Thus communed these; while to their lowly dome, The full-fed swine return'd with evening home; Compell'd, reluctant, to the several sties, With din obstreperous, and ungrateful cries. Pope's Odyssey
In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. The remains of this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble seats of Wentworth, of Warncliffe Park, and around Rotherham. Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley; here were fought many of the most desperate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses; and here also flourished in ancient times those bands of gallant outlaws, whose deeds have been rendered so popular in English song.
Such being our chief scene, the date of our story refers to a period towards the end of the reign of Richard I., when his return from his long captivity had become an event rather wished than hoped for by his despairing subjects, who were in the meantime subjected to every species of subordinate oppression. The nobles, whose power had become exorbitant during the reign of Stephen, and whom the prudence of Henry the Second had scarce reduced to some degree of subjection to the crown, had now resumed their ancient license in its utmost extent; despising the feeble interference of the English Council of State, fortifying their castles, increasing the number of their dependants, reducing all around them to a state of vassalage, and striving by every means in their power, to place themselves each at the head of such forces as might enable him to make a figure in the national convulsions which appeared to be impending.
The situation of the inferior gentry, or Franklins, as they were called, who, by the law and spirit of the English constitution, were entitled to hold themselves independent of feudal tyranny, became now unusually precarious. If, as was most generally the case, they placed themselves under the protection of any of the petty kings in their vicinity, accepted of feudal offices in his household, or bound themselves by mutual treaties of alliance and protection, to support him in his enterprises, they might indeed purchase temporary repose; but it must be with the sacrifice of that independence which was so dear to every English bosom, and at the certain hazard of being involved as a party in whatever rash expedition the ambition of their protector might lead him to undertake. On the other hand, such and so multiplied were the means of vexation and oppression possessed by the great Barons, that they never wanted the pretext, and seldom the will, to harass and pursue, even to the very edge of destruction, any of their less powerful neighbours, who attempted to separate themselves from their authority, and to trust for their protection, during the dangers of the times, to their own inoffensive conduct, and to the laws of the land.
A circumstance which greatly tended to enhance the tyranny of the nobility, and the sufferings of the inferior classes, arose from the consequences of the Conquest by Duke William of Normandy. Four generations had not sufficed to blend the hostile blood of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, or to unite, by common language and mutual interests, two hostile races, one of which still felt the elation of triumph, while the other groaned under all the consequences of defeat. The power had been completely placed in the hands of the Norman nobility, by the event of the battle of Hastings, and it had been used, as our histories assure us, with no moderate hand. The whole race of Saxon princes and nobles had been extirpated or disinherited, with few or no exceptions; nor were the numbers great who possessed land in the country of their fathers, even as proprietors of the second, or of yet inferior classes. The royal policy had long been to weaken, by every means, legal or illegal, the strength of a part of the population which was justly considered as nourishing the most inveterate antipathy to their victor. All the monarchs of the Norman race had shown the most marked predilection for their Norman subjects; the laws of the chase, and many others equally unknown to the milder and more free spirit of the Saxon constitution, had been fixed upon the necks of the subjugated inhabitants, to add weight, as it were, to the feudal chains with which they were loaded. At court, and in the castles of the great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was emulated, Norman-French was the only language employed; in courts of law, the pleadings and judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French was the language of honour, of chivalry, and even of justice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo-Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hinds, who knew no other. Still, however, the necessary intercourse between the lords of the soil, and those oppressed inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated, occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intelligible to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of our present English language, in which the speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so happily blended together; and which has since been so richly improved by importations from the classical languages, and from those spoken by the southern nations of Europe.
This state of things I have thought it necessary to premise for the information of the general reader, who might be apt to forget, that, although no great historical events, such as war or insurrection, mark the existence of the Anglo-Saxons as a separate people subsequent to the reign of William the Second; yet the great national distinctions betwixt them and their conquerors, the recollection of what they had formerly been, and to what they were now reduced, continued down to the reign of Edward the Third, to keep open the wounds which the Conquest had inflicted, and to maintain a line of separation betwixt the descendants of the victor Normans and the vanquished Saxons.
