The Wife’s Tale

Aida Edemariam

在回忆录《妻子的故事：一部个人史》（The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History）中，《卫报》记者艾达·爱德马里安（Aida Edemariam）通过回忆奶奶Yetemegnu的一生，从侧面讲述了埃塞俄比亚20世纪近百年的历史和社会动荡：从意大利入侵到抵抗、解放、政变、反叛、饥荒，从君主制、社会主义到现代民主的尝试等。

奶奶Yetemegnu1916年出生于埃塞俄比亚的西北部城市贡德尔（Gondar），十几岁就嫁给牧师Tsega，三十多岁时已生育了九个孩子，其中有七个存活了下来。她的丈夫出身卑微，但凭借自己的天赋和过人的努力得到了女皇的赏识，之后一步一步成了重要的宗教领袖，后因受到诬陷而在狱中含冤去世。

书名The Wife’s Tale源自乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》中的一个故事：一名骑士被派去探索女性最想要的东西，最终他找到了答案：女人最想控制自己的丈夫。作者的奶奶前半生生儿育女、操持家务，后半生则为了恢复丈夫的名誉和财产而坚持不懈地上访、打官司，展现了个人的命运在历史的滚滚车轮中的无奈和微不足道。

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（夸张的、打动人心的故事）. In the late afternoon the students returned to their teacher, who listened to their verses, then easily,de flatingly（沮丧地）, disassembled them. Near the end of the five years Memhir Hiruy, famed throughout the country for his skill with qiné（宗教诗）, visited the Gojjam（戈贾姆省）school to teach. The students vied（竞争）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（贡德尔，埃塞俄比亚西北部城市）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（乡镇，边远地区）—from Gojjam,no less, where everyone knew the evil eye（魔眼，邪恶之眼） 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（回击他们的嘲笑）.When Memhir Hiruy left for the new capital,Addis Ababa（亚的斯亚贝巴）, Tsega stayed, learning the recondite（深奥的）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. “国王的法律”，是由一个（古埃及）科普特基督徒作家于1240年左右编纂的法典。, the law of kings handed down from Byzantium（拜占庭，古罗马城市，今称伊斯坦布尔）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（礼拜）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（艰苦跋涉）down into the Lake Tana（塔纳湖）basin. Their riders, too, looked around, into shaded copses（小灌木丛）, up at the lips of ravines（峡谷的边缘）, and once they had arrived at the Blue Nile（青尼罗河）gorge（峡谷）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（骡车队）of their valuables then pushed off in low reed boats（芦苇船）, 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（芳香的桧属植物）and newly imported eucalyptus（桉树）, down into Addis Ababa.

Once there her husband took his time,acclimatising（适应）, visiting Memhir Hiruy,attending services, listening to gossip about the empress（女皇）, and especially about her subtle regent（摄政王）Ras Tafari2. Ras Tafari: 海尔·塞拉西一世（Haile Selassie I, 1892—1975），埃塞俄比亚摄政王（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，新成为的）priest. Tsega presented himself at the head of fices of the church, and was given the care of a country parish（教区）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），埃塞俄比亚皇帝（1889—1913年在位）。作为埃塞俄比亚最伟大的统治者之一，他将帝国扩展到现今的边界，领军击退意大利入侵阿杜瓦，维护了民族独立；Zewditu: 佐迪图女皇（1876—1930），孟尼利克二世之女，埃塞俄比亚帝国第一位女皇（1916—1930年在位），是19和20世纪非洲国际公认的第一位女性首领。她是一位坚定的保守主义者，有虔诚的宗教信仰，在她去世后，海尔·塞拉西一世即位；Iyasu: 伊雅苏（1895—1935），是埃塞俄比亚一位被选定但未曾加冕的皇帝（1913—1916年在位），通常被称为Lij Iyasu。was phlegmatic（冷漠的，无兴趣的）,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, ‘and 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（挥霍的）nonetheless. Hardly a month went by without a banquet given to soldiers, to clergy, to the nobility or the impoverished laity（贫困的普通信徒）, 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（包头巾）and glowing white shemmas,straight-backed soldiers. Crosses blinked in the lamplight,phalanxes（密集队形）of servants and slaves brought horns（角制容器）of mead（蜂蜜酒）and baskets piled high with injera（英吉拉，一种薄饼，是埃塞俄比亚的传统主食）. 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（极饿的）, but he ate nothing at all.

Eventually one of the higher-ranking servants enquired why. ‘Because this is the day theArk of the Covenant（约柜，《出埃及记》中描述的带金盖木箱，内含刻有十诫的两块石碑）, captured by the Philistines（非利士人）, was returned by God,’ he replied. ‘I am fasting in celebration of Zion（锡安，《圣经·旧约》中耶路撒冷的别称）.’ 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（豆类）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（可能发生的事）, a poem playing upon the biblical echoes of her baptismal name（洗礼名）and lauding（赞美）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（供给）of all the accoutrements（服装）the new aleqa（=master，主教）would require: a cape worked over in gilt（镀了金的）, a tunic（长袍）with a wide colored band embroidered at the hem（衣边刺了绣的）, a sash（腰带或肩带）; bags of Maria Theresa silver（刻有奥地利女大公、匈牙利和波希米亚女王玛丽亚·特雷莎头像的银币）.

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（按惯例送来的礼物）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.