《魔法師的外甥》第10期:各個世界之間的樹林(1)
Chapter 3 The Wood between the Worlds
UNCLE ANDREW and his study vanished instantly. Then, for a moment, everything became muddled. The next thing Digory knew was that there was a soft green light coming down on him from above, and darkness below. He didn't seem to be standing on anything, or sitting, or lying. Nothing appeared to be touching him. "I believe I'm in water," said Digory. "Or under water." This frightened him for a second, but almost at once he could feel that he was rushing upwards. Then his head suddenly came out into the air and, he found himself scrambling ashore, out on to smooth grassy ground at the edge of a pool.
As he rose to his feet he noticed that he was neither dripping nor panting for breath as anyone would expect after being under water. His clothes were perfectly dry. He was standing by the edge of a small pool - not more than ten feet from side to side in a wood. The trees grew close together and were so leafy that he could get no glimpse of the sky. All the light was green light that came through the leaves: but there must have been a very strong sun overhead, for this green daylight was bright and warm. It was the quietest wood you could possibly imagine. There were no birds, no insects, no animals, and no wind. You could almost feel the trees growing. The pool he had just got out of was not the only pool. There were dozens of others - a pool every few yards as far as his eyes could reach. You could almost feel the trees drinking the water up with their roots. This wood was very much alive. When he tried to describe it afterwards
Digory always said, "It was a rich place: as rich as plumcake."
The strangest thing was that, almost before he had looked about him, Digory had half forgotten how he had come there. At any rate, he was certainly not thinking about Polly, or Uncle Andrew, or even his Mother. He was not in the least frightened, or excited, or curious. If anyone had asked him "Where did you come from?" he would probably have said, "I've always been here." That was what it felt like - as if one had always been in that place and never been bored although nothing had ever happened. As he said long afterwards, "It's not the sort of place where things happen. The trees go on growing, that's all."
After Digory had looked at the wood for a long time he noticed that there was a girl lying on her back at the foot of a tree a few yards away. Her eyes were nearly shut but not quite, as if she were just between sleeping and waking. So he looked at her for a long time and said nothing. And at last she opened her eyes and looked at him for a long time and she also said nothing. Then she spoke, in a dreamy, contented sort of voice.
"I think I've seen you before," she said.
"I rather think so too," said Digory. "Have you been here long?"
"Oh, always," said the girl. "At least - I don't know a very long time."
"So have I," said Digory.
"No you haven't, said she. "I've just seen you come up out of that pool."
"Yes, I suppose I did," said Digory with a puzzled air, "I'd forgotten."
安德魯舅舅和他的書房立刻消失了。之後的一剎那，四周昏暗而迷茫。接着，迪格雷感到，頭頂上射來一束柔和的綠光，下面一片漆黑。他似乎既未站在什麼上面，也未坐在或躺在什麼上面，四周空空如也。“我相信自己在水中。”迪格雷說，“要麼在水下。”這使他嚇了一跳，但他馬上就覺得在往上衝。突然，他的腦袋接觸到空氣，他發現自己鑽了出來，在水潭邊平坦的碧草地上趴着。
站起來時，他注意到，自己不像從水裏出來，既不是溼漉漉的，也沒有呼吸急促。他的衣服完全是乾的。他正站在樹林中一個不足十尺寬的小水潭邊。那些樹密密地長在一起，枝繁葉茂，遮天蔽日。惟一的光線就是從樹葉間滲漏下的綠光。然而，樹林上面一定是烈日當空，因爲那綠光既明亮又溫暖。你可以想像，那是個最爲安靜的樹林，沒有鳥，沒有蟲，沒有動物，也沒有風。你甚至能感覺到樹木在生長。除了他剛纔鑽出來的那個水潭外，樹林裏還有不少其他的水潭，極目所視，每隔幾步就有一個。你幾乎可以感覺到樹木用根部在喝水。林子裏生機盎然。當迪格雷後來試着描述它時，他總是說：“那是個鬱鬱蔥蔥的地方，像葡萄乾餅一樣綠油油的。”
最奇怪的是，還來不及東張西望，迪格雷便差不多忘了他是如何到那裏的。他怎麼也想不起波莉、安德魯舅舅，甚至他的媽媽。他絲毫不感到害怕，不激動也不好奇。要是有人問他：“你從哪兒來?”他很可能會說，“我一直在這兒。”就是這種感覺——儘管沒發生什麼事，你卻好像一直在那裏，從來沒有厭煩過。正如他很久以後說的：“那是個不會有什麼事的地方。只是樹木在不停地生長。”
迪格雷久久地注視着那片樹林，然後，他發現，離他不遠的地方，一個女孩正躺在一棵樹下，眼睛微微閉着，似睡非睡的模樣。他看了很久，沒說話。她卻用夢囈般的心滿意足的語調說話了。
“我覺得以前在哪兒見過你。”她說。
“我也這麼想，”迪格雷說，“你在這兒很久了嗎?”
“是的，一直在這兒，”女孩說，“至少——我也不知道——很長時間了。”
“我也是，一直在這兒。”迪格雷說。
“不對，”她說，“我剛纔明明見你從那個水潭裏出來。”
“我想我是從水潭裏出來的，”迪格雷迷迷糊糊地說，“不過我忘了。”
