章节正文
and his aunt came to his bedside. She put her hand on his face,
and said--
"How's your head, dear?"
"Better, auntie, I think."
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, yes! I should, please."
So his aunt gave him some lemonade, for she had been used
to nursing sick people, and Diamond felt very much refreshed,
and laid his head down again to go very fast asleep, as he thought.
And so he did, but only to come awake again, as a fresh burst of wind
blew the lattice open a second time. The same moment he found
himself in a cloud of North Wind's hair, with her beautiful face,
set in it like a moon, bending over him.
"Quick, Diamond!" she said. "I have found such a chance!"
"But I'm not well," said Diamond.
"I know that, but you will be better for a little fresh air.
You shall have plenty of that."
"You want me to go, then?"
"Yes, I do. It won't hurt you."
"Very well," said Diamond; and getting out of the bed-clothes, he
jumped into North Wind's arms.
"We must make haste before your aunt comes," said she, as she
glided out of the open lattice and left it swinging.
The moment Diamond felt her arms fold around him he began to
feel better. It was a moonless night, and very dark, with glimpses
of stars when the clouds parted.
"I used to dash the waves about here," said North Wind, "where cows
and sheep are feeding now; but we shall soon get to them.
There they are."
And Diamond, looking down, saw the white glimmer of breaking water
far below him.
"You see, Diamond," said North Wind, "it is very difficult for me
to get you to the back of the north wind, for that country lies
in the very north itself, and of course I can't blow northwards."
"Why not?" asked Diamond.
"You little silly!" said North Wind. "Don't you see that if I
were to blow northwards I should be South Wind, and that is as much
as to say that one person could be two persons?"
"But how can you ever get home at all, then?"
"You are quite right--that is my home, though I never get farther than
the outer door. I sit on the doorstep, and hear the voices inside.
I am nobody there, Diamond."
"I'm very sorry."
"Why?"
"That you should be nobody."
"Oh, I don't mind it. Dear little man! you will be very glad some
day to be nobody yourself. But you can't understand that now,
and you had better not try; for if you do, you will be certain to go
fancying some egregious nonsense, and making yourself miserable
about it."
"Then I won't," said Diamond.
"There's a good boy. It will all come in good time."
"But you haven't told me how you get to the doorstep, you know."
"It is easy enough for me. I have only to consent to be nobody,
and there I am. I draw into myself and there I am on the doorstep.
But you can easily see, or you have less sense than I think,
that to drag you, you heavy thing, along with me, would take centuries,
and I could not give the time to it."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" said Diamond.
"What for now, pet?"
"That I'm so heavy for you. I would be lighter if I could, but I
don't know how."
"You silly darling! Why, I could toss you a hundred miles from me
if I liked. It is only when I am going home that I shall find
you heavy."
"Then you are going home with me?"
"Of course. Did I not come to fetch you just for that?"
"But all this time you must be going southwards."
"Yes. Of course I am."
"How can you be taking me northwards, then?"
"A very sensible question. But you shall see. I will get
rid of a few of these clouds--only they do come up so fast!
It's like trying to blow a brook dry. There! What do you see now?"
"I think I see a little boat, away there, down below."
"A little boat, indeed! Well! She's a yacht of two hundred tons;
and the captain of it is a friend of mine; for he is a man of
good sense, and can sail his craft well. I've helped him many
a time when he little thought it. I've heard him grumbling at me,
when I was doing the very best I could for him. Why, I've carried
him eighty miles a day, again and again, right north."
"He must have dodged for that," said Diamond, who had been watching
the vessels, and had seen that they went other ways than the wind blew.
"Of course he must. But don't you see, it was the best I could do?
I couldn't be South Wind. And besides it gave him a share in
the business. It is not good at all--mind that, Diamond--to do
everything for those you love, and not give them a share in the doing.
It's not kind. It's making too much of yourself, my child.
If I had been South Wind, he would only have smoked his pipe all day,
and made himself stupid."
"But how could he be a man of sense and grumble at you when you
were doing your best for him?"
"Oh! you must make allowances," said North Wind, "or you will never
do justice to anybody.--You do understand, then, that a captain
may sail north----"
"In spite of a north wind--yes," supplemented Diamond.
