Chapter 6 6.mountain of the sun

Sometimes Anthony went outside for a picnic with his parents.They drove out of their own valley in a little carriage, crossed the road to Bath, left the carriage in a farmer's shed, and went down to the bottom of the Chelcombe Valley, where some of the best local trees grew. The most beautiful flowers. The bottom of Chelcomb Valley is like a cup full of sunshine, with green mesas all the way down, and trees growing from top to bottom on the other side.They always bring back lots and lots of flowers from the Chelcombe Valley.At other times they would go to the creek bed where the cress grew densely, eat buttered bread with cress in it, and take a large basket of cress from there.Sometimes they climbed to the top of Salisbury, which Anshoney thought was the pinnacle of the world.Because nowhere else have I climbed such a long way.Because you have to climb to the top, you always feel like you can't breathe, you're always hot and tired, and you feel like you'll never get there, and if you do, you'll lie down and never want to get up.But once you get to the top, you forget about all that.For there was a refreshing wind blowing there, the sun was especially bright, and the top of Salisbury was as round as a pancake, and nearly as flat as a pancake.It was as if once upon a time it was a gigantic cone, and some giant passed by there and accidentally chipped off the top with a knife.It's flat, but you can't really see from one side to the other unless you're standing on a mound in the middle, because the top is still a little undulating, like a pancake here and there on a frying pan Always a little bulging.But once you come to the edge, you can see the whole world in your eyes. If you walk around the edge, it may take hours.

One day, Anthony left his parents at a picnic and wanted to go for a drive alone. At first, when he could see them, he thought he could do it, but then, out of nowhere, they disappeared. Now, it's hard to say what will happen next, right?If he kept running and running, would he really meet them again?His mother said he couldn't help but come back to them in the end, because Salisbury lay flat on the ground like his big hoop.But if something goes wrong, it's not like that, isn't he going to run like this forever?Also, what if he ran back and they weren't there?Because how can you be clear about these things when you can't see your mother?Anthony suddenly turned his head and ran as fast as he could, his little heart beating wildly.Soon he saw her, sitting there just as he had left.Only then did he seem to have dropped a big rock, and he turned around again, running out of sight of her again.At this time he stopped again, not knowing whether to continue running or run back.He hesitated there for a long time until his father came around to meet him from the other side and realized he was there.

"Hallo!" said his pa, "you haven't run very far, have you, my dear son? Who do you think you'll meet? A Roman or a Flint?" He took Anthony's hand and together they circled the top of Salisbury, which took them a long time.As they walked, Anthony's dad told him the name of the mountain, which means mountain of the sun.It is likely that King Alfred walked here long ago, as Somerset was once Alfred's domain.The Romans had camped on Salisbury before that, and before that the Flintmen of Britain lived there.If Anthony was lucky, he might find a Flint arrowhead.

"Maybe we'll find a Roman sword, or a crown from King Alfred," Anshoney said. "It's not that lucky," his father said. They searched hard, but not a single arrowhead was found that day, nor did they meet a Roman, a Flintman, or the King.But at this moment Anthony did see a little horse standing on top of the hill, with red skin and a blond mane.It stood there with the sun behind it, its short mane stood up on its arched neck like a golden comb, and it swung its pale yellow tail briskly like a strand of hair. The golden spring water dances in the air.Suddenly it neighed and stamped its hooves, and its whole body seemed to be made of red-gold light.It disappeared beyond the farthest hilltop.Anthony patted his father's hand. "Is this the sun's pony?" he asked.

"Looks like it, doesn't it? But I don't see its wings." "Does the sun pony have wings?" Anthony asked. "No!" "Call it back, Dad, and have a better look," Anthony begged. His father whistled and shouted, "Hey, Pegasus!" Anthony knew that it was a flying horse with two wings in mythology, and where its feet stepped, springs gushed out, and the poet drank Get inspired by it.But the golden pony never came back, and they never saw him again.But at this moment, Anthony insisted. When the pony stomped away, he saw it spread its golden wings.Since it was no longer on the top of the hill, it must have flown away.Anthony's father told him that if he had the luck to catch the sun pony and fly on its back once, then he would see many miracles, and maybe he could write a poem to make people feel happy. Always remember it.

Anthony thought a lot about Pegasus on the way home.But Salisbury also made him think a lot.After a while he asked his father, "What does Flint look like?" "He has long hair on his head, thick and thick, fluffy, has dog-like eyes, may wear fur in winter, and paint his body blue in summer." Anthony's father said, and later he added, "That's why later people got tattoos, painted indigo, and wore furs in winter." Anthony knew from the sound of his voice that he was reciting poetry. "What were the Romans like, Dad?" "Oh, he had a helmet on, and a shield in his hand, and a short sword, and white skin, and black eyes, and a fine hooked nose."

"And what does King Alfred look like, Dad?" Anthony asked. His father didn't answer right away, and they walked on until they came to a pile of stones on the side of the road, where the stonemason John Bowden was sitting.John was a man of medium build, with broad shoulders and a solid body, but no excess flesh.He had tousled fair hair, though with some tinge of red, and a very tanned skin, blue eyes, high cheekbones, and an amiable, shrewd, patient manner as he sat and worked. look, that's a real Somerset. "John, it's a hot day to work!" said Anthony's father.

