Chapter 10 Six, Pearl

We've barely talked about the baby yet!The little elf, whose innocent life was born by mysterious providence, was a lovely and unfading flower that bloomed in the unbridled impulse of a sinful lust.For that sad woman, how wonderful she felt to see her growing up, seeing her growing beauty, seeing the fire of wisdom flickering on her young face!her Pearl!Hester called her so; not that the name expressed her appearance, for she had by no means the tranquil whiteness and indifferent luster of pearls.She named the baby "Pearl" because it was valuable--she bought it with all she had--the only treasure she had as a mother!Indeed, how wonderful!The woman's sin was marked with a scarlet letter, which had such a powerful and catastrophic effect that no one could sympathize with her except those who had committed the same sin.Yet God gave her such a lovely child, as a direct consequence of severe punishment, for this evil which man so abhorred.The baby was placed in that same inglorious bosom, making her the bond that binds her mother to the human race and its offspring, and at last the child's soul to be blessed in heaven!Often, however, these thoughts gave Hester Prynne more apprehension than hope.She knew her original actions were sinful, so she could not believe that the results would be good.Every day she watched with apprehension the growing personality of the child, lest she discover some gloomy or wild proclivities which were in keeping with the evil which had produced the little being.

Of course, the child has no physical defects.The baby is perfect in shape, full of vitality, and its immature limbs move naturally and flexibly. It can be said that it grew up in the Garden of Eden, or it can be said that it was left there as an angel pet after the world's first parents were driven out.The boy had a natural grace which did not go hand in hand with flawless beauty.No matter how simple the clothes she wears, people who see them always feel that the clothes fit her best and are extremely beautiful.Of course little Pearl was not clad in coarse cloth.Her mother had a morbid motive--which we shall see better later--in buying cloth to seek out the most luxurious materials; , for everyone to watch.This little guy is really graceful and gorgeous in such a dress. Of course, this is just Pearl's natural beauty, which is reflected through the dress she wears. If it is worn on another not so cute child, it will inevitably be sad. paled.Her beautiful radiance was reflected on the dark hut floor, like a halo around her.But even a coarse dress, dusty and torn from the wild games of the children, was still perfect on her.Pearl's appearance contains an infinite variety of charms. In her, she combines the pure beauty of a farm girl like a wild flower to the detailed beauty of a little princess.However, running through it is a vein of enthusiasm, a passion that never fades away, is characteristic and rich in tone.If, as she changed, this feature and tone dimmed or paled, then she would not be herself, nor Pearl!

This variability of her appearance speaks—indeed, without manifesting itself explicitly—of qualities of her inner life.Her nature seems not only rich and colorful, but also very deep and dignified; however, she lacks the ability to understand and adapt to the world she has come into - which may be caused by the misdirection of Hester's worries.The kid wasn't born to like to follow the rules.Giving her existence itself violates the Dafa; and the result is a life whose elements may be beautiful and exquisite, but arranged in disorder, or in a special order in which the emphasis of change and arrangement is Difficult to spot, if not impossible to spot.Hester can only judge the character of the child through memories. Recalling the important period when Pearl absorbed nourishment from the spiritual world to enrich the soul, and nourished the embryo from the material world, she wanted to use the original situation to illustrate the formation of the child's character. , but even so, the memory is very vague and incomplete.The exuberant passions of the mother at that time were the medium through which the beams of moral life were transmitted to the child.However clean and white these beams may have been at first, they were also tarnished by the intervening spots of crimson and gold, the sheen of flames, black shadows, and erratic flashes.Especially Hester's strong and unyielding spirit permeated into Pearl's body during that period.She could see in Pearl her own wild, desperate and rebellious emotions, her wayward temper, and even some kind of gloom and depression that were like a dense cloud over her heart at that time.All this, now in the child's temperament, is like the dawn, and in the years of life to come, it may bring storms.

