THE last Luis I tld yu abut was a saint-the Luis wh wentn the last Crusade.
I"m ging t tell yu nw abut tw kings named Luis wh were nt saints-nt by any means.
They were Luis XIII and Luis XIV and they ruled France while the Stuarts were reigning in the seventeenth century in England.
Luis XIII was king in namenly. Anther man tld him what t d， and he did it. Strange t say， thisther man was a great rulerf the church called a cardinal， wh wre a red cap and a red gwn. The cardinal"s name was Richelieu.
Nw， yu are prbably sick and tiredf hearing abut wars， but during the reignf Luis XIII， anther lng war started， and I must tell yu smething abut it， fr it lasted thirty years. It was therefre called the Thirty Years" War. It was different frm mst wars. It was nt a warfne cuntry against anther. It was a war between the Prtestants and Cathlics.
Cardinal Richelieu wasf curse a Cathlic and the real rulerf France， which was a Cathlic cuntry. Nevertheless， he tk sides with the Prtestants， fr they were fighting a Cathlic cuntry called Austria， and he wanted t beat Austria. Mstf the cuntries in Eurpe tk part in this war， but Germany was the battlegrund where mstf the fighting was dne. Even Sweden， a nrthern cuntryf Eurpe which we have nt mentined befre， tk part. The kingf Sweden at this time was named Gustavus Adlphus， and he was called the Snw King because he was kingf such a cld cuntry， and als the Linf the Nrth， fr he was such a brave fighter. I am mentining him particularly becausef all kings and rulers in Eurpe at this time he was the finest character. Indeed， mstf thether rulers thughtnlyf themselves， and they wuld lie and cheat and steal and even murder t get what they wanted， but Gustavus Adlphus was fighting fr what he thught was right. Gustavus Adlphus was a Prtestant， and s he came dwn int Germany and fughtn the sidef the Prtestants. He was a great general， and his army wn. Unfrtunately he himself was killed in battle. The Prtestants cameut ahead in the Thirty Years" War，and at last a famus treatyf peace was made called the Treatyf Westphalia. By this treaty it was agreed that each cuntry shuld have whatever religin its ruler had； it culd be Prtestantr Cathlic， as the ruler wished.
During the Thirty Years" War， the plague， thatld deadly cntagius disease we have heardf befre， brkeut in Germany. A little twn namedberammergau prayed that it might be spared. The twnspeple vwed that if they were spared they wuld give a playf Christ"s lifence every ten years. They were spared， and s every ten years， ever since then， withnly a few exceptins， they have been giving what is called the Passin Play. Tensf thusandsf turists frm allver the wrld travel t this littleut-f-the-way twn t see the twnspeple act the stryf Christ"s life. The play is givenn Sundays during the summerf the tenth year and lasts all day lng. Abut seven hundred peple take part. It is a great hnr t be chsen t play the partf a saint， and it is the highest hnr t be selected t play the partf Christ.
The next French king t rule after Luis XIII and Richelieu was Luis XIV.
The peple in England had at last succeeded in getting the pwer t rule themselves thrugh their Parliament. But in France， Luis wuld let nne rule but himself. He said， "I am the state，" and he wuld let nne have a say in the gvernment. This was the same as the Stuarts" Divine Rightf Kings that the English peple had put an end t. Luis ruled fr mre than seventy years. This is the lngest time that anyne in histry has ever ruled.
Luis XIV was called the Grand Mnarch， and everything he did was t shwff. He was always parading and strutting abut as if he were the leading character in a play and nt just anrdinary human being. He wre crsets and a huge pwdered wig and shes with veryhigh red heels， t make himself appear taller. He carried a lng cane， stuckut his elbws， turnedut his tes， and strutted up and dwn， fr he thught these things made him seem grand， imprtant， impsing.
All this may sund as if Luis were a strange persn with n sense， but yu must nt get that idea. In spitef his absurd manners， he made France the chief pwer in Eurpe. He was almst cnstantly fightingther cuntries， trying t increase the sizef France and t add t his kingdm， but I have already tld yu s much abut s manyfights， that I"m nt ging t tell yu any mreLuis XIV ( 路易十四 )abut his just nw， fr yu wuld prbably nt read it if I did. S France had her turn as leaderf all thether cuntries， as Spain and England had had theirs as well.
Luis built a magnificent palace at Versailles in which were marble halls， beautiful paintings， and many huge mirrrs in which he culd see himself as he strutted alng. The palace was surrunded by a park with wnderful funtains. The water fr the funtains had t be brught a lng distance， and it cst thusandsf dllars t have the funtains play just fr a few minutes. Even tday sightseers visit Versailles t see the magnificent palace rms and t watch the funtains play.
Luis XIV getting ready fr bed ( 路易十四准备就寝 )But Luis surrunded himself ntnly with beautiful things. He als surrunded himself with all the mst interesting men and wmenf his time. All thse wh culd d anything exceptinally well， all thse wh culd paint wellr write wellr talk wellr play wellr lk well， he brught tgether t live with himr near by him. This was called his curt. They were the chsen few wh lked dwnn all thethers.
This was all very fine fr the peple wh were lucky enugh t be in Luis"s curt. But the pr peplef France，rdinary farmers and the men and wmen wh wrked in the twns， were thenes wh had t pay Luis"s expenses and thsef his curt. They were thenes wh had t pay fr his parties and balls and feasts and fr all srtsf presents that he gave his friends. We shall snsee what happened. The pr peple wuld nt stand that srtf thing frever. "The wrm will turn，" we say.
