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The Black Dwarf-Part7_WALTER SCOTT(1771-1832)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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The being whom he addressed raised his eyes with a ghastly stare,

and, getting up from his stooping posture, stood before them in



all his native and hideousdeformity. His head was of uncommon

size, covered with a fell of shaggy hair, partly grizzled with



age; his eyebrows, shaggy and prominent, overhung a pair of small

dark, piercing eyes, set far back in their sockets, that rolled



with a portentous wildness, indicative of a partial insanity.

The rest of his features were of the coarse, rough-hewn stamp,



with which a painter would equip a giant in romance; to which was

added the wild, irregular, and peculiar expression, so often seen



in the countenances of those whose persons are deformed. His

body, thick and square, like that of a man of middle size, was



mounted upon two large feet; but nature seemed to have forgotten

the legs and the thighs, or they were so very short as to be



hidden by the dress which he wore. His arms were long and

brawny, furnished with two muscular hands, and, where uncovered



in the eagerness of his labour, were shagged with coarse black

hair. It seemed as if nature had originally intended the



separate parts of his body to be the members of a giant, but had

afterwards capriciously assigned them to the person of a dwarf,



so ill did the length of his arms and the iron strength of his

frame correspond with the shortness of his stature. His clothing



was a sort of coarse brown tunic, like a monk's frock, girt round

him with a belt of seal-skin. On his head he had a cap made of



badger's skin, or some other rough fur, which added considerably

to the grotesque effect of his whole appearance, and overshadowed



features, whose habitual expression seemed that of sullen

malignant misanthropy.



This remarkable Dwarf gazed on the two youths in silence, with a

dogged and irritated look, until Earnscliff, willing to soothe



him into better temper, observed, "You are hard tasked, my

friend; allow us to assist you."



Elliot and he accordingly placed the stone, by their joint

efforts, upon the rising wall. The Dwarf watched them with the



eye of a taskmaster, and testified, by peevish gestures, his

impatience at the time which they took in adjusting the stone.



He pointed to another--they raised it also--to a third, to a

fourth--they continued to humour him, though with some trouble,



for he assigned them, as if intentionally, the heaviest fragments

which lay near.



"And now, friend," said Elliot, as the unreasonable Dwarf

indicated another stone larger than any they had moved,



"Earnscliff may do as he likes; but be ye man or be ye waur, deil

be in my fingers if I break my back wi' heaving thae stanes ony



langer like a barrow-man, without getting sae muckle as thanks

for my pains."



"Thanks!" exclaimed the Dwarf, with a motionexpressive of the

utmost contempt--"There--take them, and fatten upon them! Take



them, and may they thrive with you as they have done with me--as

they have done with every mortal worm that ever heard the word



spoken by his fellow reptile! Hence--either labour or begone!"

"This is a fine reward we have, Earnscliff, for building a



tabernacle for the devil, and prejudicing our ain souls into the

bargain, for what we ken."



"Our presence," answered Earnscliff, "seems only to irritate his

frenzy; we had better leave him, and send some one to provide him



with food and necessaries."

They did so. The servant dispatched for this purpose found the



Dwarf still labouring at his wall, but could not extract a word

from him. The lad, infected with the superstitions of the



country, did not long persist in an attempt to intrude questions

or advice on so singular a figure, but having placed the articles



which he had brought for his use on a stone at some distance, he

left them at the misanthrope's disposal.



The Dwarf proceeded in his labours, day after day, with an

assiduity so incredible as to appear almost supernatural. In one



day he often seemed to have done the work of two men, and his

building soon assumed the appearance of the walls of a hut,



which, though very small, and constructed only of stones and

turf, without any mortar, exhibited, from the unusual size of the






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