《魔法師的外甥》第30期:發生在前門的事(1)

Chapter 7 What Happened at the Front Door

"Now; slave, how long am I to wait for my chariot?" thundered the Witch. Uncle Andrew cowered away from her. Now that she was really present, all the silly thoughts he had had while looking at himself in the glass were oozing out of him. But Aunt Letty at once got up from her knees and came over to the centre of the room.

"And who is this young person, Andrew, may I ask?" said Aunt Letty in icy tones.

"Distinguished foreigner - v-very important p-person," he stammered.

"Rubbish!" said Aunt Letty, and then, turning to the Witch, "Get out of my house this moment, you shameless hussy, or I'll send for the police." She thought the Witch must be someone out of a circus and she did not approve of bare arms.

"What woman is this?" said Jadis. "Down on your knees, minion, before I blast you."

"No strong language in this house if you please, young woman," said Aunt Letty.

Instantly, as it seemed to Uncle Andrew, the Queen towered up to an even greater height. Fire flashed from her eyes: she flung out her arm with the same gesture and the same horrible-sounding words that had lately turned the palacegates of Charn to dust. But nothing happened except that Aunt Letty, thinking that those horrible words were meant to be ordinary English, said: "I thought as much. The woman is drunk. Drunk! She can't even speak clearly."

It must have been a terrible moment for the Witch when she suddenly realized that her power of turning people into dust, which had been quite real in her own world, was not going to work in ours. But she did not lose her nerve even for a second. Without wasting a thought on her disappointment, she lunged forward, caught Aunt Letty round the neck and the knees, raised her high above her head as if she had been no heavier than a doll, and threw her across the room. While Aunt Letty was still hurtling through the air, the housemaid (who was having a beautifully exciting morning) put her head in at the door and said, "If you please, sir, the 'ansom's come."

第7章 發生在前門的事

“奴才，還要等多久，我的馬車纔會到？”女巫打雷一般地說。安德魯舅舅抖抖索索地站到一邊。女巫一出現，他照鏡子時產牛的所有可笑念頭全部消失得無影無蹤。帶蒂姨媽馬上站了起來，走到屋子中間。

“這年輕女人是誰？安德魯，我能問嗎？”蕾蒂姨媽冷冷地問。

“尊貴的外國人——非——非常重要的人物。”他結結巴巴地說。

“胡說！”蕾蒂姨媽轉向女巫，“立即離開我的家，你這不知羞恥的蕩婦，不然，我就叫警察。”她以爲那女巫一定是從馬戲團跑出來的，而且，她看不憤裸露的膀子。

“這女人是誰？”簡蒂絲說，“跪下來，奴才，否則我會毀滅你的。”

“請不要在這幢房子裏講粗話，女士。”蕾蒂姨媽說。

剎那間，安德魯舅舅覺得，那女王似乎向上一挺，變得更加高大。她眼中冒火，伸出手臂，做了一個在恰思將宮門搗成灰燼時同樣的動作，口中念出滅絕咒。然而，什麼事情也沒有發生。蓄蒂姨媽想，那些可怕的話大概也是英語，她說：“我想得不錯。這女人一定喝醉了。醉了！連話也說不清楚。”

當女巫突然意識到，她那種能把人變成灰燼的魔力在她的世界裏那麼真實可行，而在我們這裏卻毫無用處時，對她來說這簡直是個可怕的時刻。但她絲豪沒有心慌意亂、沮喪失望。她撲向前，抓住蕾蒂姨媽的脖子和膝蓋，將她高高地舉過頭頂，像舉一個輕巧的玩具娃娃似的，朝屋子那頭一甩。蕾蒂姨媽還沒落地，女傭（她覺得那天早上真是妙不可言，令人激動）探頭進來說：“先生，你的馬車到了，請。”