They complained of their lot.
They bewailed the ingratitude of their children, but when the last wagon pulled out of the village, they stopped the driver and forced him to take them along.
诅咒孩子们忘恩负义。下过,最后一辆马车驶出村子时,他们叫住了车夫,强迫他把他们带走。
The flight into the unknown had begun.
It was many years since the Wanderer had returned.
It was no easy task to discover the road he had mapped out.
Thousands fell a victim to hunger and thirst before the first cairn was found.
成千上万人死了,人们踏着他们的尸骨,才找到第一座用石子堆起的路标。
From there on the trip was less difficult.
The careful pioneer had blazed a clear trail through the woods and amidst the endless wilderness of rock.
那个细心的先驱者已经在丛林和无际的荒野乱石中用人烧出了一条宽敞大道。
By easy stages it led to the green pastures of the new land.
Silently the people looked at each other.
He was right after all, they said. He was right, and the Old Men were wrong…
归根结底他是对了,人们说道。他对了,守旧老人错了。
He spoke the truth, and the Old Men lied…
His bones lie rotting at the foot of the cliffs, but the Old Men sit in our carts and chant their ancient lays…
他的尸首还在山崖下腐烂,可是守旧老人却坐在我们的车里,唱那些老掉牙的歌子。
He saved us, and we slew him…
We are sorry that it happened, but of course, if we could have known at the time…
对这件事我们的确很内疚,不过,假如当时我们知道的话,当然就…
Then they unharnessed their horses and their oxen and they drove their cows and their goats into the pastures and they built themselves houses and laid out their fields and they lived happily for a long time afterwards.
随后,人们解下马和牛的套具,把牛羊赶进牧场,建造起自己的房屋,规划自己的土地。从这以后很长时间,人们又过着幸福的生活。
A few years later an attempt was made to bury the brave pioneer in the fine new edifice which had been erected as a home for the Wise Old Men.
几年以后,人们建起了一座新大厦,作为智慧老人的住宅,并准备把勇敢先驱者的遗骨埋在里面。
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