The Stone Bride

The Legend

传说

When it rained, she wept. That was the first thing anyone learned about the Stone Bride of Key Lane, and for most visitors the last as well, since no more would fit into a photo. Above the door of house number seven, in the keystone of the doorway, sat the head of a young woman in grey sandstone, hardly bigger than a loaf of bread, her hair tied in a knot at the nape of her neck. As soon as it rained, two dark tracks ran from the corners of her eyes over her cheeks down to her chin, and the corners of her mouth, worn soft by the weather, drew downwards as well, as if she had seen it coming.

一下雨，她就哭。关于钥匙巷的石新娘，人们最先知道的就是这一点，而对大多数游客来说，这也是最后知道的一点，因为再多的东西就装不进一张照片了。七号房子的门上方，门洞的拱心石里，嵌着一个年轻女子的头像，灰色砂岩雕成，不比一个面包大，头发在颈后挽成一个髻。只要下雨，两道深色的水痕就从她的眼角流过脸颊，一直淌到下巴，被风雨磨得柔和的嘴角也随之向下撇，仿佛她早就料到会这样。

On this Tuesday in October Tereza Nováková stood beneath her for what was, at a cautious estimate, the three-thousandth time. She held up the yellow umbrella by which her groups recognised her, waited until the last of them had come up the lane, and lowered her voice, as she always did, at exactly this spot.

这个十月的星期二，特蕾扎·诺瓦科娃站在她的下方，保守估计，是第三千次。她高举着团队用来认出她的那把黄伞，等最后一个人也走上巷子，然后放低声音，一如既往，就在这个位置。