Cemetery Path /by Leonard Q. Ross
http://cmsnorthstar.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/6/3/56635067/cemetery_path__by_leonard_q__1_.pdf
Bōng-á-po͘ Lō͘ | 墓仔埔路
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Ivan sī chi̍t-ê bô-táⁿ ê sè-hàn cha-po͘ -- bô-táⁿ kah chng-lāi ê lâng lóng kiò i "Hún-chiáu," a̍h keng-thé kóng i sī "Khióng-pò͘ ê Ivan." Ta̍k-àm Ivan lóng tī bōng-á-po͘ piⁿ ê chiú-tiàm thêng-khùn. Ivan m̄-bat kiâⁿ bōng-á-po͘ ê sió-lō͘, tńg hit-pêng-thâu in tau hit-keng ko͘-to̍k ê sió chhù-liâu. Keng-kòe bōng-á-po͘ ê lō͘ ē-tàng ūi i chiat-séng chin chē sî-kan, m̄-koh i m̄-bat án-ne kiâⁿ -- sīm-chì tī goe̍h-îⁿ ê àm-mê.
Chi̍t-ê kôaⁿ-thiⁿ chhim-iā, chiú-tiàm gōa-bīn hong chhoe seh sàu, lāi-bīn ê kò͘-kheh iū-koh khai-sí in se̍k-sāi ê chiàⁿ-khau tò-siah.
Ivan bô-la̍t ê khòng-gī kan-ta cheng-ka in ê chhòng-tī, tán hit-ê siàu-liân Cossack tiong-ùi hiòng i thê-chhut khó-phà ê thiau-chiàn ê sî, in koh-khah sī hoat-chhut chân-jím ê thí-chhiò.
"Ivan, lí put-kò sī chi̍t-chiah hún-chiáu mah. Chiah-nī kôaⁿ, lí iû-goân se̍h kòe bōng-á-po͘ -- m̄-koh, lí m̄-káⁿ kiâⁿ kòe bōng-á-po͘."
Ivan án-ne nauh kóng, "Kiâⁿ kòe bōng-á-po͘ ná ū siáⁿ, Tiong-ùi. He put-kò sī thô͘, hām pa̍t-ūi ê thô͘ kāng-khoán."
Tiong-ùi hoah siaⁿ, "Nā án-ne, lâi thiau-chiàn! E-àm lí kiâⁿ kòe bōng-á-po͘, Ivan, góa tō hō͘ lí 5 ruble* -- gō͘-ê kim ruble!" [* ruble: Rusia ê kim-chîⁿ.]
Hoān-sè sī in-ūi vodka* ê iân-kò͘. Hoān-sè sī hō͘ gō͘-ê kim ruble siâⁿ tio̍h. Bô-lâng chai, sī án-chóaⁿ Ivan, chīⁿ-tâm i ê chhùi-tûn, hut-jiân kóng: "Hó, Tiong-ùi. Góa boeh kiâⁿ kòe bōng-á-po͘!" [* vodka: Rusia ê kāu chiú.]
Chiú-tiàm lāi hiáng-khí in m̄-siong-sìn ê hoah-siaⁿ. Tiong-ùi tùi chiòng-lâng sái chi̍t-ê ba̍k-sek, tháu lo̍h i ê kun-to. "Ivan, the̍h che. Tán lí kàu bōng-á-po͘ tiong-ng ê sî, tī siōng tōa hit-mn̂g bōng-á hia, kā chit-ki kun-to chhah ji̍p thô͘-kha. Thiⁿ-kng liáu, goán ē khì hia. Kun-to nā ū chhah tī thô͘-kha -- tō hō͘ lí gō͘-ê kim ruble!"
Ivan chiap kòe kun-to. Chiòng-lâng kan-poe hoah-hiu: "Kèng Khióng-pò͘ ê Ivan!" Hoah kah ta̍k-ê chhiò hai-hai.
Ivan koaiⁿ hó chiú-tiàm ê mn̂g, sin-piⁿ ê hong siù-siù kiò. Léng kah bē-su to teh koah. I kā tn̂g gōa-thò liú hó, ta̍h chiūⁿ thô͘ lō͘. I thiaⁿ ē-tio̍h tiong-ùi ê siaⁿ, pí pa̍t-lâng khah tōa siaⁿ, tī i āu-bīn hoah, "Hún-chiáu, gō͘ ruble! Jû-kó lí iáu oa̍h leh!"
