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Tanglewood Tales-Part17_NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE(1804-1864)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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time as you may remain with me. For this purpose, my honored



guests, I have ordered a banquet to be prepared. Fish, fowl,

and flesh, roasted, and in luscious stews, and seasoned, I



trust, to all your tastes, are ready to be served up. If your

appetites tell you it is dinner time, then come with me to the



festal saloon."

At this kind invitation, the hungry mariners were quite



overjoyed; and one of them, taking upon himself to be

spokesman, assured their hospitablehostess that any hour of



the day was dinner time with them, whenever they could get

flesh to put in the pot, and fire to boil it with. So the



beautiful woman led the way; and the four maidens (one of them

had sea-green hair, another a bodice of oak bark, a third



sprinkled a shower of water drops from her fingers' ends, and

the fourth had some other oddity, which I have forgotten), all



these followed behind, and hurried the guests along, until they

entered a magnificentsaloon. It was built in a perfect oval,



and lighted from a crystal dome above. Around the walls were

ranged two and twenty thrones, overhung by canopies of crimson



and gold, and provided with the softest of cushions, which were

tasselled and fringed with gold cord. Each of the strangers was



invited to sit down; and there they were, two and twenty storm-

beaten mariners, in worn and tattered garb, sitting on two and



twenty cushioned and canopied thrones, so rich and gorgeous

that the proudest monarch had nothing more splendid in his



stateliest hall.

Then you might have seen the guests nodding, winking with one



eye, and leaning from one throne to another, to communicate

their satisfaction in hoarse whispers.



"Our good hostess has made kings of us all," said one. "Ha! do

you smell the feast? I'll engage it will be fit to set before



two and twenty kings."

"I hope," said another, "it will be, mainly, good substantial



joints, sirloins, spareribs, and hinder quarters, without too

many kickshaws. If I thought the good lady would not take it



amiss, I should call for a fat slice of fried bacon to begin

with."



Ah, the gluttons and gormandizers! You see how it was with

them. In the loftiest seats of dignity, on royal thrones, they



could think of nothing but their greedyappetite, which was the

portion of their nature that they shared with wolves and swine;



so that they resembled those vilest of animals far more than

they did kings--if, indeed, kings were what they ought to be.



But the beautiful woman now clapped her hands; and immediately

there entered a train of two and twenty serving man, bringing



dishes of the richest food, all hot from the kitchen fire, and

sending up such a steam that it hung like a cloud below the



crystal dome of the saloon. An equal number of attendants

brought great flagons of wine, of various kinds, some of which



sparkled as it was poured out, and went bubbling down the

throat; while, of other sorts, the purpleliquor was so clear



that you could see the wrought figures at the bottom of the

goblet. While the servants supplied the two and twenty guests



with food and drink, the hostess and her four maidens went from

one throne to another, exhorting them to eat their fill, and to



quaff wine abundantly, and thus to recompense them- selves, at

this one banquet, for the many days when they had gone without



a dinner. But whenever the mariners were not looking at them

(which was pretty often, as they looked chiefly into the basins



and platters), the beautiful woman and her damsels turned

aside, and laughed. Even the servants, as they knelt down to



present the dishes, might be seen to grin and sneer, while the

guests were helping themselves to the offered dainties.



And, once in a while, the strangers seemed to taste something

that they did not like.



"Here is an odd kind of spice in this dish," said one. "I can't

say it quite suits my palate. Down it goes, however."



"Send a good draught of wine down your throat," said his

comrade on the next throne. "That is the stuff to make this



sort of cookeryrelish well. Though I must needs say, the wine

has a queer taste too. But the more I drink of it, the better I



like the flavor."

Whatever little fault they might find with the dishes, they sat






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