《凯尔特的薄暮》是爱尔兰著名诗人叶芝的代表作之一， 本文节选自其中的一篇，因篇幅所限，有删节。
I am not certain that he distinguishes between the natural and supernatural very clearly. He told me the other day that foxes and cats like to be in the “forths” after nightfall; and he will certainly pass from some story about a fox to a story about a spirit with less change of voice than when he is going to speak about a marten cat—a rare beast nowadays. Many years ago he used to work in the garden, and once they put him to sleep in a garden-house where there was a loft full of apples, and all night he could hear people rattling plates and knives and forks over his head in the loft. Once, at any rate, he has seen an unearthly sight in the woods. He says, “One time I was out cutting timber over in Inchy, and about eight o’clock one morning when I got there I saw a girl picking nuts, with her hair hanging down over her shoulders, brown hair, and she had a good, clean face, and she was tall and nothing on her head, and her dress no way gaudy but simple, and when she felt me coming she gathered herself up and was gone as if the earth had swallowed her up. And I followed her and looked for her, but I never could see her again from that day to this, never again.”
我不确定他能否清楚地区分自然和超自然的生物。有一天，他告诉我，狐狸和猫都特别喜欢在夜幕降临之后，跑到“山寨”里。他经常从一个关于狐狸的故事，讲着讲着就跳到一个鬼故事去，语调几乎没有变化，就好像只是换到一个关于松貂的故事似的——现在已经很少见到这种动物了。许多年前，他在一个花园干活，有次人家吩咐他到园里的一间屋子里睡，看守阁楼上的苹果。整晚，他都听到头顶上的阁楼里传来叮叮当当摆弄碟子和刀叉的声音。不管怎么说，他还真有一次在树林里看到过神奇的一幕。他说，“有一阵，我在茵奇一带砍柴，一天早上8点，我在那儿看到一个拾坚果的女孩，她的棕色秀发下垂过肩，小脸清秀洁净，个儿高高，头上没戴什么，身上穿着非常简朴。她察觉我的到来，蜷缩身子，突然消失了，好像地面开了个口子把她吸走那样。我往她的方向一路走去，想找她，但是从那天起到现在，我再也没有见过她，再也没有。”