They were always having grand tournaments there at Camelot; and very stirring and picturesque and ridiculous human bull-fights they were, too, but just a little wearisome to the practical mind. However, I was generally on hand—for two reasons: a man must not hold himself aloof from the things which his friends and his community have at heart if he would be liked—especially as a statesman; and both as business man and statesman I wanted to study the tournament and see if I couldn’t invent an improvement on it. That reminds me to remark, in passing, that the very first official thing I did, in my administration—and it was on the very first day of it, too—was to start a patent office; for I knew that a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab, and couldn’t travel any way but sideways or backways.
Things ran along, a tournament nearly every week; and now and then the boys used to want me to take a hand—I mean Sir Launcelot and the rest—but I said I would by and by; no hurry yet, and too much government machinery to oil up and set to rights and start a-going.
We had one tournament which was continued from day to day during more than a week, and as many as five hundred knights took part in it, from first to last. They were weeks gathering. They came on horseback from everywhere; from the very ends of the country, and even from beyond the sea; and many brought ladies, and all brought squires and troops of servants. It was a most gaudy and gorgeous crowd, as to costumery, and very characteristic of the country and the time, in the way of high animal spirits, innocent indecencies of language, and happy-hearted indifference to morals. It was fight or look on, all day and every day; and sing, gamble, dance, carouse half the night every night. They had a most noble good time. You never saw such people. Those banks of beautiful ladies, shining in their barbaric splendors, would see a knight sprawl from his horse in the lists with a lanceshaft the thickness of your ankle clean through him and the blood spouting, and instead of fainting they would clap their hands and crowd each other for a better view; only sometimes one would dive into her handkerchief, and look ostentatiously broken-hearted, and then you could lay two to one that there was a scandal there somewhere and she was afraid the public hadn’t found it out.
The noise at night would have been annoying to me ordinarily, but I didn’t mind it in the present circumstances, because it kept me from hearing the quacks detaching legs and arms from the day’s cripples. They ruined an uncommon good old cross-cut saw for me, and broke the saw-buck, too, but I let it pass. And as for my axe—well, I made up my mind that the next time I lent an axe to a surgeon I would pick my century.
I not only watched this tournament from day to day, but detailed an intelligent priest from my Department of Public Morals and Agriculture, and ordered him to report it; for it was my purpose by and by, when I should have gotten the people along far enough, to start a newspaper. The first thing you want in a new country, is a patent office; then work up your school system; and after that, out with your paper. A newspaper has its faults, and plenty of them, but no matter, it’s hark from the tomb for a dead nation, and don’t you forget it. You can’t resurrect a dead nation without it; there isn’t any way. So I wanted to sample things, and be finding out what sort of reporter-material I might be able to rake together out of the sixth century when I should come to need it.
Well, the priest did very well, considering. He got in all the details, and that is a good thing in a local item: you see, he had kept books for the undertaker-department of his church when he was younger, and there, you know, the money’s in the details; the more details, the more swag: bearers, mutes, candles, prayers —everything counts; and if the bereaved don’t buy prayers enough you mark up your candles with a forked pencil, and your bill shows up all right. And he had a good knack at getting in the complimentary thing here and there about a knight that was likely to advertise—no, I mean a knight that had influence; and he also had a neat gift of exaggeration, for in his time he had kept door for a pious hermit who lived in a sty and worked miracles.
