《魔法師的外甥》第50期:第一個笑柄及其他(6)

"The fools!" he said to himself. "Now those brutes will eat the rings along with the children and I'll never be able to get home again. What a selfish little boy that Digory is! And the others are just as bad. If they want to throw away their own lives, that's their business. But what about me? They don't seem to think of that. No one thinks of me."

Finally, when a whole crowd of animals came rushing towards him, he turned and ran for his life. And now anyone could see that the air of that young world was really doing the old gentleman good. In London he had been far too old to run: now, he ran at a speed which would have made him certain to win the hundred yards' race at any Prep school in England. His coattails flying out behind him were a fine sight. But of course it was no use. Many of the animals behind him were swift ones; it was the first run they had ever taken in their lives and they were all longing to use their new muscles. "After him! After him!" they shouted. "Perhaps he's that Neevil! Tally-ho! Tantivy! Cut him off! Round him up! Keep it up! Hurrah!"

In a very few minutes some of them got ahead of him. They lined up in a row and barred his way. Others hemmed him in from behind. Wherever he looked he saw terrors. Antlers of great elks and the huge face of an elephant towered over him. Heavy, serious-minded bears and boars grunted behind him. Cool-looking leopards and panthers with sarcastic faces (as he thought) stared at him and waved their tails. What struck him most of all was the number of open mouths. The animals had really opened their mouths to pant; he thought they had opened their mouths to eat him.

Uncle Andrew stood trembling and swaying this way and that. He had never liked animals at the best of times, being usually rather afraid of them; and of course years of doing cruel experiments on animals had made him hate and fear them far more.

"Now, sir," said the Bulldog in his business-like way, "are you animal, vegetable, or mineral?" That was what it really said; but all Uncle Andrew heard was "Gr-r-rarrh-ow!"

“蠢貨！”他自言自語道，“這下，那些畜生會把兩個孩子連戒指一起吃掉，我再也不能回家了。迪格雷這小鬼多麼自私！其他那幾個也一樣壞。如果他們想丟命，那是他們的事。可是我呢，他們好像就沒想過。沒有人想到我。”

最後，當一大羣動物朝他跑去時，他轉身逃命去了。任何人都看得出，年輕世界的空氣確實對這老先生大有裨益。在倫敦，他已經老得跑不動了，而現在，他的速度完全能拿下英格蘭仔何一個預備學校百米賽的冠軍。他的衣襬在身後飄來蕩去，十分好看。但當然毫無用處。動物中有不少跑得很快，這又是它們有生以來第一次奔跑，便都如飢似渴地想練練自己的新肌肉。“追！追上他！”它們大叫，“也許他就是那個什麼‘鏌’！嗬！快跑！截住他！包圍他！堅持！快跑！”

幾分鐘後，一些動物就超過了他。它們排起來斷了他的去路，其他動物從後面追上將他包圍。他無論從哪個方向看去，都感到可怕極了大麋子的角和大象龐大的臉高聳在他面前。那些笨重而嚴肅的熊和公野豬在後面咆哮。表情冷漠的黑豹和花豹譏諷地（他這麼想）搖着尾巴，盯着他。最令他心驚肉跳的是那麼多張大的嘴。動物們張口是爲了喘氣，他卻認爲是要吃他。

安德魯舅舅東搖西擺地站在那裏，渾身發抖。即使在最安全的時候，他也不喜歡動物；他總是對它們感到恐懼。當然，長年累月地用動物做試驗也使他更加憎恨和害怕它們。

“先生，那麼，”那條公狗用公小公辦的口吻說，“你是動物、植物還是礦物？”它的確說出了這些話，但安德魯舅舅只聽見“汪——汪——汪——”的叫聲。"