The Boarded Window
:-)Our story today is called "The Boarded Window." It was written by Ambrose Bierce. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.
🍃In 1830, only a few miles away from what is now the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio, lay a huge and almost endless forest.
🍃The area had a few settlements established by people of the frontier. Many of them had already left the area for settlements further to the west. But among those remaining was a man who had been one of the first people to arrive there.
🍃He lived alone in a house of logs surrounded on all sides by the great forest. He seemed a part of the darkness and silence of the forest, for no one had ever known him to smile or speak an unnecessary word. His simple needs were supplied by selling or trading the skins of wild animals in the town.
🍃در سال 1830 در چند مایلی شهر سینسیناتی اوهایو کنونی یک جنگل تقریبا بی پایان قرار داشت.
🍃این منطقه دارای چند شهرک بود که توسط حاشیه نشینان جنگل ایجاد شده بود. بسیاری از آنها منطقه را برای رسیدن به شهرک های دورتر ترک کرده بودند. اما در میان افرادی که باقی مانده بودند مردی بود که جزو اولین مهاجران به این منطقه بود.
🍃او در خانه ای ساخته شده از کنده های درخت که با انبوه درختان جنگل احاطه شده بود زندگی میکرد.او بخشی از تاریکی و سکوت جنگل به نظر می رسید ، زیرا هیچ کس تا به حال نشنیده بود که او لبخند بزند یا کلمه ای غیر ضروری را بیان کند.نیازهای ساده وی با فروش یا تجارت پوست حیوانات وحشی در شهر تأمین می شد.
🍃His little log house had a single door. Directly opposite was a window. The window was boarded up. No one could remember a time when it was not. And no one knew why it had been closed. I imagine there are few people living today who ever knew the secret of that window. But I am one, as you shall see.
🍃The man's name was said to be Murlock. He appeared to be seventy years old, but he was really fifty. Something other than years had been the cause of his aging.
🍃His hair and long, full beard were white. His gray, lifeless eyes were sunken. His face was wrinkled. He was tall and thin with drooping shoulders—like someone with many problems.
🍃I never saw him. These details I learned from my grandfather. He told me the man's story when I was a boy. He had known him when living nearby in that early day.
🍃One day Murlock was found in his cabin, dead. It was not a time and place for medical examiners and newspapers. I suppose it was agreed that he had died from natural causes or I should have been told, and should remember.
🍃کلبه مرد تنها یک در داشت درست روبه رو آن پنجره ای وجود داشت. پنجره با تخته پوشانده شده بود. هیچکس نمی توانست زمان قبل از آن را به یاد بیاورد و هیچ کس نمیدانست چرا آن پنجره بسته شده است. گمان میکنم انسان های بسیار کمی وجود دارند که راز پنجره را میدانند و هنوز زنده هستند اما من یکی از آنها هستم همان طور که خواهید دید.
🍃گفته میشد نام مرد مورلاک است به نظر هفتاد ساله می آمد اما در واقع او پنجاه سال داشت چیزی غیر از گذر سال ها دلیل پیر شدن او شده بود.
🍃موها و ریش پرپشت و بلند او سفید بود. چشم های بی جان و خاکستری او فرو رفته بود. صورتش چروکیده شده بود. بلند و لاغر بود با شانه های افتاده مانند کسی که غرق در مشکلات است.
🍃من هرگز او را ندیده ام این جزئیات را پدر بزرگم به من گفته است وقتی پسر بچه بودم داستان مرد را برایم گفته است. او از همان روزهای اولیه مهاجرت به منطقه زمانی که در کنارش زندگی میکرد آن مرد را میشناخت.
🍃یک روز مورلاک را مرده درون کابین او پیدا کردند. نه زمان و نه مکان مناسبی بود برای اینکه روزنامه نگاری باشد یا معاینات پزشکی اما گمان میکنم قبول دارد که به دلایل طبیعی مرده است و اینکه من باید این مسئله را بگم، باید به یاد بیاورم.
🍃I know only that the body was buried near the cabin, next to the burial place of his wife. She had died so many years before him that local tradition noted very little of her existence.
🍃That closes the final part of this true story, except for the #incident that followed many years later. With a fearless spirit I went to the place and got close enough to the ruined cabin to throw a stone against it. I ran away to avoid the ghost which every well-informed boy in the area knew #haunted the spot.
🍃But there is an earlier part to this story supplied by my grandfather.
🍃When Murlock built his cabin he was young, strong and full of hope. He began the hard work of creating a farm. He kept a gun--a rifle—for hunting to support himself.
🍃He had married a young woman, in all ways worthy of his honest love and loyalty. She shared the dangers of life with a willing spirit and a light heart. There is no known record of her name or details about her. They loved each other and were happy.
🍃One day Murlock returned from hunting in a deep part of the forest. He found his wife sick with fever and confusion. There was no doctor or neighbor within miles. She was in no condition to be left alone while he went to find help. So Murlock tried to take care of his wife and return her to good health. But at the end of the third day she fell into unconsciousness and died.
🍃From what we know about a man like Murlock, we may try to imagine some of the details of the story told by my grandfather.
🍃When he was sure she was dead, Murlock had sense enough to remember that the dead must be prepared for burial. He made a mistake now and again while performing this special duty. He did certain things wrong. And others which he did correctly were done over and over again.
🍃من فقط میدانم جسد کنار کابین کنار محل دفن همسرش دفن شده است همسرش سالها قبل از او از دنیا رفت که روایات محلی بسیار کمی از وجود او حرف به میان آورده اند.
🍃که پایان بخش قسمت آخر داستان هستند به جز اتفاقی که سالها بعد رخ داد . با روحیه ای بی باک به آن مکان رفتم به اندازه ای که سنگی به آن کابین نفرین شده پرتاب کنم. زود فرار کردم تا از دست ارواحی دور بمانم که هر پسر آگاهی در منطقه آن را میشناسد همان باعث خالی از سکنه شدن آن جا شده .
🍃بگذارید از قسمت های قبلی داستان شروع کنم که از پدربزرگم شنیده ام.
زمانی که مورلاک این خانه را میساخ جوان بود قوی و پر از امید او سخت کار کرد تا مزرعه ای درست کند. همیشه یک تفنگ و اسلحه داشت برای شکار تا خود را تامین کند.
🍃او با زن جوانی ازدواج کرده بود ، از هر لحاظ شایسته عشق و وفاداری صادقانه او بود. همسرش خطرات زندگی را با روحیه ای دلپذیر و قلبی روشن در کنار او به جان میخرید. اطلاعاتی در مورد نام وی یا جزئیات آن در دست نیست. آنها یکدیگر را دوست داشتند و خوشحال بودند.