第52章《宽容》序言(1)
rologueTolerance
亨德里克·威廉·房龙Hendrik>
HappilylivedMankindinthepeacefulValleyofIgnorance。
Tothenorth,tothesouth,tothewestaretchedtheridgesoftheHillsEverlasting。
AlittlestreamofKrickledslhadeepwully。
Itountai。
ItlostitselfintheMarshesoftheFuture。
Itwasnotmuch,asriversgo。Butitwasenoughforthehumblehevillagers。
Intheeveheyhadwateredtheirdhadf?illedtheircasks,theywerettositdowntoenjoylife。
TheOldMenerebroughtforthfromtheshadyerswheretheyhadspenttheirday,poverthemysteriouspagesofanoldbook。
Theymumbledstrarand,whoreferredtoplaywiththeprettypebbles,broughtdownfromdistantlands。
&hesewordswerenotveryclear。
Buttheywerewritathousandyearsagotteheywereholy。
ForintheValleyofIgeverwasoldwasvehosewhainsaythewisdomofthefatherswereshunnedbyalldetpeople。
Aheirpeace。
Fearwaseverwiththem。Whatiftheyshouldberefusedtheoheproductsofthegarden?
&oriestherewere,whisperedatnightamongthenarrowstreetsofthelittletoworiesofmenandwomenwhohaddaredtoaskquestions。
Theyhadgoh,andneveragainhadtheybeenseen。
&riedtoscalethehighwallsethathidthesun。
ðefootofthecliffs。
Theyearsdtheyearswentby。
HappilylivedMankindinthepeacefulValleyofIgnorance。
Outofthedarkaman。
Thenailsofhishaorn。
Hisfeetwerecoveredwithrags,redwiththebloodoflongmarches。
&umbledtothedooroftheandknocked。
Theed。Bythelighthteneddle,hewascarriedtoacot。
Inthemhoutthevillageitwasknown:“Hehaseback。”
Theneighborsstoodaroundandshooktheirheads。Theyhadalwaysknownthatthiswastobetheend。
&andsurreedthosewhodaredtostrollawayfromthefootofthemountains。
AndinohevillagetheOldMenshooktheirheadsandwhisperedburningwords。
&meantobecruel,buttheLawwastheLaw。BitterlythismanhadsithewishesofThoseWhoKnew。
Assoonashiswoundswerehealedhemustbebroughttotrial。