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《黎明踏浪号》第十一章 独脚怪欢天喜地

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2018年07月11日

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CHAPTER ELEVEN THE DUFFLEPUDS MADE HAPPY
第十一章 独脚怪欢天喜地

Lucy followed the great Lion out into the passage and at once she saw coming towards them an old man,barefoot,dressed in a red robe.His white hair was crowned with a chaplet of oak leaves,his beard fell to his girdle,and he supported himself with a curiously carved staff.When he saw Aslan he bowed low and said,
露茜跟着狮王出来,走进长廊,迎面过来了一位老人,光着脚, 身穿红袍。白发上戴着一顶橡树叶编的花冠,胡须垂到腰带,拄着一根巧夺天工的雕花手杖。见到阿斯兰,他就深深地鞠了一躬,说:
“Welcome,Sir,to the least of your houses.”
“欢迎阁下光临,真是蓬荜生辉。”
“Do you grow weary,Coriakin,of ruling such foolish subjects as I have given you here ?”
“科里亚金,我把这些笨蛋交给你管,你是不是不耐烦了?”
“No,”said the Magician,“they are very stupid but there is no real harm in them.I begin to grow rather fond of the creatures. Sometimes,perhaps,I am a little impatient,waiting for the day when they can be governed by wisdom instead of this rough magic.”
“不,他们笨是笨,但是没有坏心眼。”魔法师说,“只是我一直在期待有一天可以用智慧而不是魔法来管他们,可我还真是等得有点不耐烦了。
“All in good time,Coriakin,”said Aslan.
“到那时候就好了,科里亚金。”阿斯兰说。
“Yes,all in very good time,Sir,”was the answer.“Do you intend to show yourself to them ?”
“是啊,到那时候就好了,阁下,”他回答说,“你不打算在他们面前露面吗?”
“Nay,”said the Lion,with a little half-growl that meant (Lucy thought)the same as a laugh.“I should frighten them out of their senses.Many stars will grow old and come to take their rest in islands before your people are ripe for that.And today before sunset I must visit Trumpkin the Dwarf where he sits in the castle of Cair Paravel counting the days till his master Caspian comes home. I will tell him all your story,Lucy.Do not look so sad.We shall meet soon again.”
“不。”狮子说,略带几分咆哮,露茜想这大概就是笑笑的意思吧。“我会吓死他们的。恐怕等岛上的日月星辰都老得该退休了, 那些家伙也不见得有多少长进呢。今天太阳落山之前我还要去看看小矮人杜鲁普金,他现在正坐在凯尔帕拉维尔的城堡里等着他主人凯斯宾回家。我会把你们的经历全告诉他。露茜,别愁眉苦脸的,我们很快就会再见的。”
“Please,Aslan,”said Lucy,“what do you call soon ?”
“那,阿斯兰,”露茜说,“很快是多久啊?”
“I call all times soon,”said Aslan;and instantly he was vanished away and Lucy was alone with the Magician.
“随时都是很快。”阿斯兰回答着,突然就消失了。只剩下了露茜和魔法师。
“Gone !”said he,“and you and I quite crestfallen.It’s always like that,you can’t keep him;it’s not as if he were a tame lion.And how did you enjoy my book ?”
“他走了!”他说,“你我都很失望,可是他向来都是这样, 留不住的。他不是一头温驯的狮子。你觉得我的那本书怎么样?”
“Parts of it very much indeed,”said Lucy.“Did you know I was there all the time ?”
“书里很多地方都很有意思,”露茜说,“我在那儿,你一直都知道吗?”
“Well,of course I knew when I let the Duffers make themselves invisible that you would be coming along presently to take the spell off.I wasn’t quite sure of the exact day.And I wasn’t especially on the watch this morning.You see they had made me invisible too and being invisible always makes me so sleepy.Heigh-ho-there I’m yawning again.Are you hungry ?”
“这个,那是当然的。我把那群笨蛋变成隐形人的时候,就知道你不久就会经过这里破解魔法。可是不确定是哪一天,今天早上倒是没有防备。你看,魔法把我也变成隐形了,隐形了以后我老是想睡觉,啊……哈……看我又在打哈欠了。你饿吗?”