The sun was setting upon one of the rich grassy glades of that forest, which we have mentioned in the beginning of the chapter. Hundreds of broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet of the most delicious green sward; in some places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions, so closely as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others they receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas, in the intricacy of which the eye delights to lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder scenes of silvan solitude. Here the red rays of the sun shot a broken and discoloured light, that partially hung upon the shattered boughs and mossy trunks of the trees, and there they illuminated in brilliant patches the portions of turf to which they made their way. A considerable open space, in the midst of this glade, seemed formerly to have been dedicated to the rites of Druidical superstition; for, on the summit of a hillock, so regular as to seem artificial, there still remained part of a circle of rough unhewn stones, of large dimensions. Seven stood upright; the rest had been dislodged from their places, probably by the zeal of some convert to Christianity, and lay, some prostrate near their former site, and others on the side of the hill. One large stone only had found its way to the bottom, and in stopping the course of a small brook, which glided smoothly round the foot of the eminence, gave, by its opposition, a feeble voice of murmur to the placid and elsewhere silent streamlet.
The human figures which completed this landscape, were in number two, partaking, in their dress and appearance, of that wild and rustic character, which belonged to the woodlands of the West-Riding of Yorkshire at that early period. The eldest of these men had a stern, savage, and wild aspect. His garment was of the simplest form imaginable, being a close jacket with sleeves, composed of the tanned skin of some animal, on which the hair had been originally left, but which had been worn off in so many places, that it would have been difficult to distinguish from the patches that remained, to what creature the fur had belonged. This primeval vestment reached from the throat to the knees, and served at once all the usual purposes of body-clothing; there was no wider opening at the collar, than was necessary to admit the passage of the head, from which it may be inferred, that it was put on by slipping it over the head and shoulders, in the manner of a modern shirt, or ancient hauberk. Sandals, bound with thongs made of boars' hide, protected the feet, and a roll of thin leather was twined artificially round the legs, and, ascending above the calf, left the knees bare, like those of a Scottish Highlander. To make the jacket sit yet more close to the body, it was gathered at the middle by a broad leathern belt, secured by a brass buckle; to one side of which was attached a sort of scrip, and to the other a ram's horn, accoutred with a mouthpiece, for the purpose of blowing. In the same belt was stuck one of those long, broad, sharp-pointed, and two-edged knives, with a buck's-horn handle, which were fabricated in the neighbourhood, and bore even at this early period the name of a Sheffield whittle. The man had no covering upon his head, which was only defended by his own thick hair, matted and twisted together, and scorched by the influence of the sun into a rusty dark-red colour, forming a contrast with the overgrown beard upon his cheeks, which was rather of a yellow or amber hue. One part of his dress only remains, but it is too remarkable to be suppressed; it was a brass ring, resembling a dog's collar, but without any opening, and soldered fast round his neck, so loose as to form no impediment to his breathing, yet so tight as to be incapable of being removed, excepting by the use of the file. On this singular gorget was engraved, in Saxon characters, an inscription of the following purport:---"Gurth, the son of Beowulph, is the born thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood."
Beside the swine-herd, for such was Gurth's occupation, was seated, upon one of the fallen Druidical monuments, a person about ten years younger in appearance, and whose dress, though resembling his companion's in form, was of better materials, and of a more fantastic appearance. His jacket had been stained of a bright purple hue, upon which there had been some attempt to paint grotesque ornaments in different colours. To the jacket he added a short cloak, which scarcely reached half way down his thigh; it was of crimson cloth, though a good deal soiled, lined with bright yellow; and as he could transfer it from one shoulder to the other, or at his pleasure draw it all around him, its width, contrasted with its want of longitude, formed a fantastic piece of drapery. He had thin silver bracelets upon his arms, and on his neck a collar of the same metal bearing the inscription, "Wamba, the son of Witless, is the thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood." This personage had the same sort of sandals with his companion, but instead of the roll of leather thong, his legs were cased in a sort of gaiters, of which one was red and the other yellow. He was provided also with a cap, having around it more than one bell, about the size of those attached to hawks, which jingled as he turned his head to one side or other; and as he seldom remained a minute in the same posture, the sound might be considered as incessant. Around the edge of this cap was a stiff bandeau of leather, cut at the top into open work, resembling a coronet, while a prolonged bag arose from within it, and fell down on one shoulder like an old-fashioned nightcap, or a jelly-bag, or the head-gear of a modern hussar. It was to this part of the cap that the bells were attached; which circumstance, as well as the shape of his head-dress, and his own half-crazed, half-cunning expression of countenance, sufficiently pointed him out as belonging to the race of domestic clowns or jesters, maintained in the houses of the wealthy, to help away the tedium of those lingering hours which they were obliged to spend within doors. He bore, like his companion, a scrip, attached to his belt, but had neither horn nor knife, being probably considered as belonging to a class whom it is esteemed dangerous to intrust with edge-tools. In place of these, he was equipped with a sword of lath, resembling that with which Harlequin operates his wonders upon the modern stage.