"Now, I do think you must be stupid, my, dear" said North Wind.
"Suppose the north wind did not blow where would he be then?"
"Why then the south wind would carry him."
"So you think that when the north wind stops the south wind blows.
Nonsense. If I didn't blow, the captain couldn't sail his eighty
miles a day. No doubt South Wind would carry him faster, but South
Wind is sitting on her doorstep then, and if I stopped there would
be a dead calm. So you are all wrong to say he can sail north
in spite of me; he sails north by my help, and my help alone.
You see that, Diamond?"
"Yes, I do, North Wind. I am stupid, but I don't want to be stupid."
"Good boy! I am going to blow you north in that little craft, one of
the finest that ever sailed the sea. Here we are, right over it.
I shall be blowing against you; you will be sailing against me;
and all will be just as we want it. The captain won't get on
so fast as he would like, but he will get on, and so shall we.
I'm just going to put you on board. Do you see in front of the tiller--
that thing the man is working, now to one side, now to the other--
a round thing like the top of a drum?"
"Yes," said Diamond.
"Below that is where they keep their spare sails, and some stores
of that sort. I am going to blow that cover off. The same moment
I will drop you on deck, and you must tumble in. Don't be afraid,
it is of no depth, and you will fall on sail-cloth. You will find it
nice and warm and dry-only dark; and you will know I am near you by
every roll and pitch of the vessel. Coil yourself up and go to sleep.
The yacht shall be my cradle and you shall be my baby."
"Thank you, dear North Wind. I am not a bit afraid," said Diamond.
In a moment they were on a level with the bulwarks, and North Wind
sent the hatch of the after-store rattling away over the deck
to leeward. The next, Diamond found himself in the dark, for he
had tumbled through the hole as North Wind had told him, and the
cover was replaced over his head. Away he went rolling to leeward,
for the wind began all at once to blow hard. He heard the call
of the captain, and the loud trampling of the men over his head,
as they hauled at the main sheet to get the boom on board that they
might take in a reef in the mainsail. Diamond felt about until
he had found what seemed the most comfortable place, and there he
snuggled down and lay.
Hours after hours, a great many of them, went by; and still
Diamond lay there. He never felt in the least tired or impatient,
for a strange pleasure filled his heart. The straining of the masts,
the creaking of the boom, the singing of the ropes, the banging
of the blocks as they put the vessel about, all fell in with the
roaring of the wind above, the surge of the waves past her sides,
and the thud with which every now and then one would strike her;
while through it all Diamond could hear the gurgling, rippling,
talking flow of the water against her planks, as she slipped through it,
lying now on this side, now on that--like a subdued air running
through the grand music his North Wind was making about him to keep
him from tiring as they sped on towards the country at the back
of her doorstep.
How long this lasted Diamond had no idea. He seemed to fall
asleep sometimes, only through the sleep he heard the sounds going on.
At length the weather seemed to get worse. The confusion and
trampling of feet grew more frequent over his head; the vessel lay
over more and more on her side, and went roaring through the waves,
which banged and thumped at her as if in anger. All at once arose
a terrible uproar. The hatch was blown off; a cold fierce wind
swept in upon him; and a long arm came with it which laid hold
of him and lifted him out. The same moment he saw the little vessel
far below him righting herself. She had taken in all her sails
and lay now tossing on the waves like a sea-bird with folded wings.
A short distance to the south lay a much larger vessel, with two
or three sails set, and towards it North Wind was carrying Diamond.
It was a German ship, on its way to the North Pole.
"That vessel down there will give us a lift now," said North Wind;
"and after that I must do the best I can."
She managed to hide him amongst the flags of the big ship,
which were all snugly stowed away, and on and on they sped
towards the north. At length one night she whispered in his ear,
"Come on deck, Diamond;" and he got up at once and crept on deck.
Everything looked very strange. Here and there on all sides were
huge masses of floating ice, looking like cathedrals, and castles,
and crags, while away beyond was a blue sea.
"Is the sun rising or setting?" asked Diamond.
"Neither or both, which you please. I can hardly tell which myself.
If he is setting now, he will be rising the next moment."
