Chapter 8

A Good Knight¹ in Prison
SIR GUY, being in the court of a Pagan castle.

This castle where I dwell, it stands

A long way off from Christian² lands,

A long way off my lady’s hands,

A long way off the aspen trees,

And murmur³ of the lime-tree bees.

But down the Valley of the Rose

My lady often hawking⁴ goes,

Heavy of cheer; oft turns behind,

Leaning towards the western wind,

Because it bringeth to her mind

Sad whisperings of happy times,

The face of him who sings these rhymes.

King Guilbert rides beside her there,

Bends low and calls her very fair,

And strives, by pulling down his hair,

To hide from my dear lady’s ken⁵

The grisly gash⁶ I gave him, when

I cut him down at Camelot;

However he strives, he hides it not,

That tourney will not be forgot,

Besides, it is King Guilbert’s lot,

Whatever he says she answers not.

Now tell me, you that are in love,

From the king’s son to the wood-dove,

Which is the better, he or I?

For this king means that I should die

In this lone⁷ Pagan castle, where

The flowers droop⁸ in the bad air

On the September evening.

Look, now I take mine ease and sing,

Counting as but a little thing

The foolish spite of a bad king.

For these vile⁹ things that hem¹⁰ me in,

These Pagan beasts who live in sin,

The sickly flowers pale and wan¹¹,

The grim blue-bearded castellan,

The stanchions half worn-out with rust¹²,

Whereto their banner vile they trust:

Why, all these things I hold them just

As dragons in a missal book,

Wherein, whenever we may look,

We see no horror, yea delight

We have, the colours are so bright;

Likewise we note the specks¹³ of white,

And the great plates of burnish’d gold.

Just so this Pagan castle old,

And everything I can see there,

Sick-pining in the marshland air,

I note: I will go over now,

Like one who paints with knitted brow,

The flowers and all things one by one,

From the snail¹⁴ on the wall to the setting sun.

Four great walls, and a little one

That leads down to the barbican,

Which walls with many spears they man,

When news comes to the castellan

Of Launcelot being in the land.

And as I sit here, close at hand

Four spikes¹⁵ of sad sick sunflowers stand;

The castellan with a long wand

Cuts down their leaves as he goes by,

Ponderingly, with screw’d-up eye,

And fingers twisted in his beard.

Nay¹⁶, was it a knight’s shout I heard?

I have a hope makes me afeard:

It cannot be, but if some dream

Just for a minute made me deem

I saw among the flowers there

My lady’s face with long red hair,

Pale, ivory-colour’d dear face come,

As I was wont¹⁷ to see her some

Fading September afternoon,

And kiss me, saying nothing, soon

To leave me by myself again;

Could I get this by longing¹⁸? vain!

The castellan is gone: I see

On one broad yellow flower a bee

Drunk with much honey.

Christ! again,

Some distant knight’s voice brings me pain,

I thought I had forgot to feel,

I never heard the blissful steel

These ten years past; year after year,

Through all my hopeless sojourn¹⁹ here,

No Christian pennon has been near.

Laus Deo! the dragging wind draws on

Over the marshes²⁰, battle won,

Knights²¹’ shouts, and axes hammering;

Yea, quicker now the dint²² and ring

Of flying hoofs²³; ah, castellan,

When they come back count man for man,

Say whom you miss.
THE PAGANS, from the battlements.

Mahound to aid!

Why flee ye so like men dismay’d?
THE PAGANS, from without.

Nay, haste! for here is Launcelot,

Who follows quick upon us, hot

And shouting with his men-at-arms.
SIR GUY.

Also the Pagans raise alarms,

And ring the bells for fear; at last

My prison walls will be well past.
SIR LAUNCELOT, from outside.

Ho! in the name of the Trinity,

Let down the drawbridge quick to me,

And open doors, that I may see

Guy the good knight!
THE PAGANS, from the battlements.

Nay, Launcelot,

With mere²⁴ big words ye win us not.
SIR LAUNCELOT.

Bid Miles bring up la perriere,

And archers²⁵ clear the vile walls there.