The outward appearance of these two men formed scarce a stronger contrast than their look and demeanour. That of the serf, or bondsman, was sad and sullen; his aspect was bent on the ground with an appearance of deep dejection, which might be almost construed into apathy, had not the fire which occasionally sparkled in his red eye manifested that there slumbered, under the appearance of sullen despondency, a sense of oppression, and a disposition to resistance. The looks of Wamba, on the other hand, indicated, as usual with his class, a sort of vacant curiosity, and fidgetty impatience of any posture of repose, together with the utmost self-satisfaction respecting his own situation, and the appearance which he made. The dialogue which they maintained between them, was carried on in Anglo-Saxon, which, as we said before, was universally spoken by the inferior classes, excepting the Norman soldiers, and the immediate personal dependants of the great feudal nobles. But to give their conversation in the original would convey but little information to the modern reader, for whose benefit we beg to offer the following translation:
"The curse of St Withold upon these infernal porkers!" said the swine-herd, after blowing his horn obstreperously, to collect together the scattered herd of swine, which, answering his call with notes equally melodious, made, however, no haste to remove themselves from the luxurious banquet of beech-mast and acorns on which they had fattened, or to forsake the marshy banks of the rivulet, where several of them, half plunged in mud, lay stretched at their ease, altogether regardless of the voice of their keeper. "The curse of St Withold upon them and upon me!" said Gurth; "if the two-legged wolf snap not up some of them ere nightfall, I am no true man. Here, Fangs! Fangs!" he ejaculated at the top of his voice to a ragged wolfish-looking dog, a sort of lurcher, half mastiff, half greyhound, which ran limping about as if with the purpose of seconding his master in collecting the refractory grunters; but which, in fact, from misapprehension of the swine-herd's signals, ignorance of his own duty, or malice prepense, only drove them hither and thither, and increased the evil which he seemed to design to remedy. "A devil draw the teeth of him," said Gurth, "and the mother of mischief confound the Ranger of the forest, that cuts the foreclaws off our dogs, and makes them unfit for their trade!* Wamba, up and help me an thou be'st a man; take a turn round the back o' the hill to gain the wind on them; and when thous't got the weather-gage, thou mayst drive them before thee as gently as so many innocent lambs."
* Note A. The Ranger of the Forest, that cuts the * fore-claws off our dogs.
"Truly," said Wamba, without stirring from the spot, "I have consulted my legs upon this matter, and they are altogether of opinion, that to carry my gay garments through these sloughs, would be an act of unfriendship to my sovereign person and royal wardrobe; wherefore, Gurth, I advise thee to call off Fangs, and leave the herd to their destiny, which, whether they meet with bands of travelling soldiers, or of outlaws, or of wandering pilgrims, can be little else than to be converted into Normans before morning, to thy no small ease and comfort."
"The swine turned Normans to my comfort!" quoth Gurth; "expound that to me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull, and my mind too vexed, to read riddles."
"Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four legs?" demanded Wamba.
"Swine, fool, swine," said the herd, "every fool knows that."
"And swine is good Saxon," said the Jester; "but how call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung up by the heels, like a traitor?"
"Pork," answered the swine-herd.
"I am very glad every fool knows that too," said Wamba, "and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives, and is in the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the Castle-hall to feast among the nobles; what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, ha?"
"It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it got into thy fool's pate."
"Nay, I can tell you more," said Wamba, in the same tone; there is old Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet, while he is under the charge of serfs and bondsmen such as thou, but becomes Beef, a fiery French gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws that are destined to consume him. Mynheer Calf, too, becomes Monsieur de Veau in the like manner; he is Saxon when he requires tendance, and takes a Norman name when he becomes matter of enjoyment."
"By St Dunstan," answered Gurth, "thou speakest but sad truths; little is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been reserved with much hesitation, solely for the purpose of enabling us to endure the tasks they lay upon our shoulders. The finest and the fattest is for their board; the loveliest is for their couch; the best and bravest supply their foreign masters with soldiers, and whiten distant lands with their bones, leaving few here who have either will or the power to protect the unfortunate Saxon. God's blessing on our master Cedric, he hath done the work of a man in standing in the gap; but Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is coming down to this country in person, and we shall soon see how little Cedric's trouble will avail him. ---Here, here," he exclaimed again, raising his voice, "So ho! so ho! well done, Fangs! thou hast them all before thee now, and bring'st them on bravely, lad."
"Gurth," said the Jester, "I know thou thinkest me a fool, or thou wouldst not be so rash in putting thy head into my mouth. One word to Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, or Philip de Malvoisin, that thou hast spoken treason against the Norman, ---and thou art but a cast-away swineherd,---thou wouldst waver on one of these trees as a terror to all evil speakers against dignities."
