《最後一戰》第12期:無尾猿煊赫一時(5)
"Baby!" he hissed. "Silly little bleater! Go home to your mother and drink milk. What doyou understand of such things? But the others, listen. Tash is only another name for that old idea of us being right and the Calormenes wrong is silly. We know better Calormenes use different words but we all mean the same thing. Tash and Aslan are onlytwo different names for you know Who. That's why there can never be any quarrel betweenthem. Get that into your heads, you stupid brutes. Tash is Aslan: Aslan is Tash."
You know how sad your own dog's face can look sometimes. Think of that and then think ofall the faces of those Talking Beasts - all those honest, humble, bewildered Birds, Bears,Badgers, Rabbits, Moles, and Mice - all far sadder than that. Every tail was down, everywhisker drooped. It would have broken your heart with very pity to see their faces. Therewas only one who did not look at all unhappy.
It was a ginger Cat - a great big Tom in the prime of life - who sat bolt upright withhis tail curled round his toes, in the very front row of all the Beasts. He had been staringhard at the Ape and the Calormene captain all the time and had never once blinked his eyes.
"Excuse me," said the Cat very politely, "but this interests me. Does your friend fromCalormen say the same?"
"Assuredly," said the Calormene. "The enlightened Ape - Man, I mean - is in the n means neither less nor more than Tash."
"Especially, Aslan means no more than Tash?" suggested the Cat.
"No more at all," said the Calormene, looking the Cat straight in the face.
"Is that good enough for you, Ginger?" said the Ape.
"Oh certainly," said Ginger coolly. "Thank you very much. I only wanted to be quiteclear. I think I am beginning to understand."
Up till now the King and Jewel had said nothing: they were waiting until the Ape shouldbid them speak, for they thought it was no use interrupting. But now, as Tirian looked roundon the miserable faces of the Narnians, and saw how they would all believe that Aslan andTash were one and the same, he could bear it no longer.
"Ape," he cried with a great voice, "you lie damnably. You lie like a Calormene. You lielike an Ape."
He meant to go on and ask how the terrible god Tash who fed on the blood of his peoplecould possibly be the same as the good Lion by whose blood all Narnia was saved. If he hadbeen allowed to speak, the rule of the Ape might have ended that day; the Beasts might haveseen the truth and thrown the Ape down. But before he could say another word two Calormenesstruck him in the mouth with all their force, and a third, from behind, kicked his feet fromunder him. And as he fell, the Ape squealed in rage and terror.
"Take him away. Take him away. Take him where he cannot hear us, nor we hear him. Theretie him to a tree. I will - I mean, Aslan will - do justice on him later."
你知道你自己家裏的狗，臉色有時看上去能悲傷到何等地步。想想家狗的臉，然後再想想這些說人話的野獸的臉——所有這些誠實的、謙卑恭順的、惶惑失措的鳥、熊、灌、松鼠、攝鼠等等的臉，都遠比家狗的臉悲傷多了。每條尾巴都是下垂的，每根鬍鬚都是萎靡不振的。看到它們的臉，你就會十分同情它們，就會爲之心碎。只有一頭畜生看上去壓根兒沒有一點兒不快樂的樣子。
那是一頭薑黃色的貓——一頭正直盛年的了不得的大雄貓。它筆直地坐在一切野獸的前面，尾巴繞在腳趾上。它始終盯住無尾猿和卡樂門頭目直瞧，連眼睛也從不眨眨。,
“請原諒，”雄貓十分客氣地說道，“我倒對這問題感興趣。從卡樂門王國來的、你的朋友也這樣說嗎？”
“你儘管放心好了，”卡樂門頭目說道，“開明的無尾猿——我的意思是人——說得很正確，阿斯蘭就意味着塔什，不多也不少。”
“特別是阿斯蘭並不意味着超過勝過塔什。”
“壓根兒超不過。”卡樂門頭目說道，眼睛緊盯着雄貓的臉。
“薑黃貓，用這話答覆你，綽綽有餘了吧？”無尾猿說道。
“噢，當然啦，”薑黃貓冷冷地說道，“十分感謝你。我只不過是要徹底搞清楚。我認爲我正在開始明白起來了。”
直至此時此刻，國王和珍寶都沒說什麼；他們正在等候無尾猿叫他們說話，因爲他們覺得插嘴是沒有用的。但，現在蒂蓮環顧納尼亞走獸們悲慘的臉，而且看到它們都會相信阿斯蘭和塔什是一而二、二而一的，蒂蓮就再也忍受不了了。
“無尾猿，”國王大聲喊道，“你撒謊。你惡劣地撒謊。你像卡樂門入一樣撒謊，你像無尾猿一樣撒謊。”
他本來還想說下去，他想責問：喝人民的血的、可怕的塔什神，同那以自己的血拯救了整個納尼亞的、善良的獅王，怎麼可能是同一個神抵呢？如果讓他說話，無尾猿的統治也許當天就完蛋了，野獸們就可能看到真相，把無尾猿推翻了。然而，在他再說一句話之前，兩個卡樂門人就使出渾身力氣痛擊他的嘴巴，另一個卡樂門人又從背後踢他的雙腳。他倒下時，無尾猿又是憤怒又是恐懼，尖聲叫道：
“把他帶走，把他帶走。把他帶到一個地方去，叫他聽不見我們說話，我們也聽不見他說話。把他綁在那兒的樹上。以後我要——我的意思是阿斯蘭要——審判他。”
