The public road led formerly to a ford,called Ryd Pencarn,that is,the ford under the head of a rock,from Rhyd,which in the British language signifies a ford,Pen,the head,and Cam,a rock;of which place Merlin Sylvester had thus prophesied:"Whenever you shall see a mighty prince with a freckled face make an hostile irruption into the southern part of Britain,should he cross the ford of Pencarn,then know ye,that the force of Cambria shall be brought low."Now it came to pass in our times,that king Henry II.took up arms against Rhys,the son of Gruffydd,and directed his march through the southern part of Wales towards Caermardyn.On the day he intended to pass over Nant Pentcarn,the old Britons of the neighbourhood watched his approach towards the ford with the utmost solicitude;knowing,since he was both mighty and freckled,that if the passage of the destined ford was accomplished,the prophecy concerning him would undoubtedly be fulfilled.When the king had followed the road leading to a more modern ford of the river (the old one spoken of in the prophecy having been for a long time in disuse),and was preparing to pass over,the pipers and trumpeters,called Cornhiriet,from HIR,long,and CORNU,a horn,began to sound their instruments on the opposite bank,in honour of the king.The king's horse,startling at the wild,unusual noise,refused to obey the spur,and enter the water;upon which,the king,gathering up the reins,hastened,in violent wrath,to the ancient ford,which he rapidly passed;and the Britons returned to their homes,alarmed and dismayed at the destruction which seemed to await them.An extraordinary circumstance occurred likewise at the castle of Caerdyf.William earl of Gloucester,son of earl Robert,{80}who,besides that castle,possessed by hereditary right all the province of Gwladvorgan,{81}that is,the land of Morgan,had a dispute with one of his dependants,whose name was Ivor the Little,being a man of short stature,but of great courage.This man was,after the manner of the Welsh,owner of a tract of mountainous and woody country,of the whole,or a part of which,the earl endeavoured to deprive him.At that time the castle of Caerdyf was surrounded with high walls,guarded by one hundred and twenty men-at-arms,a numerous body of archers,and a strong watch.The city also contained many stipendiary soldiers;yet,in defiance of all these precautions of security,Ivor,in the dead of night,secretly scaled the walls,and,seizing the count and countess,with their only son,carried them off into the woods,and did not release them until he had recovered everything that had been unjustly taken from him,and received a compensation of additional property;for,as the poet observes,"Spectandum est semper ne magna injuria fiat Fortibus et miseris;tollas licet omne quod usquam est Argenti atque auri,spoliatis arma supersunt."In this same town of Caerdyf,king Henry II.on his return from Ireland,the first Sunday after Easter,passed the night.In the morning,having heard mass,he remained at his devotions till every one had quitted the chapel of St.Piranus.{82}As he mounted his horse at the door,a man of a fair complexion,with a round tonsure and meagre countenance,tall,and about forty years of age,habited in a white robe falling down to his naked feet,thus addressed him in the Teutonic tongue:"God hold the,cuing,"which signifies,"May God protect you,king;"and proceeded,in the same language,"Christ and his Holy Mother,John the Baptist,and the Apostle Peter salute thee,and command thee strictly to prohibit throughout thy whole dominions every kind of buying or selling on Sundays,and not to suffer any work to be done on those days,except such as relates to the preparation of daily food;that due attention may be paid to the performance of the divine offices.If