《魔法師的外甥》第45期:第一個笑柄及其他(1)

Chapter 10 The First Joke and Other Matters

IT was of course the Lion's voice. The children had long felt sure that he could speak: yet it was a lovely and terrible shock when he did.

Out of the trees wild people stepped forth, gods and goddesses of the wood; with them came Fauns and Satyrs and Dwarfs. Out of the river rose the river god with his Naiad daughters. And all these and all the Beasts and birds in their different voices, low or high or thick or clear, replied:

"Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know."

"But please, we don't know very much yet," said a nosey and snorty kind of voice. And that really did make the children jump, for it was the cab-horse who had spoken.

"Good old Strawberry," said Polly. "I am glad he was one of the ones picked out to be a Talking Beast." And the Cabby, who was now standing beside the children, said, "Strike me pink. I always did say that 'oss 'ad a lot of sense, though."

"Creatures, I give you yourselves," said the strong, happy voice of Aslan. "I give to you forever this land of Narnia. I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars and I give you myself. The Dumb Beasts whom I have not chosen are yours also. Treat them gently and cherish them but do not go back to their ways lest you cease to be Talking Beasts. For out of them you were taken and into them you can return. Do not so."

"No, Aslan, we won't, we won't," said everyone. But one perky jackdaw added in a loud voice, "No fear!" and everyone else had finished just before he said it so that his words came out quite clear in a dead silence; and perhaps you have found out how awful that can be - say, at a party. The Jackdaw became so embarrassed that it hid its head under its wings as if it was going to sleep. And all the other animals began making various queer noises which are their ways of laughing and which, of course, no one has ever heard in our world. They tried at first to repress it, but Aslan said:

"Laugh and fear not, creatures. Now that you are no longer dumb and witless, you need not always be grave. For jokes as well as justice come in with speech."

So they all let themselves go. And there was such merriment that the Jackdaw himself plucked up courage again and perched on the cab-horse's head, between its ears, clapping its wings, and said:

"Aslan! Aslan! Have I made the first joke? Will everybody always be told how I made the first joke?"

第10章 第一個笑柄及其他

當然，這是獅子的聲音。孩子們早就覺得獅子會說話，但當它開口時，他們還是興奮地吃了一驚。

原始的野人從樹後走了出來，樹神、農牧神、森林之神和小矮人。河神和他的女兒——仙女們——從河裏出來。他們和所有的野獸及鳥兒用或高或低、或渾厚或渭晰的聲音回答：

“好啊！阿斯蘭。我們聽見了。我們服從你。我們醒了。我們愛，我們想，我們說話，我們懂了。”

“但是，我們還不是太懂。”一個帶鼻音的聲音說。孩子們幾乎跳了起來。因爲說話的正是那匹拉車的馬。

“老草莓，好樣的，”波莉說，“我很高興它被選作會說話的野獸之一。”站在孩子們身邊的馬車伕說：“這太讓我高興了，不過，我以前就總說這匹馬很有靈性。”

“動物們，我把你們自己給了你們，”阿斯蘭愉悅、有力的聲音說，“我把納尼亞這片土地永久地給了你們。我給你們樹木、果實和河流。給你們星星以及我自己。我沒有挑選的啞獸也是你們的。要善待它們，珍惜它們。但不要回到它們中去，除非你們不再是會說話的野獸。因爲你們是從它們中選出來的，回到它們中就和它們一樣了。不要回去。”

“不，阿斯蘭，我們不會回去。”衆口齊聲回答。但一隻魯莽的寒鴉又高聲加了句：“當然不會！”因爲大夥兒都住口了它才說，所以，在一片寂靜中，它的聲音格外清楚。也許，你也知道，在一個聚會上這會很糟糕的。寒鴉尷尬極了，像睡覺一樣把頭埋在翅膀裏，其他的動物開始發出各種各樣的笑聲，而這些聲音，在我們的世界裏是從來沒有聽見過的。起先，它們還想憋住，但阿斯蘭說：

“別怕，笑吧，動物們，既然你們不再是啞巴，不再愚鈍，就不該總是沉默不語。因爲有了語言，就會有公道，也就會有玩笑。”

於是動物們無拘無束地笑起來了。在這種活躍、愉快的氣氛中，那隻寒鴉又鼓足勇氣，跳上拉車馬的頭，站存馬的兩耳之間，拍着翅膀說道：

“阿斯蘭！阿斯蘭！我開了第一個玩笑嗎？是不是以後大家都會知道我是怎樣開第一個玩笑的？”