They left the Schloss at midday, saying goodbye to their hostess. Then theyhad driven down the winding1 road, leaving the Schloss high above themand they had come at last, after many hours of driving, to a stronghold inthe Dolomites–an amphitheatre in the mountains where meetings, con-certs and reunions of the various Youth Groups were held.
Renata had brought him there, his guide, and from his seat on the barerock he had watched what went on and had listened. He understood alittle more what she had been talking about earlier that day. This greatmass gathering2, animated3 as all mass gatherings4 can be whether they arecalled by an evangelistic religious leader in Madison Square, New York, orin the shadow of a Welsh church or in a football crowd or in the super de-monstrations which marched to attack embassies and police and univer-sities and all the rest of it.
She had brought him there to show him the meaning of that one phrase:
‘The Young Siegfried’.
Franz Joseph, if that was really his name, had addressed the crowd. Hisvoice, rising, falling, with its curious exciting quality, its emotional appeal,had held sway over that groaning5, almost moaning crowd of young wo-men and young men. Every word that he had uttered had seemed preg-nant with meaning, had held incredible appeal. The crowd had respondedlike an orchestra. His voice had been the baton6 of the conductor. And yet,what had the boy said? What had been the young Siegfried’s message?
There were no words that he could remember when it came to an end, buthe knew that he had been moved, promised things, roused to enthusiasm.
And now it was over. The crowd had surged round the rocky platform,calling, crying out. Some of the girls had been screaming with enthusiasm.
Some of them had fainted. What a world it was nowadays, he thought.
Everything used the whole time to arouse emotion. Discipline? Restraint?
None of those things counted for anything any more. Nothing matteredbut to feel.
What sort of a world, thought Stafford Nye, could that make?
His guide had touched him on the arm and they had disentangled them-selves from the crowd. They had found their car and the driver had takenthem by roads with which he was evidently well acquainted, to a townand an inn on a mountain side where rooms had been reserved for them.
They walked out of the inn presently and up the side of a mountain by awell-trodden path until they came to a seat. They sat there for some mo-ments in silence. It was then that Stafford Nye had said again, ‘Paste-board.’
For some five minutes or so they sat looking down the valley, then Ren-ata said, ‘Well?’
‘What are you asking me?’
‘What you think so far of what I have shown you?’
‘I’m not convinced,’ said Stafford Nye.
She gave a sigh, a deep, unexpected sigh.
‘That’s what I hoped you would say.’
‘It’s none of it true, is it? It’s a gigantic show. A show put on by a produ-cer–a complete group of producers, perhaps.
‘That monstrous7 woman pays the producer, hires the producer. We’venot seen the producer. What we’ve seen today is the star performer.’
‘What do you think of him?’
‘He’s not real either,’ said Stafford Nye. ‘He’s just an actor. A first-classactor, superbly produced.’
A sound surprised him. It was Renata laughing. She got up from herseat. She looked suddenly excited, happy, and at the same time faintlyironical.
‘I knew it,’ she said. ‘I knew you’d see. I knew you’d have your feet onthe ground. You’ve always known, haven’t you, about everything you’vemet in life? You’ve known humbug8, you’ve known everything and every-one for what they really are.
‘No need to go to Stratford and see Shakespearean plays to know whatpart you are cast for–The Kings and the great men have to have a Jester–The King’s Jester who tells the King the truth, and talks common sense,and makes fun of all the things that are taking in other people.’
‘So that’s what I am, is it? A Court Jester?’
‘Can’t you feel it yourself? That’s what we want–That’s what we need.
“Pasteboard,” you said. “Cardboard”. A vast, well- produced, splendidshow! And how right you are. But people are taken in. They think some-thing’s wonderful, or they think something’s devilish, or they think it’ssomething terribly important. Of course it isn’t–only–only one’s got to findout just how to show people–that the whole thing, all of it, is just silly. Justdamn silly. That’s what you and I are going to do.’
‘Is it your idea that in the end we debunk9 all this?’
‘It seems wildly unlikely, I agree. But you know once people are shownthat something isn’t real, that it’s just one enormous leg-pull, well–’
‘Are you proposing to preach a gospel of common sense?’
‘Of course not,’ said Renata. ‘Nobody’d listen to that, would they?’
‘Not just at present.’
‘No. We’ll have to give them evidence–facts–truth–’
‘Have we got such things?’
‘Yes. What I brought back with me via Frankfurt–what you helped tobring safely into England–’
‘I don’t understand–’
‘Not yet–You will know later. For now we’ve got a part to play. We’reready and willing, fairly panting to be indoctrinated. We worship youth.
