Chapter Nineteen - A New Kind of King / 第十九章 - 新型国王

Many knights骑士/naɪts/ and noblemen贵族/ˈnoʊbəlmən/ of England went off to fight战斗/faɪt/ in the Crusades十字军东征/kruːˈseɪdz/.

And so did one of England's most famous著名的/ˈfeɪməs/ kings国王/kɪŋz/: Richard I. For his courage勇气/ˈkɜːrɪdʒ/ in battle战斗/ˈbætəl/, Richard became known as Richard the Lionhearted.

Richard was tall高的/tɔːl/, golden-haired金发的/ˈɡoʊldən herd/, strong强壮的/strɔːŋ/, and broad-shouldered. He looked exactly like a king国王/kɪŋ/. But Richard the Lionhearted spent very little of his reign统治期/reɪn/ being a king.

When he was still a prince王子/prɪns/, he heard that Jerusalem耶路撒冷/dʒəˈruːsələm/ had been recaptured by Saladin萨拉丁/ˈsæləˌdɪn/. And from that moment on, Richard's only desire愿望/dɪˈzaɪər/ was to go and fight in the Crusades.

Two years later, Richard's father died. In 1189, Richard was crowned加冕/kraʊnd/ king of England. As soon as he became king, he started to sell出售/sel/ off his possessions财产/pəˈzeʃənz/ so that he could raise an army军队/ˈɑːrmi/ to take on a crusade.

He declared, "I would sell London itself if only I could find the man to buy it!" And as soon as he had enough money钱/ˈmʌni/, Richard left England and stayed away for years and years. "Almost everyone was angry愤怒的/ˈæŋɡri/," one medieval historian历史学家/hɪˈstɔːriən/ tells us, "that the king would leave his own kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/ with so much speed, as though he didn't care anything about it."

When Richard arrived in the Holy Land圣地/ˈhoʊli lænd/, he joined forces with the king of France and the Duke of Austria. But soon he quarreled争吵/ˈkwɔːrəld/ with the king of France, who decided that it would be easier to go back to France than to keep on dealing with Richard.

And then Richard announced that the Duke of Austria shouldn't be flying his banner旗帜/ˈbænər/ right next to Richard's. After all, Richard was a king, and the Duke was just a duke公爵/duːk/. When the Duke refused to move his banner, Richard told his men to go steal the banner and throw it in the mud.

At this, the Duke took his soldiers士兵/ˈsoʊldʒərz/ and went home. Richard had lost all of his allies盟友/ˈælaɪz/.

Richard marched on towards Jerusalem with his English crusaders十字军战士/kruːˈseɪdərz/. But Saladin's army came out to meet him and kept him from ever reaching the city. Once Richard fought his way into sight视线内/saɪt/ of Jerusalem. But although his armies gazed at it longingly, Richard himself would not turn his gaze towards it.

"I will not even look," he announced, "at the walls of the City which God Himself will not allow me to deliver解放/dɪˈlɪvər/."

Meanwhile, Richard started hearing rumors谣言/ˈruːmərz/ from home. His younger brother John was trying to steal his throne王位/θroʊn/. So Richard started back to England to protect his crown. He decided to take a short-cut across Austria—and ran into none other than the Duke of Austria.

The Duke hadn't forgotten Richard's insults侮辱/ɪnˈsʌlts/. So he took Richard and shut him up in a tall prison监狱/ˈprɪzən/ tower塔/ˈtaʊər/.

No one knew where Richard was. All of England mourned哀悼/mɔːrnd/ over his death (except, of course, for John). And Richard himself lay on a heap of dirty straw稻草/strɔː/, staring through his tiny barred window窗户/ˈwɪndoʊ/ at the blue of the sky.

But one person did not believe that Richard was dead. According to legend传说/ˈledʒənd/, Richard's faithful friend Blondel布朗德尔/blɒnˈdel/ crisscrossed Europe on foot, peering into every dungeon地牢/ˈdʌndʒən/ and pausing outside every fortress要塞/ˈfɔːrtrəs/.

He would sing an English song歌曲/sɔːŋ/, and pause to see whether anyone answered. But usually French or German or Italian faces would peer over the battlements, not understanding the English words.

