章节正文
The other creatures are friendly. They don't run away from me.
Only they're all so busy with their own work, they don't mind
me much."
"Do you feel lonely, then?"
"Oh, no! When nobody minds me, I get into my nest, and look up.
And then the sky does mind me, and thinks about me."
"Where is your nest?"
He rose, saying, "I will show you," and led me to the other side
of the tree.
There hung a little rope-ladder from one of the lower boughs.
The boy climbed up the ladder and got upon the bough. Then he climbed
farther into the leafy branches, and went out of sight.
After a little while, I heard his voice coming down out of the tree.
"I am in my nest now," said the voice.
"I can't see you," I returned.
"I can't see you either, but I can see the first star peeping
out of the sky. I should like to get up into the sky. Don't you
think I shall, some day?"
"Yes, I do. Tell me what more you see up there."
"I don't see anything more, except a few leaves, and the big sky
over me. It goes swinging about. The earth is all behind my back.
There comes another star! The wind is like kisses from a big lady.
When I get up here I feel as if I were in North Wind's arms."
This was the first I heard of North Wind.
The whole ways and look of the child, so full of quiet wisdom,
yet so ready to accept the judgment of others in his own dispraise,
took hold of my heart, and I felt myself wonderfully drawn towards him.
It seemed to me, somehow, as if little Diamond possessed the secret
of life, and was himself what he was so ready to think the lowest
living thing--an angel of God with something special to say or do.
A gush of reverence came over me, and with a single goodnight,
I turned and left him in his nest.
I saw him often after this, and gained so much of his confidence
that he told me all I have told you. I cannot pretend to account
for it. I leave that for each philosophical reader to do after
his own fashion. The easiest way is that of Nanny and Jim,
who said often to each other that Diamond had a tile loose.
But Mr. Raymond was much of my opinion concerning the boy;
while Mrs. Raymond confessed that she often rang her bell just
to have once more the pleasure of seeing the lovely stillness
of the boy's face, with those blue eyes which seemed rather made
for other people to look into than for himself to look out of.
It was plainer to others than to himself that he felt the desertion
of Nanny and Jim. They appeared to regard him as a mere toy,
except when they found he could minister to the scruple of using him--
generally with success. They were, however, well-behaved to a
wonderful degree; while I have little doubt that much of their
good behaviour was owing to the unconscious influence of the boy
they called God's baby.
One very strange thing is that I could never find out where
he got some of his many songs. At times they would be but
bubbles blown out of a nursery rhyme, as was the following,
which I heard him sing one evening to his little Dulcimer.
There were about a score of sheep feeding in a paddock near him,
their white wool dyed a pale rose in the light of the setting sun.
Those in the long shadows from the trees were dead white;
those in the sunlight were half glorified with pale rose.
Little Bo Peep, she lost her sheep,
And didn't know where to find them;
They were over the height and out of sight,
Trailing their tails behind them.
Little Bo Peep woke out of her sleep,
Jump'd up and set out to find them:
"The silly things, they've got no wings,
And they've left their trails behind them:
"They've taken their tails, but they've left their trails,
And so I shall follow and find them;"
For wherever a tail had dragged a trail,
The long grass grew behind them.
And day's eyes and butter-cups, cow's lips and crow's feet
Were glittering in the sun.
She threw down her book, and caught up her crook,
And after her sheep did run.
She ran, and she ran, and ever as she ran,
The grass grew higher and higher;
Till over the hill the sun began
To set in a flame of fire.
She ran on still -- up the grassy hill,
And the grass grew higher and higher;
When she reached its crown, the sun was down,
And had left a trail of fire.
The sheep and their tails were gone, all gone --
And no more trail behind them!
Yes, yes! they were there -- long-tailed and fair,
But, alas! she could not find them.
Purple and gold, and rosy and blue,
With their tails all white behind them,
Her sheep they did run in the trail of the sun;
She saw them, but could not find them.
After the sun, like clouds they did run,
But she knew they were her sheep:
She sat down to cry, and look up at the sky,
But she cried herself asleep.
And as she slept the dew fell fast,
And the wind blew from the sky;
And strange things took place that shun the day's face,
Because they are sweet and shy.
Nibble, nibble, crop! she heard as she woke:
A hundred little lambs
Did pluck and eat the grass so sweet
That grew in the trails of their dams.
Little Bo Peep caught up her crook,
And wiped the tears that did blind her.
And nibble, nibble crop! without a stop!
The lambs came eating behind her.
Home, home she came, both tired and lame,
With three times as many sheep.
In a month or more, they'll be as big as before,
And then she'll laugh in her sleep.
But what would you say, if one fine day,
When they've got their bushiest tails,
Their grown up game should be just the same,
And she have to follow their trails?
Never weep, Bo Peep, though you lose your sheep,
And do not know where to find them;
'Tis after the sun the mothers have run,
And there are their lambs behind them.
