登陆注册
3553900000024

第24章 BOOK Ⅱ(3)

'Perdition take these Parisians!'said he to himself—for as a true dramatic poet,Gringoire was greatly addicted to monologue—'now they prevent me getting near the fire—and Heaven knows I have need of a warm corner!My shoes are veritable sponges,and those cursed mill-wheels have been raining upon me.Devil take the Bishop of Paris and his mills!I'd like to know what a bishop wants with a mill.Does he expect he may some day have to turn miller instead of bishop?If he is only waiting for my curse to effect this transformation,he is welcome to it,and may it include his cathedral and his mills as well.Now,let us see if these varlets will make room for me.What are they doing there,I'd like to know.Warming themselves—a fine pleasure indeed!Watching a pile of fagots burn—a grand spectacle,i'faith!'

On looking closer,however,he perceived that the circle was much wider than necessary for merely warming one's self at the King's bonfire,and that such a crowd of spectators was not attracted solely by the beauty of a hundred blazing fagots.In the immense space left free between the crowd and the fire a girl was dancing,but whether she was a human being,a sprite,or an angel,was what Gringoire—sceptical philosopher,ironical poet though he might be—was unable for the moment to determine,so dazzled was he by the fascinating vision.

She was not tall,but her slender and elastic figure made her appear so.Her skin was brown,but one guessed that by day it would have the warm golden tint of the Andalusian and Roman women.Her small foot too,so perfectly at ease in its narrow,graceful shoe,was quite Andalusian.She was dancing,pirouetting,whirling on an old Persian carpet spread carelessly on the ground,and each time her radiant face passed before you,you caught the flash of her great dark eyes.

The crowd stood round her open-mouthed,every eye fixed upon her,and in truth,as she danced thus to the drumming of a tambourine held high above her head by her round and delicate arms,slender,fragile,airy as a wasp,with her gold-laced bodice closely moulded to her form,her bare shoulders,her gaily striped skirt swelling out round her,affording glimpses of her exquisitely shaped limbs,the dusky masses of her hair,her gleaming eyes,she seemed a creature of some other world.

'In very truth,'thought Gringoire,'it is a salamander—a nymph—'tis a goddess—a bacchante of Mount Mnalus!'

At this moment a tress of the'salamander's'hair became uncoiled,and a piece of brass attached to it fell to the ground.

'Why,no,'said he,''tis a gipsy!'and all illusion vanished.

She resumed her performance.Taking up two swords from the ground,she leaned the points against her forehead,and twisted them in one direction while she herself turned in another.

True,she was simply a gipsy;but however disenchanted Gringoire might feel,the scene was not without its charm,nor a certain weird magic under the glaring red light of the bonfire,which flared over the ring of faces and the figure of the dancing girl and cast a pale glimmer among the wavering shadows at the far end of the Place,flickering over the black and corrugated front of the old Maison-aux-Piliers,or the stone arms of the gibbet opposite.

Among the many faces dyed crimson by this glow was one which,more than all the others,seemed absorbed in contemplation of the dancer.It was the face of a man,austere,calm,and sombre.His costume was hidden by the crowd pressing round him;but though he did not appear to be more than thirty-five,he was bald,showing only a few sparse locks at the temples and they already gray.The broad high forehead was furrowed,but in the deep-set eyes there glowed an extraordinary youthfulness,a fervid vitality,a consuming passion.Those eyes never moved from the gipsy,and the longer the girl danced and bounded in all the unrestrained grace of her sixteen years,delighting the populace,the gloomier did his thoughts seem to become.Ever and anon a smile and a sigh would meet upon his lips,but the smile was the more grievous of the two.

At last,out of breath with her exertion,the girl stopped,and the people applauded with all their heart.

'Djali!'cried the gipsy.

At this there appeared a pretty little white goat,lively,intelligent,and glossy,with gilded horns and hoofs and a gilt collar,which Gringoire had not observed before,as it had been lying on a corner of the carpet,watching its mistress dance.

'Djali,'said the dancing girl,'it is your turn now,'and seating herself,she gracefully held out her tambourine to the goat.

'Now,Djali,'she continued,'which month of the year is it?'

The goat lifted its fore-foot and tapped once on the tambourine.It was in fact the first month.The crowd applauded.

'Djali,'resumed the girl,reversing the tambourine,'what day of the month is it?'

Djali lifted her little golden hoof and gave six strokes on the tambourine.

'Djali,'continued the gipsy girl,again changing the position of the tambourine,'what hour of the day is it?'

Djali gave seven strokes.At the same instant the clock of the Maison-aux-Piliers struck seven.

The people were lost in admiration and astonishment.

'There is witchcraft in this,'said a sinister voice in the crowd.It came from the bald man,who had never taken his eyes off the gipsy.

