How we came to the land of Satin.
Having pleased ourselves with observing that new order of Semiquaver Friars, we set sail, and in three days our skipper made the finest and most delightful1 island that ever was seen. He called it the island of Frieze2, for all the ways were of frieze.
In that island is the land of Satin, so celebrated3 by our court pages. Its trees and herbage never lose their leaves or flowers, and are all damask and flowered velvet4. As for the beasts and birds, they are all of tapestry5 work. There we saw many beasts, birds on trees, of the same colour, bigness, and shape of those in our country; with this difference, however, that these did eat nothing, and never sung or bit like ours; and we also saw there many sorts of creatures which we never had seen before.
Among the rest, several elephants in various postures6; twelve of which were the six males and six females that were brought to Rome by their governor in the time of Germanicus, Tiberius’s nephew. Some of them were learned elephants, some musicians, others philosophers, dancers, and showers of tricks; and all sat down at table in good order, silently eating and drinking like so many fathers in a fratery-room.
With their snouts or proboscises7, some two cubits long, they draw up water for their own drinking, and take hold of palm leaves, plums, and all manner of edibles8, using them offensively or defensively as we do our fists; with them tossing men high into the air in fight, and making them burst with laughing when they come to the ground.
They have joints9 (in their legs), whatever some men, who doubtless never saw any but painted, may have written to the contrary. Between their teeth they have two huge horns; thus Juba called ‘em, and Pausanias tells us they are not teeth, but horns; however, Philostratus will have ‘em to be teeth, and not horns. ’Tis all one to me, provided you will be pleased to own them to be true ivory. These are some three or four cubits long, and are fixed10 in the upper jawbone, and consequently not in the lowermost. If you hearken to those who will tell you to the contrary, you will find yourself damnably mistaken, for that’s a lie with a latchet; though ’twere Aelian, that long-bow man, that told you so, never believe him, for he lies as fast as a dog can trot11. ’Twas in this very island that Pliny, his brother tell-truth, had seen some elephants dance on the rope with bells, and whip over the tables, presto12, begone, while people were at feasts, without so much as touching13 the toping topers or the topers toping.
I saw a rhinoceros14 there, just such a one as Harry15 Clerberg had formerly16 showed me. Methought it was not much unlike a certain boar which I had formerly seen at Limoges, except the sharp horn on its snout, that was about a cubit long; by the means of which that animal dares encounter with an elephant, that is sometimes killed with its point thrust into its belly17, which is its most tender and defenceless part.
I saw there two and thirty unicorns18. They are a curst sort of creatures, much resembling a fine horse, unless it be that their heads are like a stag’s, their feet like an elephant’s, their tails like a wild boar’s, and out of each of their foreheads sprouts20 out a sharp black horn, some six or seven feet long; commonly it dangles21 down like a turkey-cock’s comb. When a unicorn19 has a mind to fight, or put it to any other use, what does it do but make it stand, and then ’tis as straight as an arrow.
I saw one of them, which was attended with a throng22 of other wild beasts, purify a fountain with its horn. With that Panurge told me that his prancer23, alias24 his nimble-wimble, was like the unicorn, not altogether in length indeed, but in virtue25 and propriety26; for as the unicorn purified pools and fountains from filth27 and venom28, so that other animals came and drank securely there afterwards, in the like manner others might water their nags29, and dabble30 after him without fear of shankers, carnosities, gonorrhoeas, buboes, crinkams, and such other plagues caught by those who venture to quench31 their amorous32 thirst in a common puddle33; for with his nervous horn he removed all the infection that might be lurking34 in some blind cranny of the mephitic sweet-scented hole.
Well, quoth Friar John, when you are sped, that is, when you are married, we will make a trial of this on thy spouse35, merely for charity sake, since you are pleased to give us so beneficial an instruction.
Ay, ay, returned Panurge, and then immediately I’ll give you a pretty gentle aggregative36 pill of God, made up of two and twenty kind stabs with a dagger37, after the Caesarian way. Catso, cried Friar John, I had rather take off a bumper38 of good cool wine.
I saw there the golden fleece formerly conquered by Jason, and can assure you, on the word of an honest man, that those who have said it was not a fleece but a golden pippin, because (Greek) signifies both an apple and a sheep, were utterly40 mistaken.
I saw also a chameleon41, such as Aristotle describes it, and like that which had been formerly shown me by Charles Maris, a famous physician of the noble city of Lyons on the Rhone; and the said chameleon lived on air just as the other did.
I saw three hydras, like those I had formerly seen. They are a kind of serpent, with seven different heads.
I saw also fourteen phoenixes42. I had read in many authors that there was but one in the whole world in every century; but, if I may presume to speak my mind, I declare that those who said this had never seen any, unless it were in the land of Tapestry; though ’twere vouched43 by Claudian or Lactantius Firmianus.
I saw the skin of Apuleius’s golden ass39.
I saw three hundred and nine pelicans44.
Item, six thousand and sixteen Seleucid birds marching in battalia, and picking up straggling grasshoppers45 in cornfields.