Of course this novice’s report lacked whoop and crash and lurid description, and therefore wanted the true ring; but its antique wording was quaint and sweet and simple, and full of the fragrances and flavors of the time, and these little merits made up in a measure for its more important lacks. Here is an extract from it:
Then Sir Brian de les Isles and Grummore Grummorsum, knights of the castle, encountered with Sir Aglovale and Sir Tor, and Sir Tor smote down Sir Grummore Grummorsum to the earth. Then came Sir Carados of the dolorous tower, and Sir Turquine, knights of the castle, and there encountered with them Sir Percivale de Galis and Sir Lamorak de Galis, that were two brethren, and there encountered Sir Percivale with Sir Carados, and either brake their spears unto their hands, and then Sir Turquine with Sir Lamorak, and either of them smote down other, horse and all, to the earth, and either parties rescued other and horsed them again. And Sir Arnold, and Sir Gauter, knights of the castle, encountered with Sir Brandiles and Sir Kay, and these four knights encountered mightily, and brake their spears to their hands. Then came Sir Pertolope from the castle, and there encountered with him Sir Lionel, and there Sir Pertolope the green knight smote down Sir Lionel, brother to Sir Launcelot. All this was marked by noble heralds, who bare him best, and their names. Then Sir Bleobaris brake his spear upon Sir Gareth, but of that stroke Sir Bleobaris fell to the earth. When Sir Galihodin saw that, he bad Sir Gareth keep him, and Sir Gareth smote him to the earth. Then Sir Galihud gat a spear to avenge his brother, and in the same wise Sir Gareth served him, and Sir Dinadan and his brother La Cote Male Taile, and Sir Sagramore le Disirous, and Sir Dodinas le Savage; all these he bare down with one spear. When King Aswisance of Ireland saw Sir Gareth fare so he marveled what he might be, that one time seemed green, and another time, at his again coming, he seemed blue. And thus at every course that he rode to and fro he changed his color, so that there might neither king nor knight have ready cognizance of him. Then Sir Agwisance the King of Ireland encountered with Sir Gareth, and there Sir Gareth smote him from his horse, saddle and all. And then came King Carados of Scotland, and Sir Gareth smote him down horse and man. And in the same wise he served King Uriens of the land of Gore. And then there came in Sir Bagdemagus, and Sir Gareth smote him down horse and man to the earth. And Bagdemagus’s son Meliganus brake a spear upon Sir Gareth mightily and knightly. And then Sir Galahault the noble prince cried on high, Knight with the many colors, well hast thou justed; now make thee ready that I may just with thee. Sir Gareth heard him, and he gat a great spear, and so they encountered together, and there the prince brake his spear; but Sir Gareth smote him upon the left side of the helm, that he reeled here and there, and he had fallen down had not his men recovered him. Truly, said King Arthur, that knight with the many colors is a good knight. Wherefore the king called unto him Sir Launcelot, and prayed him to encounter with that knight. Sir, said Launcelot, I may as well find in my heart for to forbear him at this time, for he hath had travail enough this day, and when a good knight doth so well upon some day, it is no good knight’s part to let him of his worship, and, namely, when he seeth a knight hath done so great labour; for peradventure, said Sir Launcelot, his quarrel is here this day, and peradventure he is best beloved with this lady of all that be here, for I see well he paineth himself and enforceth him to do great deeds, and therefore, said Sir Launcelot, as for me, this day he shall have the honour; though it lay in my power to put him from it, I would not. There was an unpleasant little episode that day, which for reasons of state I struck out of my priest’s report. You will have noticed that Garry was doing some great fighting in the engagement. When I say Garry I mean Sir Gareth. Garry was my private pet name for him; it suggests that I had a deep affection for him, and that was the case. But it was a private pet name only, and never spoken aloud to any one, much less to him; being a noble, he would not have endured a familiarity like that from me. Well, to proceed: I sat in the private box set apart for me as the king’s minister. While Sir Dinadan was waiting for his turn to enter the lists, he came in there and sat down and began to talk; for he was always making up to me, because I was a stranger and he liked to have a fresh market for his jokes, the most of them having reached that stage of wear where the teller has to do the laughing himself while the other person looks sick. I had always responded to his efforts as well as I could, and felt a very deep and real kindness for him, too, for the reason that if by malice of fate he knew the one particular anecdote which I had heard oftenest and had most hated and most loathed all my life, he had at least spared it me. It was one which I had heard attributed to every humorous person who had ever stood on American soil, from Columbus down to Artemus Ward. It was about a humorous lecturer who flooded an ignorant audience with the killingest jokes for an hour and never got a laugh; and then when he was leaving, some gray simpletons wrung him gratefully by the hand and said it had been the funniest thing they had ever heard, and “it was all they could do to keep from laughin’ right out in meetin’.” That anecdote never saw the day that it was worth the telling; and yet I had sat under the telling of it hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of times, and cried and cursed all the way through. Then who can hope to know what my feelings were, to hear this armor-plated ass start in on it again, in the murky twilight of tradition, before the dawn of history, while even Lactantius might be referred to as “the late Lactantius,” and the Crusades wouldn’t be born for five hundred years yet? Just as he finished, the call-boy came; so, haw-hawing like a demon, he went rattling and clanking out like a crate of loose castings, and I knew nothing more. It was some minutes before I came to, and then I opened my eyes just in time to see Sir Gareth fetch him an awful welt, and I unconsciously out with the prayer, “I hope to gracious he’s killed!” But by ill-luck, before I had got half through with the words, Sir Gareth crashed into Sir Sagramor le Desirous and sent him thundering over his horse’s crupper, and Sir Sagramor caught my remark and thought I meant it for him .
Well, whenever one of those people got a thing into his head, there was no getting it out again. I knew that, so I saved my breath, and offered no explanations. As soon as Sir Sagramor got well, he notified me that there was a little account to settle between us, and he named a day three or four years in the future; place of settlement, the lists where the offense had been given. I said I would be ready when he got back. You see, he was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years’ cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don’t think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it. You see, it was just the Northwest Passage of that day, as you may say; that was all. Every year expeditions went out holy grailing, and next year relief expeditions went out to hunt for them . There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money. Why, they actually wanted me to put in! Well, I should smile.