"Dog, thou wouldst not betray me," said Gurth, "after having led me on to speak so much at disadvantage?"
"Betray thee!" answered the Jester; "no, that were the trick of a wise man; a fool cannot half so well help himself---but soft, whom have we here?" he said, listening to the trampling of several horses which became then audible.
"Never mind whom," answered Gurth, who had now got his herd before him, and, with the aid of Fangs, was driving them down one of the long dim vistas which we have endeavoured to describe.
"Nay, but I must see the riders," answered Wamba; "perhaps they are come from Fairy-land with a message from King Oberon."
"A murrain take thee," rejoined the swine-herd; "wilt thou talk of such things, while a terrible storm of thunder and lightning is raging within a few miles of us? Hark, how the thunder rumbles! and for summer rain, I never saw such broad downright flat drops fall out of the clouds; the oaks, too, notwithstanding the calm weather, sob and creak with their great boughs as if announcing a tempest. Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt; credit me for once, and let us home ere the storm begins to rage, for the night will be fearful."
Wamba seemed to feel the force of this appeal, and accompanied his companion, who began his journey after catching up a long quarter-staff which lay upon the grass beside him. This second Eumaeus strode hastily down the forest glade, driving before him, with the assistance of Fangs, the whole herd of his inharmonious charge.
他们正这么亲切交谈的时候，
喂饱的猪群也迎着夕阳走回低矮的住处，
无可奈何地钻进各自的圈栏，
一边吵吵嚷嚷发出不满的哼叫。
蒲柏的《奥德赛》(注)
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(注)亚历山大·蒲柏（1688—1744），英国古典主义的重耍诗人。他翻译的《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》，实际是按照他的美学观念对荷马原诗进行的改写，但在当时影响极大。
在快活的英格兰一个风光明媚的地区，有一条唐河，它的两岸从前是一大片森林，它郁郁葱葱，覆盖着设菲尔德和繁华的唐卡斯特之间大部分美丽的山丘和峡谷。在文特沃思、旺恩克利夫园林和罗瑟勒姆周围的贵族庄园中，还能看到这片辽阔的森林的遗迹。这里从前曾是传说中的旺特利龙(注1)出没的所在；红白玫瑰战争(注2)中许多生死存亡的战斗也在这里展开；从前还有不少绿林好汉在这里落草为寇，他们的事迹成了英国民谣中妇孺皆知的故事。