John Bolton put down his chisel and replied, "Isn't it, sir." He touched his forehead to Anthony's mother, and with a leather bandage on his wrist, he turned to Ann. Shawnee smiled kindly.When they passed by, they heard him chiseling again. "King Alfred looks like John Bowden," said Anthony's father. From then on, whenever Anthony saw John chiseling stones, he always walked over and stood beside him for a while, which made John very happy.Sometimes they chat for a few words, sometimes they don't say anything.John didn't read much, but he knew everything about birds and the weather, and it occurred to Anthony that he might be the smartest person he knew.

The next time they climbed Salisbury, Anthony said to his father, "This time I'm going to do a lap by myself." "Very well," said his father. "You don't have to go around there to meet me, okay?" Anthony said. Anthony set off on a trip, and he was going to circle this mountaintop world for a week.This time when his parents disappeared from his sight, he didn't hesitate.He went on and on, following a path that people and animals had walked out on the top of the world, where the sun was shining but there was no sound.In the distance below, there is another world, where there are rivers, forests, roads, and houses, all of which are undulating and disappearing into the mist.Looking up from here, there is only grass and sky, and every time Anthony's eyes fall on the edge of something, he always feels that the blue of the sky is falling and blending with the green below.When he was walking, sometimes he would lower his head to see if he could find an arrow under his feet, and sometimes he would raise his head to see a bird flying in the sky.

It was the largest bird he had ever seen, flying out of the sun. "Could it be a kestrel?" Anthony wondered to himself.It was skimming downwards with its wide-spread wings, every flap of its hair seemed to be on fire. "That must be a golden eagle," thought Anthony.It flew down, flew up, and glided over Anthony's head.He closed his eyes, wondering if it would suffocate him with its golden wings, or catch him in its golden claws, and carry him away to be a servant of the sun. When he opened his eyes, it was not the bird that stood before him, but the red-gold pony with a glittering mane and tail.This time it was so close that he could see clearly that its beautiful golden wings were pressed against its sides; its hooves and its eyes were like transparent amber.The pony raised its mane and neighed, but it sounded like a neigh turned into a bird cry, or more like the sound of birds singing at dawn.The neighing voice said to Anthony as clearly as words: "Jump on my back and ride me!"

Anthony was on the horse's back in a single jump.The golden pony cantered for a while, then rose into the sky like a bird.Never had Anthony felt such ecstasy as the bewildering wings spread and lifted him and his steed into the blaze of the noonday sun.The pony was flying in the air with all the lovely tricks Anthony knew only birds could fly.It leaves a flash in the air like a starling, descends and rises like a chickadee, soars like an eagle, circles like a swallow, flaps its wings like a lark, and glides down like a gull.When it slid sideways some way down into smooth air, then turned upside down suddenly, Anthony saw the sun at his feet and the whole world hanging over his head.Then very slowly, still upside down, the pony began to circle around the top of Salisbury Hill, and when Anthony raised his eyes to look at the top of the hill, he saw a wolf running from one end to the other and disappeared. and then there came a tall, big, hairy man, covered in fur, who ran almost on all fours, and he hurled a flint arrow into the air, and Anthony caught it.Then the guy didn't seem to be able to wear the fur anymore, and he dropped it off the edge of the hill, and he straightened his long, strong legs, and jumped up into the blue sky, Anthony It felt like that guy was going to be on top of his head.But he didn't come up, he jumped back to the ground, and swayed like a dog over water, and Anthony saw that his whole body was stained blue, as blue as the sky on a clear summer day.The blue figure looked him up and down, and then hopped briskly out of sight. The pony turned and circled again, the sun went overhead again, and the world fell to their feet again.But before Anthony had time to adjust his senses, the pony was upside down again, soaring above Salisbury, and the mountain looked like a ceiling again instead of a floor.This time Anthony saw a Roman striding up and down that ceiling, his eagle eyes, his strong proud nose, Anthony could see clearly, and he saw his stride At that time, the whole body is shining in the sun.Soon he was gone over the edge of the hill, but before he could do so, he paused and threw his short sword into the air, where Anthony caught it. The golden pony turned and soared again, and the world sank again.The sun rose again.Then the pony was upside down in the air for the third time, and the world and the sun switched places again, and Anthony once again looked up at Salisbury overhead.This time King Alfred sat on top of the world, and beside him was a huge pile of stones, which would have taken hundreds of years to hew.But though he never tried to chisel them in his life, the King took up his pickaxe and hacked and hacked till they were fit for men.The king went on with his work patiently and unhurriedly.Anthony saw the sun shining on the gold ring of his bow, on the gold rings on his arms, and on the jewels on his breast.But his clothes were rough and plain, and his face was like John Bowden's.So when he stopped what he was doing and looked down into Anthony's eyes, Anthony wished he'd smiled at him brightly, the way John always smiled at him.Alfred really smiled at him, as if he was his friend.Then he took off his gold ring from his wrist and dropped it on Anthony, who caught it just as the golden pony turned and circled again, as the sun and earth returned to themselves position.Then the pony gave a great shake in the air, and Anthony, dazzled by the flashes of gold from its mane and tail, felt himself shaken off, onto the grass... "Hey," said his father, "are you lucky?" Anthony carefully unfolded his treasure. "It's an arrowhead, Dad." His dad looked gravely at a small piece of rock. "It's a Roman sword, I mean, that's a small part of it." His dad looked at a broken blade, rusted in the mud. "It's what King Alfred wore when he was a boy," said Anthony.When his father saw it, it was a small piece of dirty leather, which probably fell off the rein. "You're lucky indeed, my dear boy, aren't you?" said Anthony's father.