An Idyll of the Honey-Bee

By John Burroughs

約翰·巴勒斯（John Burroughs, 1837—1921）出生于美國紐約州羅克斯伯里鎮(zhèn)附近的一個(gè)家庭農(nóng)場，在和大自然的親密接觸中度過了童年和青少年時(shí)代。成年后，巴勒斯開始了城市生活，先后當(dāng)過教師、記者，并在華盛頓的財(cái)政部任過職。然而，對他來說，最富吸引力的生活莫過于鄉(xiāng)間的生活。為此，1874年，他在紐約哈得孫河谷附近買下了一片土地，一邊經(jīng)營農(nóng)場，一邊著書立說。巴勒斯是繼梭羅之后美國最優(yōu)秀的自然散文家。他的作品體現(xiàn)了他對自然的熱愛、對自然景觀和生態(tài)萬物的細(xì)致入微的觀察，其代表作有《醒來的森林》（Wake Robin, 1871）、《鳥與詩人》（Birds and Poets, 1877）、《蝗蟲與野蜂蜜》（Wild Honey, 1879）、《自然之道》（Ways of Nature, 1905）等。

…But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting,and how many sweets such a trip yields beside honey,come with me some bright, warm, late September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, and any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by the painted woods and along the amber-colored streams at such a time is enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples and a bottle of milk—for we shall not be home to dinner—and armed with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and box with a piece of comb honey neatly fitted into it—any box the size of your hand with a lid will do nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of the regular bee-hunter—we sally forth. Our course at first lies along the highway under great chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then through an orchard and across a little creek, thence gently rising through a long series of cultivated fields toward some high uplying land behind which rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most sightly point in all this section. Behind this ridge for several miles the country is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of many wild swarms of bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, cedar-birds, high-holes, and cow blackbirds make amid the black cherry trees as we pass along! The raccoons, too,have been here after black cherries, and we see their marks at various points. Several crows are walking about a newly sowed wheat field we pass through, and we pause to note their graceful movements and glossy coats.

如果你想了解捕蜂的樂趣，想知道這樣的旅行除了蜂蜜還能帶來多少甜蜜，九月底或者十月初挑一個(gè)晴朗和煦的日子，和我一起上路吧。這正是一年之中的黃金季節(jié)，只要能爬爬山，或者能路過風(fēng)景如畫的樹林和琥珀色的小溪，忙點(diǎn)什么都可以。所以我們出發(fā)了，背包里裝著葡萄、桃子、蘋果和一瓶牛奶——我們沒空回家吃晚飯——帶著羅盤、手斧、提桶，還有正好嵌得進(jìn)一只蜂巢的盒子（盒子有手掌大小，帶蓋子，好用的程度幾乎可以媲美專業(yè)捕蜂人復(fù)雜精巧的裝備）。我們先是沿著公路前行，路兩邊是高大的栗子樹，栗子紛紛落下。接著我們穿過果園，越過小溪，隨著逐漸升高的地勢經(jīng)過一片又一片開墾過的田地，最終到達(dá)高高的坡地。坡地后方，聳立著樹木蔥蘢的險(xiǎn)峻山嶺。這是整個(gè)旅程最為壯觀的景致。山嶺的后方，野趣盎然的鄉(xiāng)村綿延到數(shù)英里之外，到處是樹木與巖石，毫無疑問，這里是許許多多野蜂群的家園。我們在黑櫻桃樹之間穿行，知更鳥、雪松太平鳥、啄木鳥以及燕八哥叫得多么歡暢！浣熊也來這里尋找黑櫻桃，我們隨處都能看到它們的腳印。我們路過剛收割后的麥田，幾只烏鴉在那里踱步。我們停下腳步，欣賞著它們優(yōu)雅的姿態(tài)以及光滑的羽毛。

…

We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, and are lucky to find a single scarlet lobelia lingering there. It seems almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. Beside a ditch in a field beyond, we find the great blue lobelia, and near it, amid the weeds and wild grasses and purple asters, the most beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed gentian. What a rare and delicate, almost aristocratic look the gentian has amid its coarse, unkempt surroundings! It does not lure the bee, but it lures and holds every passing human eye. If we strike through the corner of yonder woods, where the ground is moistened by hidden springs, and where there is a little opening amid the trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a rareflower in this locality. I had walked this way many times before I chanced upon its retreat,and then I was following a line of bees. I lost the bees, but I got the gentians. How curious this flower looks with its deep blue petals folded together so tightly—a bud and yet a blossom! It is the nun among our wild flowers—a form closely veiled and cloaked.

