第 97 节
作者:空白协议书      更新:2021-02-21 16:30      字数:9322
  For at the moment when she died
  Her soul was with the glorified!〃
  And from his pocket with all speed
  He drew the priestly title…deed;
  And prayed the Justice he would read。
  The Justice read; amused; amazed;
  And as he read his mirth increased;
  At times his shaggy brows he raised;
  Now wondering at the cobbler gazed;
  Now archly at the angry Priest。
  〃From all excesses; sins; and crimes
  Thou hast committed in past times
  Thee I absolve!  And furthermore;
  Purified from all earthly taints;
  To the communion of the Saints
  And to the sacraments restore!
  All stains of weakness; and all trace
  Of shame and censure I efface;
  Remit the pains thou shouldst endure;
  And make thee innocent and pure;
  So that in dying; unto thee
  The gates of heaven shall open be!
  Though long thou livest; yet this grace
  Until the moment of thy death
  Unchangeable continueth!〃
  Then said he to the Priest: 〃I find
  This document is duly signed
  Brother John Tetzel; his own hand。
  At all tribunals in the land
  In evidence it may be used;
  Therefore acquitted is the accused。〃
  Then to the cobbler turned: 〃My friend;
  Pray tell me; didst thou ever read
  Reynard the Fox?〃〃O yes; indeed!〃
  〃I thought so。  Don't forget the end。〃
  INTERLUDE
  〃What was the end?  I am ashamed
  Not to remember Reynard's fate;
  I have not read the book of late;
  Was he not hanged?〃 the Poet said。
  The Student gravely shook his head;
  And answered: 〃You exaggerate。
  There was a tournament proclaimed;
  And Reynard fought with Isegrim
  The Wolf; and having vanquished him;
  Rose to high honor in the State;
  And Keeper of the Seals was named!〃
  At this the gay Sicilian laughed:
  〃Fight fire with fire; and craft with craft;
  Successful cunning seems to be
  The moral of your tale;〃 said he。
  〃Mine had a better; and the Jew's
  Had none at all; that I could see;
  His aim was only to amuse。〃
  Meanwhile from out its ebon case
  His violin the Minstrel drew;
  And having tuned its strings anew;
  Now held it close in his embrace;
  And poising in his outstretched hand
  The bow; like a magician's wand;
  He paused; and said; with beaming face:
  〃Last night my story was too long;
  To…day I give you but a song;
  An old tradition of the North;
  But first; to put you in the mood;
  I will a little while prelude;
  And from this instrument draw forth
  Something by way of overture。〃
  He played; at first the tones were pure
  And tender as a summer night;
  The full moon climbing to her height;
  The sob and ripple of the seas;
  The flapping of an idle sail;
  And then by sudden and sharp degrees
  The multiplied; wild harmonies
  Freshened and burst into a gale;
  A tempest howling through the dark;
  A crash as of some shipwrecked bark。
  A loud and melancholy wail。
  Such was the prelude to the tale
  Told by the Minstrel; and at times
  He paused amid its varying rhymes;
  And at each pause again broke in
  The music of his violin;
  With tones of sweetness or of fear;
  Movements of trouble or of calm;
  Creating their own atmosphere;
  As sitting in a church we hear
  Between the verses of the psalm
  The organ playing soft and clear;
  Or thundering on the startled ear。
  THE MUSICIAN'S TALE
  THE BALLAD OF CARMILHAN
  I
  At Stralsund; by the Baltic Sea;
  Within the sandy bar;
  At sunset of a summer's day;
  Ready for sea; at anchor lay
  The good ship Valdemar。
  The sunbeams danced upon the waves;
  And played along her side;
  And through the cabin windows streamed
  In ripples of golden light; that seemed
  The ripple of the tide。
  There sat the captain with his friends;
  Old skippers brown and hale;
  Who smoked and grumbled o'er their grog;
  And talked of iceberg and of fog;
  Of calm and storm and gale。
  And one was spinning a sailor's yarn
  About Klaboterman;
  The Kobold of the sea; a spright
  Invisible to mortal sight;
  Who o'er the rigging ran。
  Sometimes he hammered in the hold;
  Sometimes upon the mast;
  Sometimes abeam; sometimes abaft;
  Or at the bows he sang and laughed;
  And made all tight and fast。
  He helped the sailors at their work;
  And toiled with jovial din;
  He helped them hoist and reef the sails;
  He helped them stow the casks and bales;
  And heave the anchor in。
  But woe unto the lazy louts;
  The idlers of the crew;
  Them to torment was his delight;
  And worry them by day and night;
  And pinch them black and blue。
  And woe to him whose mortal eyes
  Klaboterman behold。
  It is a certain sign of death!
