How Panurge berayed himself for fear; and of the huge cat Rodilardus, which he took for a puny1 devil.
Panurge, like a wild, addle-pated, giddy-goat, sallies out of the bread-room in his shirt, with nothing else about him but one of his stockings, half on, half off, about his heel, like a rough-footed pigeon; his hair and beard all bepowdered with crumbs2 of bread in which he had been over head and ears, and a huge and mighty3 puss partly wrapped up in his other stocking. In this equipage, his chaps moving like a monkey’s who’s a-louse-hunting, his eyes staring like a dead pig’s, his teeth chattering4, and his bum5 quivering, the poor dog fled to Friar John, who was then sitting by the chain-wales of the starboard side of the ship, and prayed him heartily6 to take pity on him and keep him in the safeguard of his trusty bilbo; swearing, by his share of Papimany, that he had seen all hell broke loose.
Woe7 is me, my Jacky, cried he, my dear Johnny, my old crony, my brother, my ghostly father! all the devils keep holiday, all the devils keep their feast to-day, man. Pork and peas choke me if ever thou sawest preparations in thy life for an infernal feast. Dost thou see the smoke of hell’s kitchens? (This he said, showing him the smoke of the gunpowder8 above the ships.) Thou never sawest so many damned souls since thou wast born; and so fair, so bewitching they seem, that one would swear they are Stygian ambrosia9. I thought at first, God forgive me! that they had been English souls; and I don’t know but that this morning the isle10 of Horses, near Scotland, was sacked, with all the English who had surprised it, by the lords of Termes and Essay.
Friar John, at the approach of Panurge, was entertained with a kind of smell that was not like that of gunpowder, nor altogether so sweet as musk11; which made him turn Panurge about, and then he saw that his shirt was dismally12 bepawed and berayed with fresh sir-reverence. The retentive13 faculty14 of the nerve which restrains the muscle called sphincter (’tis the arse-hole, an it please you) was relaxated by the violence of the fear which he had been in during his fantastic visions. Add to this the thundering noise of the shooting, which seems more dreadful between decks than above. Nor ought you to wonder at such a mishap15; for one of the symptoms and accidents of fear is, that it often opens the wicket of the cupboard wherein second-hand16 meat is kept for a time. Let’s illustrate17 this noble theme with some examples.
Messer Pantolfe de la Cassina of Siena, riding post from Rome, came to Chambery, and alighting at honest Vinet’s took one of the pitchforks in the stable; then turning to the innkeeper, said to him, Da Roma in qua io non son andato del corpo. Di gratia piglia in mano questa forcha, et fa mi paura. (I have not had a stool since I left Rome. I pray thee take this pitchfork and fright me.) Vinet took it, and made several offers as if he would in good earnest have hit the signor, but all in vain; so the Sienese said to him, Si tu non fai altramente, tu non fai nulla; pero sforzati di adoperarli piu guagliardamente. (If thou dost not go another way to work, thou hadst as good do nothing; therefore try to bestir thyself more briskly.) With this, Vinet lent him such a swinging stoater with the pitchfork souse between the neck and the collar of his jerkin, that down fell signor on the ground arsyversy, with his spindle shanks wide straggling over his poll. Then mine host sputtering19, with a full-mouthed laugh, said to his guest, By Beelzebub’s bumgut, much good may it do you, Signore Italiano. Take notice this is datum20 Camberiaci, given at Chambery. ’Twas well the Sienese had untrussed his points and let down his drawers; for this physic worked with him as soon as he took it, and as copious21 was the evacuation as that of nine buffaloes22 and fourteen missificating arch-lubbers. Which operation being over, the mannerly Sienese courteously23 gave mine host a whole bushel of thanks, saying to him, Io ti ringratio, bel messere; cosi facendo tu m’ ai esparmiata la speza d’un servitiale. (I thank thee, good landlord; by this thou hast e’en saved me the expense of a clyster.)
I’ll give you another example of Edward V., King of England. Master Francis Villon, being banished24 France, fled to him, and got so far into his favour as to be privy25 to all his household affairs. One day the king, being on his close-stool, showed Villon the arms of France, and said to him, Dost thou see what respect I have for thy French kings? I have none of their arms anywhere but in this backside, near my close-stool. Ods-life, said the buffoon26, how wise, prudent27, and careful of your health your highness is! How carefully your learned doctor, Thomas Linacre, looks after you! He saw that now you grow old you are inclined to be somewhat costive, and every day were fain to have an apothecary28, I mean a suppository or clyster, thrust into your royal nockandroe; so he has, much to the purpose, induced you to place here the arms of France; for the very sight of them puts you into such a dreadful fright that you immediately let fly as much as would come from eighteen squattering bonasi of Paeonia. And if they were painted in other parts of your house, by jingo, you would presently conskite yourself wherever you saw them. Nay29, had you but here a picture of the great oriflamme of France, ods-bodikins, your tripes and bowels30 would be in no small danger of dropping out at the orifice of your posteriors. But henh, henh, atque iterum henh.
