故事:阿瑟.戈登(Arthur Gordon )写过一篇短篇小说,叫《奇人述异》(The Stranger Who Taught Magic),写一个十三岁的小男孩,在一天清早,蹲在河边看鱼,一个陌生人走过来,这陌生人有一张苍白清瘦的脸,一对非常特殊的眼睛,表情似愁非愁,但是友善而令人难以抗拒。陌生人希望小男孩教他钓鱼,小男孩同意了。陌生人说:“也许我们应该彼此介绍一下,不过,也许根本不必介绍。你是个愿意教的小孩子,我是个愿意学的教师,这就够了。我喊你‘小朋友’,你就喊我‘先生’吧。”
陌生人教小男孩,注意生活里的节奏(rhythm)。他说:“生活充满了节奏,语言文字也该有节奏。不过你得先训练耳朵。听听静夜的涛声,可以体会其中的韵律;看看海风在干沙上的痕迹,可以体会句子里应有的抑扬顿挫。你懂我意思吗?”(“Life is full of it; words shoule have it,too. But you have to train your ear. Listen to the waves on a quiet night; you'll pick up the cadence. Look at the patterns the wind makes in dry sand and you'll see how syllabies in a sentence should fall.Do you know what I mean?”)
为了做这种节奏实验,有一次,陌生人举出十五世纪马洛礼(Sir Thomas Malory)《亚瑟王之死》(Le Morte d'Arthur)中“骏马悲嘶”(And the great horse grimly neighed)一段,要小孩子把眼睛闭上,慢慢念出这一句、体味这一句,问小男孩,你有什么感觉?小男孩说他闭眼一念,就“寒毛直竖”("It gives me the shivers.")。陌生人大乐。
陌生人还教小男孩看云,他指着一片云,问:“你看见了什么?看见五颜六色吗?这不够。要找尖塔、吊桥,要找云龙、飞狮,要找千奇百怪的野兽。”(“What do you see there? Colors? That's not enough. Look for towers and drawbridges. Look for dragons and griffins and strange and wonderful beasts.”)
陌生人花样还多着呢!他不但教小男孩如何看云,还教小男孩如何看蟹。他抓起一只蟹,照小男孩教他的抓蟹脚的法子,抓住后脚,问小男孩:“用麦秆似的眼睛,你看到了什么?用乱七八糟的脚,你碰到了什么?你的小脑袋里想到了什么?试试看,只要五秒就行了。不要把自己当成男孩,把自己当成蟹!”(“What do you see through those stalk-like eyes? What do you feel with those complicated legs? What goes on in your tiny brain? Try it for just five seconds. Stop being a boy. Be a crab!”)小男孩照做了,他的小小而平静的世界,显然动摇了。
If there is any life when death is over,
These tawny beaches will know much of me,
I shall come back, as constant and as changeful
As the unchanging, many-colored sea.
If life was small, if it has made me scornful,
Forgive me ; I shall straighten like a flame
In the great calm of death, and if you want me
Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name.