背景介紹與作者導讀
這段文字生動地描述了在卡梅洛特舉行的比武大會，卡梅洛特是與傳奇的亞瑟王相關的傳奇城堡和宮廷。這個故事取材於亞瑟王傳說的豐富傳統，這些傳說幾個世紀以來被不斷地講述和重新演繹。這些故事經常探討騎士精神、榮譽、勇敢和對高尚理想的追求等主題。這些故事最初通過中世紀文學流傳下來，著名的貢獻者包括托馬斯·馬洛里爵士，他的作品《亞瑟之死》是最著名的亞瑟王傳說集之一。
這段文字中的敘述者似乎是一位深思熟慮的觀察者，可能是一位政治家或官員，他不僅對比武大會的景象感興趣，而且對它們所蘊含的社會和政治意義也感興趣。牧師的詳細報告增添了歷史的色彩，強調準確記錄事件以供後代參考的重要性。
詳細闡釋與意義
卡梅洛特的比武大會被描繪成宏偉、色彩繽紛的活動，充滿了刺激、競爭和社會互動。來自四面八方的騎士聚集在一起，證明他們的勇氣和戰鬥技巧，而宮廷的女士們則熱切地觀看，有時對暴力表現出令人驚訝的反應。這種環境反映了中世紀的騎士文化，騎士們被期望維護榮譽，保護弱者，並參與力量和勇氣的競賽。
然而，這段文字也暗示了這個世界的矛盾：「語言的無辜不雅」和「對道德的快樂漠視」表明，這是一個既充滿活力又存在缺陷的社會。敘述者務實的觀點——關注治理、發明和社會秩序——為浪漫化的卡梅洛特形象增添了一層現實主義。
加雷斯爵士的戰鬥的詳細描述，闡釋了騎士的英雄理想，他勇敢地戰鬥，並通過行動而不是頭銜贏得尊重。騎士之間的互動、他們面臨的挑戰以及他們所受到的尊重，都突出了毅力、忠誠和勇氣的價值觀。
給學生的教訓和見解
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勇氣和毅力： 騎士們願意一次又一次地冒險，這教導了克服挑戰時勇敢和堅持的重要性。學生們可以學會以同樣的決心面對自己的困難。
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尊重和榮譽： 騎士精神的準則，儘管被理想化，但強調尊重他人、競爭中的公平以及行動中的榮譽。這些價值觀在學校、友誼和未來的職業生涯中至關重要。
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社區和參與： 敘述者儘管有個人保留，但仍決定參加比武大會，這表明了參與自己的社區和支持共同利益的重要性。
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批判性思維： 敘述者對改進比武大會和創辦專利局等機構的興趣，鼓勵學生批判性地思考傳統，並尋求創新和改進社會的方法。
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記錄和反思： 牧師的詳細報告提醒我們記錄經驗並從中學習的價值，這對學生來說是一種有益的習慣，無論是在學習中還是在個人成長中。
將這些教訓應用於日常生活
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在學校： 學生可以通過勇敢地應對困難的科目或項目，而不害怕失敗來運用勇氣。他們可以在工作中誠實，並尊重老師和同學來實踐榮譽。
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在社交場合： 在互動中表現出尊重和公平，有助於建立牢固的友誼並和平解決衝突。
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在個人發展中： 擁抱毅力可以幫助學生即使在任務看起來很艱難時也能堅持下去，無論是在體育、藝術還是學術方面。
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在創造力和創新方面： 就像敘述者對發明的興趣一樣，應該鼓勵學生發揮創造力，並提出改進其環境的建議。
從故事中培養積極的特質
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勇敢： 鼓勵學生接受新的挑戰，理解失敗是成長的一部分。
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尊重： 教導以善良和公平對待他人的重要性，無論差異如何。
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社區精神： 促進參與團體活動、俱樂部或志願工作，以培養歸屬感。
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批判性探究： 培養好奇心和提問，幫助學生不要接受表面上的事物，而是探索更深層次的含義和可能性。
結論
卡梅洛特比武大會的故事不僅提供了關於騎士和戰鬥的精彩故事，而且也提供了一個窗口，讓您了解勇氣、榮譽和社區等理想得以實現的世界。對於學生和年輕讀者來說，這些故事不僅激發了想像力，而且也提供了寶貴的人生教訓。通過學習騎士的美德和敘述者的深思熟慮的觀點，年輕人可以培養幫助他們取得成功並為他們的社區做出積極貢獻的品質。