Ivan tháⁿ-khui bōng-á-po͘ ê tōa-mn̂g. I kín-kín kiâⁿ. "Thô͘, che put-kò sī thô͘... chhiūⁿ jīm-hô kî-thaⁿ ê thô͘." M̄-koh, o͘-àm sī ke̍k-tōa ê khióng-pò͘. "Gō͘-ê kim ruble..." Hong léng sih-sih, chhiú tiong ê kun-to ná peng-ki. Ivan tī tn̂g koh kāu ê gōa-thò lāi-bīn khū-khū chùn, khai-sí kho̍k-kho̍k phiân khí-pō͘ cháu.
I jīn-chhut hit-mn̂g tōa bōng. I tiāⁿ-tio̍h ū chheh-khùi -- in-ūi hō͘ hong cha̍k kah bē chhoán-khùi.
I kūi lo̍h-lâi, kôaⁿ koh kiaⁿ, kā kun-to tu̍h ji̍p tēng thô͘. Koh kō͘ kûn-thâu-bó kā tûi-lo̍h kàu pèⁿ ê ūi. Hó-sè ah. Bōng-á-po͘... thiau-chiàn... gō͘-ê kim ruble.
Ivan khai-sí sóa kha-thâu-u boeh peh khí-lâi. M̄-koh, i bô hoat-tō͘ tín-tāng. Ū mi̍h-kiāⁿ kā i lia̍h tio̍h.
Ū mi̍h-kiāⁿ kā i lia̍h tiâu-tiâu, m̄ pàng-khui. Ivan la̍k koh chhoah koh khiú -- chheⁿ -kông suh chhim-khùi, kiaⁿ kah kui-sin phi̍h-phi̍h chhoah. M̄-koh, ū mi̍h-kiāⁿ kā Ivan lia̍h tio̍h. I tio̍h-kiaⁿ kah háu chhut-siaⁿ, jiân-āu hoat-chhut bô ì-gī ê gor-gor siaⁿ.
Keh-kang chá-khí, in hoat-hiān Ivan tó tī bōng-á-po͘ tiong-ng hit-mn̂g bōng ê thâu-chêng. I ê bīn bô sêng sī kôaⁿ sí, khah sêng sī in-ūi bo̍k-bêng ê khióng-pò͘ só͘ kiaⁿ sí ê. Tiong-ùi ê kun-to chhah tī Ivan tu̍h lo̍h ê thô͘-kha -- chhah kòe i he tn̂g gōa-thò thoa-thô͘ ê ē-pô͘.
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Ivan 是一个無膽 ê 細漢查埔 -- 無膽 kah 庄內 ê 人 lóng 叫伊 "粉鳥," a̍h 供體講伊是 "恐怖 ê Ivan." 逐暗 Ivan lóng tī 墓仔埔邊 ê 酒店停睏. Ivan 毋捌行墓仔埔 ê 小路, 轉彼爿頭 in 兜彼間孤獨 ê 小厝寮. 經過墓仔埔 ê 路會當為伊節省真濟時間, 毋過伊毋捌 án-ne 行 -- 甚至 tī 月圓 ê 暗暝.
一个寒天深夜, 酒店外面風吹雪掃, 內面 ê 顧客又閣開始 in 熟似 ê 正剾倒削.
Ivan 無力 ê 抗議干焦增加 in ê 創治, 等彼个少年 Cossack 中尉向伊提出可怕 ê 挑戰 ê 時, in 閣較是發出殘忍 ê 恥笑.
"Ivan, 你不過是一隻粉鳥 mah. Chiah-nī 寒, 你猶原踅過墓仔埔 -- 毋過, 你毋敢行過墓仔埔."
Ivan án-ne 喃講, "行過墓仔埔那有啥, 中尉. 彼不過是塗, 和別位 ê 塗仝款."
中尉喝聲, "若 án-ne, 來挑戰! 下暗你行過墓仔埔, Ivan, 我 tō 予你 5 ruble* -- 五个金 ruble!" [* ruble: Rusia ê 金錢.]
凡勢是因為 vodka* ê 緣故. 凡勢是 hō͘ 五个金 ruble 唌著. 無人知, 是按怎 Ivan, 舐澹伊 ê 喙唇, 忽然講: "好, 中尉. 我欲行過墓仔埔!" [* vodka: Rusia ê 厚酒.]
酒店內響起 in 毋相信 ê 喝聲. 中尉對眾人使一个目色, 敨落伊 ê 軍刀. "Ivan, 提這. 等你到墓仔埔中央 ê 時, tī 上大彼門墓仔 hia, kā 這支軍刀插入塗跤. 天光了, 阮會去 hia. 軍刀若有插 tī 塗跤 -- tō 予你五个金 ruble!"
Ivan 接過軍刀. 眾人乾杯喝咻: "敬恐怖 ê Ivan!" 喝 kah 逐个笑咍咍.
