《能言馬與男孩》第85期:可笑的拉巴達什(4)
And presently, as was certain to happen sooner or later, King Lune said if was time for young people to be in bed. "And tomorrow, Cor," he added, "shalt come over all the castle with me and see the estres and mark all its strength and weakness: for it will be thine to guard when I'm gone."
"But Corin will be the King then, Father," said Cor.
“但父王，那時科林就是國王了。”"Nay, lad," said King Lune, "thou art my heir. The crown comes to thee."
“不，孩子，”國王倫恩說道，”你是我的繼承人。王冠要傳給你的。”
"But I don't want it," said Cor. "I'd far rather-"
“但我不要王冠，”科奧說，”我倒寧可……”"'Tis no question what thou wantest, Cor, nor I either. 'Tis in the course of law."
“這不是你要不要的問題，科奧，也不是我要不要的問題。這是法律所規定的。”"But if we're twins we must be the same age."
“但如果我們是孿生兄弟，我們必定是同年的啊。”"Nay," said the King with a laugh. "One must come first. Art Corin's elder by full twenty minutes. And his better too, let's hope, though that's no great mastery." And he looked at Corin with a twinkle in his eyes.
“不然，”國王哈哈笑着說道，”必定有一個先生出來的。你是科林的哥哥，比他早生足足三十分鐘。你也比他好，讓我們希望如此，儘管那也不是什麼了不得的優勢。”他瞧着科林，眼睛裏閃閃發亮。"But, Father, couldn't you make whichever you like to be the next King?"
“但父王，你不能讓你所喜歡的兒子做下一任國王嗎?”"No. The king's under the law, for it's the law makes him a king. Hast no more power to start away from thy crown than any sentry from his post."
“不能。國王是受法律制約的，因爲規定他做國王的是法律。國王無權脫離王冠，正如哨兵無權脫離崗位一樣。”"Oh dear," said Cor. "I don't want to at all. And Corin - I am most dreadfully sorry. I never dreamed my turning up was going to chisel you out of your kingdom."
“天啊，”科奧說，”我壓根兒不要做國王。科林呀——我萬分誠惶誠恐地感到抱歉，我做夢也沒有想到我的出現，會把你從你的王國裏排擠出去啊。”"Hurrah! Hurrah!" said Corin. "I shan't have to be King. I shan't have to be King. I'll always be a prince. It's princes have all the fun."
“烏拉！烏拉！，”科林說道，”我不用做國王了，我不用做國王了。我將永遠做個王子。做王子最開心最好玩。”"And that's truer than thy brother knows, Cor," said King Lune. "For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there's hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land."
“科奧啊，你兄弟只知道玩兒，更正確的道理是，”國王倫恩說，”做一個國王，就是意味着在每次拼命的戰鬥中身先士卒，在每次亡命的退卻中沉着殿後，國土上出現饑饉的時候(歉收的年頭必定時常要鬧饑荒的)，倒要衣服穿得好一點，對着不夠吃飽的飯食，也要比你國土上任何人笑得更響亮。”When the two boys were going upstairs to bed Cor again asked Corin if nothing could be done about it. And Corin said:
兩個孩子到樓上去睡覺時，科奧又問科林，這事是否就這麼定了，就毫無辦法可想了。科林說："If you say another word about it, I'll - I'll knock you down."
“如果你再提到這件事，我就——我就把你打倒在地。”It would be nice to end the story by saying that after that the two brothers never disagreed about anything again, but I am afraid it would not be true. In reality they quarrelled and fought just about as often as any other two boys would, and all their fights ended (if they didn't begin) with Cor getting knocked down. For though, when they had both grown up and become swordsmen, Cor was the more dangerous man in battle, neither he nor anyone else in the North Countries could ever equal Corin as a boxer. That was how he got his name of Corin Thunder-Fist; and how he performed his great exploit against the Lapsed Bear of Stormness, which was really a Talking Bear but had gone back to Wild Bear habits. Corm climbed up to its lair on the Narnian side of Stormness one winter day when the snow was on the hills and boxed it without a time-keeper for thirty-three rounds. And at the end it couldn't see out of its eyes and became a reformed character.
故事結束時最好交代一下：從此以後，兩兄弟之間就永遠再也沒有什麼意見分歧了；但我擔心這樣講是不確實的。事實上他們倆時常吵架打架，就像任何兩個孩子一樣，而他倆的打架(如果真的打起來了)，結果總是科奧被打倒在地。他們倆長大成人時，都成了武士，雖然科奧在戰鬥中是更加兇猛的，然而，作爲拳擊手，科奧也好，北方各國裏的任何英雄好漢也好，都不能同科林媲美。他便是如此這般獲得了”霹靂拳擊手科林”的美名的，便是如此這般壓倒了暴風雨峯”墮落的熊”，建立了巨大功勳的。它原來確實是頭會說人話的熊，後來卻倒退到野熊的習性和習慣中去了。在山中積雪的一個冬日裏，科林攀登暴風雨峯納尼亞一側，走到熊窩那兒，計時器也不帶，揮拳猛擊那熊三十三個回合。打到後來，那熊眼睛發黑，看也沒法兒看了，是那熊又被改變過來了。Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently. And after King Lune's death they made a good King and Queen of Archenland and Ram the Great, the most famous of all the kings of Archenland, was their son. Bree and Hwin lived happily to a great age in Narnia and both got married but not to one another. And there weren't many months in which one or both of them didn't come trotting over the pass to visit their friends at Anvard.
阿拉維斯和科奧也吵了許多架(我擔心甚至打過架哩)，但他們總是又言歸於好。好幾年以後，他們都長大成人了，他們還是習慣於吵架又重新和好，所以他們乾脆就結了婚，以求吵了又和好起來更加方便。國王倫恩去世後，他們便成了阿欽蘭優秀的國王和王后；他倆所生的兒子偉大的拉姆，是阿欽蘭歷代國王中最著名的。布里和赫溫都在納尼亞幸福地活到了高齡，都結婚了，但它們並未結爲夫婦。往往隔不了幾個月，它們之中的一個或它們兩個，總要小跑着經過關隘，來拜訪它們的在安瓦德的老朋友。
