酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

At the Back of the North Wind-Part28_George MacDonald(1824-1905)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
silver thread of the crescent moon. Then she would move her lips,



and they would give her a little nourishment; and she would grow better

and better and better, until for a few days she was splendidly well.



When well, she was always merriest out in the moonlight; but even

when near her worst, she seemed better when, in warm summer nights,



they carried her cradle out into the light of the waning moon.

Then in her sleep she would smile the faintest, most pitiful smile.



For a long time very few people ever saw her awake. As she grew

older she became such a favourite, however, that about the palace



there were always some who would contrive to keep awake at night,

in order to be near her. But she soon began to take every chance



of getting away from her nurses and enjoying her moonlight alone.

And thus things went on until she was nearly seventeen years of age.



Her father and mother had by that time got so used to the odd

state of things that they had ceased to wonder at them. All their



arrangements had reference to the state of the Princess Daylight,

and it is amazing how things contrive to accommodate themselves.



But how any prince was ever to find and deliver her,

appeared inconceivable.



As she grew older she had grown more and more beautiful, with the

sunniest hair and the loveliest eyes of heavenly blue, brilliant and



profound as the sky of a June day. But so much more painful and sad

was the change as her bad time came on. The more beautiful she



was in the full moon, the more withered and worn did she become

as the moon waned. At the time at which my story has now arrived,



she looked, when the moon was small or gone, like an old woman

exhausted with suffering. This was the more painful that her



appearance was unnatural; for her hair and eyes did not change.

Her wan face was both drawn and wrinkled, and had an eager hungry look.



Her skinny hands moved as if wishing, but unable, to lay hold

of something. Her shoulders were bent forward, her chest went in,



and she stooped as if she were eighty years old. At last she had

to be put to bed, and there await the flow of the tide of life.



But she grew to dislike being seen, still more being touched

by any hands, during this season. One lovely summer evening,



when the moon lay all but gone upon the verge of the horizon,

she vanished from her attendants, and it was only after searching



for her a long time in great terror, that they found her fast

asleep in the forest, at the foot of a silver birch, and carried



her home.

A little way from the palace there was a great open glade, covered with



the greenest and softest grass. This was her favourite haunt;

for here the full moon shone free and glorious, while through a vista



in the trees she could generally see more or less of the dying moon

as it crossed the opening. Here she had a little rustic house



built for her, and here she mostly resided. None of the court

might go there without leave, and her own attendants had learned



by this time not to be officious in waiting upon her, so that she

was very much at liberty. Whether the good fairies had anything



to do with it or not I cannot tell, but at last she got into the way

of retreating further into the wood every night as the moon waned,



so that sometimes they had great trouble in finding her; but as she

was always very angry if she discovered they were watching her,



they scarcely dared to do so. At length one night they thought they

had lost her altogether. It was morning before they found her.



Feeble as she was, she had wandered into a thicket a long way from

the glade, and there she lay--fast asleep, of course.



Although the fame of her beauty and sweetness had gone abroad,

yet as everybody knew she was under a bad spell, no king in the



neighbourhood had any desire to have her for a daughter-in-law.

There were serious objections to such a relation.



About this time in a neighbouring kingdom, in consequence of the

wickedness of the nobles, an insurrection took place upon the death



of the old king, the greater part of the nobility was massacred,

and the young prince was compelled to flee for his life, disguised



like a peasant. For some time, until he got out of the country,

he suffered much from hunger and fatigue; but when he got into



that ruled by the princess's father, and had no longer any fear

of being recognised, he fared better, for the people were kind.



He did not abandon his disguise, however. One tolerable reason

was that he had no other clothes to put on, and another that he



had very little money, and did not know where to get any more.

There was no good in telling everybody he met that he was a prince,



for he felt that a prince ought to be able to get on like other people,




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号