“Well,perhaps I am a little,”said Lucy.“I’ve no idea what the time is.”
“嗯,你一说,我还真有点饿了,”露茜说,“现在几点了?”
“Come,”said the Magician.“All times may be soon to Aslan;but in my home all hungry times are one o’clock.”
“跟我来,”魔法师说,“对阿斯兰来说,随时都是很快。不过我在我家里随时饿了都是一点钟。”
He led her a little way down the passage and opened a door.Passing in,Lucy found herself in a pleasant room full of sunlight and flowers.The table was bare when they entered,but it was of course a magic table,and at a word from the old man the tablecloth,silver,plates,glasses and food appeared.
他带她走过一段走廊,打开一扇门。露茜看到是一间满是阳光和鲜花的房间。桌子上是空的,因为那是一张魔法桌子。魔法师念了一句咒语,桌布、银器、盘子、酒杯和吃的都出来了。
“I hope that is—what you would like,”said he.“I have tried to give you food more like the food of your own land than perhaps you have had lately.”
“希望你能喜欢,”他说,“我尽力给你弄一些合乎你口味的食物, 不是你最近吃的那些。”
“It’s lovely,”said Lucy,and so it was;an omelette,piping hot,cold lamb and green peas,a strawberry ice,lemonsquash to drink with the meal and a cup of chocolate to follow.But the magician himself drank only wine and ate only bread.There was nothing alarming about him,and Lucy and he were soon chatting away like old friends.
“太好了。”露茜说,“我确实喜欢。”她看见桌上有滚烫的煎蛋、冷羊肉、豌豆、草莓冰淇淋和可作佐餐的柠檬汽水还有一杯巧克力。
“When will the spell work ?”asked Lucy.“Will the Duffers be visible again at once ?”
“这咒语什么时候起作用呢?”露茜问,“那些笨蛋是不是马上就会现形?”
“Oh yes,they’re visible now.But they’re probably all asleep still;they always take a rest in the middle of the day.”
“是啊,他们这会儿已经现形了。不过他们可能都还在睡,他们中午都是要午休的。”
“And now that they’re visible,are you going to let them off being ugly ? Will you make them as they were before ?”
“既然他们都现了形,你会去掉他们的丑样儿吗?要不要恢复他们以前的模样?”
“Well,that’s rather a delicate question,”said the Magician. “You see,it’s only they who think they were so nice to look at before.They say they’ve been uglified,but that isn’t what I called it. Many people might say the change was for the better.”
“这个,一两句说不清,”魔法师说,“要知道,只有他们觉得自己从前好看。他们说他们被变丑了,可是我并不觉得,好多人反而变好看了呢。”
“Are they awfully conceited ?”
“他们一直都这样自以为是吗?”
“They are.Or at least the Chief Duffer is,and he’s taught all the rest to be.They always believe every word he says.”
“他们就是这样。至少为首的那家伙是这样,他把其他人都教得跟他一样。他说什么,他们就信什么。”
“We’d noticed that,”said Lucy.
“我看出来了。”露茜说。
“Yes-we’d get on better without him,in a way.Of course I could turn him into something else,or even put a spell on him which would make them not believe a word he said.But I don’t like to do that.It’s better for them to admire him than to admire nobody.”
“是啊,所以说,没有他的话我们日子会更好。当然我能把他变成其他东西,或者念一种咒语,使他们对他一句话都不信。可是我不想这么做,还是让他们崇拜他吧,总比对谁都不崇拜的好。”
“Don’t they admire you ?”asked Lucy.
“难道他们不崇拜你吗?”露茜问。
“Oh,not me,”said the Magician.“They wouldn’t admire me.”
“哎呀,才不会呢,”魔法师说,“他们不愿崇拜我。”
“What was it you uglified them for-I mean,what they call uglified ?”
“你为什么把他们变丑——我的意思是,他们所谓的变丑?”
