31

HEREWARD THE ENGLISHMAN

赫里沃德

bewildered, puzzled.　　　　　　　　　　　practice, custom.
contest, struggle.　　　　　　　　　　　　 valour, bravery.
intruder, one who enters without leave.
hardihood, firm boldness.
outlaw, one beyond the protection of the law.
ceremony, the service or form of making a knight.

1. An East Anglian chief called Leofric had a son named Hereward. The people of East Anglia were famous for the rough hardihood to which they reared their children. A common practice was to take a boy by neck and heels and heave him up on the sloping thatch of a cottage—to try his strength. If he managed to cling with hands and knees in that position, he was thought to be worth keeping: if he fell, he was obliged to go and seek his fortune beyond the bounds of East Anglia.

2. There is little wonder that young Hereward, trained in such a way, grew up fearless and daring; and in these qualities he so outstripped his companions that he gained the victory in all sports. If in wrestling he was tripped and thrown, he would spring up sword in hand, and change a friendly contest into a bloody duel!

3. Such conduct turned many against him, and he got into so many quarrels with the neighbours, that his father was forced to ask Edward the Confessor to make the troublesome boy an outlaw. So Hereward left his home, and lived the life of a wanderer.

4. His valour was so remarkable, even in an age of great fighting men, that songs were made in his honour, and his praise was sung by minstrels when they struck their harps in the castle-halls after supper. When the news reached his native place, that the high-spirited boy, who had been driven away, had become a great hero of war, there was much joy.

5. Some time after the Norman Conquest, Hereward returned home.Finding a French knight in possession of his dead father's lands, he lost no time in raising a band to drive out the intruder. But the Frenchman was aided by all the force of the Conqueror, so that Hereward was obliged to form what was called the Camp of Refuge in the Isle of Ely, a place so surrounded with fens as to be secure from almost any attack.

6. Hereward then went to his uncle, who was an abbot, and asked to be made a knight. The ceremony was completed in the usual way, with the midnight vigil in the church. For the of ence of knighting Hereward, the abbot would have been expelled by the Conqueror; but he died in time to prevent this. A Norman monk was then sent to take the abbot's place; but the men of Ely managed, before he came, to seize all the gold and silver in the abbey, and carry it of to their camp among the reeds

7. The new abbot then sought the aid of the French knight who held Hereward's lands, and together they went to hunt for the plunderers in a confused series of swamps, all overgrown with willows and tall bulrushes. While the French knight was beating the ground, or rather the mud, in vain, Hereward, who knew every inch of the district, suddenly appeared before the bewildered abbot, as he was prudently waiting on the edge, and carried him of a prisoner to the central camp, from which he did not get free until he had paid a heavy ransom.

中文阅读

1. 话说东盎格利亚有位首领叫利奥弗里克，他有位大名鼎鼎的儿子，就是赫里沃德。人们都知道，东盎格利亚人培育他们的小孩可是出了名的冷峻严厉。他们会拎着婴儿的脖子和脚踝，一下把他们扔上屋顶，让其在斜屋顶上自己爬，以此判定孩子是否强壮。如果小孩子能自己用手和膝盖慢慢爬行，那么就被认为有保留并养育的价值；如果他掉了下来，那他就只有到外邦去碰运气了，东盎格利亚不会让他留下。

2. 赫里沃德从小就在这样的环境中长大，养成了勇猛大胆、行事乖张的个性；不仅如此，其良好的身体素质在同龄人中也是出类拔萃，赫里沃德从小常常在各类运动比赛中拔得头筹。要是在摔跤时被人撂倒，他会马上拔剑站起，把一场友谊赛搞成生死决斗！

3. 这样的个性脾气自然让很多人不喜欢他，他还常常与同伴和邻居吵架，搞得大家鸡犬不宁。后来他父亲实在没有办法，只得请求忏悔者爱德华国王将这个不肖之子定为歹徒。于是赫里沃德只好背井离乡，开始了流浪者的生活。

4. 赫里沃德的坚毅勇敢的确超乎常人，尤其是在一个战乱的时代，所以他后来的英勇事迹被写进了民歌，当时的乐师伶人在王宫夜宴之后演奏的曲目，常常就有关于他的歌曲。当这些消息传入他家乡时，听闻曾经那个被驱逐的个性男孩居然成了战争英雄，人们都不禁哑然失笑。

5. 诺曼征服之后不久，赫里沃德便返乡。他发现一位法国爵士居然占领了他父王的土地，便立刻组织人马，准备赶走这些入侵者。但是当时法国人背后有征服者威廉撑腰，于是赫里沃德另想办法，在伊利岛上建立了一个避难营，四面皆用栅栏包围，确保能抵抗敌人的任何袭击。

6. 赫里沃德又找到他的一位在修道院当院长的叔叔，让他叔叔授予他骑士称号。授予仪式按计划进行了，程序一如往常，最后还要守夜至凌晨才结束。但是给这样一个通缉犯授勋可是非法乱纪的事件，按征服者威廉之规定，他叔叔修道院院长之位肯定是保不住了。不过在撤职的谕旨到达以前，他这位叔叔就去世了，于是一位诺曼修道士被派遣过来，继任院长之职。赫里沃德在此人到任以前，席卷了修道院里所有的金银财物，一溜烟跑回了他那掩映在芦苇荡里的避难营中。

7. 见此局面，这位新来的院长向主管当地的法国骑士寻求帮助，并且集合起人马来到了他藏身的这片沼泽地。但这里柳树成林，乱草丛生，几乎无路可走，这让他们大伤脑筋。就在法国骑士气得跺脚，准备挖泥开路之时，对这一区域极为熟悉的赫里沃德突然现身。这下让正站在一边等待开路的新院长惊慌失措，束手就擒成了俘虏，新院长被押回到赫里沃德营中，直到交付一大笔赎金之后，才获得自由。