第一百五十三章 第七章 野孩在印度分类中应占的地位
巴黎的流浪儿集团几乎可算作一个阶层。我们甚至可以说：不是谁想加入就能加入的。
"野孩"这个词，首次出现在书面语中，并由此进入百姓口语，是在1834年。这个词是在一部题为《克洛德·格》的小作品中出现的。当时引起了不小的轰动。这个词便开始流传开来。
野孩之间相互尊重的因素多种多样。我们认识并交往过这样一个野孩，他因为亲眼见过一个人从圣母院钟楼顶上摔下来而备受尊敬和崇拜；另一个因为成功潜入荣军院圆顶雕像暂时存放的后院，并从雕像上"顺走"了些铅块；第三个因为目睹了一辆驿车翻倒；还有一个因为"认识"一个差点打瞎一位市民眼睛的士兵。
这就解释了巴黎野孩一句著名的感叹，一句深刻的警句，俗人听了只觉可笑却不理解——"天哪！我怎么这么倒霉！至今还没见过有人从五楼窗户掉下来！"（他们把"见过"说成"见咕"，把"五楼"说成"五娄"）。
的确，有个农民说过一句精妙的话："某某老爹，您的老婆病死了，您怎么不请大夫呢？""先生，您有什么办法呢，我们穷人呀，是自个儿死的。"如果说农民的整个被动性都体现在这句话里，那么郊区顽童那种自由思想的无政府状态，则无疑包含在另一句话中。一个死囚坐在囚车里听神父做临终忏悔。巴黎的孩子喊道："他在跟他的黑帽子说话呢！哼，滑头！"
在宗教问题上的某些大胆行为，使得野孩显得与众不同。思想坚定是一个重要的品质。
观看死刑是一种义务。他出现在断头台前，还哈哈大笑。他用各种昵称称呼它：汤的尽头、咆哮的东西、蓝妈妈（指天空）、最后一口，等等等等。为了不放过这场戏的任何细节，他翻墙爬阳台，上树攀栅栏，抓住烟囱不放。野孩天生就是铺瓦工，就像天生是水手一样。屋顶对他来说，并不比桅杆更可怕。没有比格莱夫广场上的死刑更热闹的节日了。桑松和蒙代斯神甫才是真正家喻户晓的名字。他们向受刑者起哄，给他打气。有时他们也佩服他。拉赛内尔小时候，看见可怕的都坦英勇地死去，说出了这句蕴含未来意义的话："我嫉妒他。"在野孩的团体里，没人知道伏尔泰，却都知道帕帕瓦纳。"政治家"和杀人犯在同样的传说中被混为一谈。他们对每个人临死穿的衣服都有说法。他们知道托勒隆戴的是消防帽，阿弗里尔戴的是水獭皮帽，洛斯维尔戴的是圆礼帽，老德拉波特是个秃头，不戴帽子，卡斯泰因脸色红润，相貌英俊，鲍里斯蓄着浪漫的小胡子，让·马丁还系着吊裤带，勒库菲和他母亲吵架。"别为你们的篮子互相责备了，"一个野孩朝他们喊道。另一个野孩为了在德巴克经过时能看他一眼，却因为个子太小挤在人群里，看到码头上的路灯就爬了上去。对面站着一个宪兵，皱起了眉头。"让我爬上去吧，宪兵先生，"野孩说。为了软化官长的心，他又加了一句："我不会摔下来的。""你摔不摔下来，关我什么事，"宪兵回了一句。
在野孩圈子里，一件值得纪念的意外很重要。如果有人碰巧把自己割得很深，"深可见骨"，那就能达到备受尊敬的地位。
拳头也算得上是一种受人尊敬的因素。野孩最爱说的一句话是："我棒极了，强壮得很，来吧！"左撇子会让你非常令人羡慕。斜眼也备受推崇。
INDIA
The body of street Arabs in Paris almost constitutes a caste. One might
almost say: Not every one who wishes to belong to it can do so.
This word _gamin_ was printed for the first time, and reached popular
speech through the literary tongue, in 1834. It is in a little work
entitled _Claude Gueux_ that this word made its appearance. The horror
was lively. The word passed into circulation.
The elements which constitute the consideration of the gamins for each
other are very various. We have known and associated with one who was
greatly respected and vastly admired because he had seen a man fall
from the top of the tower of Notre-Dame; another, because he had
succeeded in making his way into the rear courtyard where the statues
of the dome of the Invalides had been temporarily deposited, and had
“prigged” some lead from them; a third, because he had seen a diligence
tip over; still another, because he “knew” a soldier who came near
putting out the eye of a citizen.
This explains that famous exclamation of a Parisian gamin, a profound
epiphonema, which the vulgar herd laughs at without comprehending,—
_Dieu de Dieu! What ill-luck I do have! to think that I have never yet
seen anybody tumble from a fifth-story window! _ (_I have_ pronounced
_I’ave_ and _fifth_ pronounced _fift’_.)
Surely, this saying of a peasant is a fine one: “Father So-and-So, your
wife has died of her malady; why did you not send for the doctor?”
“What would you have, sir, we poor folks _die of ourselves_.” But if
the peasant’s whole passivity lies in this saying, the whole of the
free-thinking anarchy of the brat of the faubourgs is, assuredly,
contained in this other saying. A man condemned to death is listening
to his confessor in the tumbrel. The child of Paris exclaims: “He is
talking to his black cap! Oh, the sneak!”
A certain audacity on matters of religion sets off the gamin. To be
strong-minded is an important item.
To be present at executions constitutes a duty. He shows himself at the
guillotine, and he laughs. He calls it by all sorts of pet names: The
End of the Soup, The Growler, The Mother in the Blue (the sky), The
Last Mouthful, etc., etc. In order not to lose anything of the affair,
he scales the walls, he hoists himself to balconies, he ascends trees,
he suspends himself to gratings, he clings fast to chimneys. The gamin
is born a tiler as he is born a mariner. A roof inspires him with no
more fear than a mast. There is no festival which comes up to an
execution on the Place de Grève. Samson and the Abbé Montès are the
truly popular names. They hoot at the victim in order to encourage him.
They sometimes admire him. Lacenaire, when a gamin, on seeing the
hideous Dautin die bravely, uttered these words which contain a future:
“I was jealous of him.” In the brotherhood of gamins Voltaire is not
known, but Papavoine is. “Politicians” are confused with assassins in
the same legend. They have a tradition as to everybody’s last garment.
It is known that Tolleron had a fireman’s cap, Avril an otter cap,
Losvel a round hat, that old Delaporte was bald and bareheaded, that
Castaing was all ruddy and very handsome, that Bories had a romantic
small beard, that Jean Martin kept on his suspenders, that Lecouffé and
his mother quarrelled. “Don’t reproach each other for your basket,”
shouted a gamin to them. Another, in order to get a look at Debacker as
he passed, and being too small in the crowd, caught sight of the
lantern on the quay and climbed it. A gendarme stationed opposite
frowned. “Let me climb up, m’sieu le gendarme,” said the gamin. And, to
soften the heart of the authorities he added: “I will not fall.” “I
don’t care if you do,” retorted the gendarme.
In the brotherhood of gamins, a memorable accident counts for a great
deal. One reaches the height of consideration if one chances to cut
one’s self very deeply, “to the very bone.”
The fist is no mediocre element of respect. One of the things that the
gamin is fondest of saying is: “I am fine and strong, come now!” To be
left-handed renders you very enviable. A squint is highly esteemed.
