章节正文
dreamed my duty.'
'Then dream often, my son; for there must then be more truth in
your dreams than in your waking thoughts. But however any of these
things may be, this one point remains certain: there can be no harm
in doing as she told you. And, indeed, until you are sure there is
no such person, you are bound to do it, for you promised.'
'it seems to me,' said his father, 'that if a lady comes to you in
a dream, Curdie, and tells you not to talk about her when you wake,
the least you can do is to hold your tongue.'
'True, Father! Yes, Mother, I'll do it,' said Curdie.
Then they went to bed, and sleep, which is the night of the soul,
next took them in its arms and made them well.
CHAPTER 5
The Miners
It much increased Curdie's feeling of the strangeness of the whole
affair, that, the next morning, when they were at work in the mine,
the party of which he and his father were two, just as if they had
known what had happened to him the night before, began talking
about all manner of wonderful tales that were abroad in the
country, chiefly, of course, those connected with the mines, and
the mountains in which they lay. Their wives and mothers and
grandmothers were their chief authorities. For when they sat by
their firesides they heard their wives telling their children the
selfsame tales, with little differences, and here and there one
they had not heard before, which they had heard their mothers and
grandmothers tell in one or other of the same cottages.
At length they came to speak of a certain strange being they called
Old Mother Wotherwop. Some said their wives had seen her. It
appeared as they talked that not one had seen her more than once.
Some of their mothers and grandmothers, however, had seen her also,
and they all had told them tales about her when they were children.
They said she could take any shape she liked, but that in reality
she was a withered old woman, so old and so withered that she was
as thin as a sieve with a lamp behind it; that she was never seen
except at night, and when something terrible had taken place, or
was going to take place - such as the falling in of the roof of a
mine, or the breaking out of water in it.
She had more than once been seen - it was always at night - beside
some well, sitting on the brink of it, and leaning over and
stirring it with her forefinger, which was six times as long as any
of the rest. And whoever for months after drank of that well was
sure to be ill. To this, one of them, however, added that he
remembered his mother saying that whoever in bad health drank of
the well was sure to get better. But the majority agreed that the
former was the right version of the story- for was she not a witch,
an old hating witch, whose delight was to do mischief? One said he
had heard that she took the shape of a young woman sometimes, as
beautiful as an angel, and then was most dangerous of all, for she
struck every man who looked upon her stone-blind.
Peter ventured the question whether she might not as likely be an
angel that took the form of an old woman, as an old woman that took
the form of an angel. But nobody except Curdie, who was holding
his peace with all his might, saw any sense in the question. They
said an old woman might be very glad to make herself look like a
young one, but who ever heard of a young and beautiful one making
herself look old and ugly?
Peter asked why they were so much more ready to believe the bad
that was said of her than the good. They answered, because she was
bad. He asked why they believed her to be bad, and they answered,
because she did bad things. When he asked how they knew that, they
said, because she was a bad creature. Even if they didn't know it,
they said, a woman like that was so much more likely to be bad than
good. Why did she go about at night? Why did she appear only now
and then, and on such occasions? One went on to tell how one night
when his grandfather had been having a jolly time of it with his
friends in the market town, she had served him so upon his way home
that the poor man never drank a drop of anything stronger than
water after it to the day of his death. She dragged him into a
bog, and tumbled him up and down in it till he was nearly dead.
'I suppose that was her way of teaching him what a good thing water
was,' said Peter; but the man, who liked strong drink, did not see
the joke.
'They do say,' said another, 'that she has lived in the old house
over there ever since the little princess left it. They say too
that the housekeeper knows all about it, and is hand and glove with
the old witch. I don't doubt they have many a nice airing together
on broomsticks. But I don't doubt either it's all nonsense, and
there's no such person at all.'
'When our cow died,' said another, 'she was seen going round and
round the cowhouse the same night. To be sure she left a fine calf
behind her - I mean the cow did, not the witch. I wonder she
didn't kill that, too, for she'll be a far finer cow than ever her
mother was.'
'My old woman came upon her one night, not long before the water
broke out in the mine, sitting on a stone on the hillside with a
whole congregation of cobs about her. When they saw my wife they
all scampered off as fast as they could run, and where the witch
was sitting there was nothing to be seen but a withered bracken
bush. I made no doubt myself she was putting them up to it.'
