《最後一戰》第60期:小矮人的拒絕(3)

"It seems, then," said Tirian, smiling himself, "that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places."

"Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside."

"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even More deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak. He wanted to hear her speak again, so he said:

"Of your courtesy, Madam, tell on. Tell me your whole adventure."

"After the shock and the noise," said Lucy, "we found ourselves here. And we wondered at the door, as you did. Then the door opened for the first time (we saw darkness through the doorway when it did) and there came through a big man with a naked sword. We saw by his arms that he was a Calormene. He took his stand beside the door with his sword raised, resting on his shoulder, ready to cut down anyone who came through. We went to him and spoke to him, but we thought he could neither see nor hear us. And he never looked round on the sky and the sunlight and the grass: I think he couldn't see them either. So then we waited a long time. Then we heard the bolt being drawn on the other side of the door. But the man didn't get ready to strike with his sword till he could see who was coming in. So we supposed he had been told to strike some and spare others. But at the very moment when the door opened, all of a sudden Tash was there, on this side of the door; none of us saw where he came from. And through the door there came a big Cat. It gave one look at Tash and ran for its life: just in time, for he pounced at it and the door hit his beak as it was shut. The man could see Tash. He turned very pale and bowed down before the Monster: but it vanished away.

"Then we waited a long time again. At last the door opened for the third time and there came in a young Calormene. I liked him. The sentinel at the door started, and looked very surprised, when he saw him. I think he'd been expecting someone quite different -"

"I see it all now," said Eustace (he had the bad habit of interrupting stories). "The Cat was to go in first and the sentry had orders to do him no harm. Then the Cat was to come out and say he'd seen their beastly Tashlan and pretend to be frightened so as to scare the other Animals. But what Shift never guessed was that the real Tash would turn up; so Ginger came out really frightened. And after that, Shift would send in anyone he wanted to get rid of and the sentry would kill them. And -"

"Friend," said Tirian softly, "you hinder the lady in her tale."

"Well," said Lucy, "the sentry was surprised. That gave the other man just time to get on guard. They had a fight. He killed the sentry and flung him outside the door. Then he came walking slowly forward to where we were. He could see us, and everything else. We tried to talk to him but he was rather like a man in a trance. He kept on saying Tash, Tash, where is Tash? I go to Tash. So we gave it up and he went away somewhere - over there. I liked him. And after that ... ugh!" Lucy made a face.

"After that," said Edmund, "someone flung a monkey through the door. And Tash was there again. My sister is so tender-hearted she doesn't like to tell you that Tash made one peck and the Monkey was gone!"

"Serve him right!" said Eustace. "All the same, I hope he'll disagree with Tash too."

"And after that," said Edmund, "came about a dozen Dwarfs: and then Jill, and Eustace, and last of all yourself."

"I hope Tash ate the Dwarfs too," said Eustace. "Little swine."

"No, he didn't," said Lucy. "And don't be horrid. Thery're still here. In fact you can see them from here. And I've tried and tried to make friends with them but it's no use."

"Friends with them!" cried Eustace. "If you knew how those Dwarfs have been behaving!"

"Oh stop it, Eustace," said Lucy. "Do come and see them. King Tirian, perhaps you could do something with them."

"I can feel no great love for Dwarfs today," said Tirian. "Yet at your asking, Lady, I would do a greater thing than this."

“如此看來，”蒂蓮微笑着說道，“從內部看到的馬廄和從外部看到的馬廄是兩個不同的地方。”

“是的，”迪格雷勳爵說道，“馬廄的內部比它的外部大。”

“是的，”女王露茜說，“在我們的世界上也是這樣的：一個馬廄，一旦裏邊兒裝了點東西，就比我們整個兒世界大了。”這是她第一次說話，從她聲音的顫動裏，蒂蓮現在知道其所以然了。她對這兒的一切事物，比其他人的感受都要深得多。她快樂得說不出話來。他要聽她再說話，所以他說道：

“如蒙同意，女士，請講下去吧。請把你整個冒險過程講給我聽吧。”