I confess again to having touched up a little, but it loses far
more in Diamond's sweet voice singing it than it gains by a rhyme
here and there.
Some of them were out of books Mr. Raymond had given him.
These he always knew, but about the others he could seldom tell.
Sometimes he would say, "I made that one." but generally he would say,
"I don't know; I found it somewhere;" or "I got it at the back of
the north wind."
One evening I found him sitting on the grassy slope under the house,
with his Dulcimer in his arms and his little brother rolling
on the grass beside them. He was chanting in his usual way,
more like the sound of a brook than anything else I can think of.
When I went up to them he ceased his chant.
"Do go on, Diamond. Don't mind me," I said.
He began again at once. While he sang, Nanny and Jim sat a little
way off, one hemming a pocket-handkerchief, and the other reading
a story to her, but they never heeded Diamond. This is as near
what he sang as I can recollect, or reproduce rather.
What would you see if I took you up
To my little nest in the air?
You would see the sky like a clear blue cup
Turned upsidedownwards there.
What would you do if I took you there
To my little nest in the tree?
My child with cries would trouble the air,
To get what she could but see.
What would you get in the top of the tree
For all your crying and grief?
Not a star would you clutch of all you see --
You could only gather a leaf.
But when you had lost your greedy grief,
Content to see from afar,
You would find in your hand a withering leaf,
In your heart a shining star.
As Diamond went on singing, it grew very dark, and just as he
ceased there came a great flash of lightning, that blinded us all
for a moment. Dulcimer crowed with pleasure; but when the roar
of thunder came after it, the little brother gave a loud cry
of terror. Nanny and Jim came running up to us, pale with fear.
Diamond's face, too, was paler than usual, but with delight.
Some of the glory seemed to have clung to it, and remained shining.
"You're not frightened--are you, Diamond?" I said.
"No. Why should I be?" he answered with his usual question,
looking up in my face with calm shining eyes.
"He ain't got sense to be frightened," said Nanny, going up to him
and giving him a pitying hug.
"Perhaps there's more sense in not being frightened, Nanny," I returned.
"Do you think the lightning can do as it likes?"
"It might kill you," said Jim.
"Oh, no, it mightn't!" said Diamond.
As he spoke there came another great flash, and a tearing crack.
"There's a tree struck!" I said; and when we looked round,
after the blinding of the flash had left our eyes, we saw a huge
bough of the beech-tree in which was Diamond's nest hanging
to the ground like the broken wing of a bird.
"There!" cried Nanny; "I told you so. If you had been up there
you see what would have happened, you little silly!"
"No, I don't," said Diamond, and began to sing to Dulcimer.
All I could hear of the song, for the other children were going on
with their chatter, was--
The clock struck one,
And the mouse came down.
Dickery, dickery, dock!
Then there came a blast of wind, and the rain followed in
straight-pouring lines, as if out of a watering-pot. Diamond
jumped up with his little Dulcimer in his arms, and Nanny
caught up the little boy, and they ran for the cottage.
Jim vanished with a double shuffle, and I went into the house.
When I came out again to return home, the clouds were gone,
and the evening sky glimmered through the trees, blue, and pale-green
towards the west, I turned my steps a little aside to look at the
stricken beech. I saw the bough torn from the stem, and that was
all the twilight would allow me to see. While I stood gazing,
down from the sky came a sound of singing, but the voice was
neither of lark nor of nightingale: it was sweeter than either:
it was the voice of Diamond, up in his airy nest:--
The lightning and thunder,
They go and they come;
But the stars and the stillness
Are always at home.
And then the voice ceased.
"Good-night, Diamond," I said.
"Good-night, sir," answered Diamond.
As I walked away pondering, I saw the great black top of the beech
Only they're all so busy with their own work, they don't mind
me much."
"Do you feel lonely, then?"
"Oh, no! When nobody minds me, I get into my nest, and look up.
And then the sky does mind me, and thinks about me."
"Where is your nest?"
He rose, saying, "I will show you," and led me to the other side
of the tree.
There hung a little rope-ladder from one of the lower boughs.
The boy climbed up the ladder and got upon the bough. Then he climbed
farther into the leafy branches, and went out of sight.
After a little while, I heard his voice coming down out of the tree.
"I am in my nest now," said the voice.
"I can't see you," I returned.
"I can't see you either, but I can see the first star peeping
out of the sky. I should like to get up into the sky. Don't you
think I shall, some day?"
"Yes, I do. Tell me what more you see up there."
"I don't see anything more, except a few leaves, and the big sky
over me. It goes swinging about. The earth is all behind my back.
There comes another star! The wind is like kisses from a big lady.
When I get up here I feel as if I were in North Wind's arms."
This was the first I heard of North Wind.