Ivan 關好酒店 ê 門, 身邊 ê 風 siù-siù 叫. 冷 kah 袂輸刀 teh 割. 伊 kā 長外套鈕好, 踏上塗路. 伊聽會著中尉 ê 聲, 比別人較大聲, tī 伊後面喝, "粉鳥, 五 ruble! 如果你猶活 leh!"
Ivan 挺開墓仔埔 ê 大門. 伊緊緊行. "塗, 這不過是塗... 像任何其他 ê 塗." 毋過, 烏暗是極大 ê 恐怖. "五个金 ruble..." 風冷 sih-sih, 手中 ê 軍刀 ná 冰支. Ivan tī 長 koh 厚 ê 外套內面懼懼顫, 開始 kho̍k-kho̍k 蹁起步走.
伊認出彼門大墓. 伊定著有 chheh 氣 -- 因為 hō͘ 風嗾 kah 袂喘氣.
伊跪落來, 寒 koh 驚, kā 軍刀揬入 tēng 塗. Koh kō͘ 拳頭母 kā 捶落到柄 ê 位. 好勢 ah. 墓仔埔... 挑戰... 五个金 ruble.
Ivan 開始徙跤頭趺欲 peh 起來. 毋過, 伊無法度振動. 有物件 kā 伊掠著.
有物件 kā 伊掠牢牢, 毋放開. Ivan 搦 koh 掣 koh 搝 -- 青狂欶深氣, 驚 kah 規身咇咇掣. 毋過, 有物件 kā Ivan 掠著. 伊著驚 kah 吼出聲, 然後發出無意義 ê gor-gor 聲.
隔工早起, in 發現 Ivan 倒 tī 墓仔埔中央彼門墓 ê 頭前. 伊 ê 面無成是寒死, 較成是因為莫名 ê 恐怖所驚死 ê. 中尉 ê 軍刀插 tī Ivan 揬落 ê 塗跤 -- 插過伊 he 長外套拖塗 ê 下裒.
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Ivan was a timid little man – so timid that the villagers called him “Pigeon,” or mocked him with the title “Ivan the Terrible.” Every night Ivan stopped at the tavern which was on the edge of the village cemetery. Ivan never crossed the cemetery to get to his lonely shack on the other side. The path through the cemetery would save him many minutes, but he had never taken it – not even in the full light of the moon.
Late one winter’s night, when bitter wind and snow beat against the tavern, the customers took up their familiar mockery.
Ivan’s sickly protest only fed their taunts, and they jeered cruelly when the young Cossack lieutenant flung his horrid challenge at their quarry.
“You are a pigeon, Ivan. You’ll walk all around the cemetery in this cold – but you dare not cross the cemetery.”
Ivan murmured, “The cemetery is nothing to cross, Lieutenant. It is nothing but earth, like all the other earth.”
The lieutenant cried, “A challenge, then! Cross the cemetery tonight, Ivan, and I’ll give you five rubles – five gold rubles!”
Perhaps it was the vodka. Perhaps it was the temptation of the five gold rubles. No one ever knew why Ivan, moistening his lips, said suddenly: “Yes, Lieutenant. I’ll cross the cemetery!”
The tavern echoed with their disbelief. The lieutenant winked to the men and unbuckled his saber. “Here, Ivan. When you get to the center of the cemetery, in front of the biggest tomb, stick the saber into the ground. In the morning we shall go there. And if the saber is in the ground – five gold rubles to you!”
Ivan took the saber. The men drank a toast: “To Ivan the Terrible!” They roared with laughter.
The wind howled around Ivan as he closed the door of the tavern behind him. The cold was knife-sharp. He buttoned his long coat and crossed the dirt road. He could hear the lieutenant’s voice, louder than the rest, yelling after him, “Five rubles, pigeon! If you live!”
Ivan pushed the cemetery gate open. He walked fast. “Earth, just earth…like any other earth.” But the darkness was a massive dread. “Five gold rubles…” The wind was cruel and the saber was like ice in his hands. Ivan shivered under the long, thick coat and broke into a limping run.
He recognized the large tomb. He must have sobbed – that was drowned in the wind.
And he kneeled, cold and terrified, and drove the saber into the hard ground. With his fist, he beat it down to the hilt. It was done. The cemetery…the challenge…five gold rubles.
Ivan started to rise from his knees. But he could not move. Something held him.
Something gripped him in an unyielding and implacable hold. Ivan tugged and lurched and pulled – gasping in his panic, shaken by a monstrous fear. But something held Ivan. He cried out in terror, then made senseless gurgling noises.
They found Ivan, next morning, on the ground in front of the tomb that was in the center of the cemetery. His face was not that of a frozen man’s, but of a man killed by some nameless horror. And the lieutenant’s saber was in the ground where Ivan had pounded it – through the dragging folds of his long coat.
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// 2022-8-29
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