 | Former U.S. soldier John Allen Muhammad (R), a Gulf War veteran, and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, both suspects in the Washington area sniper slayings | In the cat-and-mouse game leading up to Thursday's arrests, one of the most mysterious episodes was the tale of a duck told by a Moose. At a news conference Wednesday, Montgomery County, Md., police Chief Charles Moose made reference to a "duck in a noose," a cryptic comment made, according to Moose, at the behest of the person presumed to be the Washington-area sniper. The line appears to be a reference to a Cherokee folk tale, whose recounting mayshed light onthe mind of the sniper."You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things," Moose said at the news conference. "You asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say this is important to you." THE LEGEND
The Cherokee legend, commonly known as "The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting," is about a rabbit who is a braggart and a trickster able to persuade other animals that he canback uphis boasts. The rabbit brags that he can catch aquatic creatures just like the otter can and hatches a plan to convince the otter by matching his hunting feats. The otter says he sometimes catches ducks, and the rabbit tells the otter to go first. The otter slips beneath the water, comes up beneath the ducks, grabs one and returns underwater. While the otter is going about this task, the rabbit fashions a noose from tree bark. The rabbit, no skilled swimmer, swims in sputtering fits and starts out to the ducks, comes up underneath them and manages to lasso one. The duck takes off, hoisting the rabbit into the air at the end of the tether. The rabbit tires and falls, landing inside the hollow trunk of a sycamore tree, where he is trapped. After several hungry days, the rabbit hears children playing nearby. He begins to sing: "Cut a door and look at me; I'm the prettiest thing you ever did see." The children summon their father, who cuts a hole. The rabbit tells them to stand back so they'll have a good view as he emerges. They comply, and the rabbit dashes through the hole and escapes.
 | FBI agents carted away potential evidence, including the tree stump from the yard that investigators planned to examine for bullets or bullet fragments. |
WHAT MEANING?
