《魔法師的外甥》第65期:不期而遇(4)

"Oh!" gasped Digory as if he had been hurt, and put his hand to his head. For he now knew that the Most terrible choice lay before him.

"What has the Lion ever done for you that you should be his slave?" said the Witch. "What can he do to you once you are back in your own world? And what would your Mother think if she knew that you could have taken her pain away and given her back her life and saved your Father's heart from being broken, and that you wouldn't - that you'd rather run messages for a wild animal in a strange world that is no business of yours?"

"I - I don't think he is a wild animal," said Digory in a dried-up sort of voice. "He is - I don't know -"

"Then he is something worse," said the Witch. "Look what he has done to you already; look how heartless he has made you. That is what he does to everyone who listens to him. Cruel, pitiless boy! you would let your own Mother die rather than -"

"Oh shut up," said the miserable Digory, still in the same voice. "Do you think I don't see? But I - I promised."

"Ah, but you didn't know what you were promising. And no one here can prevent you."

"Mother herself," said Digory, getting the words out with difficulty, "wouldn't like it - awfully strict about keeping promises - and not stealing - and all that sort of thing. She'd tell me not to do it - quick as anything - if she was here."

"But she need never know," said the Witch, speaking more sweetly than you would have thought anyone with so fierce a face could speak. "You wouldn't tell her how you'd got the apple. Your Father need never know. No one in your world need know anything about this whole story. You needn't take the little girl back with you, you know."

That was where the Witch made her fatal mistake. Of course Digory knew that Polly could get away by her own ring as easily as he could get away by his. But apparently the Witch didn't know this. And the meanness of the suggestion that he should leave Polly behind suddenly made all the other things the Witch had been saying to him sound false and hollow. And even in the midst of all his misery, his head suddenly cleared, and he said (in a different and much louder' voice):

“噢!”迪格雷像受了傷似的用手摸着頭，喘着氣。他知道最可怕的選擇擺在了他面前。

“獅子對你有什麼好處，你情願給它當奴隸?”女巫說，“一旦你回到自己的世界，誰也不能把你怎麼樣。要是你媽媽知道你本來可以解除她的痛苦，恢復她的生機，可以不使你爸爸的心靈破碎，而你卻不願意，寧肯爲與你們毫不相干的陌生世界裏的一隻野獸效勞，她會怎麼想呢?”

“我——我不認爲它是野獸，”迪格雷用乾啞的聲音說，“它是——我不知道——”

“它比你想像的更壞，”女巫說，“看看它是怎樣對待你的吧：你看它把你變得多麼沒有心肝。每一個服從它的人都會這樣的。殘忍的、沒有同情心的孩子!你寧肯讓自己的媽媽死而不願……”

“啊，別說了，”悲傷的迪格雷用依舊乾啞的聲音說，“你以爲我不明白?但我……我答應了。”

“嗨，可你當時並不懂你答應了什麼。在這裏誰也不能阻攔你。”

“媽媽自己，”迪格雷艱難地吐出幾句話，“也不會喜歡那種做法——她對我很嚴格，要我遵守諾言——不要偷東西——以及所有這一類的要求。如果她在這兒的話，也不會讓我那樣做的。”

“但她沒有必要知道，”女巫甜甜地說，你想不出一個長相那麼兇的人能說得那麼甜美動聽，“你不用告訴她你是怎樣弄到蘋果的。你爸爸也不必知道。你的世界裏誰也不需要知道這件事的來龍去脈。而且，你也不必把那小女孩帶回去。”

這正是女巫致命的錯誤所在。迪格雷當然知道波莉可以靠自己的戒指回去，跟他靠自己的戒指回去一樣容易。但顯然女巫不知道這一點。她要他丟下波莉，這卑鄙的建議使她剛纔說過的一切全都成了假話和空話。迪格雷即使正沉浸在悲哀之中，頭腦也很快清醒了，他說(聲音變了，響亮得多)："