“Well,they wouldn’t do what they were told.Their work is to mind the garden and raise food-not for me,as they imagine, but for themselves.They wouldn’t do it at all if I didn’t make them.And of course for a garden you want water.There is a beautiful spring about half a mile away up the hill.And from that spring there flows a stream which comes right past the garden.All I asked them to do was to take their water from the stream instead of trudging up to the spring with their buckets two or three times a day and tiring themselves out besides spilling half of it on the way back. But they wouldn’t see it.In the end they refused point blank.”
“说起来,是他们自己不听话。让他们照料照料花园,种种粮食——不是像他们想象的那样,那并不是为我,而是为他们自己。要是我不逼迫他们干,他们就不干。打理花园当然少不了浇水,山上大约半英里就有眼山泉,有条小溪从山泉一直流到花园旁。我只是让他们从这条小溪里取水,用不着一天两三回提着水桶,爬上山到泉眼里打水再筋疲力尽的回来,路上还会洒掉一半。可是他们死活都不明白, 到最后他们直接不干了。”
“Are they as stupid as all that ?”asked Lucy.
“他们真的那么笨吗?”露茜问。
The Magician sighed.“You wouldn’t believe the troubles I’ve had with them.A few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner:they said it saved time afterwards. I’ve caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up.One day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out;no one thought of moving the cat.But I see you’ve finished.Let’s go and look at the Duffers now they can be looked at.”
他叹了口气,说:“他们惹的麻烦,说了你也不信。两三个月前,饭前他们就去洗餐盘和刀子,说这可以节约时间,说饭后就不用洗了。有一回他们刨地,我发现他们在种煮熟的土豆,说是吃的时候就不用煮了。有一天猫溜进了牛奶房,他们二十个人把牛奶桶搬了出来, 谁都没想过把猫赶出去。唉,我看你吃完了。那我们去看看这些笨蛋现在的样子吧。”
They went into another room which was full of polished instruments hard to understand-such as Astrolabes,Orreries, Chronoscopes,Poesimeters,Choriambuses and Theodolinds-and here,when they had come to the window,the Magician said, “There.There are your Duffers.”
他们走进一间房间,里面全是让人搞不明白的仪表器具,被擦得铮亮铮亮的。比如测天体位置的星盘、太阳系仪、瞬时仪、节奏测量仪、韵律计算仪,经纬仪,等等。他们走到窗口,魔法师说:“瞧, 这就是你要看的笨蛋。”
“I don’t see anybody,”said Lucy.“And what are those mushroom things ?”
“我什么人都没看见啊,”露茜说,“那些长得像蘑菇的东西是什么?”
The things she pointed at were dotted all over the level grass. They were certainly very like mushrooms,but far too big-the stalks about three feet high and the umbrellas about the same length from edge to edge.When she looked carefully she noticed too that the stalks joined the umbrellas not in the middle but at one side which gave an unbalanced look to them.And there was something-a sort of little bundle-lying on the grass at the foot of each stalk.In fact the longer she gazed at them the less like mushrooms they appeared. The umbrella part was not really round as she had thought at first. It was longer than it was broad,and it widened at one end.There were a great many of them,fifty or more.
她说的是草地上的那些东西。确实很像蘑菇,可是个头要大得多,伞柄约三英尺高,伞盖的直径也有这么长。她仔细一看,才发现蘑菇柄不是在伞盖中间,而是偏在一边,看上去不对称。每根蘑菇根部都有什么东西像一个小包袱一样躺在草地上。这些东西越看越不像蘑菇。正如她开头所想,伞盖部分并不圆,直径不一样长。有好多, 差不多有五十多个。
The clock struck three.
时钟敲响三声。
Instantly a most extraordinary thing happened.Each of the“mushrooms”suddenly turned upside-down.The little bundles which had lain at the bottom of the stalks were heads and bodies.The stalks themselves were legs.But not two legs to each body.Each body had a single thick leg right under it(not to one side like the leg of a one-legged man)and at the end of it,a single enormous foot-a broadtoed foot with the toes curling up a little so that it looked rather like a small canoe.She saw in a moment why they had looked like mushrooms.They had been lying flat on their backs each with its single leg straight up in the air and its enormous foot spread out above it.She learned afterwards that this was their ordinary way of resting;for the foot kept off both rain and sun and for a Monopod to lie under its own foot is almost as good as being in a tent.