A silly cockney am I not,
As ever did from Paris come?
And with a rope and sliding knot
My neck shall know what weighs my bum.
A cockney of short reach, I say, shallow of judgment31 and judging shallowly, to wonder that you should cause your points to be untrussed in your chamber18 before you come into this closet. By’r lady, at first I thought your close-stool had stood behind the hangings of your bed; otherwise it seemed very odd to me you should untruss so far from the place of evacuation. But now I find I was a gull33, a wittol, a woodcock, a mere34 ninny, a dolt-head, a noddy, a changeling, a calf-lolly, a doddipoll. You do wisely, by the mass, you do wisely; for had you not been ready to clap your hind32 face on the mustard-pot as soon as you came within sight of these arms — mark ye me, cop’s body — the bottom of your breeches had supplied the office of a close-stool.
Friar John, stopping the handle of his face with his left hand, did, with the forefinger35 of the right, point out Panurge’s shirt to Pantagruel, who, seeing him in this pickle36, scared, appalled37, shivering, raving38, staring, berayed, and torn with the claws of the famous cat Rodilardus, could not choose but laugh, and said to him, Prithee what wouldst thou do with this cat? With this cat? quoth Panurge; the devil scratch me if I did not think it had been a young soft-chinned devil, which, with this same stocking instead of mitten39, I had snatched up in the great hutch of hell as thievishly as any sizar of Montague college could have done. The devil take Tybert! I feel it has all bepinked my poor hide, and drawn40 on it to the life I don’t know how many lobsters’ whiskers. With this he threw his boar-cat down.
Go, go, said Pantagruel, be bathed and cleaned, calm your fears, put on a clean shift, and then your clothes. What! do you think I am afraid? cried Panurge. Not I, I protest. By the testicles of Hercules, I am more hearty41, bold, and stout42, though I say it that should not, than if I had swallowed as many flies as are put into plumcakes and other paste at Paris from Midsummer to Christmas. But what’s this? Hah! oh, ho! how the devil came I by this? Do you call this what the cat left in the malt, filth43, dirt, dung, dejection, faecal matter, excrement44, stercoration, sir-reverence, ordure, second-hand meats, fumets, stronts, scybal, or spyrathe? ’Tis Hibernian saffron, I protest. Hah, hah, hah! ’tis Irish saffron, by Shaint Pautrick, and so much for this time. Selah. Let’s drink.
1 puny | |
adj.微不足道的,弱小的 | |
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2 crumbs | |
int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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3 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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4 chattering | |
n. (机器振动发出的)咔嗒声,(鸟等)鸣,啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的,啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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5 bum | |
n.臀部;流浪汉,乞丐;vt.乞求,乞讨 | |
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6 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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7 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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8 gunpowder | |
n.火药 | |
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9 ambrosia | |
n.神的食物;蜂食 | |
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10 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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11 musk | |
n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物,香猫 | |
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12 dismally | |
adv.阴暗地,沉闷地 | |
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13 retentive | |
v.保留的,有记忆的;adv.有记性地,记性强地;n.保持力 | |
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14 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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15 mishap | |
n.不幸的事,不幸;灾祸 | |
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16 second-hand | |
adj.用过的,旧的,二手的 | |
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17 illustrate | |
v.举例说明,阐明;图解,加插图 | |
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18 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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19 sputtering | |
n.反应溅射法;飞溅;阴极真空喷镀;喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 );发劈啪声;喷出;飞溅出 | |
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20 datum | |
n.资料;数据;已知数 | |
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21 copious | |
adj.丰富的,大量的 | |
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22 buffaloes | |
n.水牛(分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种)( buffalo的名词复数 );(南非或北美的)野牛;威胁;恐吓 | |
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23 courteously | |
adv.有礼貌地,亲切地 | |
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24 banished | |
v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 privy | |
adj.私用的;隐密的 | |
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26 buffoon | |
n.演出时的丑角 | |
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27 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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28 apothecary | |
n.药剂师 | |
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29 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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30 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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31 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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32 hind | |
adj.后面的,后部的 | |
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33 gull | |
n.鸥;受骗的人;v.欺诈 | |
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34 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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35 forefinger | |
n.食指 | |
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36 pickle | |
n.腌汁,泡菜;v.腌,泡 | |
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37 appalled | |
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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38 raving | |
adj.说胡话的;疯狂的,怒吼的;非常漂亮的;令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话;疯话adv.胡言乱语地;疯狂地 | |
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39 mitten | |
n.连指手套,露指手套 | |
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40 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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41 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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43 filth | |
n.肮脏,污物,污秽;淫猥 | |
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44 excrement | |
n.排泄物,粪便 | |
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