第 79 节
作者:
青涩春天 更新:2024-04-09 19:51 字数:9322
pale lips ceased to quivershe was no more!
CHAPTER VI。
IVANHOE THE WIDOWER。
Having placed young Cedric at school at the hall of Dotheboyes; in
Yorkshire; and arranged his family affairs; Sir Wilfrid of Ivanhoe
quitted a country which had no longer any charms for him; and in
which his stay was rendered the less agreeable by the notion that
King John would hang him; if ever he could lay hands on the
faithful follower of King Richard and Prince Arthur。
But there was always in those days a home and occupation for a
brave and pious knight。 A saddle on a gallant war…horse; a pitched
field against the Moors; a lance wherewith to spit a turbaned
infidel; or a road to Paradise carved out by his scimitar;these
were the height of the ambition of good and religious warriors; and
so renowned a champion as Sir Wilfrid of Ivanhoe was sure to be
well received wherever blows were stricken for the cause of
Christendom。 Even among the dark Templars; he who had twice
overcome the most famous lance of their Order was a respected
though not a welcome guest: but among the opposition company of the
Knights of St。 John; he was admired and courted beyond measure; and
always affectioning that Order; which offered him; indeed; its
first rank and commanderies; he did much good service; fighting in
their ranks for the glory of heaven and St。 Waltheof; and slaying
many thousands of the heathen in Prussia; Poland; and those savage
Northern countries。 The only fault that the great and gallant;
though severe and ascetic Folko of Heydenbraten; the chief of the
Order of St。 John; found with the melancholy warrior; whose lance
did such good service to the cause; was; that he did not persecute
the Jews as so religious a knight should。 He let off sundry
captives of that persuasion whom he had taken with his sword and
his spear; saved others from torture; and actually ransomed the two
last grinders of a venerable rabbi (that Roger de Cartright; an
English knight of the Order; was about to extort from the elderly
Israelite;) with a hundred crowns and a gimmal ring; which were all
the property he possessed。 Whenever he so ransomed or benefited
one of this religion; he would moreover give them a little token or
a message (were the good knight out of money); saying; 〃Take this
token; and remember this deed was done by Wilfrid the Disinherited;
for the services whilome rendered to him by Rebecca; the daughter
of Isaac of York!〃 So among themselves; and in their meetings and
synagogues; and in their restless travels from land to land; when
they of Jewry cursed and reviled all Christians; as such abominable
heathens will; they nevertheless excepted the name of the Desdichado;
or the doubly…disinherited as he now was; the Desdichado…Doblado。
The account of all the battles; storms; and scaladoes in which Sir
Wilfrid took part; would only weary the reader; for the chopping
off one heathen's head with an axe must be very like the
decapitation of any other unbeliever。 Suffice it to say; that
wherever this kind of work was to be done; and Sir Wilfrid was in
the way; he was the man to perform it。 It would astonish you were
you to see the account that Wamba kept of his master's achievements;
and of the Bulgarians; Bohemians; Croatians; slain or maimed by his
hand。 And as; in those days; a reputation for valor had an immense
effect upon the soft hearts of women; and even the ugliest man; were
he a stout warrior; was looked upon with favor by Beauty: so
Ivanhoe; who was by no means ill…favored; though now becoming rather
elderly; made conquests over female breasts as well as over
Saracens; and had more than one direct offer of marriage made to him
by princesses; countesses; and noble ladies possessing both charms
and money; which they were anxious to place at the disposal of a
champion so renowned。 It is related that the Duchess Regent of
Kartoffelberg offered him her hand; and the ducal crown of
Kartoffelberg; which he had rescued from the unbelieving Prussians;
but Ivanhoe evaded the Duchess's offer; by riding away from her
capital secretly at midnight and hiding himself in a convent of
Knights Hospitallers on the borders of Poland。 And it is a fact
that the Princess Rosalia Seraphina of Pumpernickel; the most lovely
woman of her time; became so frantically attached to him; that she
followed him on a campaign; and was discovered with his baggage
