《能言馬與男孩》第84期:可笑的拉巴達什(3)

They couldn't help it. Rabadash had been wagging his ears all the time and as soon as Aslan said, "The hour has struck!" the ears began to change. They grew longer and more pointed and soon were covered with grey hair. And while everyone was wondering where they had seen ears like that before, Rabadash's face began to change too. It grew longer, and thicker at the top and larger eyed, and the nose sank back into the face (or else the face swelled out and became all nose) and there was hair all over it. And his arms grew longer and came down in front of him till his hands were resting on the ground: only they weren't hands, now, they were hoofs. And he was standing on all fours, and his clothes disappeared, and everyone laughed louder and louder (because they couldn't help it) for now what had been Rabadash was, simply and unmistakably, a donkey. The terrible thing was that his human speech lasted just a moment longer than his human shape, so that when he realized the change that was coming over him, he screamed out:

他們沒法兒不笑。拉巴達什一直在上下襬動着耳朵，阿斯蘭剛說”時辰到了”，那雙耳朵便開始變化。耳朵愈變愈長、愈尖，不久耳朵上又長滿了灰色的毛。大夥正琢磨着以前在什麼地方見過這樣的耳朵時，拉巴達什的臉也開始變化了。臉變得長了，頂上變厚了，眼睛變大了，鼻子陷進臉蛋裏去了(不然的話，就是臉鼓出來了，變成全是鼻子了)，臉上到處都是毛。他的胳膊變長，在前邊兒垂了下來，直至雙手碰到地面：不過現在不是手了，而是蹄子了。他四腳落地站在那兒，他身上的衣服也消失了，人人哈哈大笑，愈笑愈響(他們不由自主地要笑)，因爲當初的拉巴達什如今乾乾脆脆地變成一頭驢子。可怕的是，他那人的語言比他那人的形體僅僅多保留了一會兒時間，當他認識到他身上所發生的變化時，他叫喊道：

"Oh, not a Donkey! Mercy! If it were even a horse - e'en - a hor - eeh - auh, eeh-auh." And so the words died away into a donkey's bray.

“啊，不要變成一頭驢子！可憐可憐吧。哪怕是變成一匹馬——哪怕是——匹馬——嗯—啊—霍—伊赫—奧赫，伊赫—奧赫。”語言便消失在驢叫聲裏了。

"Now hear me, Rabadash," said Aslan. "Justice shall be mixed with mercy. You shall not always be an Ass."

“拉巴達什，你聽着。”阿斯蘭說道，”公正的審判裏將包含着大慈大悲。你將來不會永遠是頭驢子的。”

At this of course the Donkey twitched its ears forward and that also was so funny that everybody laughed all the more. They tried not to, but they tried in vain.

阿斯蘭說這話的過程中，驢子把它的耳朵向前扭過來靜聽——這副形狀也十分可笑，大家越發哈哈大笑了。他們竭力剋制，可是剋制不了。

"You have appealed to Tash," said Aslan. "And in the temple of Tash you shall be healed. You must stand before the altar of Tash in Tashbaan at the great Autumn Feast this year and there, in the sight of all Tashbaan, your ass's shape will fall from you and all men will know you for Prince Rabadash. But as long as you live, if ever you go more than ten miles away from the great temple in Tashbaan you shall instantly become again as you now are. And from that second change there will be no return."

“你曾訴之於塔什神，”阿斯蘭說道，”你將在塔什神的神廟裏得到康復。今年偉大的秋節裏，你必須站在塔什班城塔什神的祭臺跟前，當着全部塔什班人的面，你那驢子的形體將從你身上脫落，大家都將認出你就是王子拉巴達什。然而，在你活着的時候，如果你走到離塔什班城偉大神廟十英里之外的地方，你就會立刻重新變成你現在那副模樣。若你第二次變成驢子，那就萬劫不復了。”

There was a short silence and then they all stirred and looked at one another as if they were waking from sleep. Aslan was gone. But there was a brightness in the air and on the grass, and a joy in their hearts, which assured them that he had been no dream: and anyway, there was the donkey in front of them.

短短的一陣寂靜，然後他們都動彈起來了，你看我我看你，倒像剛從睡夢中醒來似的。阿斯蘭走了。但空中草上留有一道光華，他們的心裏留有一股歡欣，凡此都向他們保證阿斯蘭可不是夢幻；而且，無論如何，他們眼前就有一頭驢子。

King Lune was the kindest-hearted of men and on seeing his enemy in this regrettable condition he forgot all his anger.

國王倫恩是男子漢中最爲慈悲心腸的，眼見他的敵人處於這種懊悔不迭的境地，他把憤怒全都忘記了。

"Your royal Highness," he said. "I am most truly sorry that things have come to this extremity. Your Highness will bear witness that it was none of our doing. And of course we shall be delighted to provide your Highness with shipPing back to Tashbaan for the - er - treatment which Aslan has prescribed. You shall have every comfort which your Highness's situation allows: the best of the cattleboats - the freshest carrots and thistles -"

“殿下，”他說道，”事情弄到這般極端的地步，我確實深感遺憾。殿下親眼目睹，這一點兒也不是我們搞出來的。我們當然樂於提供船隻，送殿下回塔什班去，按照阿斯蘭的處方，求得康復。殿下將得到眼前你的處境所容許的各種舒舒服服的招待：最好的裝載牲口的船——最新鮮的胡蘿蔔和野薊……”

But a deafening bray from the Donkey and a well-aimed kick at one of the guards made it clear that these kindly offers were ungratefully received.