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(注1)英国民谣中的一条孽龙，后为一位勇士杀死，托马斯·帕西的《英诗辑古》中收有这故事。
(注2)英国1455—1485年间发生的一次大规模封建内战。
我们的故事主要便发生在这个区域，它涉及的是理查一世(注1)统治的末期，当时他刚从长期的囚禁中脱险回国，这是他绝望的臣民在水深火热中翘首以待，又不敢指望真能实现的事。封建贵族的权力在斯蒂芬(注2)统治时期，已变得炙手可热，亨利二世(注3)的深谋远虑也只能使他们在一定程度上臣服于国王，到了现在，他们又故态复萌，把从前享受的权力提高到了登峰造极的地步；国务会议的软弱干预根本不在他们眼里，他们修筑城堡，招降纳叛，扩大藩属的数目，把周围所有的地区都变成了他们的势力范围；他们用尽一切办法扩充实力，招兵买马，以便在即将来临的民族动乱中成为叱咤风云的显赫人物。
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(注1)理查一世即狮心王理查（1157—1199），他于1189年登基，随即与法、德等国组织第三次十字军东征。东征失败，他于1192年底回国，途经奥地利时被扣留，直至1194年2月才获得释放。
(注2)诺曼王朝的第四代君主，1135—1154年在位。
(注3)斯蒂芬死后无嗣，由安茹伯国的亨利继位，是为金雀花王朝的第一代君主亨利二世（1154—1189年在位），理查一世即他的儿子。
那些并非封建贵族出身的所谓小地主，按照英国宪法的条文和精神，本来享有独立于封建专制制度以外的自主权，现在他们的地位已每况愈下，变得危如累卵了。就一般的情况看，他们大多只得把自己置于当地一个土皇帝的保护下，承担他的朝廷的封建义务，或者根据相互合作和援助的协议，保证支持他的一切活动；这样，他们确实可以换得暂时的安宁，但是那必须以牺牲每个英国人所珍惜的独立为代价，还难免冒一定的风险，给卷进他们的保护者的野心可能给他们带来的战争灾难。另一方面，大贵族手握着多种多样生杀予夺的大权，他们不难找到借口，随心所欲地迫害和折磨他们属下的任何一个邻居，甚至把他们逼上毁灭的边缘，只要这些人敢于摆脱他们的权势，企图在那个危机四伏的时代，把自己的安全寄托在法律的保护和奉公守法上。
诺曼底公爵威廉(注1)的征服造成的后果，大大加剧了封建贵族的暴虐统治和下层阶级的苦难。现在四个世代过去了，还不足以调和诺曼人和盎格鲁一撒克逊人之间的仇恨情绪，或者通过共同的语言和休戚相关的利益，使两个敌对民族和睦相处，其中一个仍在为胜利扬扬自得，另一个仍在战败的一切恶果下辗转呻吟。黑斯廷斯战役(注2)已使统治权完全掌握在诺曼贵族手中，正如我们的历史书上讲的，这是一只残酷无情的手。整个撒克逊民族的王公贵族，全给消灭或剥夺了继承权，只有少数例外或毫无例外；依然在祖先的土地上占有土地的人，哪怕二、三等的业主，也已为数不多。朝廷的施政方针长期以来一直是千方百计，用合法或不合法的手段，削弱对战胜者确实怀有根深蒂固的仇恨的那部分国民。诺曼族的每一个国王都毫不掩饰他们对诺曼臣民的偏袒做法；狩猎法(注3)和其他许多法律，对撒克逊民族政治传统中比较温和的自由精神说来，都是前所未闻的，现在它们给加到了被征服的居民头上，这可以说更加重了他们所承担的封建锁链的压力。在朝廷上，在排场和奢靡不下于朝廷的大贵族城堡中，诺曼法语是唯一通用的语言；在法庭上，辩护和审判也用这种语言进行。总之，法语是高尚的、骑士的语言，甚至正义的语言，而远为成熟和表达力丰富的盎格鲁一撒克逊语却被抛在一边，只有粗俗的下等人才使用它，他们也只懂这种语言。然而在土地的主人和被压迫的、耕种土地的下等人之间，必须有互相沟通的工具，这就逐渐形成了一种由法语和盎格鲁一撒克逊语混合而成的方言，使他们可以互相了解；正是从这种需要出发，才慢慢产生了我们今天所使用的英语，在它中间，胜利者和被征服者的语言得到了巧妙的结合，后来它又靠引入古典语言和南欧各国的语言，获得了十分丰富的表现力。
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(注1)威廉一世（约1028—1087），他本为法国诺曼底公爵，1066年征服英国，建立了诺曼王朝，号称征服者威廉。
