雙語故事:聖盃的故事

The Holy Grail

The Holy Grail is the cup that Jesus Christ used at the Last Supper. Joseph of Arimathea, the man who gave up his own tomb so that Jesus could be buried in it, kept the Grail and collected Jesus’ blood in it when Jesus was put to death on a cross. Joseph was wupposed to have taken it to Britain, where the cup was passed down from generation to generation in his family. Because the Holy Grail had belonged to Jesus, it had magic powers. It could supply food for those without sin, and make people who were not pure enough blind or mute when they came close to it. Later, however, when the Grail fell into the hands of a man who was evil and unworthy of owning it, it disappeared.

One day, when the Round Table Knights gathered in a hall in Arthur’s castle, the Grail appeared for a moment in the air accompanied with lightning, though most of the knights could not see it. Then 150 knights decided to sarch throughout Britain for the Grail. The knights went through many dangerous adventures during their search. Lancelot failed in the search, because of the sin of his love affair with Guenevere; Gawain gave up the search. Only three knights---Bors, Galahad, and Perceval---were pure enough in life to find the Grail in the castle of Corbenic. They took the Grail to the distant city of Sarras. There, after Galahad died, Bors and Perceval saw the Grail rise into heaven. According to the legend, no one has been seen the Holy Grail since that time.

聖盃的故事

傳說聖盃是耶穌在最後的晚餐上使用過的杯子。聖經裏講，亞利馬太的約瑟領取了耶穌的遺體，將他葬在自己的墓穴裏。據說就是這個約瑟保存了耶穌的杯子，並在耶穌被釘上十字架時用杯子承接了耶穌的血液。約瑟把杯子帶到了不列顛，當做家中的傳世之寶。由於杯子是耶穌的，所以有神力，可以爲清白人提供無窮無盡的食糧，但若是無德的人接近它，不是變成瞎子就是變成啞巴。後來，由於聖盃落入惡人之手，便消失得無影無蹤了。

有一天，衆騎士在亞瑟的宮廷中聚會時，聖盃伴隨着雷霆出現在空中，雖然大多數騎士無法看見它。此後150名騎士出發到不列顛各地去尋找聖盃，歷盡千辛萬苦。朗斯洛未能找到聖盃，因爲他與圭內維爾有曖昧關係；高文也中途作罷，只有三個騎士——博斯、珀西瓦爾和加拉哈德由於純潔無暇在戈比尼克城堡見到了聖盃。他們把聖盃帶到薩拉斯城。加拉哈德死後，聖盃昇天，以後再沒有人見過它。

題外話：有兩部影片涉及聖盃，一部是美國片，斯皮爾伯格執導、哈里森•福特主演，名爲《印第安納•瓊斯與最後的聖戰》，或譯《聖戰奇兵》，1989年上映。影片講印第安納•瓊斯尋找聖盃的故事。另一部是英國喜劇片《芒蒂•皮鬆與聖盃》，1975年上映。