And so they went on with one foolish tale after another, while
Peter put in a word now and then, and Curdie diligently held his
peace. But his silence at last drew attention upon it, and one of
them said:
'Come, young Curdie, what are you thinking of?'
'How do you know I'm thinking of anything?' asked Curdie.
'Because you're not saying anything.'
'Does it follow then that, as you are saying so much, you're not
thinking at all?' said Curdie.
'I know what he's thinking,' said one who had not yet spoken; 'he's
thinking what a set of fools you are to talk such rubbish; as if
ever there was or could be such an old woman as you say! I'm sure
Curdie knows better than all that comes to.'
'I think,' said Curdie, 'it would be better that he who says
anything about her should be quite sure it is true, lest she should
hear him, and not like to be slandered.'
'But would she like it any better if it were true?' said the same
man. 'If she is What they say - I don't know - but I never knew a
man that wouldn't go in a rage to be called the very thing he was.'
'if bad things were true of her, and I knew it,' said Curdie, 'I
would not hesitate to say them, for I will never give in to being
afraid of anything that's bad. I suspect that the things they
tell, however, if we knew all about them, would turn out to have
nothing but good in them; and I won't say a word more for fear I
should say something that mightn't be to her mind.'
They all burst into a loud laugh.
'Hear the parson!' they cried. 'He believes in the witch! Ha!
ha!'
'He's afraid of her!'
'And says all she does is good!'
'He wants to make friends with her, that she may help him to find
the silver ore.'
'Give me my own eyes and a good divining rod before all the witches
in the world! And so I'd advise you too, Master Curdie; that is,
when your eyes have grown to be worth anything, and you have
learned to cut the hazel fork.'
Thus they all mocked and jeered at him, but he did his best to keep
his temper and go quietly on with his work. He got as close to his
father as he could, however, for that helped him to bear it. As
soon as they were tired of laughing and mocking, Curdie was
friendly with them, and long before their midday meal all between
them was as it had been.
But when the evening came, Peter and Curdie felt that they would
rather walk home together without other company, and therefore
lingered behind when the rest of the men left the mine.
CHAPTER 6
The Emerald
Father and son had seated themselves on a projecting piece of rock
at a corner where three galleries met - the one they had come along
from their work, one to the right leading out of the mountain, and
the other to the left leading far into a portion of it which had
been long disused. Since the inundation caused by the goblins, it
had indeed been rendered impassable by the settlement of a quantity
of the water, forming a small but very deep lake, in a part where
there was a considerable descent.
They had just risen and were turning to the right, when a gleam
caught their eyes, and made them look along the whole gallery. Far
up they saw a pale green light, whence issuing they could not tell,
about halfway between floor and roof of the passage. They saw
nothing but the light, which was like a large star, with a point of
darker colour yet brighter radiance in the heart of it, whence the
rest of the light shot out in rays that faded toward the ends until
they vanished. It shed hardly any light around it, although in
itself it was so bright as to sting the eyes that beheld it.
Wonderful stories had from ages gone been current in the mines
about certain magic gems which gave out light of themselves, and
this light looked just like what might be supposed to shoot from
the heart of such a gem.
They went up the old gallery to find out what it could be. To
their surprise they found, however, that, after going some
distance, they were no nearer to it, so far as they could judge,
than when they started. It did not seem to move, and yet they
moving did not approach it. Still they persevered, for it was far
too wonderful a thing to lose sight of, so long as they could keep
it. At length they drew near the hollow where the water lay, and
still were no nearer the light. Where they expected to be stopped
by the water, however, water was none: something had taken place in
some part of the mine that had drained it off, and the gallery lay
open as in former times.
And now, to their surprise, the light, instead of being in front of
them, was shining at the same distance to the right, where they did
not know there was any passage at all. Then they discovered, by
the light of the lanterns they carried, that there the water had
broken through, and made an entrance to a part of the mountain of
which Peter knew nothing. But they were hardly well into it, still
following the light, before Curdie thought he recognized some of
the passages he had so often gone through when he was watching the
goblins.
After they had advanced a long way, with many turnings, now to the
right, now to the left, all at once their eyes seemed to come
suddenly to themselves, and they became aware that the light which
they had taken to be a great way from them was in reality almost
within reach of their hands.
