8 Count Dracula: Fact or Fiction?

Since 1897, people have been haunted by the story of Count Dracula, the vampire who drank human blood. Legend has it that the real Count Dracula was actually based on fact. Like the fictional count who lived in Transylvania, the real Count Dracula was a prince who lived in what is now modern Romania. At first, this prince was called Vlad IV. But his father was known as Vlad Dracul, which meant “Vlad the Devil’s Son.” The real Vlad IV himself acquired the name Dracula, or “Devil’s Son.”

There are several similarities between the real and the legendary characters. The evil fictional Count Dracula is said to have been a cruel man who showed no mercy to his enemies. When the real Vlad was captured, he drove a stake into his captors’ bodies—a practice that likely fueled the common belief in Transylvania that the only way to kill a vampire was to drive a stake into its heart, and that is how the fictional Dracula was finally killed.

Associated with the Dracula tale are vampire bats. Not as dangerous as people believe, these bats require only a teaspoon of blood a day to survive. They seldom attack humans; they feed mainly on the blood of cows and domestic animals. They are more feared by humans as possible transmitters of diseases such as rabies.

Most legends are based on real events, but by the time they reach us, they are in a much-changed form. A real event is like an original sound; a legend is an echo. And so it is with the Dracula story.

8 德古拉伯爵：事实还是虚构？

自1897年以来，人们一直被德古拉伯爵的故事所困扰——他是一个吸食人血的吸血鬼。传说真正的德古拉伯爵其实是基于事实的。就像那个住在特兰西瓦尼亚（今罗马尼亚境内）的虚构伯爵一样，真正的德古拉伯爵是一位王子，他生活在如今的罗马尼亚地区。起初，这位王子被称为弗拉德四世，但他的父亲被称为“弗拉德·德拉库”，意思是“魔鬼之子弗拉德”。真正的弗拉德四世自己也获得了“德古拉”这个名字，即“魔鬼之子”。

真实人物和传奇角色之间有一些相似之处。邪恶的虚构德古拉伯爵据说残忍无情，对敌人毫无怜悯。当真正的弗拉德俘虏敌人时，他会把木桩钉进他们的身体——这种做法可能助长了特兰西瓦尼亚的普遍信念：杀死吸血鬼的唯一方法是将木桩钉进它的心脏，而虚构的德古拉最终就是这样被杀死的。

与德古拉故事相关的是吸血蝙蝠。这些蝙蝠并不像人们想象的那么危险，它们每天只需要一茶匙血就能生存。它们很少攻击人类，主要以牛和家畜的血为食。人们更害怕它们会传播狂犬病等疾病。

大多数传说都基于真实事件，但当它们传到我们耳中时，已经发生了很大的变化。真实事件就像原始的声音，而传说是回声。德古拉的故事也是如此。