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1、-精选文档 -Spring SowingIt was still dark when Martin Delaney and his wife Mary got up. Martinstoodin his shirt bythe window,rubbinghis eyes and yawning,whileMary raked out the live coals that had lain hidden in the ashes on thehearthall night.Outside,cockswerecrowinganda whitestreakwasrising form the g
2、round, as it were, and beginning to scatter the darkness.It was a February morning, dry, cold and starry.The couple sat down to their breakfast of tea, bread and butter, in silence.Theyhadonlybeenmarriedthe previousautumnandit was hatefulleaving a warm bed at such and early hour. Martin, with his br
3、own hairand eyes, his freckled face and his little fair moustache, looked too youngto be married, and his wife looked hardly more than a girl, red-cheekedand blue-eyed, her black hair piled at the rear of her head with a largecomb gleaming in the middle of the pile, Spanish fashion. They were bothdr
4、essed in rough homespuns, and both wore the loose white shirt thatInverara peasants use for work in the fields.They ate in silence, sleepy and yet on fire with excitement, for it was thefirst day of their first spring sowing as man and wife. And each felt theglamour of that day on which they were to
5、 open up the earth togetherand plant seeds in it. But somehow the imminence of an event that hadbeen long expected loved, feared and prepared for made them dejected.可编辑-精选文档 -Mary, with her shrewd womans mind, thought of as many things as thereare in life as a woman would in the first joy and anxiet
6、y ofher mating.But Martins mind was fixed on one thought. Would he be able to provehimself a man worthy of being the head of a family by dong his springsowing well?In the barn after breakfast, when they were getting the potato seeds andthe line for measuring the ground and the spade, Martin fell ove
7、r a basketin the half-darkness of the barn, he swore and said that a man would bebetter off dead than. But before he could finish whatever he was goingto say, Mary had her arms around his waist and her face to his. Martin,she said, let us not begin this day cross with one another. And there wasa tre
8、mor in her voice. And somehow, as they embraced, all their irritationand sleepinessleft them. And they stood thereembracing untilatlastMartin pushed her from him with pretended roughness and said: Come,come, girl, it will be sunset before we begin at this rate.Still, astheywalkedsilentlyintheirrawhi
9、deshoesthroughthelittlehamlet,therewasnota soulabout.Lightswereglimmeringinthewindows of a few cabins. The sky had a big grey crack in it in the east, asif it were goingtoburstin ordertogive birthto the sun. Birdsweresinging somewhere at a distance. Martin and Mary rested their basketsof seeds on af
10、ence outsidethevillageand MartinwhisperedtoMaryproudly:Wearefirst, Mary.Andtheybothlookedback atthelittle可编辑-精选文档 -cluster of cabins that was the centre of their world, with throbbing hearts.For the joy of spring had now taken complete hold of them.Theyreachedthelittlefieldwheretheyweretosow.It was
11、a littletriangular patch of ground under an ivy-covered limestone hill. The littlefield had been manured with seaweed some weeks before, and the weedshad rotted and whitened on the grass. And there was a big red heap offresh seaweed lying in a corner by the fence to be spread under the seedsas they
12、were laid. Martin, in spite of the cold, threw off everything abovehis waistexcepthis stripedwoolenshirt.Thenhe spaton his hands,seized his spade and cried: Now you are going to see what kind of a manyou have, Mary.There, now, said Mary, tying a little shawl closer under her chin.Arentwe boastfulthi
13、searlyhourof the morning?MaybeIll waittillsunset to see what kind of a man I have got.The work began. Martin measured the ground by the southern fence forthe first ridge, a strip of ground four feet wide, and he placed the linealong the edge and pegged it at each end. Then he spread fresh seaweedove
14、r the strip. Mary filled her apron with seeds and began to lay them inrows. When she was a little distance down the ridge, Martin advancedwith his spade to the head, eager to commence.Now in the name of God, he cried, spitting on his palms, let us raisethe first sod!可编辑-精选文档 -Oh, Martin, wait till I
