第七回 老婦人給男孩解夢（1）

Paulo Coelho

當老婦人祈禱的時候，牧羊少年為什么會感到害怕呢？

題材冒險體裁小說文章詞數 難度 建議用時383 ★★★ 6 分鐘

The old woman led the boy to a room at the back of her house. It was separated from her living room by a curtain of colored beads. The room's furnishings consisted of a table, an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and two chairs.

The woman sat down, and told him to be seated as well. Then she took both of his hands in hers and began quietly to pray.

It sounded like a Gypsy prayer. The boy had already had experience on the road with Gypsies; they also traveled, but they had no flocks of sheep. People said that Gypsies spent their lives tricking others. It was also said that they had an agreement with the devil, and that they kidnapped children and, taking them away to their mysterious camps, made them their slaves. As a child, the boy had always been frightened to death that he would be captured by Gypsies, and this childhood fear returned when the old woman took his hands in hers.

But she has the Sacred Heart of Jesus there, he thought, trying to reassure himself. He didn't want his hands to begin trembling, showing the old woman that he was fearful. He recited the Our Father silently.

“Very interesting,” said the woman, never taking her eyes from the boy's hands, and then she fell silent.

The boy was becoming nervous. His hands began to tremble, and the woman sensed it. He quickly pulled his hands away.

“I didn't come here to have you read my palm,” he said, already regretting having come.He thought for a moment that it would be better to pay her fees and leave without learning a thing, and that he was giving too much importance to his recurrent（反復出現的） dream.

“You came so that you could learn about your dreams,” said the old woman. “And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand. But, whichever it is, I'm going to charge you for the consultation.”

Another trick, the boy thought. But he decided to take a chance. A shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought, and that's what makes a shepherd's life exciting.

Reading Check

Why did the boy feel frightened when the old woman began to pray?