Blondel made his way down the winding green shores of the Danube, pausing and singing at each castle. It was almost dark黑暗的/dɑːrk/ one night when he halted at one tall, grim tower, wondering whether the inhabitants might give him a bed for the night.

He sat down at the base of the tower, leaning his back against the cool stone. And as he pondered, he idly hummed the first lines of an old, old tune...Greensleeves. As his voice trailed off into silence, he heard the second line, hummed waveringly from far above him.

Blondel leaped to his feet. He sang the third line, and a voice sang out the fourth line in English. He looked up and saw Richard's blond head, dirty and matted, his beard grown long and ragged, in the window far above.

Blondel went back to England and announced, "Richard is alive!" Most of England rejoiced欢欣/rɪˈdʒɔɪst/ to hear it. They sent ambassadors大使/æmˈbæsədərz/ to the Duke of Austria, begging him to release Richard. The Duke agreed to set Richard free in exchange for 150,000 marks马克/mɑːrks/.

This was a huge amount of money, almost three million dollars in today's money. John suggested that it would be easier just to leave Richard in jail. But the people of England disagreed. They paid the ransom赎金/ˈrænsəm/, and Richard returned home to England.

But he didn't stay long. Soon he was off again, this time to fight the king of France over French cities which Richard claimed belonged to him. In 1199, Richard was fighting the defenders of a tiny, worthless French castle when he was killed by a stray arrow箭/ˈæroʊ/. He had survived Saladin's fierce armies, only to fall in a meaningless battle close to home. Now his brother John would finally inherit the throne of England.

Richard's nickname was "The Lionhearted." But John's nickname wasn't nearly as pretty. John's people called him "John Lackland."

Why? John was the youngest son of the king of England. Remember, England was a feudal封建的/ˈfjuːdəl/ system. The king "owned" all of the land土地/lænd/ that he ruled. So when John's father died, Richard inherited the whole land of England. John didn't inherit any of it. He "lacked land."

But when Richard died, John became the king. Now he wasn't John Lackland. He was the king and owner of all England.

John's older brother Richard had always treated him like a little boy男孩/bɔɪ/ who couldn't possibly rule a country国家/ˈkʌntri/. While Richard was away at war, John tried his best to claim the throne. But when Richard came home and took the throne back, he laughed at his brother. "What a child孩子/tʃaɪld/ you are," Richard said, and ordered the cook to fix John his favorite supper to cheer him up. And John was twenty-seven years old!

So when John became king, he was determined to show that he was a strong, grown-up ruler. But he had all sorts of troubles麻烦/ˈtrʌbəlz/. For one thing, he wasn't tall and golden-haired like Richard. He was short, plump, and losing his hair. The noblemen of England didn't respect尊敬/rɪˈspekt/ him. And the king of France was trying to take away the castles that England owned over in France.

John knew that if he could defeat the French king, he could prove that he was a great warrior战士/ˈwɔːriər/ like his older brother. So he fought battle after battle in France. These battles cost money. He had to pay his soldiers, feed them, and buy horses马/ˈhɔːrsəz/ for them.

So to raise money, John came up with ideas to get more money from his noblemen. He declared that in emergencies紧急情况/ɪˈmɜːrdʒənsiz/ (like wars with France) his noblemen owed him extra money. He announced that whenever a nobleman died and left his land to his son, the son would have to pay extra money to the king—an "inheritance tax." And furthermore, if the son was still a child, John could take control of the nobleman's land and make money from it.

Now, all of these were ways that kings had raised extra money before John came to the throne. But John used them to raise lots of money. Soon his noblemen started to feel poor贫穷的/pʊr/. John became more and more unpopular不受欢迎的/ʌnˈpɑːpjələr/. And then John did something that was even more tyrannical专制的/tɪˈrænɪkəl/. He ordered his nephew, the only other possible heir to the English throne, murdered.

Finally, the noblemen revolted反叛/rɪˈvoʊltəd/. They gathered together into an army, marched into London (England's capital city), and captured it. We call this a civil war内战/ˈsɪvəl wɔːr/ (when soldiers are fighting in their own country, against their own people).

