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You have seen how a few artisans(butchers and bakers and an occasional candle-stick maker) came to live near the castle to tend to the wants of their masters and to find protection in case of danger. Sometimes the feudal lord allowed these people to surround their houses with a stockade. But they were dependent for their living upon the good-will of the mighty Seigneur of the castle. When he went about they knelt before him and kissed his hand.
后來出現了一些手工匠人，屠夫呀、面包師傅呀、制蠟燭工人呀，他們來到靠近城堡的地方住下，一面準備應付領主隨叫隨到的需要，一面也好在發生危險時就近逃到城堡避難。有時遇上主人心情好，他會允許這些人將自己的房子圍上柵欄，看上去像是單門獨戶的居所。不過，那時他們的生計完全系于威嚴有加的城堡主人大發善心。當領主外出巡視時，這些工匠跪在路旁，親吻他高貴的手以示感恩。
Then came the Crusades and many things changed. The migrations had driven people from the north-east to the west. The Crusades made millions of people travel from the west to the highly civilised regions of the southeast. They discovered that the world was not bounded by the four walls of their little settlement. They came to appreciate better clothes, more comfortable houses, new dishes, products of the mysterious Orient. After their return to their old homes, they insisted that they be supplied with those articles. The peddler with his pack upon his back-the only merchant of the Dark Ages-added these goods to his old merchandise, bought a cart, hired a few ex-crusaders to protect him against the crime wave which followed this great international war, and went forth to do business upon a more modern and larger scale. His career was not an easy one. Every time he entered the domains of another Lord he had to pay tolls and taxes. But the business was profitable all the same and the peddler continued to make his rounds.
之后發生了十字軍東征，世界在不知不覺地變化。以前的大遷移驅使人們從歐洲東北移居西部。而十字軍運動反過來引導人們從蠻荒原始的歐洲西部，去到高度文明的地中海東南地區接受新知識的洗禮。他們發現，世界并非僅限于他們狹小居室的四壁之內，前進一步才知道海闊天空。他們開始欣賞華美的衣著、更舒適宜人的住房、全新口味的佳肴以及其他許許多多神秘東方出產的新奇物品。當他們返回自己的家園，仍一心想要享用這些稀有商品的供應。于是，背著貨囊走村串戶的小販（他們是中世紀唯一的商人），便在原有的商品目錄里添加上這些緊俏的新品種。商販們的生意越做越紅火，僅靠人力負載已經不夠滿足人們的胃口了。于是他們便購置起貨車。又雇上幾個前十字軍戰士充當保鏢，以防范隨這次國際性戰爭而來的犯罪浪潮。就這么，他們以更為現代的方式、在更大的規模上做起生意來了。不過說老實話，干他們這行也不是那么輕而易舉的。每進人一個領主的"神圣"屬地，他們都得規規矩矩交納一次過路費和商品稅。還好生意總歸是有利潤可賺的，商販們也樂此不疲地繼續著他們的販運。