"What a strange light it is!" said Diamond. "I have heard
that the sun doesn't go to bed all the summer in these parts.
Miss Coleman told me that. I suppose he feels very sleepy,
and that is why the light he sends out looks so like a dream."
"That will account for it well enough for all practical purposes,"
said North Wind.
Some of the icebergs were drifting northwards; one was passing
very near the ship. North Wind seized Diamond, and with a single
bound lighted on one of them--a huge thing, with sharp pinnacles and
great clefts. The same instant a wind began to blow from the south.
North Wind hurried Diamond down the north side of the iceberg,
stepping by its jags and splintering; for this berg had never got
far enough south to be melted and smoothed by the summer sun.
She brought him to a cave near the water, where she entered, and,
letting Diamond go, sat down as if weary on a ledge of ice.
Diamond seated himself on the other side, and for a while was
enraptured with the colour of the air inside the cave. It was a deep,
dazzling, lovely blue, deeper than the deepest blue of the sky.
The blue seemed to be in constantmotion, like the blackness when
you press your eyeballs with your fingers, boiling and sparkling.
But when he looked across to North Wind he was frightened;
her face was worn and livid.
"What is the matter with you, dear North Wind?" he said.
"Nothing much. I feel very faint. But you mustn't mind it,
for I can bear it quite well. South Wind always blows me faint.
If it were not for the cool of the thick ice between me and her,
I should faint altogether. Indeed, as it is, I fear I must vanish."
Diamond stared at her in terror, for he saw that her form and face
and said--
"How's your head, dear?"
"Better, auntie, I think."
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, yes! I should, please."
So his aunt gave him some lemonade, for she had been used
to nursing sick people, and Diamond felt very much refreshed,
and laid his head down again to go very fast asleep, as he thought.
And so he did, but only to come awake again, as a fresh burst of wind
blew the lattice open a second time. The same moment he found
himself in a cloud of North Wind's hair, with her beautiful face,
set in it like a moon, bending over him.
"Quick, Diamond!" she said. "I have found such a chance!"
"But I'm not well," said Diamond.
"I know that, but you will be better for a little fresh air.
You shall have plenty of that."
"You want me to go, then?"
"Yes, I do. It won't hurt you."
"Very well," said Diamond; and getting out of the bed-clothes, he
jumped into North Wind's arms.
"We must make haste before your aunt comes," said she, as she
glided out of the open lattice and left it swinging.
The moment Diamond felt her arms fold around him he began to
feel better. It was a moonless night, and very dark, with glimpses
of stars when the clouds parted.
"I used to dash the waves about here," said North Wind, "where cows
and sheep are feeding now; but we shall soon get to them.
There they are."
And Diamond, looking down, saw the white glimmer of breaking water
far below him.
"You see, Diamond," said North Wind, "it is very difficult for me
to get you to the back of the north wind, for that country lies
in the very north itself, and of course I can't blow northwards."
"Why not?" asked Diamond.
"You little silly!" said North Wind. "Don't you see that if I
were to blow northwards I should be South Wind, and that is as much
as to say that one person could be two persons?"
"But how can you ever get home at all, then?"
"You are quite right--that is my home, though I never get farther than
the outer door. I sit on the doorstep, and hear the voices inside.
I am nobody there, Diamond."
"I'm very sorry."
"Why?"
"That you should be nobody."
"Oh, I don't mind it. Dear little man! you will be very glad some
day to be nobody yourself. But you can't understand that now,
and you had better not try; for if you do, you will be certain to go
fancying some egregious nonsense, and making yourself miserable
about it."
"Then I won't," said Diamond.
"There's a good boy. It will all come in good time."
"But you haven't told me how you get to the doorstep, you know."
"It is easy enough for me. I have only to consent to be nobody,
and there I am. I draw into myself and there I am on the doorstep.
But you can easily see, or you have less sense than I think,
that to drag you, you heavy thing, along with me, would take centuries,
and I could not give the time to it."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" said Diamond.
"What for now, pet?"
"That I'm so heavy for you. I would be lighter if I could, but I
don't know how."
"You silly darling! Why, I could toss you a hundred miles from me
if I liked. It is only when I am going home that I shall find
you heavy."
"Then you are going home with me?"