The whole ways and look of the child, so full of quiet wisdom,
yet so ready to accept the judgment of others in his own dispraise,
took hold of my heart, and I felt myself wonderfully drawn towards him.
It seemed to me, somehow, as if little Diamond possessed the secret
of life, and was himself what he was so ready to think the lowest
living thing--an angel of God with something special to say or do.
A gush of reverence came over me, and with a single goodnight,
I turned and left him in his nest.
I saw him often after this, and gained so much of his confidence
that he told me all I have told you. I cannot pretend to account
for it. I leave that for each philosophical reader to do after
his own fashion. The easiest way is that of Nanny and Jim,
who said often to each other that Diamond had a tile loose.
But Mr. Raymond was much of my opinion concerning the boy;
while Mrs. Raymond confessed that she often rang her bell just
to have once more the pleasure of seeing the lovely stillness
of the boy's face, with those blue eyes which seemed rather made
for other people to look into than for himself to look out of.
It was plainer to others than to himself that he felt the desertion
of Nanny and Jim. They appeared to regard him as a mere toy,
except when they found he could minister to the scruple of using him--
generally with success. They were, however, well-behaved to a
wonderful degree; while I have little doubt that much of their
good behaviour was owing to the unconscious influence of the boy
they called God's baby.
One very strange thing is that I could never find out where
he got some of his many songs. At times they would be but
bubbles blown out of a nursery rhyme, as was the following,
which I heard him sing one evening to his little Dulcimer.
There were about a score of sheep feeding in a paddock near him,
their white wool dyed a pale rose in the light of the setting sun.
Those in the long shadows from the trees were dead white;
those in the sunlight were half glorified with pale rose.
Little Bo Peep, she lost her sheep,
And didn't know where to find them;
They were over the height and out of sight,
Trailing their tails behind them.
Little Bo Peep woke out of her sleep,
Jump'd up and set out to find them:
"The silly things, they've got no wings,
And they've left their trails behind them:
"They've taken their tails, but they've left their trails,
And so I shall follow and find them;"
For wherever a tail had dragged a trail,
The long grass grew behind them.
And day's eyes and butter-cups, cow's lips and crow's feet
Were glittering in the sun.
She threw down her book, and caught up her crook,
And after her sheep did run.
She ran, and she ran, and ever as she ran,
The grass grew higher and higher;
Till over the hill the sun began
To set in a flame of fire.
She ran on still -- up the grassy hill,
And the grass grew higher and higher;
When she reached its crown, the sun was down,
And had left a trail of fire.
The sheep and their tails were gone, all gone --
And no more trail behind them!
Yes, yes! they were there -- long-tailed and fair,
But, alas! she could not find them.
Purple and gold, and rosy and blue,
With their tails all white behind them,
Her sheep they did run in the trail of the sun;
She saw them, but could not find them.
After the sun, like clouds they did run,
But she knew they were her sheep:
She sat down to cry, and look up at the sky,
But she cried herself asleep.
And as she slept the dew fell fast,
And the wind blew from the sky;
And strange things took place that shun the day's face,
Because they are sweet and shy.
Nibble, nibble, crop! she heard as she woke:
A hundred little lambs
Did pluck and eat the grass so sweet
That grew in the trails of their dams.
Little Bo Peep caught up her crook,
And wiped the tears that did blind her.
And nibble, nibble crop! without a stop!
The lambs came eating behind her.
Home, home she came, both tired and lame,
With three times as many sheep.
In a month or more, they'll be as big as before,
And then she'll laugh in her sleep.
But what would you say, if one fine day,
When they've got their bushiest tails,
Their grown up game should be just the same,
And she have to follow their trails?
Never weep, Bo Peep, though you lose your sheep,
And do not know where to find them;
'Tis after the sun the mothers have run,
And there are their lambs behind them.
I confess again to having touched up a little, but it loses far
more in Diamond's sweet voice singing it than it gains by a rhyme
here and there.
Some of them were out of books Mr. Raymond had given him.
These he always knew, but about the others he could seldom tell.
Sometimes he would say, "I made that one." but generally he would say,
"I don't know; I found it somewhere;" or "I got it at the back of
the north wind."
One evening I found him sitting on the grassy slope under the house,
with his Dulcimer in his arms and his little brother rolling
on the grass beside them. He was chanting in his usual way,
more like the sound of a brook than anything else I can think of.
When I went up to them he ceased his chant.
"Do go on, Diamond. Don't mind me," I said.
He began again at once. While he sang, Nanny and Jim sat a little
way off, one hemming a pocket-handkerchief, and the other reading
a story to her, but they never heeded Diamond. This is as near
what he sang as I can recollect, or reproduce rather.
What would you see if I took you up
To my little nest in the air?
You would see the sky like a clear blue cup
Turned upsidedownwards there.
What would you do if I took you there
To my little nest in the tree?
