《Periodic Table Ruthenium 》作者： - Michael Swanwick【EPUB】

zaq

Michael Swanwicks Periodic Table of Science Fiction 44 Ru Ruthenium 101.07Land of Our Fathers Ah Ruthenia Has any land been ever so lost as thee In America the Irish gather in bars todrink and grow maudlin about a land theyve never seen. The Germans wax eloquent about theRhine and about poets whose work they can only read in translation. African-Americans whosehistory has been so thoroughly obliterated that not one out of ten knows from what land ortribe his ancestors came hold a deep and abiding love for the continent of Africa. But where are the Ruthenians What history was theirs I met a Ruthenian-American girl in a bar who told me: In Ruthenia of old my ancestors greetedthe dawn with one long blast from a great bronze horn. They scorned print and saddles as thingsthat made men weak. A sprig of aspen summoned them to war. They rode bareback into battle. My Ruthenian ancestors drank fermented mares milk and a mushroom wine so strong thatoutlanders could not finish even the first flagon. The men wore gold rings at the tips of theirbeards and moustaches. The women wore silver rings braided into their hair. In winter theytook baths in the snow. In summer they fought knife-duels blindfolded and with their lefthands bound together. It was considered a great disgrace for both opponents to survive a duel. In Ruthenia the hunters could run fleeter than horses pass through a bramble thicket withoutmaking a noise and follow the day-old track of a salmon through a lake. The women wove clothas light as silk and as strong as denim in patterns that dazzled the eye. When a garment wasfinished it was held up for admiration and if the admiration was less than its maker thoughtit deserved she flung it in the fire. In Ruthenia all the children were happy. It was the custom in Old Ruthenia that when a girl came of age