下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
descendant, child. revelry, noisy feasting.
deserve, merit. shafts, arrows.
frightened, afraid. startled, shocked.
launched, sent forth. tragedy, a fatal event.
1. The strange circumstances under which Rufus met his death, have given him a fame which his living deeds did not deserve. For he was a cruel and wicked man, without a single quality which could make his subjects sorry to lose him.
2. Like all the nobles and princes of that age, he spent a great deal of time in hunting deer and shooting them with arrows. He was especially fond of the New Forest, which his father had made by ruining churches and burning villages over a space of thirty miles. A curse seemed to cling to the trees. The country people told with terror tales of the unearthly shrieks which often rang out from the dark glades at night; and twice death had seized a descendant of the Conqueror within the skirts of the hunting-ground. The third and greatest tragedy was now to take place, and Rufus was to be its victim.
3. Having come to Malwood Keep, which stood on the border of the forest, William, after the usual revelry, lay down on his bed of straw. In the dead of night a scream and a cry for “Light” broke on the ears of his attendants. They rushed into the room, and found Rufus, with white face and shaking limbs, sitting on the side of his couch, and scarcely able to speak for the terror of a dreadful dream. So frightened was he, that he would not let them go away, but kept them by his bed to while away the time with stories and jests.
4. Soon after day broke, an arrow-maker brought him six new shafts, with which he was so much pleased that he bought them; and, keeping four for himself, he gave two to his friend and fellow-sports-man, Sir Walter Tyrrel.
5. The Norman dinner hour was nine in the morning; but perhaps a hunting party would take an early meal at seven or eight. At any rate, there was more wine drunk at table that morning than should have been; and the noise had grown very loud, when suddenly a messenger arrived from Gloucester to tell the King that one of the monks of St. Peter's Abbey had dreamed that he would die by a sudden and dreadful death. “Give him a hundred pence to have better dreams,” cried the King. “Do they think I am such a fool as to put of my sport because an old woman happens to dream or to sneeze? —To horse, Walter Tyrrel.”
6. So to horse they went; and with much blowing of bugles and barking of dogs the company galloped into the forest, where they broke up into sets of two and three. Tyrrel and the King kept together. Towards sunset their dogs roused a stag, which darted of among the trees. Rufus quickly took aim; but his bow-string broke, and the arrow fell short. The stag stopped an instant, startled by the noise; and the King, whose eyes were dazzled by the evening sun, lifted his left hand to shade them from the red glare that slanted through the trees.
7. “Shoot, Walter! shoot!” he cried with an oath. And just then Tyrrel, hidden in the brushwood, launched an arrow from the string. As it flew among the trunks, it struck one, glanced aside, and stuck quivering in the left side of Rufus, which was uncovered by his lifted arm. Without a groan Rufus fell dead.
8. The knight sprang from his horse with a pale face, and rushed to raise his lord; but when he saw that the shaft had pierced the heart, he got on horseback as quickly as he could, and galloped away to the sea-shore, where he found a ship to carry him to France. While the red light of the setting sun was still in the forest, the body was found by a charcoalburner called Purkess. He lifted it, all soiled with blood and clay, into his cart, and jolted away with it to Winchester, where it was buried in the cathedral choir.
中文阅读
1. 关于鲁弗斯离奇的死亡很快便不胫而走，人们开始议论纷纷，不少人都因此说他其实根本不是当国王的料，死于非命完全是天命使然。因为这个人既残忍又邪恶，几乎找不出一条优点让他的臣民为他的死感到惋惜。
2. 在那时，鲁弗斯跟其他王公贵族一样，都很喜欢到森林里寻猎野鹿。他又尤其喜欢新森林公园，这个地方恰恰是他父亲当年强拆教堂、焚烧村庄，延祸方圆30英里才建起来的。如此滔天罪恶，似乎变成一条神秘的诅咒，慢慢爬到了这里的每一棵树上。这里的乡下人常常谈起一些古怪的现象，比如半夜总是听见林中深处发出凄厉的尖叫；另外，征服者威廉的后代在树林边缘打猎时已发生了两起离奇死亡。第三起也是影响最大的一场悲剧，就是接下来的故事，鲁弗斯成了悲剧的主人公。
3. 一行人来到位于公园边上的马尔伍德行宫，像平日一样，经过一番寻欢作乐之后，威廉便倒在他的稻草床上睡着了。到了夜深人静之时，随从们突然听见他尖叫：“掌灯来！”他们立即冲入鲁弗斯的房间，只见他坐在卧榻上，脸色苍白、四肢颤抖，话都已经说不出来了，可见刚才的噩梦多么恐怖。受到这样的惊吓，他自然不敢让随从们离开，于是让他们坐在床上讲故事，说笑话，以打发时间。
4. 不久天亮了，一位弓箭手艺人给他拿来了六只新做的箭杆，他非常喜欢，立即随身带上了；不过他自己只留了四支，另外两支给了与他同行的朋友沃尔特·泰勒先生。
5. 诺曼人的正餐是在早上九点，但可能是因为要去打猎，那天他们七八点钟就吃完了早餐。而且当天早上，餐桌上比平日多放了些酒，以致大家都喝得偏多；不一会儿一位报信人突然进来向国王紧急报告，说圣彼得修道院的一位修道士昨夜做了大凶之梦，梦见国王将死于非命。这一下人声鼎沸，满堂哗然，鲁弗斯却不以为然。“给他100便士让他做个好梦吧，”他大声说道，“他们认为我有那么傻吗？一个老太婆做个梦，打个喷嚏，我就不找乐子了吗？上马吧，沃尔特·泰勒。”
6. 他们就这样上马走了，一路吹着军号，伴随着猎犬的狂吠，很快就奔进了森林，并且分成两三队人马，各自行动。泰勒和国王在一起。到了傍晚，突然一头雄鹿出现，猎犬立刻惊起狂吠，雄鹿突然又跑入林中深处去了。鲁弗斯赶紧追踪目标，但就在这时他的弓弦突然断了，射出去的箭很快就坠了下去。雄鹿也受惊不小，跑了一阵在远处停了下来；这时落日的阳光正好直射国王的双眼，他便下意识地举起左手，遮挡穿林而过的刺眼光线。
7. “快射击啊！沃尔特，射击！”他狂吼道。就在这时，泰勒正好藏在灌木丛里，拉弓上弦射了一箭。由于箭在林中穿越，碰到一棵树便擦向另一边，最后稳稳地刺入了鲁弗斯的左半身，本可阻挡的左手恰恰举起来遮阳光了。中箭之后，鲁弗斯连叫都没叫一声，就倒下马来，死了。
8. 泰勒骑士也吓得一脸刷白，立即跃身下马，扶起他的主人；但他发现箭已刺穿了心脏，知道无力回天，便又立刻上马，以最快的速度飞驰到了海边，他在那里找到了一条小船，渡海去了法国。当落日的余晖还在森林里隐隐穿梭的时候，一位叫普克斯的卖炭翁发现了国王的遗体。他将满身血污的鲁弗斯扶上他的两轮马车，一路颠簸送到了温彻斯特，最终人们将国王埋在了一个教堂的墓地中。