John Bunyan - Christian and Faithful Come to Vanity Fair 汉译

       Then I saw in my Dream, that when they were got out of the Wilderness, they presently saw a Town before them, and the name of that Town is Vanity; and at the Town there is a Fair kept, called Vanity-Fair. It is kept all the Year long: it beareth the name of Vanity-Fair, because the Town where it is kept, is lighter than Vanity; and also, because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is Vanity. As is the saying of the wise, All that cometh is Vanity.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

       This Fair is no new erected business, but a thing of ancient standing; I will show you the original of it.

       Almost five thousand years agone, there were Pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their Companions, perceiving by the Path that the Pilgrims made, that their way to the City lay through this Town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a Fair; a Fair wherein should be sold of of all sorts of Vanity, and that it should last all the year long. Therefore at this Fair are all such Merchandize sold, as Houses, Lands, Trades, Places, Honours, Preferments, Titles, Countries, Kingdoms, Lusts, Pleasures, and Delights of all sorts, as Whores, Bawds, Wives, Husbands, Children, Masters, Servants, Lives, Blood, Bodies, Souls, Silver, Gold, Pearls, Precious Stones, and what not.

       And moreover, at this Fair there is at all times to be seen Jugglings, Cheats, Games, Plays, Fools, Apes, Knaves, and Rogues, and that of every kind.

       Here are to be seen too, and that for nothing, Thefts, Murders, Adulteries, False-swearers, and that of a blood-red colour.

       And as in other Fairs of less moment, there are the several Rows and Streets, under their proper names, where such and such Wares are vended: So here likewise, you have the proper Places, Rows, Streets (viz. Countrys and Kingdoms), where the Wares of this Fair are soonest to be found: Here is the Britain Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where several sorts of Vanities are to be sold. But as in other Fairs, some one Commodity is as the chief of all the Fair, so the Ware of Rome and her Merchandize is greatly promoted in this Fair. Only our English Nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.

       Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this Town, where this lusty Fair is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go through this Town, must needs go out of the World. The Prince of Princes himself, where here, went through this Town to his own Country, and that upon a Fair-day too: Yea, and as I think, it was Beelzebub, the chief Lord of this Fair, that invited him to buy of his Vanities; yea, would have made him Lord of the Fair, would he but have done him Reverence as he went through the Town. Yea, because he was such a person of Honour, Beelzebub had him from Street to Street, and showed him all the Kingdoms of the World in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure that Blessed One, to cheapen and buy some of his Vanities. But he had no mind to the Merchandize, and therefore left the Town, without laying out so much as one Farthing upon these Vanities. This Fair therefore is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great Fair.

       Now these Pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this Fair. Well, so they did; but behold, even as they entered into the Fair, all the people in the Fair were moved, and the Town itself as it were in a Hubbub about them; and that for several reasons: For,

       First, The Pilgrims were cloathed with such kind of Raiment as was diverse from the Raiment of any that Traded in that Fair. The people therefore of the Fair made a great gazing upon them. Some said they were Fools, some they were Bedlams, and some they are Outlandish-men.

       Secondly, And as they wondered at their Apparel, so they did likewise at their speech, for few could understand what they said; they naturally spoke the Language of Canaan, but they that kept the Fair, were the men of this World: so that from one end of the Fair to the other, they seemed Barbarians each to the other.

       Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the Merchandizers, was, that these Pilgrims set very light by all their Wares.