《魔法師的外甥》第52期:迪格雷和他的舅舅又陷困境(2)

"And yet, you know," said the Elephant (the She Elephant, of course; her husband, as you remember, had been called away by Aslan). "And yet, you know, it might be an animal of some kind. Mightn't the whitish lump at this end be a sort of face? And couldn't those holes be eyes and a mouth? No nose, of course. But then - ahem - one mustn't be narrow-minded. Very few of us have what could exactly be called a Nose." She squinted down the length of her own trunk with pardonable pride.

"I object to that remark very strongly," said the Bulldog.

"The Elephant is quite right," said the Tapir.

"I tell you what!" said the Donkey brightly, "perhaps it's an animal that can't talk but thinks it can."

"Can it be made to stand up?" said the Elephant thoughtfully. She took the limp form of Uncle Andrew gently in her trunk and set him up on end: upside down, unfortunately, so that two half-sovereigns, three halfcrowns, and a sixpence fell out of his pocket. But it was no use. Uncle Andrew merely collapsed again.

"There!" said several voices. "It isn't an animal at all, It's not alive."

"I tell you, it is an animal," said the Bulldog. "Smell it for yourself."

"Smelling isn't everything," said the Elephant.

"Why," said the Bulldog, "if a fellow can't trust his nose, what is he to trust?"

"Well, his brains perhaps," she replied mildly.

"I object to that remark very strongly," said the Bulldog.

"Well, we must do something about it," said the Elephant. "Because it may be the Neevil, and it must be shown to Aslan. What do most of us think? Is it an animal or something of the tree kind?"

"Tree! Tree!" said a dozen voices.

"Very well," said the Elephant. "Then, if it's a tree it wants to be planted. We must dig a hole."

“你們知道，”大象說(當然是母象，她的丈夫，你還記得，被阿斯蘭叫走了)，“你們知道，它可能是某種動物。這頭這塊白的不像臉嗎？那些洞不是眼睛和嘴嗎？沒鼻子，當然。但是——啊——不必太狹隘。確切地說，我們當中，只有極少數有那種被叫做鼻子的東西。”它斜睨着自己的長鼻子，那種驕傲的神態是可以諒解的。

“我強烈反對這種說法。”公狗說。"

“象是對的。”貘說。

“我告訴你吧！”驢子伶牙俐齒地說，“也許它是一種不能說話但覺得自己能說話的動物。”

“能讓它站起來嗎？”大象關心地說。它用鼻子將安德魯舅舅柔軟的身體輕輕一卷，並把他豎在地上，但不幸放反了，兩枚二分之一金鎊、三枚五分之二先令和一枚六便士硬幣從他的衣袋裏掉了出來。但沒有用，安德魯舅舅又倒了下去。

“啊哈！”幾個聲音說，“根本不是動物，它不是活的。”

“我告訴你們，它是動物，”公狗說，“你們自己聞聞吧！”

“氣味並不能說明一切。”象說。

“那麼，”公狗說，“如果誰連自己的鼻子都不相信，它還相信什麼？”

“大概應相信頭腦吧。”象溫和地說。

“我強烈反對這種觀點。”公狗說。

“嗯，我們必須有所行動，”象說，“因爲它也許就是那個‘饃’，必須把它交給阿斯蘭。大家是怎麼看的？它是動物還是樹一類的東西？”

“樹！樹！”十幾個聲音回答。

“好，”象說，“那麼，如果是樹，它一定想被栽在土裏。我們要挖個洞。”