Item, some cynamologi, argatiles, caprimulgi, thynnunculs, onocrotals, or bitterns, with their wide swallows, stymphalides, harpies, panthers, dorcasses, or bucks47, cemades, cynocephalises, satyrs, cartasans, tarands, uri, monopses, or bonasi, neades, steras, marmosets, or monkeys, bugles48, musimons, byturoses, ophyri, screech-owls, goblins, fairies, and griffins.
I saw Mid-Lent o’ horseback, with Mid-August and Mid-March holding its stirrups.
I saw some mankind wolves, centaurs49, tigers, leopards50, hyenas51, camelopardals, and orixes, or huge wild goats with sharp horns.
I saw a remora, a little fish called echineis by the Greeks, and near it a tall ship that did not get ahead an inch, though she was in the offing with top and top-gallants spread before the wind. I am somewhat inclined to believe that ’twas the very numerical ship in which Periander the tyrant52 happened to be when it was stopped by such a little fish in spite of wind and tide. It was in this land of Satin, and in no other, that Mutianus had seen one of them.
Friar John told us that in the days of yore two sorts of fishes used to abound53 in our courts of judicature, and rotted the bodies and tormented54 the souls of those who were at law, whether noble or of mean descent, high or low, rich or poor: the first were your April fish or mackerel (pimps, panders55, and bawds); the others your beneficial remoras, that is, the eternity56 of lawsuits57, the needless lets that keep ‘em undecided.
I saw some sphynges, some raphes, some ounces, and some cepphi, whose fore-feet are like hands and their hind-feet like man’s.
Also some crocutas and some eali as big as sea-horses, with elephants’ tails, boars’ jaws58 and tusks59, and horns as pliant60 as an ass’s ears.
The crocutas, most fleet animals, as big as our asses46 of Mirebalais, have necks, tails, and breasts like a lion’s, legs like a stag’s, have mouths up to the ears, and but two teeth, one above and one below; they speak with human voices, but when they do they say nothing.
Some people say that none e’er saw an eyrie, or nest of sakers; if you’ll believe me, I saw no less than eleven, and I’m sure I reckoned right.
I saw some left-handed halberds, which were the first that I had ever seen.
I saw some manticores, a most strange sort of creatures, which have the body of a lion, red hair, a face and ears like a man’s, three rows of teeth which close together as if you joined your hands with your fingers between each other; they have a sting in their tails like a scorpion’s, and a very melodious61 voice.
I saw some catablepases, a sort of serpents, whose bodies are small, but their heads large, without any proportion, so that they’ve much ado to lift them up; and their eyes are so infectious that whoever sees ‘em dies upon the spot, as if he had seen a basilisk.
I saw some beasts with two backs, and those seemed to me the merriest creatures in the world. They were most nimble at wriggling62 the buttocks, and more diligent63 in tail-wagging than any water-wagtails, perpetually jogging and shaking their double rumps.
I saw there some milched crawfish, creatures that I never had heard of before in my life. These moved in very good order, and ’twould have done your heart good to have seen ‘em.
收听单词发音 |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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frieze
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| n.(墙上的)横饰带，雕带 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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postures
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| 姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场 | |
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proboscises
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| n.（象等的）长鼻( proboscis的名词复数 )；（昆虫等的）喙 | |
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edibles
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| 可以吃的，可食用的( edible的名词复数 )； 食物 | |
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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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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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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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presto
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| adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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rhinoceros
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| n.犀牛 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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unicorns
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| n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记 | |
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unicorn
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| n.(传说中的)独角兽 | |
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sprouts
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| n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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dangles
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| 悬吊着( dangle的第三人称单数 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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prancer
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| 腾跃前进的人[马] | |
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alias
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| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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nags
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| n.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的名词复数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的第三人称单数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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dabble
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| v.涉足，浅赏 | |
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quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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aggregative
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| 集团的，集合的，集合性的 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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bumper
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| n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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chameleon
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| n.变色龙，蜥蜴；善变之人 | |
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phoenixes
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| 凤凰，长生鸟（神话中的鸟，在阿拉伯沙漠中，可活数百年，然后自焚为灰而再生）( phoenix的名词复数 )； 菲尼克斯 （美国城市） | |
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vouched
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| v.保证( vouch的过去式和过去分词 )；担保；确定；确定地说 | |
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pelicans
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| n.鹈鹕( pelican的名词复数 ) | |
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45
grasshoppers
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| n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的 | |
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asses
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| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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48
bugles
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| 妙脆角，一种类似薯片但做成尖角或喇叭状的零食； 号角( bugle的名词复数 )； 喇叭； 匍匐筋骨草； （装饰女服用的）柱状玻璃（或塑料）小珠 | |
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49
centaurs
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| n.（希腊神话中）半人半马怪物( centaur的名词复数 ) | |
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leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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hyenas
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| n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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panders
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| v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的第三人称单数 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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lawsuits
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| n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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tusks
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| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
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pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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