【中文阅读】
上一次我跟你说的那个路易是个圣徒--就是那个进行最后一次十字军东征的 路易。
我现在要给你讲两个名叫路易的国王，不过他们可不是圣徒--绝对不是。 他们是路易十三和路易十四，17 世纪就在斯图亚特王朝统治英国的时候，他们统治着法国。
路易十三只是名义上的国王。另有一人告诉他做什么，他就照着办。说来奇怪， 这个人却是教会最主要的管理者之一，叫做红衣主教，红衣主教都头戴红帽子，身 着红长袍。这位红衣主教名叫黎塞留。
现在听到战争你也许就厌烦了，但是在路易十三统治期间，又爆发了一场漫长 的战争，我一定要给你讲一讲这场战争的故事，因为它持续了三十年，因此也称为 "三十年战争"。这场战争和大多数战争不同。它不是一个国家对另一个国家的战争， 而是新教徒和天主教徒之间的一场战争。
红衣主教黎塞留当然是天主教徒，而且是法国这个天主教国家真正的统治者。 然而这一次，他支持新教徒，因为他们在和天主教国家奥地利打仗，而黎塞留想打 败奥地利。大多数欧洲国家都参加了这场战争，但是大多数战争发生在德国。甚至 瑞典，一个以前我们没有提到过的北欧国家，也参加了。那时的瑞典国王叫古斯塔 夫斯 阿道弗斯，因为瑞典气候严寒，他被称为"雪王"，他还被称为"北方雄狮"， 因为他十分英勇善战。我现在特别提到他，是因为他是当时欧洲所有国王和统治者 中最杰出的一个人物。事实上，其他多数统治者只想到自己。为了得到自己想要的， 他们会撒谎、欺骗、偷盗甚至谋杀，但是古斯塔夫斯 阿道弗斯则是为了自己认为 的公正之道而战。古斯塔夫斯 阿道弗斯是新教徒，所以他南下德国，帮助新教徒 作战。他是位杰出的将军，他的军队获胜了。不幸的是，他本人却在战争中阵亡了。 新教徒最终在三十年战争中取得了优势，最终战争各方签订了一个著名的和平条约 叫做《威斯特伐利亚合约》。各方在合约中同意：每个国家的官方宗教应由这个国家 的统治者决定；按照统治者的愿望，无论选择新教还是天主教都可以。
在三十年战争期间，瘟疫，前面说过的那种古老、致命的传染病在德国爆发了。 一个名为奥伯阿默高的小镇镇民祈祷自己能得以幸免。镇民们发下誓言，如果他们 能得以幸免，躲过瘟疫，他们将每十年演出一场有关耶稣生平的戏剧。他们终于逃 过了一劫，于是从此以后，每十年，除少数例外，他们都会演出一场所谓的"耶稣 受难复活剧"。成千上万的旅游者从世界各地来到这个偏远小镇观看小镇居民表演耶 稣生平的故事。演出在第十年夏天的一个星期日进行，要演一整天。大约有七百人 参加。如果被选中扮演某个圣徒是莫大的荣幸，而被选中扮演耶稣基督则是最高的荣耀。
路易十三和黎塞留之后的下一任法国国王是路易十四。 英国人民最终通过议会成功地获得了自己管理国家的权力。但是在法国，路易独揽政权，决不让他人染指。他声称"我就是国家"，任何人都无权干预国家大事。 这和英国人民终止的斯图亚特王朝的"君权神授说"没有任何区别。路易统治了 七十多年，堪称历史上在位时间最久的君主。
路易十四被称为"伟大的君主"，他做的每一件事情都是为了炫耀。他总是神气 活现，趾高气扬地踱来踱去，就好像他是剧中的主角，而不是一个普通人。他身穿 紧身外套，头戴一个极大的扑满香粉的假发，脚穿一双红色高跟鞋，好让自己显得 高一点。他拿着一根长长的手杖，胳膊肘向外摆，脚尖朝外撇，高视阔步，走来走 去，因为他认为这样的仪表和举止能让他显得尊贵威严，器宇轩昂。
这一切听上去好像路易是个古怪糊涂的人，但是你不要有这样的误解。尽管他 的举止滑稽可笑，但是他让法国成为欧洲的主要强国。他几乎不断地和其他国家打 仗，设法拓展法国的领土，扩张自己的王国，但是我给你讲了太多战争的故事，现 在我不打算再说他的战争了，我要是再说，也许你就不想再读下去了。现在轮到法 国成为其他国家的头领，就像西班牙和英国曾经那样。
路易在凡尔赛建造了一座宏伟的宫殿，里面有大理石的大厅、美丽的绘画，还 有许多面大镜子，这样当他大摇大摆经过时，可以看到自己的样子。宫殿周围是一 个庭园，庭园里有很多奇妙的喷泉。喷泉的水必须从很远的地方调来，泉水即使只 喷几分钟也要花费大量的金钱。甚至今天去凡尔赛游览的观光客还要看看华丽的宫 殿房间和喷泉表演。
但是路易十四不仅让他的周围有美丽的事物，他还把他那个时代最有趣的男人 和女人都找来，让这些人围绕在自己身边。但凡在某个方面特别优秀的人，画画得 特别好的人或者写作写得特别有趣的人或者说话特别机智的人或者表演特别动人的 人或者长相特别俊美的人，他都把他们找来和自己住在一起或住在附近。这些人被 称为"侍臣"。他们都是精选出来的极少数人，所以看不起其他人。
那些有幸成为路易侍臣的人受到优惠的待遇。但是法国的穷人，普通农夫，在 城镇里工作的男男女女，却是为路易和他的侍臣花销付账的人。他们必须为他的各 种聚会、舞会和宴会付账，为他送给朋友的各种礼物付账。我们很快就会看到后来 发生了什么。穷人不可能永远忍受这类事情。我们说："兔子急了也咬人，老实人被 逼急了也要反抗。"