世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第20章Part5

“He’s a real cannibal.?she said. “We’ll name him Rodrigo.?
“No,?her husband countered. “We’ll name him Aureliano and he’ll win thirty-two wars.?
After cutting the umbilical cord, the midwife began to use a cloth to take off the blue grease that covered his body as Aureliano held up a lamp. Only when they turned him on his stomach did they see that he had something more than other men, and they leaned over to examine him. It was the tail of a pig.
They were not alarmed. Aureliano and Amaranta ?rsula were not aware of the family precedent, nor did they remember ?rsula’s frightening admonitions, and the midwife pacified them with the idea that the tail could be cut off when the child got his second teeth. Then they had no time to think about it again, because Amaranta ?rsula was bleeding in an uncontainable torrent. They tried to help her with applications of spider webs and balls of ash, but it was like trying to hold back a spring with one’s hands. During the first hours she tried to maintain her good humor. She took the frightened Aureliano by the hand and begged him not to worry, because people like her were not made to die against their will, and she exploded with laughter at the ferocious remedies of the midwife. But as Aureliano’s hope abandoned him she was becoming less visible, as if the light on her were fading away, until she sank into drowsiness. At dawn on Monday they brought a woman who recited cauterizing prayers that were infallible for man and beast beside her bed, but Amaranta ?rsula’s passionate blood was insensible to any artifice that did not come from love. In the afternoon, after twenty-four hours of desperation, they knew that she was dead because the flow had stopped without remedies and her profile became sharp and the blotches on her face evaporated in a halo of alabaster and she smiled again.

“他是一個真正吃人的野獸，”阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜說。“咱們就管他叫羅德里格吧。”
“不，”她的丈夫不同意。“咱們還是管他叫奧雷連諾，他將贏得三十二次戰爭的勝利。”
在給嬰兒剪掉臍帶之後，助產婆開始用一塊布擦拭他小身體上一層藍瑩瑩的胎毛，奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞爲她掌着燈。他們把嬰兒肚子朝下地翻過身來時，忽然發現他長着一個別人沒有的東西；他們俯身一看，竟然是一條豬尾巴！
奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞和阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜並沒有驚慌失措，他倆不知道布恩蒂亞家族中是否有過類似的現象，也早已忘記烏蘇娜曾發出過的可怕的警告了，而助產婆的一番話使他們完全放了心。她說，等到小孩脫去乳牙以後，也許可以割掉這條無用的尾巴。然後，他們就再也沒有時間去考慮這件事了，因爲阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜開始大出血，血如泉涌，怎麼也止不住。助產婆在產婦的出血口上撒了一些蜘蛛網和灰未，但這就象用手指按住噴泉口一樣毫無用處。起先，阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜還竭力保持鎮靜，她拉着驚恐萬狀的奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞的手，求他不要難過——因爲象她這麼一個人，是心甘情願地來到這個世界，也是心甘情願離開這個世界的，——她望着助產婆的忙勁，不由得發出爽朗的笑聲。但是奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞漸漸喪失了希望，因爲她的臉色暗淡下來，好象亮光正從她臉上移開，最後，她陷入了沉睡狀態。星期一黎明，人們領來一個女人，這女人開始在她牀邊大聲念止血的濤詞，據說這種禱詞對人和牲畜同樣靈驗，可是阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜殷紅的鮮血，對於任何同愛情無關的妙方都毫無知覺。晚上，在充滿絕望的二十四小時之後，他們眼看着阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜死去了，象泉水一般噴涌的鮮血已經流盡。她僞側影變得輪廓分明，臉上彷彿迴光返照，已不見痛苦的神色，嘴角邊似乎還掛着一絲微笑。