thou dost this,all thy undertakings shall be successful,and thou shalt lead a happy life."The king,in French,desired Philip de Mercros,{83}who held the reins of his horse,to ask the rustic if he had dreamt this?and when the soldier explained to him the king's question in English,he replied in the same language he had before used,"Whether I have dreamt it or not,observe what day this is (addressing himself to the king,not to the interpreter),and unless thou shalt do so,and quickly amend thy life,before the expiration of one year,thou shalt hear such things concerning what thou lovest best in this world,and shalt thereby be so much troubled,that thy disquietude shall continue to thy life's end."The king,spurring his horse,proceeded a little way towards the gate,when,stopping suddenly,he ordered his attendants to call the good man back.The soldier,and a young man named William,the only persons who remained with the king,accordingly called him,and sought him in vain in the chapel,and in all the inns of the city.The king,vexed that he had not spoken more to him,waited alone a long time,while other persons went in search of him;and when he could not be found,pursued his journey over the bridge of Remni to Newport.The fatal prediction came to pass within the year,as the man had threatened;for the king's three sons,Henry,the eldest,and his brothers,Richard of Poitou,and Geoffrey,count of Britany,in the following Lent,deserted to Louis king of France,which caused the king greater uneasiness than he had ever before experienced;and which,by the conduct of some one of his sons,was continued till the time of his decease.This monarch,through divine mercy (for God is more desirous of the conversion than the destruction of a sinner),received many other admonitions and reproofs about this time,and shortly before his death;all of which,being utterly incorrigible,he obstinately and obdurately despised,as will be more fully set forth (by the favour of God)in my book,"de Principis Instructione."Not far from Caerdyf is a small island situated near the shore of the Severn,called Barri,from St.Baroc {84}who formerly lived there,and whose remains are deposited in a chapel overgrown with ivy,having been transferred to a coffin.From hence a noble family,of the maritime parts of South Wales,who owned this island and the adjoining estates,received the name of de Barri.It is remarkable that,in a rock near the entrance of the island,there is a small cavity,to which,if the ear is applied,a noise is heard like that of smiths at work,the blowing of bellows,strokes of hammers,grinding of tools,and roaring of furnaces;and it might easily be imagined that such noises,which are continued at the ebb and flow of the tides,were occasioned by the influx of the sea under the cavities of the rocks.
同类推荐
热门推荐
写在时间开头
「2017科幻春晚」科幻小说合辑包含:《春节序曲》《昨天今天明天》《春天的故事》《俏夕阳》《宇宙牌香烟》《虎口遐想》《涛声依旧》《如此包装》《故乡的云》《四郎探母》《过河》《空城计》《相约一九九八》《空中悬人》《吃鸡》《三岔口》《警察与小偷》《常回家看看》《超生游击队》《好运来》《千手观音》《难忘今宵》。未来局甄选的这些题目,全部来自于过去三十多年在春晚舞台上最受欢迎的节目,作家们在选定题目后48小时内,完成4000字左右的科幻短篇小说创作,并需要在科幻小说中设置与原有春晚节目呼应或致敬的细节。「科幻春晚」是未来事务管理局旗下《不存在日报》在每年春节期间进行的一档科幻小说连载活动。2017年春节期间,23位风格各异的科幻作家参与了本次活动。其中有韩松、何夕、凌晨、杨平等资深作者,江波、陈楸帆、飞氘、万象峰年、张冉、刘洋、阿缺这些已经成名,风格鲜明的新生代。还有滕野、塔塔、孙望路、郝赫、慕明、KiSA、赵猫鱼、双翅目这些还是生面孔,但今后大有可为的新晋作者。23篇科幻小说风格各异,但都保持了较高的创作水准。其中既有传统太空题材、赛博朋克、人工智能等科幻小说的常见语境下的新意之作,亦有一些难于归类的架空、近未来社会幻想、传统文学改编和魔幻现实主义作品。「2017科幻春晚」最初在《不存在日报》微信公众平台、果壳网、豆瓣、知乎、澎湃、今日头条、天天快报、网易新闻、简书、MONO等平台连载,在科幻迷群体中引起热烈反响,总计被阅读150万余次。在此,我们将23篇作品制成合辑,整体呈现「2017科幻春晚」的全部作品,以飨读者。未来事务管理局是一个以“未来”为核心的科技文化品牌,致力于科幻文化传播与科幻生态搭建,创造中国科幻黄金时代。命运密码:决定命运的36个因素
命运,是一个古老而神秘的课题。命运的变化莫测,是命运神秘性的根本原因,而几千年以来人们用各种玄学化、神秘化的方法和手段,进行所谓的“算命”,更增加了命运的神秘性。本书是一个初步的研究成果,揭示了人生命运的密码。本书的上篇主要介绍命运规律,下篇分解决定命运的36个因素。正如26个英文字母通过不同的排列组合,使这种语言的词组千变万化一样,影响命运的36个因素的不同排列组合,使全世界亿万人的命运千差万别。人生中的每一次命运变化,都是命运因素一个新的排列组合引起的。