John realized that he wouldn't be able to recapture London. So in the summer of 1215, he dressed himself in his royal robes, gathered his court together, and went out to meet the rebels at a field called Runnymede兰尼米德/ˈrʌnimiːd/.

At Runnymede, the noblemen presented John with a paper and told him to sign it. The paper described new laws法律/lɔːz/ that the king had to follow. According to these laws, the king could only take extra money from his noblemen if the payment was fair, and if he got the noblemen's permission许可/pərˈmɪʃən/ to ask for it. The laws also said that the king couldn't throw his noblemen in jail unless they had actually committed a crime罪行/kraɪm/. This paper was called the "Magna Carta," or "Great Charter."

John didn't want to sign this paper. After all, he was the most powerful强大的/ˈpaʊərfəl/ man in England. He could do whatever he wanted, as long as his soldiers were strong enough to force the people to obey him. He didn't have to follow the law. He was the king, so he was the law. Whatever he said had to be done.

But he knew that unless he signed the Magna Carta, he would lose his crown. So he signed. Now the king of England had to obey the law, like everyone else in his kingdom. This was a new idea. For the first time, the law法律/lɔː/ was the most powerful force in a country—instead of the king.

Today, we still follow the ideas of the Magna Carta. If you live in Canada or in the United States, your leaders领袖/ˈliːdərz/ don't "own" your country. Instead, they have to follow the law like everyone else. The President or the Prime Minister can't suddenly decide, "Today I want everyone in my country to pay me fifty dollars so that I can start a war." They have to ask the people's permission to raise taxes税收/ˈtæksəz/ and start wars.

But instead of traveling to Washington, D.C. (where the President of the United States lives) or to Ottawa, Ontario (where the Prime Minister of Canada has his office) and giving them permission ourselves, we choose representatives代表/ˌreprɪˈzentətɪvz/—people who go to Washington or Ottawa and speak to our leaders for us. If the President or Prime Minister wants to start a war or raise taxes, these representatives have to give permission. In the United States, these elected people are called "Representatives" and "Senators." They meet together in "Congress." In Canada, these representatives are elected to the "House of Commons." They are called "Members of Parliament." This system got started eight hundred years ago when King John of England signed the Magna Carta.

When John was ruling England, before the Magna Carta was signed, the people of England were poor贫穷的/pʊr/ and miserable痛苦的/ˈmɪzərəbəl/. When John took money from his noblemen, his noblemen took money from their peasants and serfs. And there was no one to help them resist this tyranny暴政/ˈtɪrəni/. Except for Robin Hood.

The people of England told stories about a mysterious神秘的/mɪˈstɪriəs/ man who lived in the royal forests with a band of outlaws法外之徒/ˈaʊtlɔːz/. He wore a green jacket and a green hood so that he would blend in with the forest. When King John's noblemen took money from the people of England unjustly, this outlaw stole the money and gave it back to the poor. He was loyal忠诚的/ˈlɔɪəl/ to King Richard, not to King John, and he hoped that Richard would return soon from the Crusades.

In some tales, this mysterious outlaw was called Robin of Locksley; he was said to be a nobleman whose lands had been seized by King John. But in other tales, he is simply called Robin Hood. Here is one of the tales of Robin Hood.

Long ago, in the days when Richard the Lionhearted was away fighting in the Crusades, his younger brother John ruled over England. Now John was a greedy贪婪的/ˈɡriːdi/ man, and he appointed other greedy men to run the villages of his country. The worst of all his men was the Sheriff郡长/ˈʃerɪf/ of Nottingham, who stole from his people and gave money to King John.

The people of Nottingham could barely survive生存/sərˈvaɪv/ on the scraps and pennies left to them by the Sheriff and his men. And although they lived on the edge of a forest filled with fat deer鹿/dɪr/, plentiful enough to feed the whole village through the cold winter, they were forbidden to kill a single buck. For the forest belonged to King John. And although he never walked in it, he threatened to hang any man who shot one of his deer.