(注2)威廉入侵英国后，于1066年10月在黑斯廷斯镇与撒克逊国王哈罗德二世展开激战，哈罗德二世战死。黑斯廷斯战役宣告了英国撒克逊王朝的彻底覆灭。
(注3)威廉征服英国后，不仅没收了撒克逊人的土地，分封给诺曼贵族，还把大量森林据为己有，并颁布了严厉的森林法规，凡违反这些法规进入森林打猎的，可处以极刑。
这些情况，我认为是一般读者理解本书的必要前提，他们可能已经忘记，尽管在威廉二世(注1)的统治之后，没有过战争或叛乱之类重大历史事件表明盎格鲁一撒克逊人作为一个单独的民族的存在，然而他们和他们的征服者之间的民族分歧还是巨大的；对他们从前的状况的回忆，对他们现在所处的屈辱地位的不满，直到爱德华三世(注2)统治时期，仍使诺曼征服造成的创伤不能愈合，因而在胜利的诺曼人和战败的撒克逊人的后代之间依然保持着一条鸿沟。
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(注1)威廉二世（1056？一1100），威廉一世之子，1087—1100年在位，是诺曼王朝的第二代国王。
(注2)爱德华三世（1312—1377），英国金雀花王朝的国王，1327—1377年在位。
我们在本章开端提到的那个森林中，现在夕阳正照在一片长满青草的空地上。千百棵树顶宽阔、树身粗矮、树枝远远伸出的栎树，矗立在周围，这些也许目睹过罗马大军长驱直入的树木(注1)，用多节的手臂覆盖着这片苍翠欲滴的、厚厚的绿茵；有的地方，它们与山毛榉、冬青和形形色色的矮树丛交叉在一起，彼此靠得这么近，以致隔断了夕阳平射的光线；在另一些地方，它们又互相退让，在错综复杂的间隙中开拓了一条狭长的林荫道，令人一眼望去不由得心旷神怡，遐想联翩，仿佛那是通往更偏僻的森林深处的小径。在这儿，发红的阳光显得断断续续，深浅不一，也有的滞留在摇摇欲坠的树枝和长满青苔的树干上；在那儿，它们投向草坪各处，照出了一块块闪闪发亮的光斑。草地中央有一块相当大的空地，这似乎是从前专供德鲁伊特巫师(注2)祭祀作法的场所；因为在一个整齐的、像是人工堆筑的小丘顶上，有一圈未经雕凿的、巨大粗糙的石块，然而它们已残缺不全，只有七块还直立着，其余的都离开了原来的位置，这可能是有些人皈依了基督教以后，出于宗教的虔诚干的，现在它们有的躺在原地附近，有的滚到了山坡上。只有一块大石头掉到下面，落在一条绕着山麓缓缓流动的小溪中，由于它的阻挡，这条平静的、有些地方甚至听不到一丝声息的溪水，发出了一些微弱的淙淙声。
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(注1)在公元前一世纪至公元五世纪，英国曾被罗马军队占领。
(注2)古代克尔特人的巫师称为德鲁伊特，他们主持祭祀、占卜等等。据说他们崇拜栎树，常出没于栎树林中。
点缀在这片风景中的人物一共两个，从衣着和外表看，他们是古代约克郡西区丛林地带的居民，带有那个地区粗犷质朴的气质。其中年长的那个，相貌显得严峻、粗野、强悍。他的衣服简单得不能再简单，只是一件贴身带袖上衣，由鞣过的兽皮制成，皮上原来是有毛的，但许多地方已经磨光，以致从剩下的那几块已很难看出，这皮毛是属于什么野兽了。这件原始的衣服从喉咙口一直延伸到膝部，一举解决了上衣通常所有的各种要求；在领围那里只开了一个不大的口子，头颅正好能够通过，由此可见，它是从头上和肩上套进身子的，有些像我们今天的汗衫，或者古代的锁子甲。鞋子没有鞋帮，只用几根野猪皮带子缚在脚上，保护脚底；小腿用薄皮革一直包扎到腿肚子上面，但像苏格兰高地人一样，让膝盖露在外面。为了使上衣更贴紧身子，他在腰里束着一根阔皮带，用钢扣子扣紧；带子的一边缚着一只小袋子，另一边别着一只山羊角，角上配有吹角的口。另外，带子里还插着一把又阔又长的尖头双刃刀，栖是羊角做的，这是这一带锻造的一种刀，甚至在那个古老的时期已被称作设菲尔德屠刀(注)。这人头上没戴什么，只能靠自己浓密的头发保护头顶，头发乱蓬蓬的，纠结在一起，经过日光的长期曝晒，已带有铁锈的赭红色，与他几乎接近琥珀色的满脸胡子，形成了鲜明的对照。他的服饰中只有一件东西还没讲到，但这是触目惊心，不能忽略的，那便是他脖于上的一只铜环，它与狗的颈圈相似，只是没有任何口子，而是绕着他的脖子焊得紧紧的，大小仅仅不致妨碍他的呼吸，可是又不能从脑袋上取下，除非用挫刀把它挫断。这独特的护喉甲上刻着几个字，那是撒克逊文，大意如下：“贝奥武尔夫之子葛四，生为罗瑟伍德乡绅塞德里克老爷之家奴。”
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(注)英国的设菲尔德在中世纪即以冶金业闻名。