The same instant it began to grow larger and thinner, the point of
light grew dim as it spread, the greenness melted away, and in a
moment or two, instead of the star, a dark, dark and yet luminous
face was looking at them with living eyes. And Curdie felt a great
awe swell up in his heart, for he thought he had seen those eyes
before.
'I see you know me, Curdie,' said a voice.
'if your eyes are you, ma'am, then I know you,' said Curdie. 'But
I never saw your face before.'
'Yes, you have seen it, Curdie,' said the voice. And with that the
darkness of its complexion melted away, and down from the face
dawned out the form that belonged to it, until at last Curdie and
his father beheld a lady, beautiful exceedingly, dressed in
something pale green, like velvet, over which her hair fell in
cataracts of a rich golden colour. it looked as if it were pouring
down from her head, and, like the water of the Dustbrook, vanishing
in a golden vapour ere it reached the floor. It came flowing from
under the edge of a coronet of gold, set with alternated pearls and
emeralds. In front of the crown was a great emerald, which looked
'Then dream often, my son; for there must then be more truth in
your dreams than in your waking thoughts. But however any of these
things may be, this one point remains certain: there can be no harm
in doing as she told you. And, indeed, until you are sure there is
no such person, you are bound to do it, for you promised.'
'it seems to me,' said his father, 'that if a lady comes to you in
a dream, Curdie, and tells you not to talk about her when you wake,
the least you can do is to hold your tongue.'
'True, Father! Yes, Mother, I'll do it,' said Curdie.
Then they went to bed, and sleep, which is the night of the soul,
next took them in its arms and made them well.
CHAPTER 5
The Miners
It much increased Curdie's feeling of the strangeness of the whole
affair, that, the next morning, when they were at work in the mine,
the party of which he and his father were two, just as if they had
known what had happened to him the night before, began talking
about all manner of wonderful tales that were abroad in the
country, chiefly, of course, those connected with the mines, and
the mountains in which they lay. Their wives and mothers and
grandmothers were their chief authorities. For when they sat by
their firesides they heard their wives telling their children the
selfsame tales, with little differences, and here and there one
they had not heard before, which they had heard their mothers and
grandmothers tell in one or other of the same cottages.
At length they came to speak of a certain strange being they called
Old Mother Wotherwop. Some said their wives had seen her. It
appeared as they talked that not one had seen her more than once.
Some of their mothers and grandmothers, however, had seen her also,
and they all had told them tales about her when they were children.
They said she could take any shape she liked, but that in reality
she was a withered old woman, so old and so withered that she was
as thin as a sieve with a lamp behind it; that she was never seen
except at night, and when something terrible had taken place, or
was going to take place - such as the falling in of the roof of a
mine, or the breaking out of water in it.
She had more than once been seen - it was always at night - beside
some well, sitting on the brink of it, and leaning over and
stirring it with her forefinger, which was six times as long as any
of the rest. And whoever for months after drank of that well was
sure to be ill. To this, one of them, however, added that he
remembered his mother saying that whoever in bad health drank of
the well was sure to get better. But the majority agreed that the
former was the right version of the story- for was she not a witch,
an old hating witch, whose delight was to do mischief? One said he
had heard that she took the shape of a young woman sometimes, as
beautiful as an angel, and then was most dangerous of all, for she
struck every man who looked upon her stone-blind.
Peter ventured the question whether she might not as likely be an
angel that took the form of an old woman, as an old woman that took
the form of an angel. But nobody except Curdie, who was holding
his peace with all his might, saw any sense in the question. They
said an old woman might be very glad to make herself look like a
young one, but who ever heard of a young and beautiful one making
herself look old and ugly?
Peter asked why they were so much more ready to believe the bad
that was said of her than the good. They answered, because she was
bad. He asked why they believed her to be bad, and they answered,
because she did bad things. When he asked how they knew that, they
said, because she was a bad creature. Even if they didn't know it,
they said, a woman like that was so much more likely to be bad than
good. Why did she go about at night? Why did she appear only now
and then, and on such occasions? One went on to tell how one night
when his grandfather had been having a jolly time of it with his
friends in the market town, she had served him so upon his way home
that the poor man never drank a drop of anything stronger than
water after it to the day of his death. She dragged him into a
bog, and tumbled him up and down in it till he was nearly dead.
'I suppose that was her way of teaching him what a good thing water
was,' said Peter; but the man, who liked strong drink, did not see
the joke.