15、m with you ! cried Mary, dropping her seeds onthe ridge and running up to him .Her fingers outside her woolen mittenswere numb with the cold, and she couldnt wipe them in her apron. Hercheeks seemed to be on fire. She put an arm round Martins waist andstoodlookingat the greensod his spadewas goingto
16、 cut,withtheexcitement of a little child.NowforGodssake, girl,keepback!saidMartingruffly.Supposeanybody saw us like this in the field of our spring sowing, what wouldtheytake us forbuta pairof useless, soft,empty-headedpeoplethatwould be sure to die of hunger? Huh! He spoke very rapidly, and his eye
17、swere fixed on the ground before hm. His eyes had a wild, eager light inthemas if someprimevalimpulsewereburningwithinhis brainanddriving out every other desire but that of asserting his manhood and ofsubjugating the earth.Oh, what do we care who is looking? said Mary; but she drew back atthe same t
18、ime and gazed distantly at the ground. Then Martin cut thesod, and pressing the spade deep into the earth with his foot, he turnedup the first sod with a crunching sound as the grass roots were draggedout of the earth. Mary sighed and walked back hurriedly to her seeds withfurrowedbrows.She pickedup
19、 herseeds andbeganto spreadthemrapidly to drive out the sudden terror that had seized her at that momentwhenshe saw thefierce,hardlookinherhusbandseyes thatwere可编辑-精选文档 -unconscious of her presence. She became suddenly afraid of that pitiless,cruel earth, the peasants slave master that would keep he
20、r chained tohardwork andpovertyallherlifeuntilshewouldsinkagainintoitsbosom.Her short-livedlove wasgone.Henceforthshewasonlyherhusbands helper to till the earth. And Martin, absolutely without thought,workedfuriously,coveringtheridgewithblockearth,his sharpspadegleaming white as he whirled it sidewa
21、ys to beat the sods.Then, as the sun rose,thelittlevalleybeneaththeivy-coveredhillsbecamedottedwith white shirts, and everywheremenworkedmadly,without speaking,andwomenspread seeds. Therewasno heatinthelight of the sun, and there was a sharpness in the still thin air that madethemenjump ontheirspade
22、haltsferociouslyandbeatthe sodsas ifthey were living enemies. Birds hopped silently before the spades, withtheir heads cocked sideways, watching for worms. Made brave by hunger,they often dashed under the spades to secure their food.Then, when the sun reached a certain point, all the women went back
23、 tothe village to get dinner for their men, and the men worked on withoutstopping. Then the women returned, almost running, each carrying a tincan with a flannel tied around it and a little bundle tied with a white cloth,Martin threw down his spade when Mary arrived back in the field. Smilingat one
24、another they sat under the hill for their meal .It was the same astheir breakfast, tea and bread and butter.可编辑-精选文档 -Ah, said Martin, when he had taken a long draught of tea form his mug,is there anything in this world as fine as eating dinner out in the openlike this after doing a goodmorningswork
25、?There,I have done tworidges and a half. Thats more than any man in the village could do. Ha!And he looked at his wife proudly.Yes, isnt it lovely, said Mary, looking at the back ridges wistfully. Shewas just munching her bread and butter .The hurried trip to the villageand the trouble of getting th
26、e tea ready had robbed her of her appetite.She had to keep blowing at the turf fire with the rim of her skirt, and thesmoke nearly blinded her. But now, sitting on that grassy knoll, with thevalley all round glistening with fresh seaweed and a light smoke risingfrom the freshly turned earth, astrang
27、ejoy sweptoverher.Itoverpowered that other felling of dread that had been with her duringthe morning.Martin ate heartily, reveling in his great thirst and his great hunger, withevery pore of his body open to the pure air. And he looked around at hisneighborsfields boastfully,comparingthemwithhis own
