《能言馬與男孩》第28期:科林王子(4)

"Sire," said the Raven. "You shall hear no better plot than the Faun's though we sat in council for seven days. And now, as we birds say, nests before eggs. Which is as much as to say, let us all take our food and then at once be about our business."

Everyone arose at this and the doors were opened and the lords and the creatures stood aside for the King and Queen to go out first. Shasta wondered what he ought to do, but Mr Tumnus said, "Lie there, your Highness, and I will bring you up a little feast to yourself in a few moments. There is no need for you to move until we are all ready to embark."

Shasta laid his head down again on the pillows and soon he was alone in the room.

"This is perfectly dreadful," thought Shasta. It never came into his head to tell these Narnians the whole truth and ask for their help. Having been brought up by a hard, closefisted man like Arsheesh, he had a fixed habit of never telling grown-ups anything if he could help it: he thought they would always spoil or stop whatever you were trying to do. And he thought that even if the Narnian King might be friendly to the two horses, because they were Talking Beasts of Narnia, he would hate Aravis, because she was a Calormene, and either sell her for a slave or send her back to her father. As for himself, "I simply dn't tell them I'm not Prince Corin now," thought Shasta. "I've heard all their plans. If they knew I wasn't one of themselves, they'd never let me out of this house alive. They'd be afraid I'd betray them to the Tisroc. They'd kill me. And if the real Corin turns up, it'll all come out, and they will!" He had, you see, no idea of how noble and free-born people behave.

"What am I to do? What am I to do?" he kept saying to himself. "What-hullo, here comes that goaty little creature again."

The Faun trotted in, half dancing, with a tray in its hands which was nearly as large as itself. This he set on an inlaid table beside Shasta's sofa, and sat down himself on the carpeted floor with his goaty legs crossed.

"Now, princeling," he said. "Make a good dinner. It will be your last meal in Tashbaan."

It was a fine meal after the Calormene fashion. I don't know whether you would have liked it or not, but Shasta did. There were lobsters, and salad, and snipe stuffed with almonds and truffles, and a complicated dish made of chickenlivers and rice and raisins and nuts, and there were cool melons and gooseberry fools and mulberry fools, and every kind of nice thing that can be made with ice. There was also a little flagon of the sort of wine that is called "white" though it is really yellow.

While Shasta was eating, the good little Faun, who thought he was still dazed with sunstroke, kept talking to him about the fine times he would have when they all got home; about his good old father King Lune of Archenland and the little castle where he lived on the southern slopes of the pass. "And don't forget," said Mr Tumnus, "that you are promised your first suit of armour and your first war horse on your next birthday. And then your Highness will begin to learn how to tilt and joust. And in a few years, if all goes well, King Peter has promised your royal father that he himself will make you Knight at Cair Paravel. And in the meantime there will be plenty of comings and goings between Narnia and Archenland across the neck of the mountains. And of course you remember you have promised to come for a whole week to stay with me for the Summer Festival, and there'll be bonfires and all-night dances of Fauns and Dryads in the heart of the woods and, who knows?-we might see Aslan himself!"

“陛下，”渡鴉說道，”我們雖然坐下來商量了七天，你不會聽到比羊怪的計策更高明的了。唔，我們鳥兒說得好，先築巢，後生蛋。這就是說：讓我們大家先吃飯，然後立刻動手辦事去。”

聽到這話，每個人都站了起來，房門打開了，王爺和其他隨從站在一邊，讓國王和女王先走出門去。沙斯塔不知道他該怎麼辦。但圖姆納斯先生說，”殿下，你躺在這兒，過一會兒我就替你送點兒佳餚來。在我們大家準備好要上船之前，你就無需行動了。”

沙斯塔把腦袋重新擱在枕頭上，不久就剩下他一個人在房間裏了。

“這情況萬分可怕。”沙斯塔心中想道。他腦子裏從來沒有想過要把全部真相告訴納尼亞人，要求他們的幫助。他從小是由一個像阿什伊什那樣心腸硬、拳頭大的人帶大的，養成了一個固定不變的習慣，如果他想得出辦法，他就什麼也不告訴成年人，他認爲成年人總是破壞或阻撓他正在試圖乾的事情的。而且他認爲：即使納尼亞國王會友好對待兩匹馬兒，因爲它們是納尼亞的說人話的牲口，他也會憎恨阿拉維斯，因爲她是個卡樂門人，他若不把她當做奴隸賣掉，也會把她送回她父親那兒去。至於他自己呢，”我現在簡直不敢告訴他們:我並不是王子科林。”沙斯塔想道，”我已經聽到了他們的全部計劃，如果他們知道我並不是納尼亞王族一員，他們就決不會讓我活着走出這個房間。他們會擔心我把他們出賣給蒂斯羅克的。如果真正的科林出現了，事情就拆穿了，他們就一定會把我宰了！”你瞧，他對於高尚而天生自由的人們如何立身行事，腦子裏是毫無概念的。

“我怎麼辦呢?我怎麼辦呢？”他不斷地跟自己說道，”怎麼——呀，羊一般的小傢伙又來了。”:

羊怪半是跳着舞，小跑着走進房間，他雙手捧着個盤子，幾乎跟他的身體一般兒大。他把盤子放在沙斯塔沙發旁邊一張鑲嵌螺鈿的桌子上。他自己交叉着羊腿坐在鋪着地毯的地板上。

“喂，小王子，”他說，”好好地吃一頓正餐。這是你在塔什班吃的最後一餐了。”

這是一頓卡樂門風味的美餐。我不知道你喜不喜歡，可沙斯塔喜歡。有龍蝦，有色拉，有肚子裏塞了塊菌和杏仁的鵲，有雞肝、米粒、葡萄乾、果仁等的炒什錦，還有冰涼的瓜、奶油醋栗、奶油桑葚以及一切能與米飯一起煮來吃的好東西。另有一小壺被稱爲”白酒”其實是黃色的酒。

沙斯塔吃飯時，善良的小羊怪認爲他中暑尚未痊癒，便不斷地講給他聽：他們大家一起回到家鄉後，他就會過好日子了；講起他的善良的老父親，阿欽蘭的國王倫恩，以及要隘南坡國王所住的堡壘。”你可別忘了，”圖姆納斯先生說道，”在你下次的生日裏，會答應給你第一套盔甲和第一匹戰馬的。於是殿下就要開始學習騎馬持矛衝刺和比武了。幾年以後，如果一切順利，國王彼得已經答允你的父王，他要親自封你爲凱爾帕拉維爾的騎士。在此期間，納尼亞和阿欽蘭穿過羣山之間的俠士也會有許多來往。當然你記得你曾答允要來和我一起呆上一個星期，過盛夏節，那時會有大篝火，在森林的中心會有羊怪和樹精的通宵跳舞，而且，誰知道呢?——說不定我們會看到阿斯蘭本人呢！”