除了牧猪人--因为这便是葛四的身份--在一块倒塌的德鲁伊特巫师的石头上，坐着另一个人，他的样子似乎比前者年轻十岁，那身衣服式样虽然与他的同伴穿的差不多，但质地较好，色彩也较花哨多变。他的上衣染了一层鲜艳的紫色，紫色上又用各种颜料画了些怪诞的图样。上衣外面罩了一件短披风，几乎只达到大腿的一半；这是红布做的，但大部分已腌（月赞）不堪，它的反面有浅黄色的衬里；由于他可以把它从一个肩膀披到分一个肩膀，还可以随意把它包住整个身子，它尽管不长，宽度一定很大，有些像一幅光怪陆离的帷幕。他的胳臂上戴着几只细细的银镯子，脖颈上也戴着同样金属的项圈，上面刻的字是： “愚人之子汪八，罗瑟伍德乡绅塞德里克老爷之家奴。”这人的鞋子与他的同伴穿的一样，只是小腿上裹的不是薄皮革，而是绑腿套那样的东西，它们一只是红的，另一只却是黄的。他还戴着一顶帽子，帽子周围挂着几只小铃铛，大小与猎鹰身上挂的差不多，当他转动脑袋时，它们便会发出叮叮咚咚的声音；由于他没有一刻不在变换姿势，因此铃声总是响个不停。他的帽子边上围着一条坚硬的皮带，皮带顶部雕了花，有些像公爵的冠冕，还有一只长袋子从皮带中间挂下来，落到一边肩上，像一种老式睡帽，或者果汁袋，或者现代轻骑兵的头饰(注1)。那些铃铛便挂在帽子的这条边上。这些铃子，帽子的式样，以及他本人那些装疯卖傻的表情，便足以说明他是属于家庭小丑或弄儿那一类人，也就是财主家中豢养的丑角，在这些主人不得不待在家里，百无聊赖的时候，给他们说笑逗趣消磨时光的奴仆。他的腰带上也像他的同伴一样，挂着一只小口袋，但是没有号角，也没有刀--也许这是因为把锋利的工具交给这类人是危险的。代替它们的是他挂着一把木剑，像今天在舞台上变戏法的丑角手中拿的道具。(注2)
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(注1)轻骑兵以服饰华丽著称。
(注2)英国宫廷中早在威廉一世以前，即已设有所谓弄臣，他们的职责便是为国王说笑逗乐，后来有钱人家也仿效这种做法，豢养一些专供取乐的小丑，他们戴着古怪的帽子，穿着彩衣，两只裤管也往往颜色不同，手中还拿着雕有驴首的所谓小丑节杖，表明他们的身份。他们自称傻瓜，实际却是以机智隽永的谈吐为主人解闷。
这两人外表上的差别，也许没有比他们的神态和举止的不同更显著的了。那个农奴或家仆显得忧伤或悲观；他的脸总是朝着地面，带有闷闷不乐的消沉神色，要不是那对发红的眼睛有时会流露出一丝火花，说明在沮丧失望的外表下，还潜伏着一股受压迫的意识和反抗的倾向，那么他的神态便可能被看作冷漠寡情的表现。相反，汪八的脸色与他这类人常有的那样，流露出一种无意识的好奇心，他总是坐立不定，一刻也不能安静，对自己的地位和那副装束似乎还扬扬得意。他们之间的谈话用的是盎格鲁一撒克逊语，我们已经说过，除了诺曼士兵和大封建贵族的贴身仆役，所有的下层阶级都使用这种语言。但是如果照原样记录它们，现代的读者势必难以理解，因此我们只得依靠翻译，把这些话记在下面。
“圣维索尔特啊，把灾难降临给这些蠢猪吧！”放猪人说，拿起号角大吹了一阵，想把跑散的猪群召集到一起，可是它们对他那些抑扬顿挫的号音却无动于衷，只是发出了一阵阵同样节奏分明的哼叫，并不想听从指挥，放弃可以养肥它们的山毛榉实和槲果构成的丰盛筵席，离开草木丛生的溪边，有的还把半个身子舒舒服服地躺在泥浆里，根本不理睬它们的管理员。“让这些该死的东西和我都遭殃吧！”葛四说。“要是在天黑以前，它们不给两条腿的狼抓走几只，我就不是人！喂，方斯，方斯！”他拉直喉咙，向一只癞毛狗吆喝道，这狗样子凶猛，有些像狼，那是一种一半像警犬，一半像灵提的猎狗，它一瘸一拐地跑着，仿佛想执行主人的命令，把不听话的咕噜咕噜呼叫的猪赶到一起，但是事实上，由于它误会了主人的信号，不理解自己的任务，或者幸灾乐祸，反而把它们赶得七零八落，使它本来似乎想挽回的尴尬局面变得更加不可收拾。“那个狗（上人下肉）的护林宫(注)，但愿魔鬼拔掉他的牙齿才好，”葛四又道，“他居然把我们的狗割掉了前爪，害得它们无法履行自己的职责！汪八，起来，像一个真正的男子汉那样帮我一把，绕到山背后，堵住它们的路；只要你占了上风，它们便无可奈何，只得乖乖地听你摆布，跟一群绵羊似的，随你要它们上哪儿了。”
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(注)见作者附注一。——原注
