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Green Mansions-Part28_W.H.Hudson(1841-1922)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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he did everything in his power to make her existence tolerable.



Some weeks after arriving she gave birth to a female child, and

then the priest insisted on naming it Riolama, in order, he said,



to keep in remembrance the strange story of the mother's

discovery at that place.



Rima's mother could not be taught to speak either Spanish or

Indian; and when she found that the mysterious and melodious



sounds that fell from her own lips were understood by none, she

ceased to utter them, and thereafter preserved an unbroken



silence among the people she lived with. But from the presence

of others she shrank, as if in disgust or fear, excepting only



Nuflo and the priest, whose kindly intentions she appeared to

understand and appreciate. So far her life in the village was



silent and sorrowful. With her child it was different; and every

day that was not wet, taking the little thing by the hand, she



would limp painfully out into the forest, and there, sitting on

the ground, the two would commune with each other by the hour in



their wonderful language.

At length she began to grow perceptibly paler and feebler week by



week, day by day, until she could no longer go out into the wood,

but sat or reclined, panting for breath in the dull hot room,



waiting for death to release her. At the same time little Rima,

who had always appeared frail, as if from sympathy, now began to



fade and look more shadowy, so that it was expected she would not

long survive her parent. To the mother death came slowly, but at



last it seemed so near that Nuflo and the priest were together at

her side waiting to see the end. It was then that little Rima,



who had learnt from infancy to speak in Spanish, rose from the

couch where her mother had been whispering to her, and began with



some difficulty to express what was in the dying woman's mind.

Her child, she had said, could not continue to live in that hot



wet place, but if taken away to a distance where there were

mountains and a cooler air she would survive and grow strong



again.

Hearing this, old Nuflo declared that the child should not



perish; that he himself would take her away to Parahuari, a

distant place where there were mountains and dry plains and open



woods; that he would watch over her and care for her there as he

had cared for her mother at Riolama.



When the substance of this speech had been made known by Rima to

the dying woman, she suddenly rose up from her couch, which she



had not risen from for many days, and stood erect on the floor,

her wasted face shining with joy. Then Nuflo knew that God's



angels had come for her, and put out his arms to save her from

falling; and even while he held her that sudden glory went out



from her face, now of a dead white like burnt-out ashes; and

murmuring something soft and melodious, her spirit passed away.



Once more Nuflo became a wanderer, now with the fragile-looking

little Rima for companion, the sacred child who had inherited the



position of his intercessor from a sacred mother. The priest,

who had probably become infected with Nuflo's superstitions, did



not allow them to leave Voa empty-handed, but gave the old man as

much calico as would serve to buy hospitality and whatsoever he



might require from the Indians for many a day to come.

At Parahuari, where they arrived safely at last, they lived for



some little time at one of the villages. But the child had an

instinctive aversion to all savages, or possibly the feeling was



derived from her mother, for it had shown itself early at Voa,

where she had refused to learn their language; and this



eventually led Nuflo to go away and live apart from them, in the

forest by Ytaioa, where he made himself a house and garden. The



Indians, however, continued friendly with him and visited him

with frequency. But when Rima grew up, developing into that



mysteriouswoodland girl I found her, they became suspicious, and

in the end regarded her with dangerouslyhostile feeling. She,



poor child, detested them because they were incessantly at war




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