The Wife’s Tale

Aida Edemariam

在回憶錄《妻子的故事：一部個人史》（The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History）中，《衛(wèi)報(bào)》記者艾達(dá)·愛德馬里安（Aida Edemariam）通過回憶奶奶Yetemegnu的一生，從側(cè)面講述了埃塞俄比亞20世紀(jì)近百年的歷史和社會動蕩：從意大利入侵到抵抗、解放、政變、反叛、饑荒，從君主制、社會主義到現(xiàn)代民主的嘗試等。

奶奶Yetemegnu1916年出生于埃塞俄比亞的西北部城市貢德爾（Gondar），十幾歲就嫁給牧師Tsega，三十多歲時已生育了九個孩子，其中有七個存活了下來。她的丈夫出身卑微，但憑借自己的天賦和過人的努力得到了女皇的賞識，之后一步一步成了重要的宗教領(lǐng)袖，后因受到誣陷而在獄中含冤去世。

書名The Wife’s Tale源自喬叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》中的一個故事：一名騎士被派去探索女性最想要的東西，最終他找到了答案：女人最想控制自己的丈夫。作者的奶奶前半生生兒育女、操持家務(wù)，后半生則為了恢復(fù)丈夫的名譽(yù)和財(cái)產(chǎn)而堅(jiān)持不懈地上訪、打官司，展現(xiàn)了個人的命運(yùn)在歷史的滾滾車輪中的無奈和微不足道。

D uring the day the students scattered across the countryside, composing their own poetry and begging, as the church provided no food. Tsega hated this aspect of his calling. He was proud, afraid of dogs,and quickly resorted to tall heart-tugging tales（夸張的、打動人心的故事）. In the late afternoon the students returned to their teacher, who listened to their verses, then easily,de flatingly（沮喪地）, disassembled them. Near the end of the five years Memhir Hiruy, famed throughout the country for his skill with qiné（宗教詩）, visited the Gojjam（戈賈姆?。﹕chool to teach. The students vied（競爭）amongst each other to impress the master, who after a couple of weeks singled Tsega out for praise. Would he like to come to Gondar（貢德爾，埃塞俄比亞西北部城市）to continue his studies? Of course he would. And, ignoring the protestations of his mother, he went.

Not long after they arrived at Ba’ata, the priest asked Memhir Hiruy to perform a qiné. ‘Ask him,’ replied the scholar, pointing to his new acolyte（侍僧，助手）. They were insulted. Recent experience had only con firmed their deep suspicion of outsiders. And who was this anyway? A youth from the sticks（鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)，邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)）—from Gojjam,no less, where everyone knew the evil eye（魔眼，邪惡之眼） flourished. Why was he here, assessing them with his noncommittal（不置可否的）gaze, threatening them with his very presence? Why, he hadn’t even finished his studies.But after a glance at Memhir Hiruy for reassurance, Tsega stepped forward to puncture their scorn（回?fù)羲麄兊某靶Γ?When Memhir Hiruy left for the new capital,Addis Ababa（亞的斯亞貝巴）, Tsega stayed, learning the recondite（深奧的）church dances and committing to memory all the books of the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, their interpretations and commentaries, and the books of the Fit’ha Negest1. “國王的法律”，是由一個（古埃及）科普特基督徒作家于1240年左右編纂的法典。, the law of kings handed down from Byzantium（拜占庭，古羅馬城市，今稱伊斯坦布爾）and from medieval Egypt. He became a teacher himself,and, ambitious in the way of people who know they have only themselves to depend upon, quietly but steadily made connections, travelling across the city after church services（禮拜）to read to the families of increasingly important personages; for Tirunesh’s husband,among them, and for her oblivious（健忘的）niece.

Less than a year after his wedding,Tsega deposited his young bride at her grandmother’s house and was on his way south. The mules were watchful on the long trek（艱苦跋涉）down into the Lake Tana（塔納湖）basin. Their riders, too, looked around, into shaded copses（小灌木叢）, up at the lips of ravines（峽谷的邊緣）, and once they had arrived at the Blue Nile（青尼羅河）gorge（峽谷）and were picking their way down its steep sides, into anything that even suggested it might be a cave. Everyone knew, from childhood stories, from scarred survivors,that this fertile country ran with bandits（土匪）who regularly stripped mule-trains（騾車隊(duì)）of their valuables then pushed off in low reed boats（蘆葦船）, poling through the mud-coloured lake to islands and promontories（岬，海角）, or disappeared into caves. They were all grateful when they scrambled up onto the wide cool highland plateau and then down,through aromatic juniper（芳香的檜屬植物）and newly imported eucalyptus（桉樹）, down into Addis Ababa.

Once there her husband took his time,acclimatising（適應(yīng)）, visiting Memhir Hiruy,attending services, listening to gossip about the empress（女皇）, and especially about her subtle regent（攝政王）Ras Tafari2. Ras Tafari: 海爾·塞拉西一世（Haile Selassie I, 1892—1975），埃塞俄比亞攝政王（1916—1930年在位）、末代皇帝（1930—1974年在位）。, who had recently returned from an extended tour of Egypt, Jerusalem（耶路撒冷）, and the European capitals (where, among other things, he had wisely declined to sign a treaty that would have allowed Italy to build roads, rails, and a port into Ethiopia). The regent also managed—daily, it sometimes seemed—to announce the institution of new-fangled（新奇的，最新流行的）things: a modern school, a printing press, a newspaper. Every decision of any importance passed through his hands, which was a useful thing to know, but for the moment was not what most interested the new-minted（新造就的，新成為的）priest. Tsega presented himself at the head of fices of the church, and was given the care of a country parish（教區(qū)）called Gonderoch Mariam. He travelled the city to read aloud in the households of great men, among them Ras Kassa, the regent’s pious cousin. And he joined the throngs that arrived daily at the palace, looking for an audience with the empress.