My child with cries would trouble the air,
To get what she could but see.
What would you get in the top of the tree
For all your crying and grief?
Not a star would you clutch of all you see --
You could only gather a leaf.
But when you had lost your greedy grief,
Content to see from afar,
You would find in your hand a withering leaf,
In your heart a shining star.
As Diamond went on singing, it grew very dark, and just as he
ceased there came a great flash of lightning, that blinded us all
for a moment. Dulcimer crowed with pleasure; but when the roar
of thunder came after it, the little brother gave a loud cry
of terror. Nanny and Jim came running up to us, pale with fear.
Diamond's face, too, was paler than usual, but with delight.
Some of the glory seemed to have clung to it, and remained shining.
"You're not frightened--are you, Diamond?" I said.
"No. Why should I be?" he answered with his usual question,
looking up in my face with calm shining eyes.
"He ain't got sense to be frightened," said Nanny, going up to him
and giving him a pitying hug.
"Perhaps there's more sense in not being frightened, Nanny," I returned.
"Do you think the lightning can do as it likes?"
"It might kill you," said Jim.
"Oh, no, it mightn't!" said Diamond.
As he spoke there came another great flash, and a tearing crack.
"There's a tree struck!" I said; and when we looked round,
after the blinding of the flash had left our eyes, we saw a huge
bough of the beech-tree in which was Diamond's nest hanging
to the ground like the broken wing of a bird.
"There!" cried Nanny; "I told you so. If you had been up there
you see what would have happened, you little silly!"
"No, I don't," said Diamond, and began to sing to Dulcimer.
All I could hear of the song, for the other children were going on
with their chatter, was--
The clock struck one,
And the mouse came down.
Dickery, dickery, dock!
Then there came a blast of wind, and the rain followed in
straight-pouring lines, as if out of a watering-pot. Diamond
jumped up with his little Dulcimer in his arms, and Nanny
caught up the little boy, and they ran for the cottage.
Jim vanished with a double shuffle, and I went into the house.
When I came out again to return home, the clouds were gone,
and the evening sky glimmered through the trees, blue, and pale-green
towards the west, I turned my steps a little aside to look at the
stricken beech. I saw the bough torn from the stem, and that was
all the twilight would allow me to see. While I stood gazing,
down from the sky came a sound of singing, but the voice was
neither of lark nor of nightingale: it was sweeter than either:
it was the voice of Diamond, up in his airy nest:--
The lightning and thunder,
They go and they come;
But the stars and the stillness
Are always at home.
And then the voice ceased.
"Good-night, Diamond," I said.
"Good-night, sir," answered Diamond.
As I walked away pondering, I saw the great black top of the beech
- lonely [´ləunli]
a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词) - pretend [pri´tend] v.假装；借口；妄求 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- sunlight [´sʌnlait] n.日光 (初中英语单词)
- height [hait] n.高度；顶点；卓越 (初中英语单词)
- wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
- confess [kən´fes] vt.供认；坦白；承认 (初中英语单词)
- clutch [klʌtʃ] v.抓住 n.爪子；控制 (初中英语单词)
- greedy [´gri:di] a.贪婪的；馋的 (初中英语单词)
- lightning [´laitniŋ] n.闪电 a.突然的 (初中英语单词)
- thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- chatter [´tʃætə] vi.&n.饶舌；闲聊 (初中英语单词)
- twilight [´twailait] n.黎明；黄昏 (初中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- ladder [´lædə] n.梯子；阶梯 (高中英语单词)
- reverence [´revərəns] n.尊敬；敬畏；尊严 (高中英语单词)
- concerning [kən´sə:niŋ] prep.关于 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- unconscious [ʌn´kɔnʃəs] a.无意识的；不觉察的 (高中英语单词)
- nursery [´nə:səri] n.托儿所；苗床；养鱼场 (高中英语单词)
- reproduce [,ri:prə´dju:s] v.繁殖；复制；翻版 (高中英语单词)
- wonderfully [´wʌndəfuli] ad.令人惊讶地；奇妙地 (英语四级单词)
- setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
- grassy [´grɑ:si] a.多草的；青草味的 (英语四级单词)
- nibble [´nibəl] v.啃 n.轻咬，啃 (英语四级单词)
- recollect [rekə´lekt] v.重新集合；恢复 (英语四级单词)
- upside [´ʌpsaid] n.上边，上段，上部 (英语四级单词)
- downwards [´daunwədz] ad.向下，以下 (英语四级单词)
- shuffle [´ʃʌf(ə)l] v.洗(牌) n.搅乱 (英语四级单词)
- nightingale [´naitiŋgeil] n.夜莺 (英语四级单词)
- philosophical [,filə´sɔfikəl] a.哲学(上)的；冷静的 (英语六级单词)
- scruple [´skru:pəl] n.&v.犹豫；顾忌 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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