http://brembs.net/metabiology/unicorn.jpg          
           

     詹姆斯·瑟伯的《花园中的独角兽》（The Unicorn in the Garden）是一篇寓言体小说，全文不足千字，被译成多个中文版本，也曾经被搬上美国银幕。   

    故事以典型的寓言的形式开头和结尾，说从前一个丈夫在自家花园里看见了独角兽，两次告诉妻子，两次都受到妻子的奚落，并威胁要把他送到疯人院去。等到丈夫一离开，妻子真的给警察和精神病医生打了电话，说丈夫自称看到了传说中的独角兽，让他们把丈夫抓走。当警察和精神病医生向丈夫求证时，丈夫却矢口否认说根本没有这回事，结果妻子被认为疯得不轻，关进了疯人院，从此丈夫过着幸福的生活。

    结尾处的寓意：“Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.（疯子只有被关进疯人院才能算数。）”这里作者运用了仿写和双关两种修辞手法：仿写了谚语“Don't count your chickens before they are hatched”，意为：在小鸡孵出之前不要过早地乐观。同时，hatch具有“孵化出”和“关押”的意思，有一语双关的效果。

    作者最后归纳出的“寓意”乍看有点莫名其妙，反复回味之后，其实就是“谁笑到最后，谁才笑得最好”的意思。看似天真、单纯、木纳的丈夫赢得了胜利，自以为聪明的妻子搬起石头砸了自己的脚。

    如果把它当作一般的家庭小说来解读，它反映了“家庭破裂”这一颇为常见的社会现象。从文中不难推断这对夫妻的感情基础其实早已不复存在，他们组成的家庭已是徒有虚名，分裂不过是迟早的事。独角兽的到来，正好为他们相互摆脱对方提供了契机。小说的结局是妻子被关进了精神病院，丈夫从此过得很快活。假如换个结局，丈夫被关进精神病院，妻子也会从此过得很快活。从这个意义上看，独角兽的确是吉祥的象征，但这只是对胜利者而言，而对于失败者，它则成了灾祸的预兆。

    这篇小说的主题是写一场无法挽救的婚姻，写婚姻走到崩溃的边缘，两个人都恨不得让对方马上从眼前消失。但作者对于他们的婚姻状况没写一个字，没发一句评论，他只是在讲故事，讲夫妻二人的行为、表现，语言简洁、平静、自然，几乎没有描写，只有叙述。这虽然是个简单的故事，却把夫妻间的仇恨刻画的入木三分。

    作者詹姆斯•瑟伯（1894—1961年）是美国现代作家，曾任记者、杂志编辑、专栏作家，也是著名的幽默作家和漫画家。他的作品颇具幽默风格，于平淡中见机智，以善写城市中产阶级市民的生活与精神状态著称。瑟伯一生创作了大量的散文、随笔、寓言、故事、回忆录等，他还亲自为自己的作品绘制插图。瑟伯的作品普遍受到人们的喜爱，但最成功的要数他那些冷面滑稽的讽刺小说。他尤其擅长刻画大都市中的小人物，笔法简练新奇，荒唐之中有真实，幽默之中有苦涩，被人们称作是“在墓地里吹口哨的人”。瑟伯的作品绝大多数以幽默取胜，绝无哗众取宠之嫌，有的是对生活貌似滑稽的严肃思考。他被认为是继马克•吐温之后，美国文学史上最伟大的幽默大师。

    瑟伯以用睿智、幽默、辛辣的方式来指出人性的弱点，他常借作品表达对人类美德丧失的愤慨。尤其在描写两性关系时，他的这种特质表现得尤为突出。这与詹姆斯•瑟伯的感情生活有很大关系。

    瑟伯七岁那年和两个兄弟玩耍时，一只眼意外失明，另外一只眼严重损伤，沉重的打击加上家庭成员的古怪行为，造就了他郁郁寡欢和乖戾的性格。十九岁那年他进入俄亥俄州立大学学习，成绩平平，最终辍学，没有取得学位。

    瑟伯1922年与他的第一任妻子结婚，两人在忍受了13年激烈、紧张的夫妻关系的煎熬后，于1935年离婚。仅一个月后，他又与第二任妻子结婚。第二次婚姻尚算圆满，人们不难想象，对于这样一个疾病缠身、双眼视力几近失明的“弱势群体”中的一员而言，其求爱过程以及后来的婚姻之路该是多么坎坷。婚姻生活中巨大的感情压力也许为他创作男女之间的故事提供了大量的素材。

    当瑟伯的思想投射到其作品中时，他所刻画的性别大战便给读者造成了一种阴盛阳衰的错觉。他笔下的女性人物看起来总是自以为是、盛气凌人、张狂之极，毫无温柔可言，表面上占主导地位，事实上却很愚蠢，惹人讨厌。女主人公最后被当作“精神病”带走了。似乎这样的结局是她应得的。男人们想方设法在两性对立中战胜对方，表面上唯唯诺诺、胆小怕事，但是在温顺、软弱的外表下，又隐藏着野心，梦想着用自己的方式赢得男女之间的战争。最终总是略胜一筹，后发制人，更准确地说是大智若愚、未雨绸缪。因此，在瑟伯作品中的男女之间总是潜伏着暗算、危机，它隐藏在家庭和公司里，好像有男女的地方就有战争。这不禁让我们怀疑詹姆斯•瑟伯是否对女性怀有歧视态度。对于这样的质疑，作者这样回应：“如果有时候我看起来在嘲笑女性，我保证只是为了激励她们。”

    我曾在课堂上和学生们一起赏析过这篇经典之作。女人是水，要懂得四两拨千斤的道理，学会以柔克刚，以智慧取胜。今天是女人节，分享在这里，与女同胞们共勉。

附英文原文:                   http://s10/middle/562bc2bdh7918ca42e359&690

                              作者詹姆斯•瑟伯（1894—1961年）

                           The Unicorn in the Garden

James Thurber

Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a gold horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. "The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; he was now browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn", said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said, "ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch." The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shiny morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.

As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a straight-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest. "My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn in the garden." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lily," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the straight-jacket, the husband came back into the house.

"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jay bird." So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.

MORAL: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.