前天剛好碰到一字眼 caul ，一些舊小說都會提到這「（胎児の）羊膜の一部. 」，包括雨果的「孤星淚\」（Les Miserables by Hugo『To be born with a caul is everything. 』）、C. Dickens等，故事主角都會提到：「我可是生來帶胎膜的…….」。我查資料，這是歐洲昔日的民俗說法，表示這種人會有異稟（通常指不會淹死；或依其顏色，命運可能不同，有一說為類似「帶金湯匙出生」，又說黑色的不見得好……）
【The term 'caul' derives from the Old English cawl, Middle English calle, and denotes the fetal membrane. In this sense the term caul is meant metaphorically, for occasionally a baby is born with the caul covering its head. This phenomenon has much folklore attached to it. In Estonia the color of a child's caul foretold his fortune, red for luck and black for misfortune, while in Russia's Carpathians, a child born with a caul or \"cap\" on the head was expected to have good luck. More sinister, a Polish folk superstition has it that an infant born with a caul on his head would later become a Vjesci, or vampire. If, however, the cap was removed, dried, ground up and fed to the child on his seventh birthday it would prevent him from maturing into the monster.】
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以下為1913年Webster辭典就 caul的說法，我簡單補些漢字：
See Also: fetal membrane, omentum, placenta
Definition: [n] the inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth)
[n] part of the peritoneum attached to the stomach and to the colon and covering the intestines
Webster\'s 1913 Dictionary
Definition: \\Caul\\ (k[add]l), n. [OE. calle, kelle, prob. fr. F. cale; cf. Ir. calla a veil.]
1. A covering of network for the head, worn by women; also, a
net. --Spenser. 女帽的後部
2. (Anat.) The fold of membrane loaded with fat, which covers
more or less of the intestines in mammals; the great
omentum. See {Omentum}.【解】大網膜？
The caul serves for the warming of the lower belly.
--Ray.
3. A part of the amnion, one of the membranes enveloping the
fetus, which sometimes is round the head of a child at its
birth. （胎児の）羊膜の一部.
It is deemed lucky to be with a caul or membrane
over the face. This caul is esteemed an infallible
preservative against drowning . . . According to
Chysostom, the midwives frequently sold it for magic
uses. --Grose.
I was born with a caul, which was advertised for
sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen
guineas. --Dickens.
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Thomas Hardy 的家族提過caul這回事，他將它寫在Return of the Native (Book iii chapter 7)。我抄張谷若先生的譯本供參考：
Fairway, Sam, and another placed their shillings on the table, and the man turned to Christian.
"No, sir," said Christian, drawing back, with a quick gaze of misgiving. "I am only a poor chap come to look on, an it please ye, sir. I don't so much as know how you do it. If so be I was sure of getting it I would put down the shilling; but I couldn't otherwise."
"I think you might almost be sure," said the pedlar. "In fact, now I look into your face, even if I can't say you are sure to win, I can say that I never saw anything look more like winning in my life."
"You'll anyhow have the same chance as the rest of us," said Sam.
"And the extra luck of being the last comer," said another. 「不但有同樣的機會，還格外有最後來的好運氣那，」【後來的好運氣：英國諺語：「最後的有運氣，髒土裡撿便士。」hc案：還找不到原文；義大利說法：The last comer shuts the door. Source: (Italian). The later comer is ill lodged.
Source: (Italian).】。
"And I was born wi' a caul, and perhaps can be no more ruined than drowned?" Christian added, beginning to give way.「俺是.戴著白帽子下生的，水裡淹不死俺，大約別的法子也毀不了俺吧？」克瑞開始心活起來，補充了一句話。
舊版
Edited byJames Gindin
| Return of the Native (Norton Critical Edition) Author: A new edition of Thomas Hardy's timeless novel of two pairs of mismatched lovers. — One of Hardy's classic statements about modern love, courtship, and marriage, The Return of the Native is set in the pastoral village of Egdon Heath. The fiery Eustacia Vye, wishing only for passionate love, believes that her escape from Egdon lies in her marriage to Clym Yeobright, the returning "native," home from Paris and discontented with his work there. Clym wishes to remain in Egdon, however--a desire that sets him in opposition to his wife and brings them both to despair. Behind the narrative of The Return of the Native lie the tragic fates of Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Oedipus, and in writing the novel Hardy endowed his ordinary characters with the status of tragic heroes, seen especially in the ill-fated lovers and Damon Wildeve, who spoil their chances to master their own destinies. The Introduction and Notes featured in this new edition incorporate the most up-to-date scholarship on Thomas Hardy. Edited with Notes by Tony Slade with an Introduction by Penny Boumelha. |
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