28、.Thenhelooked at his wifes little round black head and felt very proud of havingher as his own. He leaned back on his elbow and took her hand in his.Shyly and in silence, not knowing what to say and ashamed of their gentlefeelings, they finished eating and still sat hand in hand looking away intothe
29、 distance.Everywhere thesowerswere resting onlittleknolls, men,可编辑-精选文档 -women and children sitting in silence. And the great calm of nature inspring filled the atmosphere around them. Everything seemed to sit stillandwaituntilmiddayhadpassed.Onlythegleamingsunchasedwestwards at a mighty pace, in an
30、d out through white clouds.Then in a distant field an old man got up, took his spade and began toclean the earth from it with a piece of stone. The rasping noise carried along way in the silence. That was the signal for a general rising all alongthelittlevalley.Youngmenstretchedthemselvesandyawned.T
31、heywalked slowly back to their ridges.Martins back and his wrists were getting sore, and Mary felt that if shestoopedagainoverherseeds her neck wouldbreak,butneithersaidanything and soon they had forgotten their tiredness in the mechanicalmovement of their bodies. The strong smell of the upturned ea
32、rth actedlike a drug on their nerves.In the afternoon, when the sun was strongest, the old men of the villagecame outto lookat theirpeoplesowing.Martinsgrandfather,almostbent double over his thick stick stopped in the land outside the field andgroaning loudly, he leaned over the fence.“ God bless th
33、e work, he called wheezily.And you, grandfather, replied the couple together, but they did not stopworking.Ha! muttered the old man to himself. He sows well and that woman is可编辑-精选文档 -good too. They are beginning well.It was fifty years since he had begun with his Mary, full of hope and pride,and th
34、emercilesssoil hadhuggedthemto its bosomever since, eachspringwithout rest. Today, the old man, with his huge red nose and the spottedhandkerchief tied around his skull under his black soft felt hat, watchedhis grandson work and gave him advice.Dont cutyoursods so long, he would wheeze, youare putti
35、ngtoomuch soil on yourridge.Ah woman! Dont plant a seed so near the edge. The stalk will come outsideways.And they paid no heed to him.Ah, grumbled the old man, in my young days, when men worked frommorningtillnightwithouttastingfood,betterworkwas done.But ofcourseit cantbe expectedto be thesame now
36、. The breedis gettingweaker. So it is.Then he began to cough in his chest and hobbled away to another fieldwhere his sonMichael was working.By sundown Martin had five ridges finished. He threw down his spadeand stretched himself. All his bones ached and he wanted to lie down and可编辑-精选文档 -rest. Its t
37、ime to be going home, Mary, he said.Mary straightened herself, but she was too tired to reply. She looked atMartin wearily and it seemed to her that it was a great many years sincethey had set out that morning. Then she thought of the journey homeand the trouble of feeding thepigs, putting the fowls
38、 into their coopsand getting the supper ready, and a momentary flash of rebellion againstthe slavery of being a peasants wifecrossed her mind.Itpassedin amoment. Martin was saying, as he dressed himself:Ha! It has been a good days work. Five ridges done, and each one ofthem as straight as a steel ro
39、d. By God Mary, its no boasting to say thatyou might well be proud of being the wife of Martin Delaney. And thatsnot saying the whole of it ,my girl. You did your share better than anywoman in Inverara could do it this blessed day.They stood for a few moments in silence, looking at the work they had
40、done. All her dissatisfactionand weariness vanished form Marys mindwith the delicious feeling of comfort that overcame her at having donethis work with her husband. They had done it together. They had plantedseeds in the earth. The next day and the next and all their lives, whenspring came they woul
41、d haveto bendtheir backs anddo ituntiltheirhands and bones got twisted with rheumatism. But night would alwaysbring sleep and forgetfulness.As they walked home slowly, Martin walked in front with another peasant可编辑-精选文档 -talking about the sowing, and Mary walked behind, with her eyes on theground, thinking. Cows were lowing at a distance.