One day, Robin Hood was out walking with his companion Little John小约翰/ˈlɪtəl dʒɑːn/. Little John was a stout man, who could fight even the strongest warrior with nothing but his quarterstaff长棍/ˈkwɔːrtərˌstæf/ and come out the victor. The two friends were strolling through the deep forest, along the road that led to Nottingham, when they heard the clop of horse's hooves.

So Robin and Little John stepped off the road and hid behind a tree. As they watched, a butcher's屠夫的/ˈbʊtʃərz/ cart came into sight, loaded with fresh meat.

"Aha!" said Robin to Little John. "This man is headed for the house of the Sheriff. No one else buys such rich food! Let's step out and have a word with him."

So Robin and Little John came out from behind their tree. As soon as the butcher屠夫/ˈbʊtʃər/ saw them, he wheeled his cart around, for he knew (as did everyone) that outlaws haunted the forest. But Little John seized the horse's bridle, and Robin said, "Good butcher, I'll change clothes and places with you for ten pieces of gold. Let me take your cart into town, while you rest here in the forest with my men."

The butcher didn't want to rest in the forest—but Little John was holding his horse's bridle with one hand, and a thick quarterstaff with the other. So he climbed down, quaking with fright, and gave his clothes to Robin Hood. Robin fixed a black patch over one eye to conceal his face, climbed onto the cart and drove into Nottingham, to the house of the Sheriff.

When he arrived there, he gave the Sheriff's wife such a good price on his tenderest, choicest pieces, that she invited him to stay for dinner.

So Robin the outlaw tied his horse to the Sheriff's fence and went in to eat with the Sheriff. He sat at the table, chuckling to himself as the Sheriff complained about that pestilential nuisance Robin Hood. But he pricked up his ears when he heard the Sheriff say, "And worst of all, this fellow Blondel布朗德尔/blɒnˈdel/ who once knew Richard insists that Richard is not dead at all, and that our gracious King John is no more than a usurper篡位者/juːˈzɜːrpər/!"

"Indeed?" Robin said, politely. "Does he think Richard will return?"

"He swears he'll find him," the Sheriff said, taking a good swig of ale. "He has gone to wander through the world, looking for Richard. If he should find Richard, our days of ease will be over! But maybe he'll die of plague first. More meat?"

"I thank you," Robin said, "no. I must be getting back to my herds and flocks."

"By our Lady," the Sheriff swore, "if your herds are as fine and fat as these, I would buy them myself."

"I'll sell them to you!" Robin said. "Ride on my cart with me, and I'll give you as good a price on the whole lot as I gave you on this day's meat. But be sure to bring all your money with you."

Now, the Sheriff was too greedy to resist such an offer. So he filled a bag with gold and went with Robin at once. The two drove the butcher's cart deep into the thick forest of Nottingham. And the farther they went, the more uneasy the Sheriff became. "Butcher!" he whispered. "Where are your herds?"

"Close by!" Robin promised him.

"That fellow Robin Hood might be near," muttered the Sheriff.

"Robin Hood is no worry to me!" Robin answered, with truth. "But we need go no further. Just let me call my herdsmen." And with that he put his horn to his lips and blew three clear notes. At once a huge herd of fat deer poured across the road in front of him. And just after came a crowd of men in green, with bows on their backs and quarterstaffs in their hands. At the sight of them, the Sheriff turned white and begin to shake with fear.

"These are my men," said Robin, pulling off his eye patch, "and those deer are my herds. They roam the forest, protected by John's unjust laws, while the people of Nottingham starve. But you've brought them money to buy meat! Hand over your bag, Sir Sheriff."

The Sheriff, his hands trembling with dread, handed over his money. Little John spread his cloak on the road and poured out a river of gold onto it, while Robin's men shouted their approval.

"Take him to the edge of the forest, blindfold him, and leave him there," Robin ordered. "Let him go back and tell John that the people of Nottingham serve King Richard, not the cruel prince who starves and beggars them. Long live Richard, King of England!"

"Long live Richard, King of England!" all the men cheered. But the Sheriff snarled, "One day I'll hang you, Robin Hood, and all your men too!"

"Perhaps you will," Robin Hood said. "But first, you'll have to learn the difference between a butcher and an outlaw."