雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界歷史51 騎士和騎士制度時期

51
Knights and Days of Chivalry
騎士和騎士制度時期

     THOSE years in history which I have been telling you about are known as the days of chivalry-which means the times of ladies and gentlemen. The lord and his family were the gentlemen and the ladies. All the other people, by far the greater number, were just common people.
     There were no schools for these common people. Little was done for them. They were taught to work and nothing else. The sons of a lord of a castle, however, were very carefully taught. Even they were taught only two things, how to be gentlemen and how to fight. Reading and writing were thought of no importance; in fact, it was usually considered a waste of time to learn such things.
     This is the way the son of a lord was brought up. He stayed with his mother until he was seven years old. When he reached the age of seven he was called a page; and for the next seven years-that is, until he was fourteen, he remained a page. During the time he was a page, his chief business was to wait on the ladies of the castle. He ran their errands, carried their messages, waited on tables, etc. He also learned to ride a horse and to be brave and courteous.
     When he was fourteen years old, he became a squire and remained a squire for the next seven years; that is, until he was twenty-one. During the time he was a squire he waited on the men, as he had waited on the ladies when he was a page. He attended to the men's horses, went to battle with them, led an extra horse, and carried another spear or lance, in case these should be needed.
     When he was twenty-one years old, if he had been a good squire and had learned the lessons that he was taught, he then became a knight. Becoming a knight was an important ceremony like graduating exercises, for the grown boy was now to take up the business of a man.
     To get ready for this ceremony, first, he bathed. This may not seem worth mentioning, but in those days one very rarely took a bath, sometimes not for years. He was then dressed in new clothes. Thus washed and dressed, he prayed all night long in the church. When day came, he appeared before all the people and solemnly swore always to do and to be certain things:

     To be brave and good
     To fight for the Christian religion
     To protect the weak
     To honor women

     These were his vows. A white leather belt was then put on him and gold spurs fastened on his boots. After this had been done, he knelt, and his lord struck him over the shoulders with the flat side of a sword, saying as he did so, "I dub thee knight."
     A knight went into battle covered with a suit of armor made of iron rings or steel plates like fish scales, and with a helmet or hood of iron. This suit protected him from the arrows and lances of the enemy. Of course if they had had any shot or shell, armor would have been no use at all, but they had no such things then.
     Knights were so completely covered by their armor that when sides became mixed up in fighting, they could not tell one another apart. It was impossible to know who were friends and who were enemies.
     So the knights wore, on the outside of the coat that went over their armor, a design of an animal, such as a lion, or of a plant or a rose or a cross or some ornament, and this design was known as a coat of arms.
     A knight, as I told you, was first of all taught to be a gentleman, and so we sometimes speak of one who has good manners and is courteous, especially to ladies, as knightly or chivalrous. When a knight came into the presence of a lady he took off his helmet. It meant, "You are my friend, and so I do not need my helmet." That is why gentlemen raise their hats nowadays when they meet ladies.
     But the most important thing the knights had to learn was to fight. Even their games were play fights.
     Each country and each age has had its own games or sports in which it has taken special delight. The Greeks had their Olympic Games. The Romans had their chariot races and gladiatorial contests. We have football and baseball. But the chief sport of the knights was a kind of sham battle called the tournament.
     The tournament was held in a field known as the lists. Large crowds with banners flying and trumpets blowing would gather around the lists to watch the sham fight, as crowds nowadays flock to a big football game waving pennants and tooting horns. The knights on horseback took their places at opposite ends of the lists. They carried lances, the points of which were covered so that they would not make a wound. At a given signal, they rushed toward the center of the field and tried with their lances to throw each other off their horses. The winner who succeeded in throwing the other knights was presented with a ribbon or a keepsake by one of the ladies, and a knight thought as much of this trophy of victory as the winner of a cup in a tennis tournament nowadays.

Man with falcon（帶著獵鷹的騎士）
     Knights were very fond of hunting with dogs. But they also hunted with a trained bird called a falcon, and both lords and ladies delighted in this sport. The falcon was trained like a hunting dog to catch other birds, such as wild ducks and pigeons, and also small animals. The falcon was chained to the wrist of the lord or lady, and its head was covered with a hood as it was carried out to hunt. When a bird was seen, the hood was removed, and the falcon, which was very swift, would swoop down upon its prey and capture it. Thereupon the hunter would come up, take the captured animal, and put the hood on the falcon again. The men, however, usually preferred hunting the wild boar, which was a kind of pig with sharp tusks, for this was more dangerous and therefore supposed to be more of a man's sport.