Bring back the notches²⁶ to the ear,

Shoot well together! God to aid!

These miscreants²⁷ will be well paid.

Hurrah²⁸! all goes together; Miles

Is good to win my lady’s smiles

For his good shooting: Launcelot!

On knights apace! this game is hot!
SIR GUY sayeth afterwards.

I said, I go to meet her now,

And saying so, I felt a blow

From some clench’d hand across my brow,

And fell down on the sunflowers

Just as a hammering smote²⁹ my ears;

After which this I felt in sooth,

My bare hands throttling³⁰ without ruth

The hairy-throated castellan;

Then a grim fight with those that ran

To slay³¹ me, while I shouted: God

For the Lady Mary! deep I trod

That evening in my own red blood;

Nevertheless so stiff I stood,

That when the knights burst the old wood

Of the castle-doors, I was not dead.

I kiss the Lady Mary’s head,

Her lips, and her hair golden red,

Because today we have been wed³².

1 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 murmur   

n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言

参考例句：

• They paid the extra taxes without a murmur.他们毫无怨言地交了附加税。
• There was a low murmur of conversation in the hall.大厅里有窃窃私语声。

4 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

5 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

6 gash   

v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep gash in his arm would take weeks to heal over.他胳膊上的割伤很深，需要几个星期的时间才能痊愈。
• After the collision,the body of the ship had a big gash.船被撞后，船身裂开了一个大口子。

7 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

8 droop   

v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡

参考例句：

• The heavy snow made the branches droop.大雪使树枝垂下来。
• Don't let your spirits droop.不要萎靡不振。

9 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

10 hem   

n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制

参考例句：

• The hem on her skirt needs sewing.她裙子上的褶边需要缝一缝。
• The hem of your dress needs to be let down an inch.你衣服的折边有必要放长1英寸。

11 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。

12 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

13 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

14 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

15 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

17 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

18 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

19 sojourn   

v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留

参考例句：

• It would be cruel to begrudge your sojourn among flowers and fields.如果嫉妒你逗留在鲜花与田野之间，那将是太不近人情的。
• I am already feeling better for my sojourn here.我在此逗留期间，觉得体力日渐恢复。

20 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

22 dint   

n.由于，靠；凹坑

参考例句：

• He succeeded by dint of hard work.他靠苦干获得成功。
• He reached the top by dint of great effort.他费了很大的劲终于爬到了顶。

23 hoofs   

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 )

参考例句：

• The stamp of the horse's hoofs on the wooden floor was loud. 马蹄踏在木头地板上的声音很响。 来自辞典例句
• The noise of hoofs called him back to the other window. 马蹄声把他又唤回那扇窗子口。 来自辞典例句

24 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

25 archers   

n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The next evening old Mr. Sillerton Jackson came to dine with the Archers. 第二天晚上，西勒顿？杰克逊老先生来和阿切尔家人一起吃饭。 来自辞典例句
• Week of Archer: Double growth for Archers and Marksmen. 射手周：弓箭手与弩手（人类）产量加倍。 来自互联网

26 notches   

n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级

参考例句：

• The Indians cut notches on a stick to keep count of numbers. 印第安人在棒上刻V形凹痕用来计数。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They cut notches in the handle of their pistol for each man they shot. 他们每杀一个人就在枪托上刻下一个V形记号。 来自辞典例句

27 miscreants   

n.恶棍，歹徒( miscreant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I ordered the miscreants to let me out. 我命令这些土匪放我出去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Local people demanded that the District Magistrate apprehend the miscreants. 当地人要求地方法官逮捕那些歹徒。 来自辞典例句

28 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

29 smote   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

30 throttling   

v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制

参考例句：

• This fight scarf is throttling me. 这条束得紧紧的围巾快要把我窒息死了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The latter may be used with bypass or throttling valves in the tower water pipework circuit. 近来，可采用在冷却塔的水管系统中设置旁通阀或节流阀。 来自辞典例句

31 slay   

v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮

参考例句：

• He intended to slay his father's murderer.他意图杀死杀父仇人。
• She has ordered me to slay you.她命令我把你杀了。

32 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。