巫师奇谈 第12期

"Mix blood of owl with the herb1) that's red.... Turn three times, pluck2) a hair from my head.... A leaf of a crocus3), an ear of a hog4) ... hocus-pocus5), you're a frog!" Well, this isn't real witchcraft6), but if you are interested in it, read on. It's time to learn about the legend of witches!

“猫头鹰的血混上红色的药草……搅拌三次，再从我头上拔根头发……再加一片番红花叶，一只猪耳朵……霍克斯波克斯，把你变青蛙！”当然，这并不是真正的巫术，但如果你对此感兴趣，不妨继续往下读。来了解一下传说中的巫师吧！

在山的那边海的那边有一群坏巫师，他们善用大黑锅，他们骑着长扫帚，他们采集药草施展巫术把人变动物，他们作奸犯科无恶不快乐……果真如此么？让我们进入巫师的世界一探究竟吧。

Which Word Is It: Wicce or Witch?

The word "witch" actually comes from the word "wicce", an old English word that means "wise" ... and these "wicces" were considered to be good natured people that only used their powers and potions7) to heal people. They used natural herbs as medicine; they connected to people with energy and their forces cured disease, depression and brought happiness to their communities. It's not so different from what real herbal doctors practice today.

Bad Witches

Throughout the ages, a bunch of party-poopers8) gave wicces a bad name. If a wicce could use magical energy and natural herbs to do good, sure enough they could use the same forces to do evil. Rumors got out that these wicces could do all these bad things:

Make bad weather

Change people into toads9)

Make cows sick

Poison food

Give someone bad luck

Curse farmers and their crops

Make people ugly

Deal with the Devil

Thus a mythical character evolved out of the wicce, and into a WITCH! Witches were considered to be anti-religious and their story was that they made a deal with the devil. Witches were the devil's secret army of people that made a pact10) to do evil things on earth and in return the devil gave them magical powers. So obviously anyone anti-religious was considered to be a witch.

Witch-Hunt Across the World

Witch-hunts were the big event of the 13th and 14th centuries in countries like France and Switzerland. Tens of thousands of people were hunted for the silliest reasons to suspect them of performing witchcraft. For example, if a husband had a toothache, he would tell everyone that it was his wife's fault because she was cooking all their food and she must be a witch. However, you and I know it's probably because he was eating too much Halloween candy.

Which Witchcraft Do You Wish?

So now there are all these stories of witches and their evil magic. Here's a quick list of some of their ways to do witchcraft:

A black cauldron11) to mix magic potions

Verses and rhymes

Amulets12) that possess their curse when worn

Gazing into mirrors

Voodoo13) dolls made out of clay

Flying on a broomstick14) at night

Famous Witches

  Witches are a great scary character in fairytales so maybe it's not so bad that all these crazy people from the past made up all the lies about them. Think about it, if there weren't any such thing as a witch, we would not have had these scary famous witches:

术士还是巫师？

“巫师(witch)”一词实际上源于古英语“术士(wicce)”，意思是“有智慧的”。人们认为术士心地善良，仅将自己的法力和药剂用于治病救人。他们使用天然草药，感应人的气场，用自身法力替人除病解忧，造福邻里。他们做的和如今真正用草药治病救人的医生所做的并无太大区别。

恶巫师

纵览历史，正是一帮“害群之马”让术士这一群体蒙上了恶名。如果术士能用手中的魔力和草药行善事，那么他们当然也能用它们干坏事。据说这帮“害群之马”可以干下面所有这些坏事：

制造坏天气

把人变蟾蜍

让奶牛患病

往食物里投毒

带给人厄运

诅咒农民歉收

把人变丑

魔鬼之约

就这样，术士摇身一变，成了充满神秘色彩的巫师！人们视巫师为违反宗教道义之徒，说他们与魔鬼达成了契约，巫师就是魔鬼在人间的秘密部队，按照协定在地球上作恶。作为回报，魔鬼赋予他们魔力。这样一来，任何反宗教人士自然就都被扣上了“巫师”的帽子。

席卷世界的巫师大猎捕

13、14世纪，在法国和瑞士等国，巫师大猎捕是一件大事。数以万计的人因涉嫌施行巫术而被搜捕，其理由可谓荒唐之极。比如，如果丈夫牙痛，他就会告诉大家这要怪他妻子，因为家里所有饭菜都是她做的，她肯定是个巫师。但是，你我都知道，他牙痛可能是因为他吃了太多的万圣节糖果。

你想拥有哪种巫术？

关于巫师及其邪恶魔法的故事如今已广为流传。下面就来迅速浏览他们施行巫术的一些方式：

用一口大黑锅来混拌魔法药水

口念押韵上口的咒语

戴上便可施行诅咒的护身符

盯着镜子看

对黏土人偶施术

夜间乘帚柄飞行

著名的巫师

在童话故事中，巫师常扮演着令人毛骨悚然的角色，所以虽然以往那些故弄玄虚的故事家们笔下构筑的巫师之事谎言百出，但这也未必是件坏事。想想看，如果根本就不存在巫师这样的一个角色，那也就不有下面这些人尽皆知的可怕巫师了：

1. 迪士尼电影中的巫师，从左至右分别为：《白雪公主与七个小矮人》(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)中的格林希尔德皇后(Queen Grimhilde)、《睡美人》(Sleeping Beauty)中的皇后梅尔菲森特(Maleficent)、《石中剑》(The Sword in the Stone)中的巫女蛮夫人(Madame Mim)、《小美人鱼》(The Little Mermaid)中的海巫婆乌尔苏拉(Ursula)。

2. 图左为《绿野仙踪》(Wizard of Oz)中邪恶的西方女巫阿尔迈拉・居尔希(Miss Almira Gulch, the Wicked Witch of the West)

3.《小女巫萨布里纳》(Sabrina the Teenage Witch)中的年轻女巫萨布里纳(Sabrina)

1. herb [hɜː(r)b] n. (叶或茎可作药用或调味等用的)芳草

2. pluck [plʌk] vt. 拔除……的毛

3. crocus [ˈkrəʊkəs] n. 【植】番红花，藏红花

4. hog [hɒ] n. 猪(尤指已长足的、重120磅以上的食用猪)；猪科动物

5. hocus-pocus [ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs] n. 霍克斯波克斯(施魔法等时用的无实义咒语)

6. witchcraft [ˈwɪtʃkrːft] n. 巫术，魔法

7. potion [ˈpəʊʃn] n. (有药效或有毒性或魔力的)饮剂

8. party-pooper [ˈpːti puːpə(r)] n. (社交聚会上)不愿和大家一起嬉闹的人；(没精打采)令人扫兴的人，煞风景的人

9. toad [təʊd] n. 【动】蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆

10. pact [pækt] n. 契约，协定

11. cauldron [ˈkɔːldrən] n. (尤指带柄的)大锅

12. amulet [ˈæmjʊlət] n. 护身符

13. voodoo [ˈvuːduː] vt. 施伏都巫术迷惑；施魔法于

14. broomstick [ˈbruːmstɪk] n. 女巫乘骑的扫帚柄