The tale still, of course, leaves questions unanswered. The sniper puts himself in the role of the duck, not the rabbit. Is the point that the police - presumably in the role of the rabbit - are bumbling frauds? Or was the sniper perhaps giving the police a clue to his technique, like a villain on "Batman," with the words of the rabbit's song? Law enforcement sources said Thursday that the car in which two men were arrested at a Maryland rest area had been modified, with a hole through which the shooter could aim and fire unseen out the back of the vehicle. Or might the tale have led investigators to seize stumps from the yard of a Tacoma, Wash., home? Now that a noose has closed around two men in the sniper investigation, perhaps the hole through which to see the answer may be cut. Note: shed light on: 使某事物清楚明白地顯示出來(lái) back up: 實(shí)現(xiàn) (Agencies) | 10月24日,美國(guó)蒙哥馬利縣警方逮捕了一名連環(huán)殺人案犯罪嫌疑人,使連日來(lái)警方和兇手之間沒(méi)完沒(méi)了的貓捉老鼠的游戲暫告一段落。但這一案件的傳奇色彩卻似乎越來(lái)越濃了。10月23日,美國(guó)蒙哥馬利縣警方召開(kāi)新聞發(fā)布會(huì),警察局長(zhǎng)查爾斯·穆斯在會(huì)上提到兇手曾用一個(gè)關(guān)于"繩套里的鴨子"的神秘傳說(shuō)暗示警方,并把自己比喻成故事中的"鴨子"。也許,這個(gè)古老的切羅基族傳說(shuō),能夠?yàn)槲覀兘议_(kāi)連環(huán)殺人兇手神秘的面紗。 穆斯說(shuō):"你們(罪犯)曾想通過(guò)暗示來(lái)操縱我們的言行。你們希望聽(tīng)到我們說(shuō):'我們抓獲那個(gè)殺手就像抓住繩套里的鴨子一樣。'我們知道這樣的說(shuō)法對(duì)你們來(lái)講有特殊的意義。"  | Bushmaster半自動(dòng)步槍,神秘槍手襲擊所用的就是這種型號(hào) |
神秘傳說(shuō)提示警方 這個(gè)切羅基族傳說(shuō)講的是一只"想捉鴨子的兔子"。這只愛(ài)說(shuō)大話的兔子總想在其他動(dòng)物面前表現(xiàn)的能夠自圓其說(shuō)。一天,它盤(pán)算著要水獺來(lái)幫它捉一只鴨子,卻故意向水獺吹噓說(shuō)自己能和它一樣捕捉水里的動(dòng)物。 水獺果然上當(dāng)了。它告訴兔子,自己經(jīng)常能逮到鴨子,兔子讓它先示范一下。只見(jiàn)水獺滑到水中,潛到鴨群的下方,冷不丁探頭抓住一只,立刻又潛到水下去了。 趁著水獺抓鴨子的工夫,兔子用樹(shù)皮做了一個(gè)繩套。 兔子不擅長(zhǎng)游泳,只見(jiàn)它在水中噼里啪啦地游近鴨群,費(fèi)力從它們底下探出頭,用繩索套住一只鴨子,不料卻被鴨子掙脫了。憤怒的鴨子一把抓起兔子,用盡氣力把它扔到了遠(yuǎn)處。 兔子掉到了一棵無(wú)花果樹(shù)的空樹(shù)干里,怎么掙扎也出不去。 就這樣奄奄一息地餓了幾天后,兔子突然聽(tīng)到孩子們?cè)谥車嫠5穆曇簟K谑浅饋?lái): "鑿開(kāi)一個(gè)門洞看看我,如此的奇景你沒(méi)見(jiàn)過(guò)"。 孩子們找來(lái)了父親,父親果真幫他們鑿了一個(gè)洞。兔子又說(shuō):"往后退退做準(zhǔn)備,遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地看我才更美。"孩子們答應(yīng)了。于是,兔子用力從門洞中闖出來(lái),溜了。 究竟寓意何在? 這個(gè)傳說(shuō)當(dāng)然有它現(xiàn)實(shí)的意義,但究竟說(shuō)明了什么呢?嫌犯把自己看成是鴨子,而不是兔子,那警察又是什么角色呢?難道是那欺詐成性的兔子? 或者說(shuō)嫌犯用這個(gè)故事暗示了自己的作案手法?像故事中的兔子那樣唱著歌,就像《蝙蝠俠》中的反派一樣?據(jù)警方透露,22日在馬里蘭抓獲這兩名嫌犯的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)發(fā)現(xiàn),他們的車是經(jīng)過(guò)改裝的,可以通過(guò)車后的一個(gè)孔瞄準(zhǔn)射擊而且不被車外的人發(fā)現(xiàn)。 又或者是這個(gè)傳說(shuō)引導(dǎo)警方從華盛頓塔科馬--疑犯的住宅將發(fā)現(xiàn)的樹(shù)干鋸下來(lái)帶走做證物的? 無(wú)論如何,目前搜捕的繩套已經(jīng)越拉越緊,漸漸勒住了這兩個(gè)嫌疑犯的脖子,那么能揭開(kāi)事實(shí)真相的那扇門是不是也漸漸地打開(kāi)了呢? 編者按:
美國(guó)媒體報(bào)道說(shuō),穆罕默德是美國(guó)籍,身高約185厘米,體重約80公斤。海灣戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間他曾經(jīng)在美軍服役,并且已經(jīng)皈依伊斯蘭教,他的繼子據(jù)信是一位牙買加公民。這兩個(gè)人都曾表示過(guò)對(duì)"9.11"恐怖攻擊分子的同情。 警察獲得的證物,其中包括一棵被砍掉一半的大樹(shù)干,干員將樹(shù)干整個(gè)鋸下來(lái)帶走作為證物,當(dāng)?shù)鼐用裨蚓奖硎荆麄冊(cè)谝辉路萋?tīng)過(guò)槍聲,干員認(rèn)為,這樹(shù)干是被嫌犯用來(lái)作為打靶練習(xí)之用。 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯) |