七）一厢情愿的爱与哀愁
三月中旬从温室花园里买来一小盆月桂幼苗，我们将它放在温暖的客厅里，在植物灯下照了两个星期，长出了十几片嫩叶。可能是室内光线略微不足吧，顶部新发出的两片叶子特别大，质感略薄。四月初，温哥华的白日气温上升到十几度，我们将月桂盆移到后院，用一个透明的塑料袋罩着，以防阳光中的紫外线灼伤新叶。
两个星期后，我们估计着月桂已经充分适应了室外的光线，才取下了塑料袋，月桂开始茁壮成长。
新鲜的月桂叶味苦，清香，干燥后，苦味减少，香气增加，可以用作调料，即“香叶”。月桂叶虽也称桂叶，但与肉桂树的桂叶、桂花树的桂叶均不同，身价远高于肉桂树叶与桂花树叶。
不过我是不舍得将自家的月桂叶当成调味料的，就让它们一年四季在枝头绿着吧，向我诉说一个个动人的故事。
或许爱情中最大的悲哀，叫做一厢情愿，即使你相貌英俊多才多艺，性情光明磊落，完美的无法挑剔，还如此深爱着她，可她的心门就是紧锁，拒绝爱情和婚姻。你该怎么办呢？
这就是古希腊传说中的光明之神、文艺之神、神射手、医药之神和预言之神阿波罗的困境。人人熟知的月桂树的传说与阿波罗有关，流传最广的是古罗马作家奥维德（Ovid, 公元前43年 -公元 17年/18年未能确定）的《变形记》（Metamorphoses）里的版本。
阿波罗射杀了蟒蛇皮同（Python）后，感到非常自豪，嘲笑起用大人弓箭的小孩丘比特。丘比特报复阿波罗，用金色箭头射向他，使他疯狂地爱上了河神的女儿达芙妮（Daphne），同时丘比特又用铅箭射向达芙妮，让她更加厌恶和排斥爱情。《变形记》第一卷的《达芙妮与菲伯斯》篇（Daphne and Phoebus）是这样叙述的：
“但是，即使在他告白的时候，水泉仙女带着羞怯的脚步从他的身边逃跑了，让他陷入了喃喃自语和痛苦中。温柔的风使她的四肢袒露，显得很可爱，西风吹拂着她的衣裳，微风轻扬起她飘逸的头发。飞跑的她在他的眼里最可爱，爱得发狂的他跟随她的脚步，沉默中加快了他的步伐。就像灵缇犬看到在平原上奔跑的惊恐的野兔：— 伸出急切的鼻子，莽撞地扑向猎物，扑到她身后，踩到了她的脚，张牙舞爪朝她咬去；恐慌至极的她却突然逃脱了。天神和少女就是这幅情形：一个怀着希望在追逐，另一个出于恐惧在逃跑；紧紧跟随的他插上了爱的翅膀，不给她喘息的机会，离她越来越近，直到他温暖的呼吸吹到了她的发梢。她筋疲力尽，苍白而虚弱，用恳求的目光注视着父亲的波浪，祈祷着：“父亲，如果河水有灵，救救我！大地母亲，掩护我，摧毁已经伤害了我的美貌，或改变已经要了我的命的身体。”祈祷结束之前，她的整个身体就僵硬了，柔软的胸前裹了一层薄薄的树皮，她的头发变成了摇晃的叶子，手臂变成了挥舞的树枝，她原本会动的脚变成了树根，牢牢地钉在地面上-她的脸被树叶覆盖。”
（But even as he made his plaint, the Nymph with timid footsteps fled from his approach, and left him to his murmurs and his pain. Lovely the virgin seemed as the soft wind exposed her limbs, and as the zephyrs fond fluttered amid her garments, and the breeze fanned lightly in her flowing hair. She seemed most lovely to his fancy in her flight; and mad with love he followed in her steps, and silent hastened his increasing speed. As when the greyhound sees the frightened hare flit over the plain:—With eager nose outstretched, impetuous, he rushes on his prey, and gains upon her till he treads her feet, and almost fastens in her side his fangs; but she, whilst dreading that her end is near, is suddenly delivered from her fright; so was it with the god and virgin: one with hope pursued, the other fled in fear; and he who followed, borne on wings of love, permitted her no rest and gained on her, until his warm breath mingled in her hair. Her strength spent, pale and faint, with pleading eyes she gazed upon her father's waves and prayed, “Help me my father, if thy flowing streams have virtue! Cover me, O mother Earth! Destroy the beauty that has injured me, or change the body that destroys my life.” Before her prayer was ended, torpor seized on all her body, and a thin bark closed around her gentle bosom, and her hair became as moving leaves; her arms were changed to waving branches, and her active feet as clinging roots were fastened to the ground—her face was hidden with encircling leaves.）
“菲伯斯崇敬并热爱着那棵优美的树（尽管变了，她依然保留着纤细的身材），他的右手抚摸着树干，感觉到树皮内她跳动的胸膛。他紧紧抱住树干和树枝，仿佛与之缠绕在一起。他甜蜜地吻着由她的人形变成的树，每吻一次，那棵树都要退缩一下。天神说， ‘虽然你不能成为我的新娘，你应该成为我选择的树。哦，月桂，你绿色的叶子将永远戴在我的头上，缠在我的箭囊和竖琴上；当游行队伍爬上朱庇特神庙，人群欢呼胜利之时，我要让罗马英雄们的头上戴着你的环冠。我要让你在奥古斯都城门前作为忠诚的卫兵，守护着摆在你的枝叶之间的橡叶荣冠。因为我是长生的，所以你的叶子长青，无损你的荣耀。’
天神菲伯斯阿波罗于此结束了他的哀叹，月桂树朝他弯下了树枝，无比优雅。在他看来，她优美的点头回答了他的爱。”
（Phoebus admired and loved the graceful tree, (For still, though changed, her slender form remained) and with his right hand lingering on the trunk he felt her bosom throbbing in the bark. He clung to trunk and branch as though to twine. His form with hers, and fondly kissed the wood that shrank from every kiss. And thus the God; “Although thou canst not be my bride, thou shalt be called my chosen tree, and thy green leaves, O Laurel! shall forever crown my brows, be wreathed around my quiver and my lyre; the Roman heroes shall be crowned with thee, as long processions climb the Capitol and chanting throngs proclaim their victories; and as a faithful warden thou shalt guard the civic crown of oak leaves fixed between thy branches, and before Augustan gates. And as my youthful head is never shorn, so, also, shalt thou ever bear thy leaves unchanging to thy glory.” Here the God, Phoebus Apollo, ended his lament, and unto him the Laurel bent her boughs, so lately fashioned; and it seemed to him her graceful nod gave answer to his love.）
于是阿波罗将月桂树带到了德尔斐（Delphi）圣地（他射死蟒蛇皮同的地方），通过女祭司皮缇亚（Pythia）来传达他的神谕（Oracle）。
古希腊的神谕仪式是这样的：皮缇亚在卡斯塔利安泉（Castalian Spring）沐浴，随后敬献山羊。然后她走到德尔斐神庙下的一个叫阿迪顿（adyton）的特殊房间，室内的炉灶上熏蒸着大麦粉和月桂叶。室内还竖立着翁法洛斯（omphalos），在希腊语中意为“肚脐”，是一种人造的宗教性圆形石器，象征着“大地的肚脐”。据说宙斯曾经放出两只老鹰：一只向东飞，一只向西飞，这两只老鹰在环绕大地一圈后汇合于德尔斐，因此这里即为大地的中心。皮缇亚坐在一个有盖的三脚架大锅上，三脚架支在井状的沟壑中。皮缇亚被水汽环绕着，摇晃着月桂枝，陷入一种精神恍惚状态，与阿波罗通灵。她用这种方式向信众宣告神谕，信众们则献祭月桂枝、金钱和黑公羊。
神谕似乎是从火中诞生的，把月桂叶扔到火上，如果叶子卷曲并发出噼里啪啦的声音，则预示着好兆头；如果叶子没有卷曲，则是不祥之兆。得到福兆的人头戴着桂冠回家。月桂枝还会引发有先兆性的梦。
德尔斐圣坛建于公元前8世纪，最先是一年举办一次神谕仪式，后来变为一年三次。皮缇亚拥有很高的社会地位，一般来自上流家庭，受过良好的教育，知识渊博。
大约在公元393年，罗马皇帝狄奧多西（把基督教定为国教的皇帝）下令关闭所有异教徒的圣地。
为了解释坐在三脚架上的皮缇亚为何会精神恍惚，某些现代学者特地做了实地考察，发现德尔斐遗迹坐落于两个断层的交叉处，地底下富含的沥青质石灰岩在地壳运动中可能会产生乙烯类物质，而后者对人有神经麻痹作用。这些细节和普鲁塔克（Plutarchus）（约46年─125年，生活于罗马时代的希腊作家）的历史记载不谋而合，提供了一个较为合理的解释。
月桂还是胜利和荣誉的象征，古希腊人用月桂的小枝条编织成桂冠，授予皮西安竞技会（Pythian Games）的获胜者。奥维尔的《变形记》的第一卷叙述了皮西安竞技会的由来：
“在这之后，当沼泽地里所有剩下的湿气在阳光下发酵，土壤中富有营养的种子长成预定的形状，大地自发地产生了动物世界。因此，当拥有七条支流的尼罗河从淤泥地重新流回她的古河床时，空灵的阳光渗入烂泥，农民翻土时，很高兴地发现了以前未知的奇怪动物：有些停留在刚出生的阶段，有些没有四肢，不完美；通常身体的一部分是活的，另一部分是无生命的粘液。热量和水分结合在一起，创造了生命。虽然水和火不相容，但一切众生皆始于潮湿的水汽，看似不和谐的事物融和在一起就是产生生命的方式。当随着洪流而延伸的大地感受到炽热的太阳散发出的空灵的热量时，产生出无数的物种，并赋予它们许多古老的形态或者创造出新的怪物。