The girl shuddered and turned round,but the applause burst out afresh and drowned the morose exclamation—effaced it,indeed,so completely from her mind that she continued to interrogate her goat.

'Djali,show us how M re Guichard Grand-Remy,captain of the town sharp-shooters,walks in the procession at Candlemas.'

Djali stood up on her hind legs and began to bleat,while she strutted along with such a delightful air of gravity that the whole circle of spectators,irresistibly carried away by this parody on the devotional manner of the captain of the sharp-shooters,burst into a roar of laughter.

同类推荐
  • 特牲馈食礼

    特牲馈食礼

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上洞玄灵宝赤书玉诀妙经

    太上洞玄灵宝赤书玉诀妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 无字宝箧经

    无字宝箧经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 中藏经

    中藏经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清六甲祈祷秘法

    上清六甲祈祷秘法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 菊花尘(二)

    菊花尘(二)

    事件发生于明治42年秋。这年秋天,韩国总监伊藤博文于哈尔滨车站身中三枪倒地。划破满洲寂静夜晚的三发枪声,正如日俄战争以来,低靡而暗潮汹涌的平稳世局的响声。不仅季节,连时势也走向暗黑的冬季而舞落最后一片落叶。地点是包围着旧德川幕府广大的武士豪邸白砂町的一隅。入夜突然一阵狂风,风声切破了闇夜,又再次凝结成寂静。此时武士豪邸外长长的石墙,仿佛连夜尘也一扫而清般浮现一条丝带般的白色夜景——至少在那时如此。
  • 恋上炫舞王子

    恋上炫舞王子

    一个是斯文温暖活力无限的快乐男生,一个是网上耐心照顾并和她分享心事的炫舞老公,一个是出身显赫的知名企业富二代,一个是舞姿超炫魅力迷人的街舞社长。他们逐一出现在林小莫的生命里,伴着她哭她笑她难过她幸福。直到最后的最后,林小莫才终于知道,这些所谓的“他们”,只是真心对她好、一心等待她的,那个唯一的他。命运百般阻挠,现实千般坎坷,他们是否可以在一次次如火如冰的碰撞中,找到属于自己的幸福?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 一醉成婚:老公总是上头条

    一醉成婚:老公总是上头条

    要不说酒是穿肠毒药呢,林沐雪生平头次喝醉,就跟迟维州领了结婚证。嗯,你没看错,就是那个大明星迟维州。这边两人才为自己的清白松口气,那边公司已经来了通知,亲,你们要继续假扮夫妻哟。年末,同学聚会。某路人甲:“你们还记得班上那个女胖子吗?叫林……林什么来着?”迟维州:“……林沐雪?”路人甲:“对对,就是她。她是不是还单着呢?”迟维州:“没有,她结婚了。嫁的挺好的,她先生很爱她。”路人甲:“骗人吧,她怎么可能。”迟维州:“是真的。因为我就是她先生。”
  • 四季健康养生百科(现代生活知识百科)

    四季健康养生百科(现代生活知识百科)

    古往今来,人们对健康的追求从来没有停息过。健康是人类永恒的话题,是人们最宝贵的财富。人们在追求健康的过程中,也发现和总结了许多很好的方法,如饮食保健、运动锻炼、疾病防治等,这些都是人类的宝贵财富。
  • 探秘:世界未解之谜(军事篇)

    探秘:世界未解之谜(军事篇)

    一些科学家认为,人类基于物竞天择的本性,对外界的索求是永无止境的。由此引发的战争贯穿着人类有文字记载的数千年历史。在探究历史上那些战争真相的同时,人类也在那些断垣残壁中反思。
  • 她与大神为邻

    她与大神为邻

    在没有遇到俞皓之前,陶真真大概就是一个没心没肺嘻嘻哈哈混吃等死的咸鱼。她还在傻乎乎的当着她的网瘾少女时,俞皓若有若无的靠近她。她义无反顾爱上他时,他却决然离去。如果他早知道自己会走,为什么要来打扰她?浑浑噩噩的两年空白,是不是有人已经忘了对方,过得很好?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 佛说大辩邪正经

    佛说大辩邪正经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 低调做人的智慧课

    低调做人的智慧课

    《低调做人的智慧课》介绍了低调做人说起来容易做起来难,有的人也知道低调做人的重要性,但不知道从何做起,有的人甚至认为低调做人过于消极、被动,无助于个人的生存、发展。这都是不懂得低调做人哲学的应用方法的缘故,低调做人要从身边的每一件小事做起,讲究的是认真做事的精神和审时度势的智慧。
  • 海贼王之终极忍者

    海贼王之终极忍者

    突然出现在海贼世界中的终极忍者到底是谁?从世界顶级大战到鱼人岛再到新世界,路飞海贼团的命运将如何牵绊……
  • 佛说十八泥犁经

    佛说十八泥犁经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。