…

……

我們離開主路，在樹林邊上的一處泉眼休息，幸運(yùn)地發(fā)現(xiàn)了流連此地的一叢紅花半邊蓮，它的色彩如此濃烈，林中的幽暗似乎都被它點(diǎn)燃。前方田地的水溝旁，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了漂亮的藍(lán)花半邊蓮。緊挨著半邊蓮，藏在雜草、野草和紫苑叢中的是龍膽。在秋花中，數(shù)它最美。獨(dú)立于粗糙、蓬亂的雜草中，龍膽顯得珍貴、精致、富有貴族氣息。它無法引來蜜蜂，卻能吸引住每一位過路人的目光。假如我們從深處的樹林一角經(jīng)過，在被隱泉浸潤了的樹叢間的一小片空地上，會(huì)找到合攏著花瓣的龍膽花。它是本地的珍稀物種。我沿著這條路走過好幾次，一次偶然的機(jī)會(huì)才發(fā)現(xiàn)了它的藏身之地。那時(shí)我正在追蹤蜂群的飛行路線。我把蜜蜂跟丟了，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了龍膽花。龍膽花的造型是多么奇妙，深藍(lán)色的花瓣緊緊地合攏著——它既是稚嫩的花蕾，也是怒放的花朵！它是野花中的修女——緊緊地裹著面紗，罩著斗篷。

……

After a refreshing walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we will make our first trial—a high stone wall that runs parallel with the wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. There are bees at work there on that goldenrod, and it requires but little maneuvering to sweep one into our box. Almost any other creature rudely and suddenly arrested in its career, and clapped into a cage in this way, would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is alarmed for a moment, but the bee has a passion stronger than its love of life or fear of death, namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home as booty. “Such rage of honey in their bosom beats,” says Virgil. It is quick to catch the scent of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to filling itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove the cover.The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half- filled cells,and is oblivious to everything else about it. Come rack, come ruin, it will die at work. We step back a few paces, and sit down upon the ground so as to bring the box against the blue sky as a background. In two or three minutes the bee is seen rising slowly and heavily from the box. It seems loath to leave so much honey behind, and it marks the place well. It mounts aloft in a rapidly increasing spiral, surveying the near and minute objects first, then the larger and more distant, till, having circled above the spot five or six times and taken all its bearings, it darts away for home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee till it is fairly off. Sometimes one’s head will swim following it,and often one’s eyes are put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts down the hill, then strikes away toward a farmhouse half a mile away where I know bees are kept. Then we try another and another, and the third bee, much to our satisfaction, goes straight toward the woods. We could see the brown speck against the darker background for many yards.

Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched the box here and there with the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this fragrant and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When no flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee.

經(jīng)過幾英里神清氣爽的旅行，我們到達(dá)了第一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)場—— 一堵高高的石壁。石壁和前面提到的林木蔥郁的山嶺平行，中間隔著寬闊的田地。蜜蜂在秋麒麟草上辛勤地忙碌著，不需要什么技巧就能把其中的一只掃入蜂箱。要是其他生物在忙碌時(shí)突然被蠻橫地俘虜，以這樣的方式“啪”地鎖進(jìn)箱子里，肯定會(huì)驚慌失措，如臨大敵。蜜蜂也會(huì)緊張一陣子，可是相比于對生命的熱愛，對死亡的恐懼，蜜蜂有更熱切的渴望，那就是對蜂蜜的渴望。蜂蜜對它來說不僅是食物，更是應(yīng)該帶回家的戰(zhàn)利品。“在它們的胸膛里涌動(dòng)著對蜂蜜的澎湃激情，”維吉爾如是說。它很快就捕捉到箱子里有蜂蜜的味道，即刻行動(dòng)，開始采蜜。我們則把箱子放在石壁上，輕輕地掀起蓋子。蜜蜂全身心撲在半滿的蜂房里，什么也顧不上想。來吧，絞架，來吧，毀滅，它要在工作中咽下最后一口氣。我們向后退開幾步，坐在地上，好讓盒子能夠以藍(lán)天作為映襯。兩三分鐘后，我們看到蜜蜂從盒子里緩慢地飛了出來，滿載著收獲。它似乎在遺憾不得不留下這么多的蜂蜜，為此對這個(gè)地點(diǎn)進(jìn)行認(rèn)真的辨識(shí)。它越飛越高，越飛越快，不斷盤旋著，首先巡視近處的細(xì)節(jié)，然后擴(kuò)大范圍，向遠(yuǎn)處飛去。它會(huì)繞著這個(gè)地點(diǎn)飛行五六遍，直到徹底記住了方位，才向家的方向疾行。要想盯緊蜜蜂的行蹤直到它飛遠(yuǎn)，需要非凡的眼力。有時(shí)候，追著看會(huì)讓人頭暈?zāi)垦?。雙眼被太陽光刺得什么也看不見，這也是常事。蜜蜂沿著山坡逐漸向下飛，然后拐向半里外的農(nóng)場，我知道那里有個(gè)養(yǎng)蜂場。于是我們把實(shí)驗(yàn)品換成了另外一只蜜蜂，隨后又換了一只。令我們滿意的是，第三只蜜蜂直接飛向了樹林。我們能夠看到數(shù)碼之外，幽暗的背景下那個(gè)棕色的斑點(diǎn)。

我們的蜜蜂很快悉數(shù)返航，而且還帶回來了更多的蜜蜂。盒子上到處都是我們用茴香油瓶蓋沾上去的香氣。它那芬芳濃烈的氣味能夠?qū)胗⒗飪?nèi)外的蜜蜂都吸引過來。找不到花的時(shí)候，用這種辦法捕蜂最為便捷。