“震盪和嘈雜喧鬧之後，”露茜說，“我們發現自己來到這兒了。像你一樣，我們在門口感到驚奇。然後是門第一次打開了(開門時我們從門口望到了一片黑暗)，從門裏出來一個大個兒，手裏拿着一把出了鞘的劍。我們從胳膊看出來他是個卡樂門人。他站在門邊，舉起的劍靠在肩膀上，準備砍殺任何進入門來的人。我們走過去同他說話，但我們覺得他既看不見我們，又聽不見我們的話。他從不朝四周看望，從不看看天空、陽光和青草：我認爲他也看不見它們。所以我們等待了好久。然後我們聽到門的那一邊把門閂拔掉了。但這兵在看清楚進來的是誰之前，是不準備把劍砍下去的。所以我們推測他曾奉命砍殺某些人而放過其他的人。但，就在打開門的那一刻，塔什突然出現了，就在門的這一邊，我們誰也沒看見他是從哪兒來的。接着是從門裏進來一隻大貓。大貓對塔什看了一眼就奔跑逃命了，逃得還及時，因爲塔什向貓兒撲去時，門關上時碰到了他的鳥嘴巴。士兵能看得見塔什。他的臉色變得十分蒼白，他拜倒在那怪物面前：可是怪物消失了。

“接着我們又等候了好久。最後，門終於第三次打開了，進來了一個年輕的卡樂門士兵。我喜歡這個年輕人。站在門口的崗哨吃了一驚，他看見對方時看來十分詫異。我以爲他一直指望見到的對象是跟這年輕人截然不同的……”

“現在我統統明白了，”尤斯塔斯說道(打斷別人講的故事是他的壞習慣)，“貓兒先進去，崗哨奉命不去傷害它。然後貓兒就走出馬廄，說是他見到了兇猛的塔什蘭，假裝誠惶誠恐，以此嚇唬其他野獸。但詭譎怎麼也沒料到真正的塔什會突然出現；所以貓兒金格從馬廄裏出來時倒真的誠惶誠恐了。這之後，詭譎送進馬廄去的任何人，都是它處心積慮要除去的人，崗哨就要殺死他們。於是……”

“朋友，”蒂蓮柔和地說道，“你妨礙女士講她的故事了。”

“我說下去，”露茜說道，“崗哨吃了一驚。這就使來者正好及時保衛自己。他們大戰一番。年輕人殺了崗哨，把他扔到門外。然後他慢慢地向前走到我們所在之地。他能看見我們，看見一切其他的東西。我們試圖同他講話，但他倒很像個精神恍惚的人。他不斷地說道：‘塔什，塔什，塔什在哪兒？我要去見塔什。’所以我們就不再同他說話了，他也走到了什麼地方——到另外一邊兒去了。我喜歡他。這之後，呀！”露茜做了個鬼臉。

“這之後，”愛德蒙說，“有人從門裏扔進來一隻猿猴。塔什又在場了。我的妹妹是個軟心腸人，她不想告訴你們：塔什用嘴巴一啄，猿猴就沒了命了！”

“活該！”尤斯塔斯說，“反正都一樣，我原是希望那猿猴也會同塔什意見相左的。”

“這之後，”愛德蒙說，“來了十幾個小矮人；接着是吉爾，尤斯塔斯來了，大夥兒中最後一個——你自己也來了。”

“我希望塔什把小矮人也吃了，”尤斯塔斯道，“這些小豬玀！”

“不，它不吃小矮人，”露茜說道，“你們可別讓人反感。小矮人還在那兒。事實上，你從這兒能望見他們。我曾再三試過要同他們交朋友，可是毫無效果。”

“跟小矮人交朋友！”尤斯塔斯嚷嚷道，“如果你知道這些小矮人的所作所爲，你就不會這樣說了。”

“別爭論了，尤斯塔斯，”露茜說，“你來瞧瞧他們吧。蒂蓮國王，你也許能有些辦法對付它們。”

“今天我對小矮人們可沒有多大好感，”蒂蓮說道，“然而，既然你要求我，女士，我今天要做一件比這偉大一點兒的事情。”