Chapter 26 Notre Dame de Paris (2) Volume 4 Good People (4)

A second consequence of his misfortune was that it made him ferocious. He is vicious because he is savage; and savage because he is ugly.His nature, like ours, has its logic. His strength, developed to such an extraordinary level, is also one of the reasons why he is vicious.Hobbes once said that bad boys are strong in body. Having said that, to do him justice, maybe it wasn't in his nature to be vicious.Ever since he first stepped into the world, he felt, and then saw himself ridiculed, insulted, and rejected everywhere.In his opinion, when people speak, they are always teasing or cursing him.When I grew up, I found that there was only hatred around me.He took over the hatred and was also infected with this universal viciousness.He picked up the weapon that was used to hurt him, and retaliated with hatred.

①Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), British philosopher. ② The original text is Latin. All in all, he always turned his face towards people reluctantly.His main church was enough for him.The main church is full of marble statues, kings, saints, and bishops, at least they don't laugh out loud in his face, they always look at him with serene and misty eyes.Although the other statues were monsters, they did not hate Quasimodo.He was too much like them for them to hate him. They would rather laugh at other people.The saints are his friends and must protect him; ghosts are also his friends and must protect him.Therefore, he often confides his heart to them for a long time.Sometimes for hours at a time, squatting in front of any one of these statues, talking to it alone.As soon as someone comes, dodge quickly, like a lover who is suddenly bumped into while singing a serenade quietly.

Besides, Notre-Dame was not only the whole society in his mind, but also the whole world, the whole nature.With the stained-glass windows in full bloom, he need not yearn for the fruit trees that line other walls; With the two great bell towers of the church, he need not dream of other mountains; with the city of Paris at the foot of the bell towers, he need not seek other seas. Of this motherly cathedral, he loved the two bell towers most: the tower awakened his soul; .He loves them, touches them, talks to them, understands their language.From the bells of the minaret where the two wings met to the great bell in the porch, he was fond of them all.The bell tower at the intersection of the apse, the two main bell towers, seemed to him like three big birdcages, in which he fed each bird and sang for him alone.Though it was the bells that had made him deaf, yet every mother in the world loved the child that troubled her most.

True, the chiming of those clocks was the only sound he could still hear.Only in this way, the big bell is his favorite.On festivals, these noisy girls danced around him, but in this family he loved the big clock the most.This big clock is called Marie, and she is alone in the South Bell Tower, accompanied by her sister Jacqueline. This clock is smaller, and the cage is also smaller, and it is placed next to Marie's cage.The bell was named Jacqueline because it was the name of the wife of Bishop Jean de Montagius, who gave the bell to Notre-Dame—even so, he still couldn't escape his death. The ending of Shangying Mountain in a different place①.There are six more bells in the second bell tower, and finally, another six smaller bells and a wooden bell in the Junction bell tower, which are only used after dinner on the Thursday before Easter until the early morning of the day before Easter Sunday. Ring the wooden clock.In this way, Quasimodo had a total of fifteen bells in his harem, the most favored of which was Big Marie.