'They do say,' said another, 'that she has lived in the old house
over there ever since the little princess left it. They say too
that the housekeeper knows all about it, and is hand and glove with
the old witch. I don't doubt they have many a nice airing together
on broomsticks. But I don't doubt either it's all nonsense, and
there's no such person at all.'
'When our cow died,' said another, 'she was seen going round and
round the cowhouse the same night. To be sure she left a fine calf
behind her - I mean the cow did, not the witch. I wonder she
didn't kill that, too, for she'll be a far finer cow than ever her
mother was.'
'My old woman came upon her one night, not long before the water
broke out in the mine, sitting on a stone on the hillside with a
whole congregation of cobs about her. When they saw my wife they
all scampered off as fast as they could run, and where the witch
was sitting there was nothing to be seen but a withered bracken
bush. I made no doubt myself she was putting them up to it.'
And so they went on with one foolish tale after another, while
Peter put in a word now and then, and Curdie diligently held his
peace. But his silence at last drew attention upon it, and one of
them said:
'Come, young Curdie, what are you thinking of?'
'How do you know I'm thinking of anything?' asked Curdie.
'Because you're not saying anything.'
'Does it follow then that, as you are saying so much, you're not
thinking at all?' said Curdie.
'I know what he's thinking,' said one who had not yet spoken; 'he's
thinking what a set of fools you are to talk such rubbish; as if
ever there was or could be such an old woman as you say! I'm sure
Curdie knows better than all that comes to.'
'I think,' said Curdie, 'it would be better that he who says
anything about her should be quite sure it is true, lest she should
hear him, and not like to be slandered.'
'But would she like it any better if it were true?' said the same
man. 'If she is What they say - I don't know - but I never knew a
man that wouldn't go in a rage to be called the very thing he was.'
'if bad things were true of her, and I knew it,' said Curdie, 'I
would not hesitate to say them, for I will never give in to being
afraid of anything that's bad. I suspect that the things they
tell, however, if we knew all about them, would turn out to have
nothing but good in them; and I won't say a word more for fear I
should say something that mightn't be to her mind.'
They all burst into a loud laugh.
'Hear the parson!' they cried. 'He believes in the witch! Ha!
ha!'
'He's afraid of her!'
'And says all she does is good!'
'He wants to make friends with her, that she may help him to find
the silver ore.'
'Give me my own eyes and a good divining rod before all the witches
in the world! And so I'd advise you too, Master Curdie; that is,
when your eyes have grown to be worth anything, and you have
learned to cut the hazel fork.'
Thus they all mocked and jeered at him, but he did his best to keep
his temper and go quietly on with his work. He got as close to his
father as he could, however, for that helped him to bear it. As
soon as they were tired of laughing and mocking, Curdie was
friendly with them, and long before their midday meal all between
them was as it had been.
But when the evening came, Peter and Curdie felt that they would
rather walk home together without other company, and therefore
lingered behind when the rest of the men left the mine.
CHAPTER 6
The Emerald
Father and son had seated themselves on a projecting piece of rock
at a corner where three galleries met - the one they had come along
from their work, one to the right leading out of the mountain, and
the other to the left leading far into a portion of it which had
been long disused. Since the inundation caused by the goblins, it
had indeed been rendered impassable by the settlement of a quantity
of the water, forming a small but very deep lake, in a part where
there was a considerable descent.
They had just risen and were turning to the right, when a gleam
caught their eyes, and made them look along the whole gallery. Far
up they saw a pale green light, whence issuing they could not tell,
about halfway between floor and roof of the passage. They saw
nothing but the light, which was like a large star, with a point of
darker colour yet brighter radiance in the heart of it, whence the
rest of the light shot out in rays that faded toward the ends until
they vanished. It shed hardly any light around it, although in
itself it was so bright as to sting the eyes that beheld it.
Wonderful stories had from ages gone been current in the mines
about certain magic gems which gave out light of themselves, and
this light looked just like what might be supposed to shoot from
the heart of such a gem.
They went up the old gallery to find out what it could be. To
their surprise they found, however, that, after going some
distance, they were no nearer to it, so far as they could judge,
than when they started. It did not seem to move, and yet they
moving did not approach it. Still they persevered, for it was far
too wonderful a thing to lose sight of, so long as they could keep
it. At length they drew near the hollow where the water lay, and
still were no nearer the light. Where they expected to be stopped
by the water, however, water was none: something had taken place in
some part of the mine that had drained it off, and the gallery lay
open as in former times.
