《最後一戰》第7期:國王的魯莽(4)

"It is the only thing left for us to do, Sire," said the Unicorn. He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go on alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil came of their rashness in the end.

“陛下，留給我們去幹的，只有這一件事情了。”獨角獸說道。在這個時刻裏，他並沒看到他倆單獨前往是多麼愚蠢；國王也沒看到這問題。他們太憤怒了，因而頭腦就糊塗了，然而，他們的魯莽招來了許許多多的災難。

Suddenly the King leaned hard on his friend's neck and bowed his head.

國王突然緊靠在他朋友的脖子上，低下頭來。

"Jewel," he said, "what lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before today we should have been happy."

“珍寶，”他說道，“擺在我們面前的是什麼光景？我的心裏涌起了可怕的思想。如果我們在今天之前死去，我們倒幸福了。”

"Yes," said Jewel. "We have lived too long. The worst thing in the world has come upon us." They stood like that for a minute or two and then went on.

“是啊，”珍寶說，“我們已經活得太長久了。世界上最糟糕的事情臨到我們頭上啦。”他們這樣站立了一兩分鐘，然後又繼續前進。

Before long they could hear the hack-hack-hack of axes falling on timber, though they could see nothing yet because there was a rise of the ground in front of them. When they had reached the top of it they could see right into Lantern Waste itself. And the King's face turned white when he saw it.

過了不久，他們便聽到斧頭亂劈亂砍木材的乒乒乓乓的聲音，儘管由於前邊土地隆起，他們還什麼也看不見。及至他們到達隆起的高處，他們就能一覽無遺地望見燈柱野林。國王看在眼裏，氣得臉都發白了。

Right through the middle of that ancient forest - that forest where the trees of gold and of silver had once grown and where a child from our world had once planted the Tree of Protection - a broad lane had already been opened. It was a hideous lane like a raw gash in the land, full of muddy ruts where felled trees had been dragged down to the river. There was a great crowd of people at work, and a cracking of whips, and horses tugging and straining as they dragged at the logs. The first thing that struck the King and the Unicorn was that about half the people in the crowd were not Talking Beasts but Men. The next thing was that these men were not the fair-haired men of Narnia: they were dark, bearded men from Calormen, that great and cruel country that lies beyond Archenland across the desert to the south. There was no reason, of course, why one should not meet a Calormene or two in Narnia - a merchant or an ambassador - for there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those days. But Tirian could notunderstand why there were so many of them: nor why they were cutting down a Narnian forest. He grasped his sword tighter and rolled his cloak round his left arm. They came quickly down among the men.

貫穿古老的森林，已經開闢出了一條寬闊的通道。那可是一度生長過金樹銀樹的森林，而我們這個世界裏的一個孩子也曾在那兒種了一棵“保護之樹”。這是一條叫人厭惡的通道，彷彿是土地上新裂開來的一道豁口，充滿了樹木拖到河邊去時沿路留下的癮跡。有一大羣人在那兒幹活，馬鞭子嚼嚼啪啪地響，馬兒拖動木頭時拉拉扯扯，使出了九牛二虎之力。引起國王和獨角獸注意的第一件事情是：人羣中大半數都不是會說人話的馬兒，倒是人。第二件事情是；這些人都不是金髮白皮膚的納尼亞人，他們都是來自卡樂門王國的黑皮膚大鬍子大漢。卡樂門是個殘酷的大國，位於阿欽蘭背後、大沙漠之南。當然啦，沒有理由不該在納尼亞碰到一兩個卡樂門人——個商人或是一個大使——因爲在這些日子裏，納尼亞王國和卡樂門王國是和平相處的。然而蒂蓮不明白，爲什麼竟有那麼多的卡樂門人，現在他們爲什麼正在砍伐一片納尼亞的森林。他緊握着他的劍，把他的外套卷在左臂上。他倆迅速來到這些人中間。

Two Calormenes were driving a horse which was harnessed to a log. Just as the King reached them the log had got stuck in a bad muddy place.

兩個卡樂門人正鞭策着一匹拉着木頭的馬兒。國王剛走到他們跟前時，木頭正陷在一個糟糕的泥坑裏。

"Get on, son of sloth! Pull, you lazy pig!" cried the Calormenes, cracking their whips. The horse was already straining himself as hard as he could; his eyes were red and he was covered with foam.

“走呀，懶惰崽子！拉呀，你這懶豬！”卡樂門人暗暗啪啪揮舞着鞭子，大聲喊道。馬兒已經拼命用勁拉了，它眼睛發紅，渾身冒着汗水。

"Work, lazy brute," shouted one of the Calormenes: and as he spoke he struck the horse savagely with his whip. It was then that the really dreadful thing happened.

“幹活呀，懶惰的畜生！”一個卡樂門人一邊嚷嚷，一邊用馬鞭子野蠻地鞭打着馬兒。就是在這個時候，真正可怕的事情發生了。

Up till now Tirian had taken it for granted that the horses which the Calormenes were driving were their own horses; dumb, witless animals like the horses of our own world. And though he hated to see even a dumb horse overdriven, he was of course thinking more about the murder of the Trees. It had never crossed his mind that anyone would dare to harness one of the free Talking Horses of Narnia, much less to use a whip on it. But as that savage blow fell the horse reared up and said, half screaming:

直到此刻爲止，國王蒂蓮想當然地認爲卡樂門人驅策的馬兒是他們自己的馬兒，是啞口無言的毫無智慧的牲口，就像我們這個世界的馬兒一樣。雖然他不願看到哪怕是一匹啞巴馬兒過分受到虐待，他想得更多的當然是神聖樹木的被謀害。他從來沒有想到竟有人大膽逼迫自由的會說人話的納尼亞馬兒拉木頭，更不會想到會有人用鞭子抽打納尼亞馬兒。但，當那野蠻的鞭子打下來時，馬兒用後腿站了起來，一半兒像是叫喊地說道!

"Fool and tyrant! Do you not see I am doing all I can?"

“傻瓜和暴君！難道你沒看見我正全力以赴嗎？”

When Tirian knew that the Horse was one of his own Narnians, there came over him and over Jewel such a rage that they did not know what they were doing. The King's sword went up, the Unicorn's horn went down. They rushed forward together. Next moment both the Calormenes lay dead, the one beheaded by Tirian's sword and the other gored through the heart by Jewel's horn.

當國王蒂蓮知道這馬兒是一頭他自己國家裏的納尼亞馬時，一股怒氣衝上他和獨角獸的心頭，弄得他們不知道自己正在幹什麼。國王的劍舉了起來，獨角獸的角往下直恨。他倆一起跑上前去。兩個卡樂門人隨即倒下死了，一個被蒂蓮的劍砍掉了腦袋，另一個被珍寶的獨角刺穿了心臟。