We’re followers10 and believers in the young Siegfried.’
‘You can put that over, no doubt. I’m not so sure about myself. I’ve neverbeen very successful as a worshipper of anything. The King’s Jester isn’t.
He’s the great debunker11. Nobody’s going to appreciate that very much justnow, are they?’
‘Of course they’re not. No. You don’t let that side of yourself show. Ex-cept, of course, when talking about your masters and betters, politiciansand diplomats12, Foreign Office, the Establishment, all the other things.
Then you can be embittered13, malicious14, witty15, slightly cruel.’
‘I still don’t see my r?le in the world crusade.’
‘That’s a very ancient one, the one that everybody understands and ap-preciates. Something in it for you. That’s your line. You haven’t been ap-preciated in the past, but the young Siegfried and all he stands for willhold out the hope of reward to you. Because you give him all the insidedope he wants about your own country, he will promise you places ofpower in that country in the good times to come.’
‘You insinuate16 that this is a world movement. Is that true?’
‘Of course it is. Rather like one of those hurricanes, you know, that havenames. Flora17 or Little Annie. They come up out of the south or the northor the east or the west, but they come up from nowhere and destroyeverything. That’s what everyone wants. In Europe and Asia and America.
Perhaps Africa, though there won’t be so much enthusiasm there. They’refairly new to power and graft18 and things. Oh yes, it’s a world movementall right. Run by youth and all the intense vitality19 of youth. They haven’tgot knowledge and they haven’t got experience, but they’ve got vision andvitality, and they’re backed by money. Rivers and rivers of money pouringin. There’s been too much materialism20, so we’ve asked for something else,and we’ve got it. But as it’s based on hate, it can’t get anywhere. It can’tmove off the ground. Don’t you remember in 1919 everyone going aboutwith a rapt face saying Communism was the answer to everything. ThatMarxist doctrine21 would produce a new heaven brought down to a newearth. So many noble ideas flowing about. But then, you see, whom haveyou got to work out the ideas with? After all, only the same human beingsyou’ve always had. You can create a third world now, or so everyonethinks, but the third world will have the same people in it as the firstworld or the second world or whatever names you like to call things. Andwhen you have the same human beings running things, they’ll run themthe same way. You’ve only got to look at history.’
‘Does anybody care to look at history nowadays?’
‘No. They’d much rather look forward to an unforeseeable future. Sci-ence was once going to be the answer to everything. Freudian beliefs andunrepressed sex would be the next answer to human misery22. There’d beno more people with mental troubles. If anyone had said that mentalhomes would be even fuller as the result of shutting out repressionsnobody would have believed him.’
Stafford Nye interrupted her:
‘I want to know something,’ said Sir Stafford Nye.
‘What is it?’
‘Where are we going next?’
‘South America. Possibly Pakistan or India on the way. And we must cer-tainly go to the USA. There’s a lot going on there that’s very interesting in-deed. Especially in California–’
‘Universities?’ Sir Stafford sighed. ‘One gets very tired of universities.
They repeat themselves so much.’
They sat silent for some minutes. The light was failing, but a mountainpeak showed softly red.
Stafford Nye said in a nostalgic tone:
‘If we had some more music now–this moment–do you know what I’d or-der?’
‘More Wagner? Or have you torn yourself free from Wagner?’
‘No–you’re quite right–more Wagner. I’d have Hans Sachs sitting underhis elder tree, saying of the world: “Mad, mad, all mad”–’
‘Yes–that expresses it. It’s lovely music, too. But we’re not mad. We’resane.’
‘Eminently sane,’ said Stafford Nye. ‘That is going to be the difficulty.
There’s one more thing I want to know.’
‘Well?’
‘Perhaps you won’t tell me. But I’ve got to know. Is there going to be anyfun to be got out of this mad business that we’re attempting?’
‘Of course there is. Why not?’
‘Mad, mad, all mad–but we’ll enjoy it all very much. Will our lives belong, Mary Ann?’
‘Probably not,’ said Renata.
‘That’s the spirit. I’m with you, my comrade, and my guide. Shall we geta better world as a result of our efforts?’
‘I shouldn’t think so, but it might be a kinder one. It’s full of beliefswithout kindness at present.’
‘Good enough,’ said Stafford Nye. ‘Onward!’
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1
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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2
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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3
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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5
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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6
baton
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| n.乐队用指挥杖 | |
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7
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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9
debunk
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| v.揭穿真相，暴露 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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11
debunker
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| 暴露者，揭穿真面目者 | |
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12
diplomats
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| n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人 | |
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13
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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15
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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16
insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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17
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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18
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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19
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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20
materialism
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| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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22
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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