大地很不情愿创造了巨大的皮同。— 迄今为止您闻所未闻的一种横亘在广阔的山脉间的蟒蛇，让刚刚被创造出来的人类无比恐惧。天神拿着弓（在此之前只是用来猎杀鹿和敏捷的山羊的武器）用无数的飞镖击毁了怪物，几乎清空了他所有的箭袋，直到毒血从巨蟒青紫的伤口渗出来。唯恐他的功绩被遗忘在那黑暗无知的年代，他创立了这项神圣的体育竞技，根据皮同的名字，取名“皮西安竞技会”。当快乐的年轻人在战车、跑步和拳击比赛中胜出时，会戴着橡树叶编成的头冠以示荣耀。那时，月桂树还没有被创造出来，因此，有着飘逸长发的光彩照人的神明菲伯斯的头上戴的是各种树叶编成的花环”。
（And after this the Earth spontaneous produced the world of animals, when all remaining moistures of the mirey fens fermented in the sun, and fruitful seeds in soils nutritious grew to shapes ordained. So when the seven streamed Nile from oozy fields returneth duly to her ancient bed, the sun's ethereal rays impregn the slime, that haply as the peasants turn the soil they find strange animals unknown before: some in the moment of their birth, and some deprived of limbs, imperfect; often part alive and part of slime inanimate are fashioned in one body. Heat combined with moisture so conceives and life results from these two things. For though the flames may be the foes of water, everything that lives begins in humid vapour, and it seems discordant concord is the means of life. When Earth, spread over with diluvian ooze, felt heat ethereal from the glowing sun, unnumbered species to the light she gave, and gave to being many an ancient form, or monster new created.
Unwilling she created thus enormous Python.—Thou unheard of serpent spread so far athwart the side of a vast mountain, didst fill with fear the race of new created man. The God that bears the bow (a weapon used till then only to hunt the deer and agile goat) destroyed the monster with a myriad darts, and almost emptied all his quiver, till envenomed gore oozed forth from livid wounds. Lest in a dark oblivion time should hide the fame of this achievement, sacred sports he instituted, from the Python called “The Pythian Games.” In these the happy youth who proved victorious in the chariot race, running and boxing, with an honoured crown of oak leaves was enwreathed. The laurel then was not created, wherefore Phoebus, bright and godlike, beauteous with his flowing hair, was wont to wreathe his brows with various leaves。）
《第一届皮西安竞技会》（The First Pythian Games）的故事发生阿波罗追求达芙妮之前，说明最早用来奖励胜利者的花冠并不是由桂树的小枝编织成的。但是后来给胜利者和优秀艺术家授予桂冠成为一种重要的传统。阿波罗是艺术之神，有学者认为最早为纪念他而举办的皮西安竞技会可能是文艺竞赛，后来加入了体育比赛。
月桂树的胜利象征从古希腊一直延续到罗马，并且发扬光大。月桂也代表着不朽，用于宗教仪式净化，与繁荣和健康有关，也是“桂冠诗人”这个称谓的来源。
达芙妮原本是月桂树的别称，随着时间的演化，Daphne成为瑞香科植物的总称了。
这些基本常识可以帮助我们在经典文学作品中领略月桂的馨香。
