Chapter 49 Hunter Graccus

On the wall of the pier, two boys sat playing dice.In the shadow cast by the sword-wielding hero, a man sits on the steps of the monument reading a newspaper.There was a girl at the well filling her big barrel with water.A greengrocer lay beside his wares, looking out over the lake.Through the exposed holes in the doors and windows, two men can be seen in the back of the tavern drinking wine.The proprietor dozed off at a table in the front.A flat-bottomed boat floated quietly into the small harbor as if supported on the water.A man in a blue jumper jumped ashore and put the cable through the hoop.Two other men, wearing dark coats with silver buttons, appeared behind the sailors carrying a bier. On the bier, there was clearly a person lying under the large silk sheet with flower patterns and tassels.

No one on the pier cared about the new arrivals, and even when they put down the bier to wait for the captain who was still busy with the ropes, no one approached them, no one asked them questions, no one looked at them carefully. At this time a woman with loose hair and a child appeared on the deck, and the captain was delayed for a while because of her.Then he came over, and he pointed to a two-story yellow building standing upright by the water on the right hand side, and the person who carried the bier lifted the bier, and passed through the low gate made of thin pillars. .A little boy opened a window, just in time to see the party disappear into the house, and he hastily closed the window again.Even the front door was closed now, and it was lovingly finished in dark oak.Before that, a flock of pigeons had been flying around the clock tower, and now they landed in front of that building.As if their food was stored in the house, the pigeons crowded at the gate.A pigeon flew up to the second floor and pecked at the window glass.These light-feathered animals are quick-witted and well-maintained.The woman excitedly threw grains at them from the deck.They picked up the grain and flew towards the woman.

There were several narrow and steep alleys leading to the port, and a man in a top hat and black veil on his arm walked down one of them.He looked around carefully, worrying about everything, and seeing the garbage piled up in a corner, his face changed.There were some fruit peels thrown on the steps of the monument, and he picked them off with his cane as he passed by.He knocked on the door, and at the same time took off his top hat and held it in his black-gloved right hand.The door opened immediately, and about fifty little boys lined the long hallway, bowing. The captain came down the stairs to meet the gentleman, and led him upstairs.On the second floor, he led him around a courtyard surrounded by simple and small loggias.The children huddled behind in awe at a distance, but they entered a cool hall at the top. There was no other house opposite this house, but a bare gray-black rock wall.The bier-bearers were busily arranging several long candles on the bier and lighting them.However, this did not bring light, only the sleeping shadow was awakened, staggering and jumping up the walls.The silk sheet has been lifted from the bier.A man lay there, with messy hair and beard, and a dark complexion. He looked like a hunter.He lay motionless, his eyes closed, as if he were not breathing.

Even so, only the surrounding circumstances indicated that he might be dead. The gentleman went to the bier, laid his hand on the forehead of the man lying there, and fell on his knees to pray.The captain motioned the bier-bearers to leave the room, and they went out, pushing away the little boys who had gathered outside, and shut the door behind them.But the gentleman seemed to think that the silence was not enough, and he looked at the captain, who understood him, and went through a side door into the next room.Immediately the man on the bier opened his eyes, and with a painful smile turned his face to the gentleman and said:

"Who are you?" The kneeling gentleman stood up without surprise and replied: "Mayor Riva." The man on the bier nodded, stretched out his arm feebly and pointed to an armchair, and when the mayor complied with his invitation and sat down in it, he said: "I knew that before, Monsieur Mayor, but I always forget everything at once, and everything is going in circles with me. It's better for me to ask, although I know everything. You probably know too, I am Graccus the Hunter." "There is no doubt," said the mayor, "that I was told about you last night. We were long gone to bed. At midnight my wife called: 'Salvatore'—that's my name— —'Look at that pigeon by the window!' It was indeed a pigeon, but as big as a rooster. It flew to my ear and said: 'The late hunter Graccus is coming tomorrow, in the name of the city Receive him.'"