“一点不错，”汪八说，可是坐在那儿一动没动，“不过我已经跟我的两条腿商量过，它们一致的意见是：穿着我这身漂亮衣服，跑进那些烂泥地，这对老爷我本人和我的华丽装束是一种大不敬的行为；因此，葛四，我劝你还是把方斯叫开，随那些猪爱上哪儿就上哪儿，哪怕落进散兵游勇、绿林强盗、或者江湖骗子手中，也是它们命该如此，这跟它们到了早上给改造成诺曼人没有什么两样，对你说来倒可以少操些心，舒服一些。”
“这些猪变成了诺曼人，我还舒服！”葛四说道，“我不懂你的意思，江八，因为我的头脑太迟钝，心情又这么烦躁，我猜不透你这种哑谜。”
“怎么，你管这些咕噜咕噜、用四只脚奔跑的畜生，叫什么啦？”汪八问他。
“Swine（猪）呗，傻瓜，swine呗，”放猪人说，“这是每个傻瓜都知道的。”
“着呀，swine是地道的撒克逊语，”小丑说，“那么在它给开膛剖肚，掏出内脏，肢解分割之后，像卖国贼那样给倒挂起来的时候，你管它叫什么呢？”
“Pork（猪肉），”放猪的答道。
“一点不错，这也是每个傻瓜都知道的，”汪八说。“我想，pork是十足的诺曼法语；这样，在这些牲畜活着，由撒克逊奴隶照管的时候，它属于撒克逊民族，用的是撒克逊名字，但是一旦它给送进城堡，端上贵族老爷的餐桌，它就变成了诺曼族，称作Pork了。葛四老朋友，你说是这么回事不是？”
“对，很有道理，汪八，我的朋友，想不到你这傻瓜脑袋还真有两下呢。”
“别忙，我的话还没完，”汪八用同样的口气接着道，“我们的公牛老爷归你这样的奴隶和仆人照料的时候，它用的是撒克逊名称，可是一旦送到尊贵的嘴巴前面，供它咀嚼的时候，它就变成时髦的法国佬，被称作beef（牛肉）了。还有，我们的牛犊哥儿也是这样变成了Veau（小牛肉）阁下(注)--它在需要照料的时候，是撒克逊族，可是变成美味菜肴后就属于诺曼族了。”
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(注)ffeef是来源于法语的英语，veau为法语。
“我的圣邓斯坦呀，”葛回答道，“你说出了一个伤心的事实，现在留给我们的几乎只有我们呼吸的空气了，而且连空气也恨不得不给我们，只是为了要我们替他们干活，才不得不留给我们。鲜美可口的食物是为他们的餐桌准备的，漂亮的娘们是给他们作老婆的，精锐勇敢的军队也给外国主子打仗，他们的白骨堆积在外国的战场上，留在这儿的大多既不愿意，也没力量保护不幸的撒克逊人。愿上帝保佑我们的主人塞德里克，只有他在困难中还敢挺身而出，没有畏缩；但是牛面将军雷金纳德就要亲自到这一带来坐镇，塞德里克不怕危险究竟能有多少作为，很快便可分晓。喂，喂，”他又提高了嗓音喊道，“就这样，就这样，干得好，方斯！你总算把它们都赶来了，小伙子，勇敢一些，领着它们回家吧。”
“葛四，”小丑说，“我知道你认为我是一个傻瓜，要不然你不会这么鲁莽，把脑袋伸进我的嘴巴。你针对诺曼人讲的那些叛逆的话，一旦给牛面将军雷金纳德或者菲利普·马尔沃辛听到，你这个猪信儿就性命难保了，你会给吊死在这些树上，教训一切企图犯上作乱、煽惑人心的家伙。”
“你这走狗，你是故意骗我讲这些违法的话，要想出卖我不成？”葛四说。
“出卖你！”小丑答道，“不对，这是聪明人玩的把戏，傻瓜没有这么大的能耐。但是别嚷嚷，注意，什么人来了？”他说，用心听着刚出现在远处的一些马蹄声。
“算了，管他是谁呢，”葛回答道，这时他已把猪群集中到一起，正要在方斯的帮助下，沿着一条我们描写过的那种漫长阴暗的林间小路赶去。
“不，我必须看看这些骑马的人是谁，”汪八口答，“他们也许是仙国来的，带来了奥布朗国王(注)的消息呢。”
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(注)奥布朗国王，传说中的仙王，莎士比亚在《仲夏夜之梦》中写到了这故事。
“你这不知死活的东西！”放猪的答道。“可怕的暴风雨已离此不远，眼看就要雷电交加了，你还以为好玩不成？听，隆隆的雷声响了！夏天的雨比任何时候都可怕，瓢泼的大雨会一下子从云层里倒下来；尽管现在没一点风，株树上那些粗大的树枝还是悉悉碎碎响个不住，仿佛在预告大雷雨的到来呢。你愿意的话，你是明白事理的；这次听我一句吧，但愿我们能在狂风暴雨开始以前回到家中，因为在黑夜中这太可怕了。”
汪八似乎承认了这劝告的合理，看到他的同伴已把放在脚边的铁头大木棍拿在手中，便随着他一起走了。那位欧迈俄斯(注)第二也快步走下林间空地，在方斯的帮助下，把吵吵闹闹的猪群往回赶了。
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(注)欧迈俄斯，《奥德赛》中的牧猪人。