"Of course. Did I not come to fetch you just for that?"
"But all this time you must be going southwards."
"Yes. Of course I am."
"How can you be taking me northwards, then?"
"A very sensible question. But you shall see. I will get
rid of a few of these clouds--only they do come up so fast!
It's like trying to blow a brook dry. There! What do you see now?"
"I think I see a little boat, away there, down below."
"A little boat, indeed! Well! She's a yacht of two hundred tons;
and the captain of it is a friend of mine; for he is a man of
good sense, and can sail his craft well. I've helped him many
a time when he little thought it. I've heard him grumbling at me,
when I was doing the very best I could for him. Why, I've carried
him eighty miles a day, again and again, right north."
"He must have dodged for that," said Diamond, who had been watching
the vessels, and had seen that they went other ways than the wind blew.
"Of course he must. But don't you see, it was the best I could do?
I couldn't be South Wind. And besides it gave him a share in
the business. It is not good at all--mind that, Diamond--to do
everything for those you love, and not give them a share in the doing.
It's not kind. It's making too much of yourself, my child.
If I had been South Wind, he would only have smoked his pipe all day,
and made himself stupid."
"But how could he be a man of sense and grumble at you when you
were doing your best for him?"
"Oh! you must make allowances," said North Wind, "or you will never
do justice to anybody.--You do understand, then, that a captain
may sail north----"
"In spite of a north wind--yes," supplemented Diamond.
"Now, I do think you must be stupid, my, dear" said North Wind.
"Suppose the north wind did not blow where would he be then?"
"Why then the south wind would carry him."
"So you think that when the north wind stops the south wind blows.
Nonsense. If I didn't blow, the captain couldn't sail his eighty
miles a day. No doubt South Wind would carry him faster, but South
Wind is sitting on her doorstep then, and if I stopped there would
be a dead calm. So you are all wrong to say he can sail north
in spite of me; he sails north by my help, and my help alone.
You see that, Diamond?"
"Yes, I do, North Wind. I am stupid, but I don't want to be stupid."
"Good boy! I am going to blow you north in that little craft, one of
the finest that ever sailed the sea. Here we are, right over it.
I shall be blowing against you; you will be sailing against me;
and all will be just as we want it. The captain won't get on
so fast as he would like, but he will get on, and so shall we.
I'm just going to put you on board. Do you see in front of the tiller--
that thing the man is working, now to one side, now to the other--
a round thing like the top of a drum?"
"Yes," said Diamond.
"Below that is where they keep their spare sails, and some stores
of that sort. I am going to blow that cover off. The same moment
I will drop you on deck, and you must tumble in. Don't be afraid,
it is of no depth, and you will fall on sail-cloth. You will find it
nice and warm and dry-only dark; and you will know I am near you by
every roll and pitch of the vessel. Coil yourself up and go to sleep.
The yacht shall be my cradle and you shall be my baby."
"Thank you, dear North Wind. I am not a bit afraid," said Diamond.
In a moment they were on a level with the bulwarks, and North Wind
sent the hatch of the after-store rattling away over the deck
to leeward. The next, Diamond found himself in the dark, for he
had tumbled through the hole as North Wind had told him, and the
cover was replaced over his head. Away he went rolling to leeward,
for the wind began all at once to blow hard. He heard the call
of the captain, and the loud trampling of the men over his head,
as they hauled at the main sheet to get the boom on board that they
might take in a reef in the mainsail. Diamond felt about until
he had found what seemed the most comfortable place, and there he
snuggled down and lay.
Hours after hours, a great many of them, went by; and still
Diamond lay there. He never felt in the least tired or impatient,
for a strange pleasure filled his heart. The straining of the masts,
the creaking of the boom, the singing of the ropes, the banging
of the blocks as they put the vessel about, all fell in with the
roaring of the wind above, the surge of the waves past her sides,
and the thud with which every now and then one would strike her;
while through it all Diamond could hear the gurgling, rippling,
talking flow of the water against her planks, as she slipped through it,
lying now on this side, now on that--like a subdued air running
through the grand music his North Wind was making about him to keep
him from tiring as they sped on towards the country at the back
of her doorstep.