House rules were much stricter then than they are now.Frowning, scolding, and whipping with a ruler, these scriptural means are all employed, not only as punishment for wrongdoing, but as salutary measures for the moral development of children.However, Hester Prynne and Pearl are widowed and orphaned, and she will not be too harsh on the children.Considering her faults and misfortunes, she endeavored early to give a loving yet strict discipline to the babe entrusted to her. But this task is beyond her ability.Whenever she tried both smiles and snaps, and neither worked, she stood aside and let the boy have his way.Of course, corporal punishment or coercion is sometimes effective.As to the other methods of discipline, whether they illuminated her mind or touched her feelings, Pearl may or may not obey them, according to the whims of her mood at the time.From Pearl's infancy her mother had grown accustomed to a peculiar look in which Pearl was of no use to be commanded, coaxed, or entreated.That look was extremely intelligent, yet extremely incomprehensible, extremely obstinate, and sometimes very fierce, but usually accompanied by a wild spirit, so that at such moments Hester could not help asking, Pearl After all is not a child of this world.She seemed more like an ethereal phantom, flitting away with a mocking smile after some whimsical game on the hut floor.Whenever that look came into her wild, bright, deep black eyes, there was something distant and unfathomable about her.She seemed to be flying in the air, ready to disappear at any time, like a flash of light that came and went without a trace.As soon as Hester saw this, she sprang upon the child--followed the fleeing elf, seized her, and held her fast in her arms, and kissed her eagerly.It was not from a momentary surge of love that she did this, but to convince herself that Pearl was a creature of flesh and blood, and not a thing of illusion.But when Pearl was caught, her laughter, pleasing though it was, aroused her mother's doubts still more.

Pearl, which Hester paid a high price for, is her only treasure and her whole world.Therefore, she was very sad and often wept at this confusing and frustrating demon that often appeared between mother and daughter.At this time, Pearl may—for no one can foresee how the demon will affect her—frowning, clenching her fists, straightening her small face, revealing a dissatisfied expression, which is unreasonably stern. Favor.There were also times when she would laugh again, louder than before, like a little thing that is heartless and ignorant of human sorrow.Sometimes--but these were extremely rare--she would convulse with grief, and utter a few incoherent words of love to her mother, as if bent on making her Broken her own heart to prove that she does have a heart.It was, however, difficult for Hester to bring herself to believe in this whirlwind of tenderness, which came and went as suddenly as it did.

Pondering these things over, the mother felt like a summoner who, in the process of conjuring magic, did not follow the rules, and consequently failed to master the incantations which would subdue this incomprehensible new spirit.Only when the child is peacefully asleep can she have any real comfort. At that time, she was sure of her existence, and tasted the short-lived peace, sadness and sweet happiness, until little Pearl woke up, maybe when she opened her eyelids, the stubborn eyes began to flicker again.so fast! --It's amazingly fast!Pearl suddenly reached the age where she could interact with society,

Not satisfied with mother's frequent smiles and amused words.How happy Hester would be if she could hear Pearl's warbling clear voice amidst the shouts of other children, and distinguish her own darling's voice from the tumult of a company of children at play. what!But this is absolutely impossible.Pearl was born an outcast in the world of children.She was a wicked leprechaun, the mark and product of sin, and had no right to be among the baptized babes.Most amazing of all, the child seemed to have an instinct for understanding his solitary situation; awakening to a fate that had drawn an impenetrable circle around him.In short, she understood her special status as distinct from other children.Not once since Hester's release from prison has she been in public without Pearl.She went to and fro in the town, and Pearl followed her; at first a babe in her bosom, and then a little girl, who was her mother's little companion, and took hold of her mother's finger in one hand, and skipped about. It took three or four trots to keep up with Hester's step.She saw local children, on the grass by the side of the street, or in front of their homes, playing the odd games that the Puritan code allowed: pretending to go to church; or torturing a Quaker; The Indians fought and scalped; or imitated wizards to frighten each other.Pearl watched, absorbed, but never made any attempt to make friends with them.If anyone talks to her, she ignores them.If the children crowded round her--as they often did--Pearl would be so enraged, and in a fit of rage, that she would seize stones and throw them at them, and utter such shrieks that her mother would have trembled, For her cry was very like the cry of a witch with a spell that no one understood.

