书城童书最后的决战(中英双语典藏版)(纳尼亚传奇系列)
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第44章 矮人们固执己见(3)

“Ow! Ow! What d’you do that for! Banging my face against the wall. You‘ve nearly broken my nose.”

“Oh dear!” said Lucy, “What are we to do for them?”

“Let ’em alone,” said Eustace: but as he spoke the earth trembled. The sweet air grew suddenly sweeter. A brightness flashed behind them. All turned. Tirian turned last because he was afraid. There stood his heart‘s desire, huge and real, the golden Lion, Aslan himself, and already the others were kneeling in a circle round his forepaws and burying their hands and faces in his mane as he stooped his great head to touch them with his tongue. Then he fixed his eyes upon Tirian, and Tirian came near, trembling, and flung himself at the Lion’s feet, and the Lion kissed him and said, “Well done, last of the Kings of Narnia who stood firm at the darkest hour.”

“Aslan,” said Lucy through her tears, “could you-will you-do something for these poor Dwarfs?”

“Dearest,” said Aslan, “I will show you both what I can, and what I cannot do.” He came close to the Dwarfs and gave a low growl: low, but it set all the air shaking. But the Dwarfs said to one another, “Hear that? That‘s the gang at the other end of the stable. Trying to frighten us. They do it with a machine of some kind. Don’t take any notice. They won‘t take us in again!”

Aslan raised his head and shook his mane. Instantly a glorious feast appeared on the Dwarfs’ knees: pies and tongues and pigeons and trifles and ices, and each Dwarf had a goblet of good wine in his right hand. But it wasn‘t much use. They began eating and drinking greedily enough, but it was clear that they couldn’t taste it properly. They thought they were eating and drinking only the sort of things you might find in a Stable. One said he was trying to eat hay and another said he had got a bit of an old turnip and a third said he‘d found a raw cabbage leaf. And they raised golden goblets of rich red wine to their lips and said “Ugh! Fancy drinking dirty water out of a trough that a donkey’s been at! Never thought we‘d come to this.”

But very soon every Dwarf began suspecting that every other Dwarf had found something nicer than he had, and they started grabbing and snatching, and went on to quarrelling, till in a few minutes there was a free fight and all the good food was smeared on their faces and clothes or trodden under foot.

But when at last they sat down to nurse their black eyes and their bleeding noses, they all said: “Well, at any rate there’s no Humbug here. We haven‘t let anyone take us in. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.”

“You see, “ said Aslan. “They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out. But come, children. I have other work to do.”

He went to the door and they all followed him. He raised his head and roared, “Now it is time!” then louder, “Time!”; then so loud that it could have shaken the stars, “TIME”. The Door flew open.

中文阅读

提里安一度认为——如果有时间考虑的话,他或许会这样认为——他们是在那个茅草屋顶的小马棚里,长十二英尺,宽六英尺。实际上,他们是站在草地上,头上是蔚蓝色的天空,初夏和煦温风轻轻地吹拂着他们的脸颊。

离他们不远的地方有一个丛林,枝叶繁茂,在每一片树叶之下,都可以看到金色的、浅黄色的、紫色的和火红色的果实。在我们的世界从来没有人见过这样的水果。水果使提里安意识到,这一定是秋天了,可是空气中的某种气息告诉他,这最多不过是六月天。于是,他们都朝着果树走去。

大家伸手去采摘自己最喜欢的那种果子,然而每只手又都停留了片刻。因为那些水果实在美不胜收,每个人都在心里暗忖道:“这不是我能够享用的……肯定不允许我们采摘。”

“没有问题,”彼得说,“我知道大家在想些什么。但是我很确信,十分确信,我们大可不必疑惑。我有一种感觉,我们已经来到了那个国度,这里的一切都是供我们享用的。”

“那就摘吧!”尤斯塔斯说。随后,他们全都吃了起来。那些水果的味道怎么样呢?可惜没有人能够描述它的味道。我所能说的只不过是,与那些水果相比,你所吃过的最新鲜的葡萄柚变得淡而无味,最多汁的柑橘变得像棉花套子,入口即化的梨子显得像木头一样坚硬,最甜的野草莓也变得酸溜溜的。那些水果中没有核或者籽,也没有黄蜂啃咬过的痕迹。一旦尝过那种水果的味道,这个世界里所有的美味佳肴从此都变成了苦药。然而我却无法加以描述。除非能亲自到那个国度去品尝,否则你永远无法知道那个味道。

等他们吃饱之后,尤斯塔斯对彼得王说:“你还没有告诉我们,你是怎么到这里来的。提里安王出现的时候,你正打算跟我们说呢。”

“没有多少好说的,”彼得说,“埃德蒙和我在站台上,看见你们的火车隆隆驶来。我记得自己心里在想,火车转弯转得太急了。我记得自己当时还在想,多么好笑,说不定我们的家人都在同一辆火车里,露西却对此毫不知情——”

“大帝,你的家人?”提里安问道。“我指的是自己的父母——埃德蒙、露西和我的父母。”

“他们怎么也来了?”吉尔问道,“你的意思是说,他们也知道纳尼亚?”

“哦不,那跟纳尼亚没有关系。他们正在去布里斯托尔的路上。那天早上我才听说他们要去那里。但埃德蒙说,他们肯定会乘坐那趟火车。”(埃德蒙属于对铁路了如指掌的那种人。)“接下去发生了什么事情?”吉尔又问。“嗯,那很难形容,是吧,埃德蒙?”大帝答道。

“的确很难,”埃德蒙说,“这跟上次我们被魔法从自己的世界里带走,毫无相似之处。突然,有一声可怕的巨响,什么东西砰的撞了我一下,却没有疼痛感。我的感觉,与其说是害怕,还不如说是——嗯,激动。噢——这真是一件稀奇的事情。本来我的一个膝盖有毛病,那是打橄榄球时受的伤。我发现那个疼痛突然消失了。我感到非常轻松。然后——我们就到了这里。”

“在车厢里,我们的经历也大致相似,”迪戈里王爷说着,一边把他金色胡须上的残余果汁擦去。“只是我认为,波利,你和我,主要是感觉到我们的身体不那么僵硬了。你们年轻人不会明白的。我们感到变年轻了。”

“你管我们叫年轻人,真是的!”吉尔说,“我不信你们俩真的比我们年长多少。”

“好吧,如果在这里我们不比你们年长多少,以前我们的确比你们要大上很多。”波利女士说。

“自从你们来到这里,都发生过什么事情?”尤斯塔斯问道。“嗯,”彼得说,“有很长时间(至少我认为有很长时间)什么事都没有发生。接着,门打开了——”“门?”提里安说。

“是的,”彼得说,“你进来的门——或者说出去的门。难道你忘了?”“门在哪儿?”

“看。”彼得说着,用手指了指。提里安顺着他指的方向望去,看见了你所能想象的最奇特可笑的东西。