disguised as a horse…boy。 But no princess; no beauty; no female
blandishments had any charms for Ivanhoe: no hermit practised a more
austere celibacy。 The severity of his morals contrasted so
remarkably with the lax and dissolute manner of the young lords and
nobles in the courts which he frequented; that these young
springalds would sometimes sneer and call him Monk and Milksop; but
his courage in the day of battle was so terrible and admirable; that
I promise you the youthful libertines did not sneer THEN; and the
most reckless of them often turned pale when they couched their
lances to follow Ivanhoe。 Holy Waltheof! it was an awful sight to
see him with his pale calm face; his shield upon his breast; his
heavy lance before him; charging a squadron of heathen Bohemians; or
a regiment of Cossacks! Wherever he saw the enemy; Ivanhoe
assaulted him: and when people remonstrated with him; and said if he
attacked such and such a post; breach; castle; or army; he would be
slain; 〃And suppose I be?〃 he answered; giving them to understand
that he would as lief the Battle of Life were over altogether。
While he was thus making war against the Northern infidels news was
carried all over Christendom of a catastrophe which had befallen
the good cause in the South of Europe; where the Spanish Christians
had met with such a defeat and massacre at the hands of the Moors
as had never been known in the proudest day of Saladin。
Thursday; the 9th of Shaban; in the 605th year of the Hejira; is
known all over the West as the amun…al…ark; the year of the battle
of Alarcos; gained over the Christians by the Moslems of Andaluz;
on which fatal day Christendom suffered a defeat so signal; that it
was feared the Spanish peninsula would be entirely wrested away
from the dominion of the Cross。 On that day the Franks lost
150;000 men and 30;000 prisoners。 A man…slave sold among the
unbelievers for a dirhem; a donkey for the same; a sword; half a
dirhem; a horse; five dirhems。 Hundreds of thousands of these
various sorts of booty were in the possession of the triumphant
followers of Yakoobal…Mansoor。 Curses on his head! But he was a
brave warrior; and the Christians before him seemed to forget that
they were the descendants of the brave Cid; the Kanbitoor; as the
Moorish hounds (in their jargon) denominated the famous Campeador。
A general move for the rescue of the faithful in Spaina crusade
against the infidels triumphing there; was preached throughout
Europe by all the most eloquent clergy; and thousands and thousands
of valorous knights and nobles; accompanied by well…meaning varlets
and vassals of the lower sort; trooped from all sides to the
rescue。 The Straits of Gibel…al…Tariff; at which spot the Moor;
passing from Barbary; first planted his accursed foot on the
Christian soil; were crowded with the galleys of the Templars and
the Knights of St。 John; who flung succors into the menaced
kingdoms of the peninsula; the inland sea swarmed with their ships
hasting from their forts and islands; from Rhodes and Byzantium;
from Jaffa and Ascalon。 The Pyrenean peaks beheld the pennons and
glittered with the armor of the knights marching out of France into
Spain; and; finally; in a ship that set sail direct from Bohemia;
where Sir Wilfrid happened to be quartered at the time when the
news of the defeat of Alarcos came and alarmed all good Christians;
Ivanhoe landed at Barcelona; and proceeded to slaughter the Moors
forthwith。
He brought letters of introduction from his friend Folko of
Heydenbraten; the Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John; to the
venerable Baldomero de Garbanzos; Grand Master of the renowned
order of Saint Jago。 The chief of Saint Jago's knights paid the
greatest respect to a warrior whose fame was already so widely
known in Christendom; and Ivanhoe had the pleasure of being
appointed to all the posts of danger and forlorn hopes that could
be devised in his honor。 He would be called up twice or thrice in
a night to fight the Moors: he led ambushes; scaled breaches; was
blown up by mines; was wounded many hundred times (recovering;
thanks to the elixir; of which Wamba always carried a supply); he
was the terror of the Saracens; and the admiration and wonder of
the Christians。
To describe his deeds; would; I say; be tedious; one day's battle
was like that of another。 I am not writing in ten volumes like
Monsieur Alexandre Dumas; or even in three like other great
authors。 We hav