《魔法師的外甥》第57期:草莓遠征(1)

Chapter 12 Strawberry's Adventure

DIGORY kept his mouth very tight shut. He had been growing more and more uncomfortable. He hoped that, whatever happened, he wouldn't blub or do anything ridiculous.

"Son of Adam," said Aslan. "Are you ready to undo the wrong that you have done to my sweet country of Narnia on the very day of its birth?"

"Well, I don't see what I can do," said Digory. "You see, the Queen ran away and -"

"I asked, are you ready?" said the Lion.

"Yes," said Digory. He had had for a second some wild idea of saying "I'll try to help you if you'll promise to help my Mother," but he realized in time that the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could try to make bargains with. But when he had said "Yes," he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out:

"But please, please - won't you - can't you give me something that will cure Mother?" Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

"My son, my son," said Aslan. "I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another. But I have to think of hundreds of years in the life of Narnia. The Witch whom you have brought into this world will come back to Narnia again. But it need not be yet. It is my wish to plant in Narnia a tree that she will not dare to approach, and that tree will protect Narnia from her for many years. So this land shall have a long, bright morning before any clouds come over the sun. You must get me the seed from which that tree is to grow."

"Yes, sir," said Digory. He didn't know how it was to be done but he felt quite sure now that he would be able to do it. The Lion drew a deep breath, stooped its head even lower and gave him a Lion's kiss. And at once Digory felt that new strength and courage had gone into him.

"Dear son," said Aslan, "I will tell you what you must do. Turn and look to the West and tell me what do you see?"

"I see terribly big mountains, Aslan," said Digory, "I see this river coming down cliffs in a waterfall. And beyond the cliff there are high green hills with forests. And beyond those there are higher ranges that look almost black. And then, far away, there are big snowy mountains all heaped up together - like pictures of the Alps. And behind those there's nothing but the sky."

"You see well," said the Lion. "Now the land of Narnia ends where the waterfall comes down, and once you have reached the top of the cliffs you will be out of Narnia and into the Western Wild. You must journey through those mountains till you find a green valley with a blue lake in it, walled round by mountains of ice. At the end of the lake there is a steep, green hill. On the top of that hill there is a garden. In the centre of that garden is a tree. Pluck an apple from that tree and bring it back to me."

"Yes, sir," said Digory again. He hadn't the least idea of how he was to climb the cliff and find his way among all the mountains, but he didn't like to say that for fear it would sound like making excuses. But he did say, "I hope, Aslan, you're not in a hurry. I shan't be able to get there and back very quickly."

第12章 草莓遠征

迪格雷緊閉嘴脣，感到越來越不自在。無論如何，他希望 自己不要哭，或者幹出可笑的事。

“亞當的兒子，”阿斯蘭説，“你是否準備彌補你在我美好的納尼亞國誕生的第一天對她犯下的過失?”

“我不知道我能做什麼，”迪格雷説，“你知道，那女巫已經跑了，而且……”

“我問的是，你是否準備這麼做。”獅子説。

“是的。”迪格雷説。有那麼一瞬間他湧出一個瘋狂的念頭，想説“你答應幫助治我媽媽的病，我就盡力幫你”，但他馬上意識到，不能和獅子討價還價。然而，他説出“是”的時候，他想起了媽媽，想到曾經有過的宏偉願望如今全部灰飛煙滅，喉嚨裏便像堵了一團棉花似的，他含着眼淚脱口説道：

“可是，對不起，對不起——你願意——你能給點兒什麼可以治我媽媽病的嗎?”他本來一直看着獅子粗壯的前腿和兩隻巨爪，現在，絕望之下，他拾起頭看着它的臉。他看到的是一生中最令他驚奇的事。獅子那張黃褐色的臉低垂下來，湊近他的臉，(最令人感到奇怪的是)眼裏閃爍着大顆大顆的淚珠。與迪格雷的淚珠相比，獅子的淚珠那麼大，那麼亮，迪格雷頓時感到，獅子似乎比他自己更加真切地同情他的媽媽。

“我的孩子，我的孩子，”阿斯蘭説，“我知道，的確太不幸了。這片土地上只有你和我懂得這一點。我們之間要相互理解，友好相處。但我必須為納尼亞的生存作數百年的長遠打算。你帶進這個世界的女巫還會回來的，但不一定很快。我希望在納尼亞栽一棵她不敢靠近的樹，那棵樹將保衞納尼亞許多年不受她的侵犯。在烏雲遮住太陽以前，這片國土將會有一個長久的明亮的早晨。你必須為我去取樹種。”

“是的，閣下。”迪格雷説。他並不知道如何去做，但他覺得自己肯定可以做好。獅子長長地鬆了口氣，將頭低下來，以獅子的方式吻了他。迪格雷立刻感到，新的力量和勇氣注入了他的身體。"

“親愛的孩子，”阿斯蘭説，“我來告訴你怎麼做。回頭看看西方，告訴我你看見了什麼?”

“我看見高聳的大山，阿斯蘭，”迪格雷説，“我看見這條河跌下峭壁，形成一道瀑布。峭壁後面，高高的小山坡上是綠色的森林。再往後，有黑魆魆的更加高大的山脈。在更遙遠的地方，是連綿的大雪山——像照片上的阿爾卑斯山一樣。雪山後面，除了天空什麼也沒有了。”

“你看得很清楚，”獅子説，“瀑布就是納尼亞的邊界，一旦你到了峭壁上，就出了納尼亞，進入西方原始區了。你必須穿越那些高山，找到一條冰山環抱的綠色河谷，那裏有一個藍色的湖泊；湖的盡頭，有一座綠色的陡峭的小山。山頂上有座花園，花園的中心有棵樹。從樹上摘一個蘋果帶回來給我。”

“好的，閣下。”迪格雷又説。他根本不知道如何才能攀越那些高山峭壁，但他不願説，生怕聽上去好像他在找藉口。可他還是説，“我希望，阿斯蘭，你不是很着急的。我來回一趟不可能很快。”