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A rabbit attempts to play a church organ, while a knight fights a giant snail and a naked man blows a trumpet with his rear end.
一只兔子试图演奏教堂的风琴，骑士在和巨大的蜗牛搏斗，而一个裸男用他的臀部吹响了喇叭。
Painted with squirrel-hair brushes on vellum or parchment by monks, nuns, and urban craftspeople,
这些由修道士、修女和城市工匠，用松鼠毛笔画在牛皮纸和羊皮纸上的离奇图案，
these bizarre images populate the margins of the most prized books from the Middle Ages.
从中世纪开始便常常出现在最珍贵的书的空白处。
Their illustrations often tell a second story as rich as the text itself.
这些插图常常讲述了和正文一样精彩的另一个故事。
Some images appear in many different illuminated manuscripts, and often reinforce the religious content of the books they decorated.
一些图案出现在不同的泥金装饰手绘本里，它们可以增强书本的宗教色彩。
For example, a porcupine picking up fruit on its spines could represent the devil stealing the fruits of faith
例如，一只豪猪用刺叉起水果，可能象征着恶魔偷窃了信念的果实，
or Christ taking up the sins of mankind.
或是耶稣承担了人类的罪恶。
Medieval lore stated that a hunter could only capture a unicorn when it lay its horn in the lap of a virgin,
在中世纪的传说里，猎人只有可能在独角兽把角枕在处女膝盖上时才能抓住它，
so a unicorn could symbolize either sexual temptation or Christ being captured by his enemies.
独角兽意味着性的诱惑，或是被敌人俘虏的耶稣。
Rabbits, meanwhile, could represent human's lustful natures
而兔子象征着人类好色的天性，
and could redeem themselves through attempts to make sacred music despite their failings.
虽然它们有缺点，但可以通过谱写神圣的音乐而得到救赎。
All of these references would have been familiar to medieval Europeans from other art forms and oral tradition,
中世纪的欧洲人通过其他艺术形式和口头传统已经熟悉了上述的例子，
though some have grown more mysterious over the centuries.
尽管当中的一些随着时间流逝变得更诡谲了。
Today, no one can say for sure what the common motif of a knight fighting a snail means -- or why the knight so often appears to be losing.
如今，没人可以肯定地说出骑士大战蜗牛的共同主题是什么，或者为什么骑士总是会输。
The snail might be a symbol of the inevitability of death, which defeats even the strongest knights.
蜗牛或许代表着无法避免的死亡，强壮如骑士也会被它击败。
Or it could represent humility, and a knight's need to vanquish his own pride.
或者它代表着谦逊，骑士需要克服自己的骄傲。
Many illuminated manuscripts were copies of religious or classical texts,
许多泥金装饰本是宗教或古典文本的复本，
and the bookmakers incorporated their own ideas and opinions in illustrations.
书籍的制作人会把自己的想法和观念融入在插图里。
The butt tuba, for example, was likely shorthand to express disapproval with -- or add an ironic spin to -- the action in the text.
例如，屁股大号可能是简单地表达不赞同，或是讽刺文章中的做法。
Illuminations could also be used to make subversive political commentary.
这些图案也可被用于作出颠覆性的政治评论。
The text of the "Smithfield Decretals" details the Church's laws and punishments for lawbreakers.
《史密斯菲尔德法令》的文本详细地记载了教会法和对违法者的惩罚。
But the margins show a fox being hanged by geese, a possible allusion to the common people turning on their powerful oppressors.
但是空白处却画着狐狸被鹅吊死的图，可能暗示平民反抗强大的压迫者。
In the "Chronica Majora," Matthew Paris summarized a scandal of his day,
在《英国编年史》里，马修·帕瑞斯写了那个时代的一桩丑闻，
in which the Welsh prince Griffin plummeted to his death from the tower of London.
威尔士亲王格瑞芬从伦敦塔上坠落而死。
Some believed the prince fell, Paris wrote, while others thought he was pushed.
一些人认为王子是失足，帕瑞斯写道，但其他人觉得他是被推下去的。
He added his own take in the margins, which show the prince falling to his death while trying to escape on a rope made of bed-sheets.
他在空白处加上了自己的想法，他认为王子之所以会坠亡，是由于他试图用床单做成绳子逃跑。
Some margins told stories of a more personal nature.
还有一些书本的页边讲述了个人的故事。
"The Luttrell Psalter," a book of psalms and prayers commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell,
《中世纪奇幻生物》是受杰弗里·卢特雷尔爵士委托而制作的一本关于赞美诗和祝祷文的书，
shows a young woman having her hair done, while a young man catches a bird in a net.
书中一个年轻女人刚做好头发，而一个年轻男人用网抓了一只鸟。
The shaved patch on his head is growing out, indicating that he is a clergyman neglecting his duties.
他头上剃掉的头发刚刚长出来，这表明他是一名玩忽职守的牧师。
This alludes to a family scandal where a young cleric ran away with Sir Geoffrey's daughter Elizabeth.
这里暗藏了一桩家庭丑闻，一个年轻的牧师和杰弗里爵士的女儿伊丽莎白私奔了。
The family's personal spiritual advisor likely painted it into the book
可能是这家人的宗教顾问画了这幅画，
to remind his clients of their failings and encourage their spiritual development.
来提醒这家人不要忘记失败，并鼓励他们在宗教上继续努力。
Some artists even painted themselves into the manuscripts.
一些艺术家甚至把自己画进了手稿中。
The opening image of Christine de Pisan's collected works shows de Pisan presenting the book to the Queen of France.
克里斯蒂娜·德·皮桑作品集的卷首图，就是关于德·皮桑把这本书献给法兰西女王的。
The queen was so impressed by de Pisan's previous work that she commissioned her own copy.
女王对德·皮桑之前的作品印象深刻，所以她委托制作了一份自己的复本。
Such royal patronage enabled her to establish her own publishing house in Paris.
来自皇室的资助让她得以在巴黎开了自己的出版社。
The tradition of illuminated manuscripts lasted for over a thousand years.
泥金装饰本的传统持续了上千年。
The books were created by individuals or teams for uses as wide-ranging as private prayer aids,
这些书由个人或团队制作，用途广泛，包括私人祈祷的辅助、
service books in churches, textbooks, and protective talismans to take into battle.
教堂的祈祷书、课本和带上战场的护身符。
Across all this variation, those tricky little drawings in the margins are a unique window into the minds of medieval artists.
虽然形式千变万化，这些书本上的奇异插画从一个独特的角度展示了中世纪艺术家的想法。
