《神奇树屋》 第三十六册 Blizzard of the Blue Moon 06 The Hunt of the Unicorn

       There were seven tapestries¹ in all. Each was almost as high asthe wooden ceiling. Jack² read aloud from a sign on the wallunder the first one:

The Hunt of the UnicornTapestries woven in the Netherlands at the end of the 1400sThe first tapestry⁴ showed hunters and hounds searching forthe unicorn³. The second showed the unicorn being found.

The other tapestries showed the unicorn trying to escape,leaping from a stream, chased by71hounds, then captured and slain⁶ by the hunters' spears.

Oddly, the last tapestry showed the unicorn alive again. Hewas sitting in a garden of flowers surrounded by a woodenfence. There was a wide blue and gold collar around his neck,and he was chained to a tree.

"That'shim,"Annie said softly.

"How can it be him?" said Jack. "He's a picture in a tapestry.""Read Merlin's poem again," said Annie.

Jack unbuckled his briefcase⁷ and pulled out the parchmentscroll. He read aloud.

She very last unicornIs now hidden wellBy those who have put himUnder a spell.

"The unicorn is hidden in the tapestry," said Annie. "Thepeople who wove it must be the ones who put him under aspell.""Hmm ... ," said Jack. He read on.

72Four centuries, four decadesFromthat afternoon,At the endof November,Before theblue moon ...

"Stop, do the math," said Annie.

"Right," said Jack. He took out his notebook and pencil. "Okay,four centuries is four hundred, and four decades is forty. Add'em up, you get four hundred forty. Then if you subtract fourhundred forty from 1938, you get ... 1498.""It works!" said Annie. "The sign says the tapestries werewoven at the end of the 1400s! And it's the end of November,and Mr. Perkins said there's a blue moon tonight!""Oh, man," whispered Jack. He kept reading.

He willwake once moreAnd be freeto go homeIf you callout his name:

Divine Flower of Rome.

Annie looked up at the tapestry.

"Divine Flower!"she called.

73Nothing happened.

"Divine Flower of Rome!"Jack called.

Jack and Annie watched and waited. Nothing changed in thetapestry. It looked exactly the same.

"Maybe he's not the right unicorn after all," said Jack.

"Maybe it's just not the right name," said Annie. "Read therest."Jack read more of the poem.

You must coax⁸ him to standOnce hisname is spoken.

His chain will breakAnd the spell too, be broken.

"He is the right unicorn!" said Annie. "See? There's the chain!"She pointed¹⁰ to the chain in the last tapestry.

"Yeah, but why didn't calling his name work?" said Jack.

"Why didn't he wake up?""I don't know," said Annie. "What else does the poem say?"74Jack read on.

Then a young girl must love himAnd show him the way,Lest he be trapped foreverOn public display.

If he loses this chanceTo rise and depart,All magic will fadeFrom his horn and his heart.

"He is on public display, andI'mthe girl, Jack!" said Annie. "I love him a lot! I'll show him theway!""Okay, calm down. First we need to wake him up," said Jack.

Voices came from outside. Jack moved to a window. Helooked out into the courtyard. Two people were coming throughthe cloister¹¹, their heads down against the flying snow. One worea dark cape⁵, and the other a tan raincoat.

Jack turned back to Annie, a big grin on his face. "You wereright! They found us! Teddy and75Kathleen are here!" he said.

"They'llknow how to break the spell!""Of course!" said Annie, beaming. "Quick, let's hide andsurprisethemfor a change.""In there!" said Jack. He and Annie hurried into a long roomoff the tapestry room. They heard the door from the cloisteropen. They felt a rush of cold air. They heard footsteps.

Jack and Annie grinned at each other. Jack put his finger tohis lips. Then a quick, nervous boy's voice came from thetapestry room: "Grinda, they are not here!""I see that, Balor, butlook""Ahh! Is ithim,Grinda?"Annie grabbed Jack's arm. "Balor? Grinda?" she whispered.

"Shh," whispered Jack.

"Of course 'tis him!" said the girl. "I told you those Frog Creekbrats would lead us to him! Get the rope ready!""Aye," said the boy.

Jack and Annie carefully peeked¹² around the76corner. They saw a girl and boy standing¹³ with their backs tothem, facing the unicorn in the last tapestry. The boy held athick black rope.

"Call out his name, Grinda," said the boy. The girl took a steptoward the tapestry. She raised her arms in front of the unicorn.

"Dianthus!"she called.

Wind whistled through the open doorway¹⁴. The flowers in thetapestry swayed as if the wind77were blowing them. The scent¹⁵ of roses wafted¹⁶ through theroom. The unicorn moved his head. "Ohh!" whispered Annie.

"Get ready, Balor, to take him back to the Master," said thegirl.

Annie clutched Jack's arm. "Who's the Master?" shewhispered.

"I don't know," whispered Jack. "But I don't think he's a goodguy."The girl turned back to the tapestry and spoke⁹ softly to theunicorn. "Come, come, my lovely Dianthus, stand up now. Comeout of that old rug...."The unicorn turned his head and looked out at the girl. Thelook in his blue eyes was ancient yet young, wise yet innocent.

He lifted his head as if he were about to stand.

The girl nodded to the boy. The boy slowly coiled the blackrope into a noose¹⁷. The girl looked at the unicorn again. "Come tome, Dianthus!" she coaxed¹⁸. "Don't be afraid. I'll love you andshow you the way"78"No, Dianthus!" yelled Annie. "Don't go to her!" Annie andJack bolted from their hiding place.

Balor and Grinda whirled around in surprise. They both hadpale faces and pale shining eyes.

"Leave him alone!" Annie yelled at the strange pair. "Youdon't love him!

Welove him!" At that moment, there was a flash of light, and theunicorn in the tapestry leapt like a deer over the woven fence.

Balor and Grinda shrieked¹⁹ and jumped back. Jack covered hishead.

Then there was silence. Jack looked up. The tapestry on thewall was unchanged-it still showed a unicorn woven from yarnchained to a tree.

But standing on the floor of the museum was the mostbeautiful creature Jack had ever seen.

1 tapestries   

n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The wall of the banqueting hall were hung with tapestries. 宴会厅的墙上挂有壁毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rooms were hung with tapestries. 房间里都装饰着挂毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

4 tapestry   

n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面

参考例句：

• How about this artistic tapestry and this cloisonne vase?这件艺术挂毯和这个景泰蓝花瓶怎么样？
• The wall of my living room was hung with a tapestry.我的起居室的墙上挂着一块壁毯。

5 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

6 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

7 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

8 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

11 cloister   

n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝

参考例句：

• They went out into the stil,shadowy cloister garden.他们出了房间，走到那个寂静阴沉的修道院的园子里去。
• The ancient cloister was a structure of red brick picked out with white stone.古老的修道院是一座白石衬托着的红砖建筑物。

12 peeked   

v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

15 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

16 wafted   

v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The sound of their voices wafted across the lake. 他们的声音飘过湖面传到了另一边。
• A delicious smell of freshly baked bread wafted across the garden. 花园中飘过一股刚出炉面包的香味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 noose   

n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑

参考例句：

• They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
• A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。

18 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城