星座英語:十二星座起源的美麗傳說之射手

Kindness: Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Sagittarius is a large southern constellation in the brightest part of the Milky Way, beyond which lies the center of our galaxy. Sagittarius is the ninth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters on or around November 23.

In ancient Greece, a group of creatures who are half-human and half-monster lived in the grassland. They were fierce and barbarous, but Chiron was an exception. He was kind, sincere and respectable. One day, Hercules came to visit his friend Chiron, because he heard that the wine there had special aroma and wanted to try some. After drinking the wine of Chiron, Hercules insisted on drinking the rest of it. Chiron told him that the wine should be shared and not only drunk by Hercules. However, Hercules was angry and started fighting with the creatures.

In spite of having strong powers, the group of creatures could not defeat Hercules. They had to escape to the home of Chiron. Hercules shouted from outside that if no one came out, he would destroy the whole group. In order to save the group and stop the war, Chiron came out. At that moment, Hercules shot his arrow and it went through Chiron’s heart. Hercules was so grieved by this and regretted what he did. Just before he died, Chiron said, “The soft heart can stop the arrow no matter how sharp it is; the monster will not lose its conscience no matter how crazy it is.”
When he died, Chiron ascended into the sky and became Sagittarius.

星座起源的美麗傳說：射手的善良

在遙遠古希臘的大草原中，馳騁着一批半人半馬的族羣，這是一個生性兇猛的族羣。“半人半馬”代表着理性與非理性、人性與獸性間的矛盾掙扎，這就是人馬部落。部落裏唯一的例外射手奇倫，是一個生性善良的男子，他對人坦誠真摯，謙遜有理。因此受到大家的尊敬與愛戴。

有一天，英雄赫五力來拜訪他的朋友奇倫。赫五力早就聽說人馬族的酒香醇無比，便要求奇倫給他拿來享用，可是，他喝光了奇倫的酒仍不盡興，執意要喝光全部落的酒。奇倫非常耐心地解釋給他聽，酒是部落的公共財產，不是任何一個人可以獨自佔有的，希望赫五力不要因爲一時的興致而犯衆怒。赫五力向來脾氣暴躁，怎麼能聽得進奇倫的話，他把這個善良的朋友推到一邊就闖進了人馬部落。果不出奇倫所料，暴躁的赫五力和兇猛的人馬族碰在一起，衝突不可避免的發生了。

赫五力力大無窮，幼年即用雙手扼死巨蟒，他完成國王的十項不可能完成的任務都遊刃有餘，連太陽神阿波羅都懼他三分，人馬族雖然厲害，也並不是赫五力的對手，他們紛紛落逃。赫五力手持神弓緊緊追趕，藉着酒勁，大肆進攻。人馬族被逼的走投無路，只好逃到了奇倫的家中。人們惶惶不安，赫五力站在門口大聲呵斥，如果再沒人出來，他就把這個部落毀掉。奇倫聽到這裏，爲了部落，爲了朋友，爲了化解這場爭鬥，他奮不顧身的推開門，走了出來。就在那一剎那，赫五力的箭也飛了過來！赫五力惋惜又痛心的看着自己的朋友被神箭射穿心臟，而奇倫則用盡最後的力氣說到：“再鋒利的箭也會被軟弱的心包容；再瘋狂的獸性也不會泯滅人性。”

這時候，奇倫的身體碎成了無數的小星星，飛到了天上，它們聚集在一起，好象人馬的樣子，那隻箭還似乎就在他的胸前。爲了紀念善良的奇倫，人們就管這個星座叫射手座。