The hunter nodded, and the tip of his tongue flickered between his lips: "Yes, those pigeons flew here before me. But Mr. Mayor, do you think I should stay in Riva?" "I can't say that yet," replied the mayor. "Are you dead?" "Yes," said the hunter, "as you were the one who saw it. That was many years ago, but those years must have been a great number, in the Black Forest, that was in Germany, while chasing a blue sheep, I fell off a rock. I've been dead since then." "But you are still alive," said the mayor. "In a way," said the hunter, "in a way I am alive too. My dead ship took a wrong course, a wrong turn of the rudder, a moment when the captain lost his mind, and my beautiful homeland Attraction, I don't know what it is, I only know that I still remain in this world, my little boat sails in the waters of the world from now on. I just wander like this, I who only want to live in my own mountain, After death, he traveled all over the world."

"Are you half in that world?" asked the Mayor, frowning. The hunter replied: "I am always on a great staircase leading to a higher place. On this vast terrace, I wander here and there, now above, now below, now on the right, now on the left, always in motion. The hunter has turned into a butterfly.Don't laugh. " "I didn't laugh," the mayor argued. "Very wisely," said the hunter, "I'm always in motion. But just when I'm most excited, when the high gate is already shining towards me, I'm in my lonely I woke up on an old ship in a certain waters. The principled mistakes I made when I died were mocking me in the cabin. Yulia, the captain's wife, knocked on the door and brought me my morning drink To the bier, the morning drink of the country whose coast we are sailing.

"I lay on a plank--it's not a pleasure to look at me--in a filthy shroud, with gray hair and beard that couldn't be combed, and a floral pattern and long tassels covering my legs. A church candle lit me by my head. On the wall opposite me was a small picture of a Bushman, apparently, pointing a javelin at me, and Try to hide behind a beautifully painted shield. People always come across some stupid paintings in boats, and this one is one of the stupidest. Other than that, my wooden cage is empty. The side view A hatch let in the warm night south wind, and I heard the waves lapping the old barge.

-------- ① Bushmen: Aboriginal people in southern Africa. "The ex-hunter Graccus fell while chasing a blue sheep in his native Black Forest, and I've been lying on it ever since. The whole process was orderly. I chased, fell, and drained in a valley Bleeding and dead, the punt was supposed to send me to the underworld. I remember how happy I was when I stretched my limbs on this board for the first time. The walls were still hazy to hear me sing The kind of song that I have never heard in the mountains of my hometown. "I lived a happy life and died a happy death. Before stepping into the boat, at last I threw away the hideous little box, bag, and shotgun, which I used to carry with pride. I quickly put on my shroud, like a girl In her gown. I lay there and waited, and then that unfortunate thing happened."

"That's bad luck," said the mayor, raising his hand as if resisting something. "You're not at fault for that?" "No," said the hunter. "I was a hunter. Is that a fault? I was a hunter in the Black Forest, where there were wolves. I lurked, shot, shot, and skinned the prey. , is this also a fault? I am blessed to do this. The 'Great Hunter of the Black Forest' is me. Is this also a fault?" "I'm not in a position to judge that," said the mayor, "but I don't think it's the fault. But whose fault is it?"

"It's the sailor's," said the hunter. "No one will see what I'm about to write here, and no one will come to my aid. If helping me becomes a task, all the doors and windows of all the houses will be shattered." Tightly shut, all will be in bed, with quilts over their heads, a night inn is the whole world. That's good, because no one will know me, and if they do, they won't know where I stay , even knowing where I was staying, they knew it was impossible to keep me there, and they didn't know how to help me. The idea of ​​helping me is a disease that must be cured to get out of bed." "I know all of this, so I never call out for help, even though I would very much like to do it in certain moments when I can't help myself, like now. But if I just look around and imagine exactly what I'm in The place, where it has been inhabited for hundreds of years--or so I may say--is probably enough to dissuade the idea." "Extraordinary," said the mayor, "extraordinary. . . . Are you going to stay with us in Riva?" "I don't want to stay." The hunter said with a smile.To temper the sarcasm, he put his hand on the mayor's knee. "Here I am now, and I know nothing else, and I can do nothing else. My little boat has no rudder, and it sails on the wind that blows from the deepest parts of the underworld."