In fact, these little Puritans were the most intolerant people ever.They have long vaguely felt that the mother and daughter are a bit eccentric, unlike ordinary people in the world, and different, so they despise them from the bottom of their hearts, and often insult them with swear words.Pearl felt the emotion, and struck back with the bitterest hatred that a child's breast can arouse.Her outbursts of temper had something to do with her mother, even a consolation, for there was at least a palpable sincerity in the mood which substituted for the capricious wildness which so often afflicts mothers of children. .Still, the incident dismayed Hester, for she saw again in it the shadow cast by the evil that had once existed in herself.Pearl justly inherited all these hatreds and extreme emotions from Hester's heart.The mother and daughter live in the same small circle isolated from human society.Those factors which had disturbed Hester Prynne before Pearl's birth seemed to have penetrated deeply into the child's nature, but after Pearl's birth, they were gradually calmed down by the influence of maternal tenderness.

At home, in and around her mother's hut, Pearl had no desire to make a wide acquaintance.The magic of life that sprang from her inexhaustible creativity communicated to a thousand objects, just as a torch ignites a blaze when it touches something.The most inconspicuous things, a stick, a rag, a little flower, are the dolls of Pearl's witchcraft, and, without any modification, she can turn them into props by her imagination, in her heart Perform any drama on the stage of the world.She used her child's voice to play various characters, old and small, and talked with them.Those vigorous old pines that groaned or moaned in the breeze, needed no transfiguration to be the elders of the Puritans, and the ugliest weeds of the garden were their offspring, whom Pearl would trample upon without mercy. Underfoot, then uprooted.It's amazing!The forms which she conceived in her own intellect, though incoherent, were alive, always in a supernatural activity--they vanished quickly, as if consumed by the rushing tide of life, and then became The image of the same exuberant energy is replaced.This is very similar to the changing nature of the Northern Lights.Yet, in the mere play of the imagination, in the mere games which a developing mind enjoys, it is difficult to see how much different Pearl is from other gifted children.It was only because Pearl lacked some playmates and was more absorbed in those phantasy characters of her own creation.What was peculiar about her was also that she felt a kind of hostility to the characters that her own heart and mind produced.She never creates a friend, but always seems to sow dragon's teeth, so that an army of enemies grows, and she rushes against them.How painful it is for a mother to see her child at such a young age realize that she is facing a hostile world, and thus exercise her strength fiercely to ensure victory in the future struggle. The depth is beyond words!Because she felt that it was all because of her.

Hester Prynne often looked at Pearl dumbly, and could not help letting her work fall on her knees, and burst into tears.She tried her best to hide her pain, but she couldn't help crying, complaining and complaining. "O Father in heaven! If you are still my Father, please tell me what kind of life I have brought into this world!" Pearl overheard this burst from the heart. Calling, or feeling that painful throbbing through some more subtle channel, she would often turn her beautiful little face to smile at her mother with fairy wisdom, and then continued to play with her. game. There is one more peculiarity in the boy's demeanor which needs to be said.What was the first thing she saw in her life?Not a mother's smile.Other babies would return a weak, childish smile with their small mouths when they saw this smile.Later, when people recalled this kind of smile, they still doubted whether it could be called a smile, and debated endlessly.It was not a smile that Pearl saw first!That thing Pearl saw first--Shall we tell? --the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom!