Menelik’s daughter Zewditu, crowned after the brief reign and ruthless deposition of Menelik’s grandson Iyasu,3. Menelik: 孟尼利克二世（1844—1913），埃塞俄比亞皇帝（1889—1913年在位）。作為埃塞俄比亞最偉大的統(tǒng)治者之一，他將帝國擴(kuò)展到現(xiàn)今的邊界，領(lǐng)軍擊退意大利入侵阿杜瓦，維護(hù)了民族獨(dú)立；Zewditu: 佐迪圖女皇（1876—1930），孟尼利克二世之女，埃塞俄比亞帝國第一位女皇（1916—1930年在位），是19和20世紀(jì)非洲國際公認(rèn)的第一位女性首領(lǐng)。她是一位堅(jiān)定的保守主義者，有虔誠的宗教信仰，在她去世后，海爾·塞拉西一世即位；Iyasu: 伊雅蘇（1895—1935），是埃塞俄比亞一位被選定但未曾加冕的皇帝（1913—1916年在位），通常被稱為Lij Iyasu。was phlegmatic（冷漠的，無興趣的）,conservative, uncomfortable in the presence of men and overwhelmingly pious, and had only once bowed to pressure to preside at the courts that operated in her name; she had hated the work, and never returned. She preferred, wrote her chronicler, kindly, to con fine herself to ‘spreading spiritual wisdom by fasting（禁食）,prayer, prostrations（跪拜）, and by almsgiving（施舍）.’She read the histories of the female saints, ‘a(chǎn)nd a spiritual envy [to be like them] was stamped on her heart’. Each day she rose early and prayed into the afternoon, eating nothing, outdoing many of her monks and nuns.

Zewditu’s self-denial（克己）was matched by generosity—socially required, an expression of pride and status as well as charity, but prodigal（揮霍的）nonetheless. Hardly a month went by without a banquet given to soldiers, to clergy, to the nobility or the impoverished laity（貧困的普通信徒）, and late one November, after Tsega had been in the capital for nearly two years, he was invited to one. The floor of the great hall was laid with hundreds of carpets, some of wool, others of silk. Guests filled the vast space, seated according to their rank: the empress, her regent and senior princes of the blood on a raised platform at one end, surrounded by curtains, then, when they had eaten, the curtains drawn back so they could look down at long low tables filled with lesser notables（次要的名人）, ranks of clergy in high white turbans（包頭巾）and glowing white shemmas,straight-backed soldiers. Crosses blinked in the lamplight,phalanxes（密集隊(duì)形）of servants and slaves brought horns（角制容器）of mead（蜂蜜酒）and baskets piled high with injera（英吉拉，一種薄餅，是埃塞俄比亞的傳統(tǒng)主食）. The smell of dark red chicken stew; of zign, beef in ginger and cardamom（小豆蔻）and bishop’s weed（阿米芹）; the sight of entire sides of fresh-slaughtered oxen carried on poles balanced on the shoulders of slaves so anyone could take a knife and help themselves, made him ravenous（極餓的）, but he ate nothing at all.

Eventually one of the higher-ranking servants enquired why. ‘Because this is the day theArk of the Covenant（約柜，《出埃及記》中描述的帶金蓋木箱，內(nèi)含刻有十誡的兩塊石碑）, captured by the Philistines（非利士人）, was returned by God,’ he replied. ‘I am fasting in celebration of Zion（錫安，《圣經(jīng)·舊約》中耶路撒冷的別稱）.’ The servant, knowing this was the kind of thing that interested Empress Zewditu, told her there was a priest in her hall observing the fast of Zion, and who therefore could not partake of（吃）the abundance of meat on offer.

She turned out to be observing it too. She had had fasting food cooked for her, pulses（豆類）and vegetables rather than meat, and she sent the young priest a portion of it. When he had eaten he stood and addressed to her a qiné of praise he had composed in preparation for just such an eventuality（可能發(fā)生的事）, a poem playing upon the biblical echoes of her baptismal name（洗禮名）and lauding（贊美）her holy magnanimity（慷慨）. She inclined her head in thanks. ‘And what can I do for you?’

This was why he had come to the capital, the moment he had been working toward for years. ‘I would like to lead Ba’ata Mariam church in Gondar,’ he replied. ‘And I would like to rebuild it to the glory of God.’

‘Of course,’ she replied. And she ordered the provision（供給）of all the accoutrements（服裝）the new aleqa（=master，主教）would require: a cape worked over in gilt（鍍了金的）, a tunic（長袍）with a wide colored band embroidered at the hem（衣邊刺了繡的）, a sash（腰帶或肩帶）; bags of Maria Theresa silver（刻有奧地利女大公、匈牙利和波希米亞女王瑪麗亞·特雷莎頭像的銀幣）.

Half of Gondar, it seemed, came out to meet him,ululating（呼喊）praise of their new chief priest. Aleqa Tsega accepted the celebrations calmly, savouring his sudden leap above those who had denied him welcome,noting the practised tributes（按慣例送來的禮物）from his fellow clergy, the underlying silences, the curdled（凝固的，不自然的）smiles.

At her aunt’s house a feast was waiting. There too he looked about him—at the told-you-so pleasure of Tirunesh,the reluctant approval of Mekonnen. At the narrow-hipped girl in black who hung back, shaven head held low.