And now, to their surprise, the light, instead of being in front of
them, was shining at the same distance to the right, where they did
not know there was any passage at all. Then they discovered, by
the light of the lanterns they carried, that there the water had
broken through, and made an entrance to a part of the mountain of
which Peter knew nothing. But they were hardly well into it, still
following the light, before Curdie thought he recognized some of
the passages he had so often gone through when he was watching the
goblins.
After they had advanced a long way, with many turnings, now to the
right, now to the left, all at once their eyes seemed to come
suddenly to themselves, and they became aware that the light which
they had taken to be a great way from them was in reality almost
within reach of their hands.
The same instant it began to grow larger and thinner, the point of
light grew dim as it spread, the greenness melted away, and in a
moment or two, instead of the star, a dark, dark and yet luminous
face was looking at them with living eyes. And Curdie felt a great
awe swell up in his heart, for he thought he had seen those eyes
before.
'I see you know me, Curdie,' said a voice.
'if your eyes are you, ma'am, then I know you,' said Curdie. 'But
I never saw your face before.'
'Yes, you have seen it, Curdie,' said the voice. And with that the
darkness of its complexion melted away, and down from the face
dawned out the form that belonged to it, until at last Curdie and
his father beheld a lady, beautiful exceedingly, dressed in
something pale green, like velvet, over which her hair fell in
cataracts of a rich golden colour. it looked as if it were pouring
down from her head, and, like the water of the Dustbrook, vanishing
in a golden vapour ere it reached the floor. It came flowing from
under the edge of a coronet of gold, set with alternated pearls and
emeralds. In front of the crown was a great emerald, which looked
- abroad [ə´brɔ:d]
ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词) - chiefly [´tʃi:fli] ad.主要地；尤其 (初中英语单词)
- mischief [´mistʃif] n.伤害；故障；调皮 (初中英语单词)
- grandfather [´grænd,fɑ:ðə] n.(外)祖父；祖先 (初中英语单词)
- princess [,prin´ses] n.公主；王妃；亲王夫人 (初中英语单词)
- hillside [´hilsaid] n.山腰 (初中英语单词)
- diligently [´dilidʒəntli] ad.勤奋地 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- hesitate [´heziteit] vi.犹豫，踌躇 (初中英语单词)
- suspect [´sʌspekt, sə´spekt] v.怀疑；觉得 n.嫌疑犯 (初中英语单词)
- advise [əd´vaiz] vt.忠告；建议；通知 (初中英语单词)
- temper [´tempə] n.韧度 v.锻炼；调和 (初中英语单词)
- portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)
- considerable [kən´sidərəbəl] a.重要的；值得重视 (初中英语单词)
- gallery [´gæləri] n.画廊；美术馆；长廊 (初中英语单词)
- beheld [bi´held] behold的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
- supposed [sə´pəuzd] a.想象的；假定的 (初中英语单词)
- advanced [əd´vɑ:nst] a.先进的；高级的 (初中英语单词)
- reality [ri´æliti] n.现实(性)；真实；逼真 (初中英语单词)
- instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
- velvet [´velvit] n.&a.天鹅绒(般的) (初中英语单词)
- whoever [hu:´evə] pron.任何人，无论谁 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- housekeeper [´haus,ki:pə] n.主妇，女管家 (高中英语单词)
- nonsense [´nɔnsəns] n.胡说 int.胡说!废话 (高中英语单词)
- complexion [kəm´plekʃən] n.肤色；情况；局面 (高中英语单词)
- exceedingly [ik´si:diŋli] ad.非常地，极度地 (高中英语单词)
- version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən] n.翻译；说明；译本 (英语四级单词)
- congregation [,kɔŋgri´geiʃən] n.集合；团体 (英语四级单词)
- rubbish [´rʌbiʃ] n.垃圾；碎屑；废话 (英语四级单词)
- midday [´middei] n.中午 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- radiance [´reidjəns] n.发光；光彩；辐射 (英语四级单词)
- emerald [´emərəld] n.纯绿宝石；翠绿色 (英语四级单词)
- forefinger [´fɔ:,fiŋgə] n.食指 (英语六级单词)
- coronet [´kɔrənit] n.(王子戴的)冠；花冠 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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