但震耳欲聾的一聲驢叫，以及瞄準警衛的狠狠一腳，清清楚楚地證明：這些好心的優待，對方可毫不領情。’

And here, to get him out of the way, I'd better finish off the story of Rabadash. He (or it) was duly sent back by boat to Tashbaan and brought into the temple of Tash at the great Autumn Festival, and then he became a man again. But of course four or five thousand people had seen the transformation and the affair could not possibly be hushed up. And after the old Tisroc's death when Rabadash became Tisroc in his place he turned out the most peaceable Tisroc Calormen had ever known. This was because, not daring to go more than ten miles from Tashbaan, he could never go on a war himself: and he didn't want his Tarkaans to win fame in the wars at his expense, for that is the way Tisrocs get overthrown. But though his reasons were selfish, it made things much more comfortable for all the smaller countries round Calormen. His own people never forgot that he had been a donkey. During his reign, and to his face, he was called Rabadash the Peacemaker, but after his death and behind his back he was called Rabadash the Ridiculous, and if you look him up in a good History of Calormen (try the local library) you will find him under that name. And to this day in Calormene schools, if you do anything unusually stupid, you are very likely to be called "a second Rabadash".

這兒，爲了不再提到他，我還是把拉巴達什的故事講完爲好。他(或是它)被及時用船送回塔什班城，並在偉大的秋節被送進塔什神的神廟，於是重新變成了一個人。當然有四五千人親眼目睹了他的這一變化，這件事就沒法兒祕而不宣了。老蒂斯羅克去世了，拉巴達什便代替他做了蒂斯羅克，他變成了有史以來卡樂門最和平的蒂斯羅克。這是因爲他不敢跑到離塔什班城十英里以外的地方；他就沒法兒親自參加戰爭，而他又不願意讓他手下的泰坎們在損害他權勢的條件下從戰爭中獲得聲譽，因爲蒂斯羅克們都是這樣被推翻的。但儘管他的動機是自私自利的，卻使卡樂門周圍的小國家日子過得舒服多了。他自己的老百姓可從來沒有忘記他曾經是一頭驢子。在他統治期間，當着他的面，人們稱他爲”和平締造者”，但在他死後以及在他背後，人們稱他爲”可笑的拉巴達什”，如果你在一本優秀的《卡樂門史》裏(不妨到地方圖書館去找一下)查找他的事蹟，你就會發現他是被列在”可笑的拉巴達什”那個條目下的。直到今天，在卡樂門的學校裏，如果你做了什麼異乎尋常地愚蠢的事情，你就很可能被稱爲”第二個拉巴達什”。

Meanwhile at Anvard everyone was very glad that he had been disposed of before the real fun began, which was a grand feast held that evening on the lawn before the castle, with dozens of lanterns to help the moonlight. And the wine flowed and tales were told and jokes were cracked, and then silence was made and the King's poet with two fiddlers stepped out into the middle of the circle. Aravis and Cor prepared themselves to be bored, for the only poetry they knew was the Calormene kind, and you know now what that was like. But at the very first scrape of the fiddles a rocket seemed to go up inside their heads, and the poet sang the great old lay of Fair Olvin and how he fought the Giant Pire and turned him into stone (and that is the origin of Mount Pire - it was a two-headed Giant) and won the Lady Liln for his bride; and when it was over they wished it was going to begin again. And though Bree couldn't sing he told the story of the fight at Zalindreh. And Lucy told again (they had all, except Aravis and Cor, heard it many times but they all wanted it again) the tale of the Wardrobe and how she and King Edmund and Queen Susan and Peter the High King had first come into Narnia.

在此期間，在安瓦德城裏人人都十分高興，拉巴達什已經遣送回去了，城裏真正的賞心樂事便開始了。那是個盛大的宴會，當天晚上在城堡前的草坪上舉行，張着幾十盞燈，燈光同月光互相映輝。酒像水一樣流淌。人們講着故事，說着笑話，然後是一片寂靜，國王的詩人帶着兩個提琴手走進人們圍成的圈子中央。阿拉維斯和科奧原是準備忍受沉悶無聊的，因爲他們懂得的詩篇不過是卡樂門的那種詩歌，而現在才知道詩歌是什麼玩藝兒了。但提琴剛演奏開頭的曲調，就彷彿有個火箭飛進了他們的頭腦裏，詩人唱着偉大的古老歌謠，關於漂亮的奧爾文的歌謠，關於他怎樣和巨人皮爾作戰，把巨人變成了石頭(這就是皮爾峯的來歷——一個生着兩個腦袋的巨人)，並且贏得莉爾恩小姐做他的新娘。歌謠唱完時，他們真希望詩人重新再唱一遍。布里雖然不會唱，卻講了扎林德雷之戰的故事。露茜又講了大衣櫃以及她和國王愛德蒙、女王蘇珊以及至尊王彼得最初進入納尼亞的故事。除開阿拉維斯和科奧，他們大家都聽她講過好幾遍了，但他們都想再聽一遍。