① Montagu (1349-1409), the favorite of Louis V, was the chief financial officer during the reign of Louis VI.In 1409 the Duke of Burgundy ordered his arrest for embezzlement and beheading him in a Paris vegetable market. It is hard to imagine Quasimodo's joy in the days when the bells were ringing.As soon as the archdeacon let him go, saying "Go!" he climbed the spiral ladder of the bell tower faster than anyone else could descend.Out of breath, he went into the big bell chamber suspended on all sides, looked at the big clock reverently and lovingly for a while, spoke to it softly, and stroked it gently with his hands, as if it were a horse. Like a galloping horse.He wanted to take care of it, and felt distressed.After such caressing, he immediately called the bells on the lower floor of the bell tower and ordered them to move first.These bells were all suspended on the cables, and the capstan squeaked, so the huge cap-shaped bell began to shake slowly.Quasimodo, with his heart beating violently, fixed his eyes on the movement of the great clock.As soon as the bell tongue hit the bronze bell wall, the wooden beam on which he climbed up and stood shook slightly.Quasimodo trembled with the clock.He laughed wildly, and shouted: "Come on!" At this moment, the huge clock with a low voice accelerated its swing, and as it swung more and more, Quasimodo's eyes widened and twinkled. Glow, burn like a flame.At last, the chimes roared, and the whole bell tower trembled, from the stakes of the foundation to the clover carvings on the roof, the beams, the lead, and the masonry, all roared together.At this moment, Quasimodo's blood boiled, his foam flew, and he ran to and fro, trembling from head to toe with the bell tower.The big bell was like a runaway wild horse, swaying back and forth like a madman. The bronze mouth sometimes faced the side wall of the bell tower, and then faced the side wall of the other side, making a stormy panting sound, with a radius of more than ten miles. Hear it from afar.Quasimodo stood in front of the open mouth of the bell, squatting down and standing up as the big clock swung back and forth, breathing in the frightening breath of the big bell, and looking around at his feet for a while. Two hundred feet deep in the square full of ants, he looked at the huge copper tongue hitting his eardrum every second.These were the only words he could hear, the only voice that could break the silence for him.His heart was full of joy, like a bird bathed in sunshine.All of a sudden, the madness of the giant clock infected him, and his gaze became unusual, just like a spider waiting for a fly, waiting for the giant clock to swing over, and suddenly jumped up and jumped on the giant clock.Thereupon, suspended over the abyss, he was hurled with the terrible swing of the great clock, seized the bronze giant by the earflaps, clamped his knees against the giant, and kicked with his heels, and with his whole body With the impact and weight, the giant clock rang harder and harder.Then the bell tower shook; and he, roaring and gnashing his teeth, his brown hair standing on end, his chest bellowing, his eyes blazing, and the great clock panting under his urging, Neighing like a horse.Thus, neither the great bell of Notre-Dame nor Quasimodo existed at all, but became only a dream, a whirlwind, a storm, the vertigo of riding on a stereo, The phantom, clutching Pegasus's back and galloping, became a half-man and half-hour monster, the terrible Astorf, galloping on a living bronze monster with the body of a eagle-winged horse.

① Astorf: Prince in British legend, whose horn can make a terrible sound. With the existence of this extraordinary creature, the entire cathedral has a kind of indescribable vitality.There seemed to emanate from him—at least, the exaggerated superstitions of the masses—a sort of mystical air that gave life to all the stones and stones of Notre-Dame, and made the viscera of the ancient cathedral throb.As soon as they knew he was there, people immediately seemed to see the thousands of statues in the corridors and on the gates come to life and move.Indeed, this cathedral is like a living being, submissive and obedient under his hands, and he can tell it to let go of its loud voice at any time as it pleases.Quasimodo is like a resident spirit of Notre Dame, attached to it, filling the whole church.Thanks to him, this magnificent building seems to be breathing.He was indeed everywhere, in the form of many Quasimodo, covering every inch of the monument.Sometimes, people are terrified, and vaguely see a grotesque dwarf climbing, wriggling, crawling, falling from the outside of the bell tower into the abyss, jumping from one protruding corner to another, trying to get into a snake hair. To dig something out of the belly of the genie's statue: it was Quasimodo digging out the crow's nest.Sometimes, in some dark corner of the church, some kind of living fire-breathing monster would be encountered, squatting sullenly: it was Quasimodo thinking.Sometimes, at the bottom of the belfry, a huge head and four uncoordinated hands and feet would be seen dangling desperately at the end of a rope: that was Quasimodo ringing the bell for vespers or three bells; at night, often On the top of the bell-tower, above the flimsy saw-toothed balustrades that circled the apse, a hideous figure could be seen wandering: it was the hunchback of Notre-Dame.Then, the women in the neighborhood said, the whole church looked grotesque, magical, and horrible; here and there were gaping eyes and mouths; Stone dogs, stone pythons, stone dragons, you can hear the roar; on Christmas Eve, the bell seems to be roaring, calling the faithful to the steaming midnight mass, and there is an atmosphere on the gloomy facade of the church, like the tall The porch swallowed the crowd alive, as if the petaled lattice windows were watching the crowd with open eyes.And all of this comes from Quasimodo.The ancient Egyptians would regard him as the god of the temple; the medieval people would think he was the monster of the temple; in fact, he is the soul of the temple.

①The female demon in Greek mythology, whoever is seen by it will immediately turn into stone. ②The fire-breathing monster in this myth is usually a lion's head, a sheep's belly, and a dragon's tail. ③ Refers to the bells that proclaim the prayer to Our Lady three times in the morning, middle and evening. Therefore, those who knew Quasimodo thought that Notre-Dame today is desolate, lifeless and lifeless.One feels that something is missing.This huge body is empty, only a skeleton remains; the soul is gone, leaving the place where it lived, that's all.It's like a skull with two eye sockets, but no eyesight.