第38章 詛咒

有一次，一個海上老人對我說道："三十年以前，有個水手帶著我的女兒逃跑了。我從心底里詛咒他們兩人，因為世界上我最疼愛的僅僅是我的女兒。 "不久以後，那青年水手和他的船都沉到海底里去了，我也就喪失了同他在一起的、我那可愛的女兒。 "因此，現在你在我身上瞧得見一個謀殺這對青年和少女的兇手。毀滅他們兩人的，就是我的詛咒。如今我在走向墳墓的路上尋求上帝的寬恕。" 老人說了這番話。然而在他的說話裡有一種自吹自擂的口吻，彷彿他仍舊以他那詛咒的魔力自豪哩。 The Curse And old man of the sea once said to me, "It was thirty years ago that a sailor ran away with my daughter. And I cursed them both in my heart, for of all the world I loved but my daughter.

"Not long after that, the sailor youth went down with his ship to the bottom of the sea, and with him my lovely daughter was lost unto me. "Now therefore behold in me the murderer of a youth and a maid. It was my curse that destroyed them. And now on my way to the grave I seek Gods forgiveness."

This the old man said. But there was a tone of bragging in his words, and it seems that he is still proud of the power of his curse.