One day, as her mother leaned over the cradle, the baby's eyes were caught by the glitter of gold embroidery around the letters.Raise your little hand and grab that letter.She smiled without the slightest doubt, and had a determined look in her eyes that made her face look like that of a much older child.At this moment, Hester Prynne, gasping for breath, clung tightly to the fatal mark, and instinctively tried to tear it off. The pain brought to her by the gentle touch of Pearl's nimble little hand was infinite. But at this moment, Pearl seemed to think that her mother's painful posture was just teasing her. She stared into her mother's eyes and smiled again!From that time on, except when the child was asleep, ①According to Greek mythology, the Phoenician prince Cadmas killed a dragon, planted its teeth, then grew an army and fought each other, and finally only five remained , and Cadmas built Thebes Kingdom. Hester never felt a moment's safety, no moment of peace and joy.Sometimes Pearl, it is true, did not glance at the scarlet letter for weeks at a time; yet she would glance at it abruptly, with the jerk of sudden death, always with that strange smile on her face, and always with those eyes. Quirky look. Once, as many mothers are fond of doing, Hester looked at her own reflection in the eyes of her child, and suddenly that elusive elf look came into Pearl's eyes again--for women are lonely and bored. She is often troubled by inexplicable hallucinations -- she has wild dreams, and feels that what she sees in Zhu Er's pupils is not her own miniature, but another face.It was a devilish face full of malicious smiles, but the appearance of this face was very similar to the face of a person she was very familiar with, although that person seldom smiled and never harbored malice, like an evil A spirit attached to the child was poking its head out to taunt.Afterwards, Hester was tormented by this vision many times, but never so vividly as this one. One summer afternoon, when Pearl was old enough to run about all over the place, Pearl amused herself by gathering handfuls of wild flowers, which she threw on her mother's bosom one by one, and whenever she hit the scarlet letter At that time, she danced like an elf.Hester's first reaction was to clasp his hands over her breast.But she resisted the urge, whether out of pride, or resignation, or a feeling of atonement that her atonement could best be accomplished by such unspeakable pain.She sat upright, pale, and gazed sadly into Pearl's wild eyes.The flowers still kept coming, hitting the mark almost every time, scarring the mother's chest, but she couldn't find a plaster for this wound in this world, and she didn't know how to find it in the other world. it.At last, when the child's bullets were all spent, she stood still, watching Hester, and out of her unfathomable black eyes, the little fiendish figure poked its head out again--whether it poked or not. , it was all her mother's imagination. "What are you, child?" cried the mother. "Oh, I am your little Pearl!" answered Pearl. But as she said this, Pearl laughed, and began to dance and dance, as mischievously as a little goblin, whose next mischief might be to fly down the chimney. "Are you really my child?" asked Hester. She did not ask the question quite casually, but was quite earnest at the time, for Pearl was so clever that her mother could not believe that she was ignorant of the secret of her own parentage, which she was perhaps not now disclosing. "Yes, I am little Pearl!" repeated the child, with the same mischief. "You are not my child! You are not my Pearl!" said the mother, half-jokingly.In the most painful moments, she often had the urge to joke. "So tell me, what are you? Who sent you here?" "Tell me, mother!" said the child solemnly, coming up to Hester, and pressing himself against her knees, "you must tell me!" "Your Heavenly Father has sent you!" replied Hester Prynne. However, she seemed a little hesitant when she said this, unable to escape the sharp eyes of the child.Whether motivated by her usual mischievous habits, or by the instigation of goblins, Pearl raised her little forefinger, and touched the scarlet letter. "He didn't send me!" she said decisively. "I don't have a Father!" "Hush, Pearl, be quiet! Don't talk like that!" answered the mother, swallowing a sigh, "the Father sent us all into this world. Even me, your mother, was sent by him. Don't talk about it! Otherwise, where did you come from, you strange little devil?" "Tell me! Tell me!" cried Pearl repeatedly, and this time she gave up her seriousness, and laughed and danced about on the ground. "You have to tell me!" However, Hester could not answer this question, because she herself was still in the labyrinth and could not find a way out.She smiled, but shuddered all over, remembering what was said in this part of the town, who, because they could not find the father of the child anywhere, and seeing some queer features in her, declared that poor little Pearl was a devil. child.Children of this kind have been common in the world since the days of the Catholic Church, born of the sins of their mothers, to do mean and sordid deeds.Luther himself, according to the rumors spread by his opponents, was of that fiendish offspring, and Pearl was not alone among the Puritans of New England to have such dubious origins.