重视和追忆了。”
The Sceptre
Said a king to his wife, “Madame, you are not truly a queen. You are too vulgar and ungracious to be my mate.”
Said his wife,“Sir, you deem yourself king, but indeed you are only a poor soundling.”
Now these words angered the king, and he took his sceptre with his hand, and struck the queen upon her forehead with his golden sceptre.
At that moment the lord chamberlain entered, and he said, “Well, well, Majesty! That sceptre was fashioned by the greatest artist of the land. Alas! Some day you and the queen shall be forgotten, but this sceptre shall be kept, a thing of beauty from generation to generation. And now that you have drawn blood from her Majesty’s head, Sire, the sceptre shall be more considered and remembered.”
流浪者 第五章（6）
通 道
山里住着一位妇女和她的儿子，他是她第一胎生的，也是她的独子。
孩子发烧而死，当时医生站在旁边束手无策。
母亲悲痛欲绝，她向医生哭诉，她恳求道：“告诉我，告诉我，是什么使他的挣扎和他的歌声归于沉寂？”
医生回答道：“是高烧。”
母亲问：“高烧是什么？”
医生说：“我无法解释，是一种极为细微的东西造访了身体，我们的肉眼无法看见。”
医生离开了，她不停地自言自语：“极为细微的东西，我们的肉眼无法看见。”
晚上牧师来安慰她，她哭喊道：“噢，为什么我失去了儿子，我第一胎生的，我的独子？”
牧师回答：“我的孩子，这是神的旨意。”
妇女问道：“神是什么啊？神在哪儿呢？我要见神，我会把我的胸膛撕开，把我心中流出的血倒在他的脚下。告诉我在哪儿能找到他。”
牧师说：“神无比巨大，我们的肉眼无法看见。”
女人呼喊道：“极为细微的东西在无穷大的神的意愿作用下，杀死了我的儿子，那我们是什么呢？我们是什么？”
正在那时，这个女人的母亲拿着给死去的孩子裹尸用的寿衣，走进了房间，她听见了牧师的话和她女儿的哭喊。她放下裹尸布，把她女儿的手抓在自己手里说：“我的女儿，我们自己是极为细微的和无穷大的，我们是这两者间的通道。”
The Path
There lived among the hills a woman and her son, and he was her first-born and her only child.
And the boy died of a fever whilst the physician stood by.
The mother was distraught with sorrow, and she cried to the physician and besought him saying, “Tell me, tell me, what was it that made quiet his striving and silent his song?”
And the physician said,“It was the fever.”
And the mother said,“What is the fever?”
And the physician answered,“I cannot explain it. It is a thing infinitely small that visits the body, and we cannot see it with the human eye.”
The physician left her. And she kept repeating to herself, “Something infinitely small. We cannot see it with our human eye.”
And at evening the priest came to console her. And she wept and she cried out saying,“Oh, why have I lost my son, my only son, my first-born?”
And the priest answered,“My child, it is the will of God.”
And the woman said, “What is God and where is God? I would see God that I may tear my bosom before Him, and pour the blood of my heart at His feet. Tell me where I shall find Him.”
And the priest said,“God is infinitely vast. He is not to be seen with our human eye.”
Then the woman cried out, “The infinitely small has slain my son through the will of the infinitely great! Then what are we? What are we?”⑦本⑦作⑦品⑦由⑦⑦網⑦提⑦供⑦下⑦載⑦與⑦在⑦線⑦閱⑦讀⑦
At that moment the woman’s mother came into the room with the shroud for the dead boy, and she heard the words of the priest and also her daughter’s cry. And she laid down the shroud, and took her daughter’s hand in her own hand, and she said,“My daughter, we ourselves are the infinitely small and the infinitely great, and we are the path between the two.”
Yet even to this day there are those in the city of Kilafis who wrangle and argue with each other about many gods and no god, and one god and three gods in one, and a gracious mother of gods.
流浪者 第五章（7）
鲸鱼与蝴蝶
一天傍晚，一男一女坐在同一辆马车里，他们以前见过。
男的是位诗人，当他坐在女人边上，他想方设法地讲故事取悦她，有一些是他自己编的，有一些根本就不是他自己的。
但是在他说话的时候，这位女士睡着了。车厢突然倾斜了一下，她惊醒了，她说：“我真欣赏你讲的约拿和鲸鱼的故事。”
诗人说：“可是，夫人，我刚才一直在给你讲我自己编的故事，说的是一只蝴蝶和一枝白玫瑰，以及它们怎样以礼相待。”
The Whale and The Butterfly
Once on an evening a man and a woman found themselves together in a stagecoach. They had met before.
The man was a poet, and as he sat beside the woman he sought to amuse her with stories, some that were of his own weaving, and some that were not his own.
But even while he was speaking the lady went to sleep. Then suddenly the coach lurched, and she awoke, and she said,“I admire your interpretation of the story of Jonah and the whale.”
And the poet said, “But Madame, I have been telling you a story of mine own about a butterfly and a white rose, and how t