在这世纪的头晌里,有个大小偷,摸黑爬到了大汗国里来,抠开墙上一个洞,掏出些许卷轴,眼珠泛出贼亮贼亮的光,仿佛间,好像在潘家园的地摊上也看到过这样的眼神,不,不可能,他绝计是不可能会到过潘家园来得,他已经死掉多年了,他的墓碑上刻着
:“Paul Pelliot”。他花了很多时间读那些偷来的书,也写了不少东西,大多数是我一点都不懂的,不过也略略用了100来页文字叙述了一段棉花的故事,在末尾,他说:“the agnus scythicus. - Much has been written about the lamb-plant, or Tartarian lamb,or Agnus scythicus; the main elements of information may be found in Br, i, 154-155; hirth,China and the Roman Orient, 54, 260-263; H, lee, The Vegetable lamb of Tartary, London,1887; schlegel, The Shui-yang... and the Agnus scythicus... (in Actes du VIII Congres international des Orientalistes, partie, section, 17-32); cordier, Odoric de Pordenone, 425-432; chavannes, in TP, 1907, 183-184; laufer, The story of the pinna and the Syrian lamb (inThe Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxvui [1915], 103-128); Ed. bruckneh, dos Pfianzenschaf(Baranets) [in Russische Revue, xxi (1882), 131-146; not mentioned in cordier, Bibl. Sinica,1879, 3981-3982.
I have to examine the problem here because, in some respects, it is closeiy connected with the history of cotton in Asia。” |