horse-neighing, and child-imitation, ringing far over the silent levels, that, uncertain how near the city might not be, I quickly stilled the uproar6 lest it should give warning of our approach.
Suddenly, one morning, the sun and the city rose, as it seemed, together. To the children the walls appeared only a great mass of rock, but when I told them the inside was full of nests of stone, I saw apprehension7 and dislike at once invade their hearts: for the first time in their lives, I believe—many of them long little lives—they knew fear. The place looked to them bad: how were they to find mothers in such a place? But they went on bravely, for they had confidence in Lona—and in me too, little as I deserved it.
We rode through the sounding archway. Sure never had such a drumming of hoofs8, such a padding of paws and feet been heard on its old pavement! The horses started and looked scared at the echo of their own steps; some halted a moment, some plunged9 wildly and wheeled about; but they were soon quieted, and went on. Some of the Little Ones shivered, and all were still as death. The three girls held closer the infants they carried. All except the bears and butterflies manifested fear.
On the countenance10 of the woman lay a dark anxiety; nor was I myself unaffected by the general dread11, for the whole army was on my hands and on my conscience: I had brought it up to the danger whose shadow was now making itself felt! But I was supported by the thought of the coming kingdom of the Little Ones, with the bad giants its slaves, and the animals its loving, obedient friends! Alas12, I who dreamed thus, had not myself learned to obey! Untrusting, unfaithful obstinacy13 had set me at the head of that army of innocents! I was myself but a slave, like any king in the world I had left who does or would do only what pleases him! But Lona rode beside me a child indeed, therefore a free woman—calm, silent, watchful14, not a whit15 afraid!
We were nearly in the heart of the city before any of its inhabitants became aware of our presence. But now windows began to open, and sleepy heads to look out. Every face wore at first a dull stare of wonderless astonishment16, which, as soon as the starers perceived the animals, changed to one of consternation17. In spite of their fear, however, when they saw that their invaders18 were almost all children, the women came running into the streets, and the men followed. But for a time all of them kept close to the houses, leaving open the middle of the way, for they durst not approach the animals.
At length a boy, who looked about five years old, and was full of the idea of his mother, spying in the crowd a woman whose face attracted him, threw himself upon her from his antelope19, and clung about her neck; nor was she slow to return his embrace and kisses. But the hand of a man came over her shoulder, and seized him by the neck. Instantly a girl ran her sharp spear into the fellow’s arm. He sent forth20 a savage21 howl, and immediately stabbed by two or three more, fled yelling.
“They are just bad giants!” said Lona, her eyes flashing as she drove her horse against one of unusual height who, having stirred up the little manhood in him, stood barring her way with a club. He dared not abide22 the shock, but slunk aside, and the next moment went down, struck by several stones. Another huge fellow, avoiding my charger, stepped suddenly, with a speech whose rudeness alone was intelligible23, between me and the boy who rode behind me. The boy told him to address the king; the giant struck his little horse on the head with a hammer, and he fell. Before the brute24 could strike again, however, one of the elephants behind laid him prostrate25, and trampled26 on him so that he did not attempt to get up until hundreds of feet had walked over him, and the army was gone by.
But at sight of the women what a dismay clouded the face of Lona! Hardly one of them was even pleasant to look upon! Were her darlings to find mothers among such as these?
Hardly had we halted in the central square, when two girls rode up in anxious haste, with the tidings that two of the boys had been hurried away by some women. We turned at once, and then first discovered that the woman we befriended had disappeared with her baby.
But at the same moment we descried27 a white leopardess come bounding toward us down a narrow lane that led from the square to the palace. The Little Ones had not forgotten the fight of the two leopardesses in the forest: some of them looked terrified, and their ranks began to waver; but they remembered the order I had just given them, and stood fast.
We stopped to see the result; when suddenly a small boy, called Odu, remarkable29 for his speed and courage, who had heard me speak of the goodness of the white leopardess, leaped from the back of his bear, which went shambling after him, and ran to meet her. The leopardess, to avoid knocking him down, pulled herself up so suddenly that she went rolling over and over: when she recovered her feet she found the child on her back. Who could doubt the subjugation30 of a people which saw an urchin31 of the enemy bestride an animal of which they lived in daily terror? Confident of the effect on the whole army, we rode on.
As we stopped at the house to which our guides led us, we heard a scream; I sprang down, and thundered at the door. My horse came and pushed me away with his nose, turned about, and had begun to batter32 the door with his heels, when up came little Odu on the leopardess, and at sight of her he stood still, trembling. But she too had heard the cry, and forgetting the child on her back, threw herself at the door; the boy was dashed against it, and fell senseless. Before I could reach him, Lona had him in her arms, and as soon as he came to himself, set him on the back of his bear, which had still followed him.
When the leopardess threw herself the third time against the door, it gave way, and she darted33 in. We followed, but she had already vanished. We sprang up a stair, and went all over the house, to find no one. Darting34 down again, we spied a door under the stair, and got into a labyrinth35 of excavations36. We had not gone far, however, when we met the leopardess with the child we sought across her back.
He told us that the woman he took for his mother threw him into a hole, saying she would give him to the leopardess. But the leopardess was a good one, and took him out.
Following in search of the other boy, we got into the next house more easily, but to find, alas, that we were too late: one of the savages37 had just killed the little captive! It consoled Lona, however, to learn which he was, for she had been expecting him to grow a bad giant, from which worst of fates death had saved him. The leopardess sprang upon his murderer, took him by the throat, dragged him into the street, and followed Lona with him, like a cat with a great rat in her jaws38.
“Let us leave the horrible place,” said Lona; “there are no mothers here! This people is not worth delivering.”
The leopardess dropped her burden, and charged into the crowd, this way and that, wherever it was thickest. The slaves cried out and ran, tumbling over each other in heaps.
But I was far from easy: the princess gave no sign, and what she might be plotting we did not know! Watch and ward28 must be kept the night through!
The Little Ones were such hardy40 creatures that they could repose41 anywhere: we told them to lie down with their animals where they were, and sleep till they were called. In one moment they were down, and in another lapt in the music of their sleep, a sound as of water over grass, or a soft wind among leaves. Their animals slept more lightly, ever on the edge of waking. The bigger boys and girls walked softly hither and thither42 among the dreaming multitude. All was still; the whole wicked place appeared at rest.
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收听单词发音
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1
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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2
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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3
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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4
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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7
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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8
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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9
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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10
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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12
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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13
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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14
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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17
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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18
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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19
antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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20
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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22
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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23
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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24
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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25
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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26
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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27
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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28
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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29
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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30
subjugation
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| n.镇压，平息，征服 | |
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31
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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32
batter
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| v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员 | |
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33
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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34
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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35
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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36
excavations
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| n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹 | |
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37
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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38
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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39
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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40
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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41
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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42
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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