  The cabin…boy here held his breath;
  He felt his blood run cold。
  II
  The jolly skipper paused awhile;
  And then again began;
  〃There is a Spectre Ship;〃 quoth he;
  〃A ship of the Dead that sails the sea;
  And is called the Carmilhan。
  〃A ghostly ship; with a ghostly crew;
  In tempests she appears;
  And before the gale; or against the gale;
  She sails without a rag of sail;
  Without a helmsman steers。
  〃She haunts the Atlantic north and south;
  But mostly the mid…sea;
  Where three great rocks rise bleak and bare
  Like furnace…chimneys in the air;
  And are called the Chimneys Three。
  〃And ill betide the luckless ship
  That meets the Carmilhan;
  Over her decks the seas will leap;
  She must go down into the deep;
  And perish mouse and man。〃
  The captain of the Valdemar
  Laughed loud with merry heart。
  〃I should like to see this ship;〃 said he;
  〃I should like to find these Chimneys Three;
  That are marked down in the chart。
  〃I have sailed right over the spot;〃 he said
  〃With a good stiff breeze behind;
  When the sea was blue; and the sky was clear;
  You can follow my course by these pinholes here;
  And never a rock could find。〃
  And then he swore a dreadful oath;
  He swore by the Kingdoms Three;
  That; should he meet the Carmilhan;
  He would run her down; although he ran
  Right into Eternity!
  All this; while passing to and fro;
  The cabin…boy had heard;
  He lingered at the door to hear;
  And drank in all with greedy ear;
  And pondered every word。
  He was a simple country lad;
  But of a roving mind。
  〃O; it must be like heaven;〃 thought he;
  〃Those far…off foreign lands to see;
  And fortune seek and find!〃
  But in the fo'castle; when he heard
  The mariners blaspheme;
  He thought of home; he thought of God;
  And his mother under the churchyard sod;
  And wished it were a dream。
  One friend on board that ship had he;
  'T was the Klaboterman;
  Who saw the Bible in his chest;
  And made a sign upon his breast;
  All evil things to ban。
  III
  The cabin windows have grown blank
  As eyeballs of the dead;
  No more the glancing sunbeams burn
  On the gilt letters of the stern;
  But on the figure…head;
  On Valdemar Victorious;
  Who looketh with disdain
  To see his image in the tide
  Dismembered float from side to side;
  And reunite again。
  〃It is the wind;〃 those skippers said;
  〃That swings the vessel so;
  It is the wind; it freshens fast;
  'T is time to say farewell at last
  'T is time for us to go。〃
  They shook the captain by the hand;
  〃Goodluck! goodluck!〃 they cried;
  Each face was like the setting sun;
  As; broad and red; they one by one
  Went o'er the vessel's side。
  The sun went down; the full moon rose;
  Serene o'er field and flood;
  And all the winding creeks and bays
  And broad sea…meadows seemed ablaze;
  The sky was red as blood。
  The southwest wind blew fresh and fair;
  As fair as wind could be;
  Bound for Odessa; o'er the bar;
  With all sail set; the Valdemar
  Went proudly out to sea。
  The lovely moon climbs up the sky
  As one who walks in dreams;
  A tower of marble in her light;
  A wall of black; a wall of white;
  The stately vessel seems。
  Low down upon the sandy coast
  The lights begin to burn;
  And now; uplifted high in air;
  They kindle with a fiercer glare;
  And now drop far astern。
  The dawn appears; the land is gone;
  The sea is all around;
  Then on each hand low hills of sand
  Emerge and form another land;
  She steereth through the Sound。
  Through Kattegat and Skager…rack
  She flitteth like a ghost;
  By day and night; by night and day;
  She bounds; she flies upon her way
  Along the English coast。
  Cape Finisterre is drawing near;
  Cape Finisterre is past;
  Into the open ocean stream
  She floats; the vision of a dream
  Too beautiful to last。
  Suns rise and set; and rise; and yet
  There is no land in sight;
  The liquid planets overhead
  Burn brighter now the moon is dead;
  And longer stays the night。
  IV
  And now along the horizon's edge
  Mountains of cloud uprose;
  Black as with forests underneath;
  Above their sharp and jagged teeth
  Were white as drifted sno