《能言馬與男孩》第3期:沙斯塔出奔(3)
He was standing out in the grassy place before the cottage while he thought these things. Twilight was coming on apace and a star or two was already out, but the remains of the sunset could still be seen in the west. Not far away the stranger's horse, loosely tied to an iron ring in the wall of the donkey's stable, was grazing. Shasta strolled over to it and patted its neck. It went on tearing up the grass and took no notice of him.
他心中想着這些事情時，正站在屋子外的草地上。暮色迅速降臨，有—兩顆星星已經出現了，而西方夕照的餘霞依稀可見。不遠處，陌生人的馬兒正在吃草，它被鬆鬆地系在驢棚牆上的一個鐵圈裏。沙斯塔踅過去，拍拍馬兒的頸子。馬兒繼續把青草拉起來咬嚼，沒注意沙斯塔。Then another thought came into Shasta's mind. "I wonder what sort of a man that Tarkaan is," he said out loud. "It would be splendid if he was kind. Some of the slaves in a great lord's house have next to nothing to do. They wear lovely clothes and eat meat every day. Perhaps he'd take me to the wars and I'd save his life in a battle and then he'd set me free and adopt me as his son and give me a palace and a chariot and a suit of armour. But then he might be a horrid cruel man. He might send me to work on the fields in chains. I wish I knew. How can I know? I bet this horse knows, if only he could tell me."
接着，沙斯塔又想到了一個念頭。“我不知道這泰坎是哪一種人，”他大聲說道，“如果他是仁慈和藹的，那就好極了。在大王爺的王府裏，有些奴隸幾乎是不幹什麼活兒的。他們穿上漂亮的衣服，天天吃肉。也許他會帶我去打仗，我又在一場戰鬥中救了他的命，他就會解除我的奴隸身份，收我做他的義子，賜給我一個王宮，一輛戰車，一套盔甲。不過他也可能是個可怕的殘酷的人。他會叫我戴上鎖鏈到田裏去幹活，我希望我知道他是個怎樣的人。我怎麼才能知道呢，我敢打賭，這馬兒是知道的，如果它能告訴我就好了。”The Horse had lifted its head. Shasta stroked its smooth—as—satin nose and said, "I wish you could talk, old fellow."
馬兒擡起頭來。沙斯塔撫摩着它那光滑得像緞子一樣的鼻子，說道：“老人家，我但願你能說話啊。”
And then for a second he thought he was dreaming, for quite distinctly, though in a low voice, the Horse said, "But I can."
接着，他一時間認爲他是在做夢，因爲，儘管聲音低沉，馬兒十分清晰地開口道：“我是能夠說話的。”Shasta stared into its great eyes and his own grew almost as big, with astonishment.
沙斯塔盯住馬兒的大眼睛直瞧，他自己的眼睛也驚訝得睜大了，幾乎跟馬眼一般大。"How ever did you learn to talk?" he asked.
“你究竟怎麼學會說話的呀?”他問。"Hush! Not so loud," replied the Horse. "Where I come from, nearly all the animals talk."
“別嚷嚷！嗓門兒不用這麼大，”馬兒回答道，“我原來住的地方，幾乎所有的動物都說話。”"Wherever is that?" asked Shasta.
“那個地方究竟在哪兒?”沙斯塔問。"Narnia," answered the Horse. "The happy land of Narnia — Narnia of the heathery mountains and the thymy downs, Narnia of the many rivers, the plashing glens, the mossy caverns and the deep forests ringing with the hammers of the Dwarfs. Oh the sweet air of Narnia! An hour's life there is better than a thousand years in Calormen." It ended with a whinny that sounded very like a sigh.
“在納尼亞，”馬兒答道，“納尼亞樂土——納尼亞有着石南茂盛的山嶺和百里香遍地的丘陵。納尼亞河流衆多，峽谷水聲溫溼，山洞長滿蒼苔，幽深的樹林裏響徹小矮人的錘聲。納尼亞的空氣多麼芬芳啊！納尼亞生活一小時勝過在卡樂門生活一千年。”結尾是一聲馬嘶，聽上去很像一聲長嘆。"How did you get here?" said Shasta.
“你怎麼上這兒來的?”沙斯塔問。"Kidnapped," said the Horse. "Or stolen, or captured whichever you like to call it. I was only a foal at the time. My mother warned me not to range the Southern slopes, into Archenland and beyond, but I wouldn't heed her. And by the Lion's Mane I have paid for my folly. All these years I have been a slave to humans, hiding my true nature and pretending to be dumb and witless like their horses."
“給綁架來的，”馬兒說道，“也可以說是給偷來或俘虜來的——你愛怎麼說都行。我那時不過是一頭小馬駒。我的母親警告過我，叫我別逛到南邊的山坡去，別闖進阿欽蘭或阿欽蘭之外的地方去，可是我不肯聽它的話。天哪，我爲我的愚蠢付出了代價。所有這些年月，我一直是人的奴隸，隱藏我真正的本性，假裝啞巴，假裝愚蠢，假裝就像他們的馬兒那樣。”"Why didn't you tell them who you were?"
“爲什麼你不告訴他們你是誰呢?”"Not such a fool, that's why. If they'd once found out I could talk they would have made a show of me at fairs and guarded me more carefully than ever. My last chance of escape would have been gone."
“我纔不是那種傻瓜呢。一旦他們發現了我是誰，他們就會送我到市場上去展覽，比過去更加小心地看管我。我逃走的最後機會也就完蛋了。”"And why —" began Shasta, but the Horse interrupted him.
“那又爲什麼——”沙斯塔開始說道，可是馬兒打斷了他的話。"Now look," it said, "we mustn't waste time on idle questions. You want to know about my master the Tarkaan Anradin. Well, he's bad. Not too bad to me, for a war horse costs too much to be treated very badly. But you'd better be lying dead tonight than go to be a human slave in his house tomorrow."
“注意囉，”馬兒說，“我們千萬不要把時間浪費在不相干的問題上了。你要打聽我的主人泰坎安拉丁?哦，他是個壞人，他對待我可不太壞，因爲過分虧待一匹戰馬，後果就太嚴重了。然而，你與其明天到他王府裏去做一個奴隸，還不如今天夜裏躺下去死掉的好。”"Then I'd better run away," said Shasta, turning very pale.
“那麼我還是逃跑的好。”沙斯塔說道，臉色都急得煞白了。"Yes, you had," said the Horse. "But why not run away with me?"
“是的，你還是逃跑的好，”馬兒說，“可你爲什麼不跟我一起逃跑呢?”"Are you going to run away too?" said Shasta.
“你也要逃跑嗎?。沙斯塔說。
