《最後一戰》第62期:小矮人的拒絕(5)

"There is no black hole, save in your own fancy, fool," cried Tirian. "Come out of it." And, leaning forward, he caught Diggle by the belt and the hood and swung him right out of the circle of Dwarfs.

But the moment Tirian put him down, Diggle darted back to his place among the others, rubbing his nose and howling: "Ow! Ow! What d'you do that for! Banging my face against the wall. You've nearly broken my nose."

"Oh dear!" said Lucy, "What are we to do for them?"

"Let 'em alone," said Eustace: but as he spoke the earth trembled. The sweet air grew suddenly sweeter. A brightness flashed behind them. All turned. Tirian turned last because he was afraid. There stood his heart's desire, huge and real, the golden Lion, Aslan himself, and already the others were kneeling in a circle round his forepaws and burying their hands and faces in his mane as he stooped his great head to touch them with his tongue. Then he fixed his eyes upon Tirian, and Tirian came near, trembling, and flung himself at the Lion's feet, and the Lion kissed him and said, "Well done, last of the Kings of Narnia who stood firm at the darkest hour."

"Aslan," said Lucy through her tears, "could you - will you - do something for these poor Dwarfs?"

"Dearest," said Aslan, "I will show you both what I can, and what I cannot, do." He came close to the Dwarfs and gave a low growl: low, but it set all the air shaking. But the Dwarfs said to one another, "Hear that? That's the gang at the other end of the stable. Trying to frighten us. They do it with a machine of some kind. Don't take any notice. They won't take us in again!"

Aslan raised his head and shook his mane. Instantly a glorious feast appeared on the Dwarfs' knees: pies and tongues and pigeons and trifles and ices, and each Dwarf had a goblet of good wine in his right hand. But it wasn't much use. They began eating and drinking greedily enough, but it was clear that they couldn't taste it properly. They thought they were eating and drinking only the sort of things you might find in a stable. One said he was trying to eat hay and another said he had a bit of an old turnip and a third said he'd found a raw cabbage leaf. And they raised golden goblets of rich red wine to their lips and said "Ugh! Fancy drinking dirty water out of a trough that a donkey's been at! Never thought we'd come to this." But very soon every Dwarf began suspecting that every other Dwarf had found something nicer than he had, and they started grabbing and snatching, and went on to quarrelling, till in a few minutes there was a free fight and all the good food was smeared on their faces and clothes or trodden under foot. But when at last they sat down to nurse their black eyes and their bleeding noses, they all said:

"Well, at any rate there's no Humbug here. We haven't let anyone take us in. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs."

"You see, " said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out. But come, children. I have other work to do."

He went to the Door and they all followed him. He raised his head and roared, "Now it is time!" then louder, "Time!"; then so loud that it could have shaken the stars, "TIME." The Door flew open.

“傻瓜，除了在你們自己的幻覺裏，這兒可沒有什麼黑洞。”蒂蓮大聲疾呼道，“你站出來吧。”他俯身向前，抓住迪格爾的腰帶和帽兜，把他從小矮人的小圈子裏揪了出來。

但蒂蓮剛把他放下地來，迪格爾立刻就躥回小矮人們之中他的位置裏去，擦着鼻子號叫道：“噢！噢！你爲了什麼要這麼幹！把我的臉撞在牆上。你幾乎打斷了我的鼻樑。”

“咳！”露茜說，“我們能爲他們做些什麼事呢？”

“由他們去吧。”尤斯塔斯說；但他說話時，大地震動了，芳香的空氣突然變得格外芳香。一道亮光在他們的背後閃耀。蒂蓮心中害怕，他最後一個轉過頭來。後邊站着他衷心盼望的、真正的巨大的金獅子——阿斯蘭：其他的人們正圍着金獅的前腳爪跪成一圈，獅子的大腦袋俯下來，用舌頭舔他們時，他們把自己的手和臉埋在他的鬣毛裏。然後獅子目不轉睛地瞧着蒂蓮，蒂蓮顫抖着走近來，投身在獅子的腳邊，獅子吻吻他，說道：“幹得好，納尼亞最後一個國王在最黑暗的時刻依然堅定地昂首挺立。”

“阿斯蘭，”露茜透過淚水說道，“你能不能——願不願意——爲這些可憐的小矮人們出點力？”

“最親愛的，”阿斯蘭說道，“我能做到的和不能做到的，我都會讓你們看到的。”他走近小矮人們，發出一聲長嘯，聲音低沉，可是所有的空氣都震動了。但小矮人們互相問答道，“聽到嗎？那是馬廄那一頭的那一幫子搞的。要想嚇唬我們。他們用一種機器弄出來的聲音。不必理它的。他們休想叫我們再受騙上當了。”

阿斯蘭擡起頭來，搖晃他的鬣毛。小矮人們的膝頭上立刻出現了精美的大菜：餡餅、醬舌、鴿子、甜食和冰淇淋。每個小矮人的右手裏都有一杯好酒。但大菜也沒有多大用處。他們開始十分貪饞地吃喝，但他們顯然沒法兒恰當地品出味道來。他們以爲他們吃的喝的都不過是在馬廄裏可以找得到的東西。一個說他在試吃乾草，另一個說他吃到了一點兒陳年蘿蔔，第三個說是他發現了一片生的捲心菜葉子。他們把盛滿紅葡萄酒的金盃舉到脣邊，說道：“呸！想想看吧，竟喝驢子吃過的飼料槽裏的髒水！從來沒想到我們會落到這種地步。”但，每個小矮人很快就開始懷疑別人吃到了比吃到的更加鮮美的東西，因而你搶我奪起來，繼續爭吵不休，終於在幾分鐘內恣意大打出手，把所有的美味佳餚都塗在臉上衣服上，或者踩在腳底下了。然而，當他們終於坐下來護理打黑的眼眶和流血的鼻子時，他們大家都說道：

“行啦，無論如何，這兒可毫無騙人的鬼話。我們沒有讓任何人騙我們上當。小矮人總是爲小矮人而奮鬥的。”

“你們瞧，”阿斯蘭說道，“他們不讓我們去幫助他們。他們不選擇信賴，寧可憑藉狡猾。他們的牢獄，僅僅存在於他們自己的心裏；他們迄今還待在這種心造的牢獄裏；他們是那麼害怕受騙上當，所以無法救他們出獄。但是，孩子們，來吧。我還有別的工作要幹。”

阿斯蘭向門走去，大家都跟着他。阿斯蘭擡起頭，大聲疾呼：“現在是時候了！”接着更加響亮地喊道：“是時候了！”然後再接再厲地呼喊：“是時候了！”響亮得把繁星都震動了。門突然打開啦。