How long this lasted Diamond had no idea. He seemed to fall
asleep sometimes, only through the sleep he heard the sounds going on.
At length the weather seemed to get worse. The confusion and
trampling of feet grew more frequent over his head; the vessel lay
over more and more on her side, and went roaring through the waves,
which banged and thumped at her as if in anger. All at once arose
a terrible uproar. The hatch was blown off; a cold fierce wind
swept in upon him; and a long arm came with it which laid hold
of him and lifted him out. The same moment he saw the little vessel
far below him righting herself. She had taken in all her sails
and lay now tossing on the waves like a sea-bird with folded wings.
A short distance to the south lay a much larger vessel, with two
or three sails set, and towards it North Wind was carrying Diamond.
It was a German ship, on its way to the North Pole.
"That vessel down there will give us a lift now," said North Wind;
"and after that I must do the best I can."
She managed to hide him amongst the flags of the big ship,
which were all snugly stowed away, and on and on they sped
towards the north. At length one night she whispered in his ear,
"Come on deck, Diamond;" and he got up at once and crept on deck.
Everything looked very strange. Here and there on all sides were
huge masses of floating ice, looking like cathedrals, and castles,
and crags, while away beyond was a blue sea.
"Is the sun rising or setting?" asked Diamond.
"Neither or both, which you please. I can hardly tell which myself.
If he is setting now, he will be rising the next moment."
"What a strange light it is!" said Diamond. "I have heard
that the sun doesn't go to bed all the summer in these parts.
Miss Coleman told me that. I suppose he feels very sleepy,
and that is why the light he sends out looks so like a dream."
"That will account for it well enough for all practical purposes,"
said North Wind.
Some of the icebergs were drifting northwards; one was passing
very near the ship. North Wind seized Diamond, and with a single
bound lighted on one of them--a huge thing, with sharp pinnacles and
great clefts. The same instant a wind began to blow from the south.
North Wind hurried Diamond down the north side of the iceberg,
stepping by its jags and splintering; for this berg had never got
far enough south to be melted and smoothed by the summer sun.
She brought him to a cave near the water, where she entered, and,
letting Diamond go, sat down as if weary on a ledge of ice.
Diamond seated himself on the other side, and for a while was
enraptured with the colour of the air inside the cave. It was a deep,
dazzling, lovely blue, deeper than the deepest blue of the sky.
The blue seemed to be in constantmotion, like the blackness when
you press your eyeballs with your fingers, boiling and sparkling.
But when he looked across to North Wind he was frightened;
her face was worn and livid.
"What is the matter with you, dear North Wind?" he said.
"Nothing much. I feel very faint. But you mustn't mind it,
for I can bear it quite well. South Wind always blows me faint.
If it were not for the cool of the thick ice between me and her,
I should faint altogether. Indeed, as it is, I fear I must vanish."
Diamond stared at her in terror, for he saw that her form and face
- sensible [´sensəbəl]
a.感觉得到的 (初中英语单词) - stupid [´stju:pid] a.愚蠢的；糊涂的 (初中英语单词)
- working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
- vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)
- cradle [´kreidl] n.摇篮；发源地 (初中英语单词)
- confusion [kən´fju:ʒən] n.混乱(状态)；骚乱 (初中英语单词)
- frequent [´fri:kwənt] a.常见的，频繁的 (初中英语单词)
- fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
- account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
- instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
- constant [´kɔnstənt] a.坚定的；坚贞的 (初中英语单词)
- altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- nonsense [´nɔnsəns] n.胡说 int.胡说!废话 (高中英语单词)
- grumble [´grʌmbəl] v.&n.抱怨；发牢骚 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- hurried [´hʌrid] a.仓促的，慌忙的 (高中英语单词)
- motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)
- bedside [´bedsaid] n.床边 a.护理的 (英语四级单词)
- lemonade [,lemə´neid] n.柠檬水 (英语四级单词)
- glimmer [´glimə] n.&vi.闪光 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- uproar [´ʌprɔ:] n.喧嚣；骚动；轰鸣，轰动 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- blackness [´blæknis] n.黑色；阴险 (英语四级单词)
- doorstep [´dɔ:step] n.门阶 (英语六级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
