试译 1066 and All That:第五章

2022.12.16

Alfred the Cake

蛋糕1阿尔弗雷德

KING ALFRED was the first Good King, with the exception of Good King Wenceslas, who, though he looked 4th, really came first (it is not known, however, what King Wenceslas was King of). Alfred ought never to be confused with King Arthur, equally memorable but probably non-existent and therefore perhaps less important historically (unless he did exist).

阿尔弗雷德国王2(King Alfred)是第一位好国王,当然,除了好国王温切拉斯3(Good King Wenceslas)之外。温切拉斯看起来排第四位,实际上是第一个出场的(然而我们也不确定,温切拉斯究竟是英国哪个王国的国王)。大家不要把阿尔弗雷德和亚瑟王4弄混了,虽然亚瑟王跟前者名气相当,但很可能不存在,所以历史地位没那么重要(除非他确实存在)。

There is a story that King Arthur once burnt some cakes belonging to Mrs Girth, a great lady of the time, at a place called Atheling. As, however, Alfred could not have been an Incendiary King and a Good King, we may dismiss the story as absurd, and in any case the event is supposed to have occurred in a marsh where the cakes would not have burnt properly. Cf. the famous lines of poetry about King Arthur and the cakes:

关于亚瑟王有这么一个故事,他曾经把一个高贵的小姐葛丝的蛋糕给烤焦了,事情就发生在阿特灵(Atheling)这个地方。不过,阿尔弗雷德不可能既是一个煽风点火的国王,又是一个好国王,所以这个故事很荒谬。而且,在任何情况下,这个事件都应该发生在沼泽地,且蛋糕并没有烤焦。正如一首关于亚瑟王和蛋糕的令人难忘的诗歌所述:

‘Then slowly answered Alfred from the marsh – ’

“然后,慢慢地从沼泽地回应阿尔弗雷德”

Arthur, Lord Tennyson.

亚瑟,特尼森勋爵5


  1. 阿尔弗雷德在一次在逃亡的途中,被一家樵夫收留过夜。樵夫的妻子让他照看炉上烤着的蛋糕,阿尔弗雷德一心想着怎么抗击丹麦人,后来蛋糕全部烤焦了,被樵夫的妻子训斥了一顿。 ↩︎

  2. 即阿尔弗雷德大帝(Alfred the Great,849-899 年),是英国盎格鲁-撒克逊时期的威塞克斯王国的国王,他领导人们反抗维京人的侵犯,让英格兰大部分地区免于被丹麦人占领。 ↩︎

  3. 好国王温切拉斯(Good King Wenceslas)是一首圣诞颂歌。 ↩︎

  4. 亚瑟王是一名领导古不列颠人反抗盎格鲁-撒克逊人的凯尔特国王。围绕他有许多传奇的故事,比如巫师梅林,从石头中拔出的宝剑埃克斯卡利伯,以及圆桌骑士等等。他是一个文学虚构人物,还是历史上确有其人,现在也无法确定。 ↩︎

  5. 实际上是阿尔弗雷德,特尼森勋爵(Alfred, Lord Tennyson,1809–1892 年),第一任特尼森伯爵,是英国维多利亚时代的一名诗人。本书作者希望大家不要把阿尔弗雷德和亚瑟弄混,但却故意把这两个名字混用。 ↩︎