离奇的事发生了。所有“蘑菇”忽然一下子都颠倒过来了。根部的小包袱原来是脑袋和身子,柄是腿,但不是每个身子都长着两条腿。每个身子下面只长着一条粗腿,腿下是一只奇大无比的脚,脚趾很粗,略为上翘,像一只小小的独木舟。露茜突然就明白为什么看上去像蘑菇了。原来他们都仰天平躺在地上,把那条独脚伸出来,大脚正好在身子上面。事后她才知道这是他们休息的姿势。而且这只脚既遮雨又挡太阳,他们躺在自己脚下面就跟躺在帐篷里一样。
“Oh,the funnies,the funnies,”cried Lucy,bursting into laughter.“Did you make them like that ?”
“哎呀,真有意思,太有意思了,”露茜大笑,“是你让他们变成这样的吗?”
“Yes,yes.I made the Duffers into Monopods,”said the Magician.He too was laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks. “But watch,”he added.
“是啊,是啊,我把这些笨蛋变成了独脚怪。”魔法师说完, 也哈哈大笑,笑得脸上眼泪直淌,“可是你看。”他又说。
It was worth watching.Of course these little one-footed men couldn’t walk or run as we do.They got about by jumping,like fleas or frogs.And what jumps they made !as if each big foot were a mass of springs.And with what a bounce they came down; that was what made the thumping noise which had so puzzled Lucy yesterday.For now they were jumping in all directions and calling out to one another,“Hey,lads !We’re visible again.”
这倒值得一看。这些独脚小人当然不能跟我们一样走啊跑啊的, 他们就像跳蚤或青蛙一样跳来跳去,而且蹦得很有劲啊!每只大脚都像是一大团弹簧。他们跳得也很有劲。那声音正是昨天搞得露茜莫名其妙的砰砰声。这会儿他们四处蹦蹦跳跳,大喊大叫:“嗨,伙计们! 我们又现形了。”
“Visible we are,”said one in a tasselled red cap who was obviously the Chief Monopod.“And what I say is,when chaps are visible,why,they can see one another.”
“我们现形了,”一个戴着红色流苏帽子的人说,显然他就是那个老大,“我们现形了,彼此能看见对方了。”
“Ah,there it is,there it is,Chief,”cried all the others.“There’s the point.No one’s got a clearer head than you.You couldn’t have made it plainer.”
“啊,说得对,说得太对了,老大,”其他的人齐声喊,“一针见血, 谁的头脑也比不上你清醒,你说得再明白不过了。”
“She caught the old man napping,that little girl did,”said the Chief Monopod.“We’ve beaten him this time.”
“那小姑娘弄得老头措手不及,她真行,”独角怪的头儿说,“这回我们骗过他了。”
“Just what we were,going to say ourselves,”chimed the chorus.“You’re going stronger than ever today,Chief.Keep it up,keep it up.”
“我们也这么觉得,”大家齐声附和,“你今天比往日强多了, 老大。厉害,厉害。”
“That’s one of the funny things about the Duffers,”said the Magician.“One minute they talk as if I ran everything and overheard everything and was extremely dangerous.The next moment they think they can take me in by tricks that a baby would see through-bless them !”
“那些笨蛋总是干这样好笑的事,”魔法师说,“他们一会儿说我掌管一切,监听一切,极度危险。一会儿又说三岁小孩儿都能看出来的把戏就能骗过我,天哪!”
“Will they have to be turned back into their proper shapes ?”asked Lucy.“Oh,I do hope it wouldn’t be unkind to leave them as they are.Do they really mind very much ?They seem pretty happy.I say-look at that jump.What were they like before ?”
“你要把他们变成原来的样子吗?”露茜问,“唉,如果我希望他们就这样不会很过分吧。他们真的在乎吗?他们这样好像很快乐。哎呀,瞧那蹦蹦跳跳的样子。他们原来是什么样子的?”
“Common little dwarfs,”said he.“Nothing like so nice as the sort you have in Narnia.”
“普通的小矮人啊,”他说,“不过,跟纳尼亚的小矮人比差远了。”
“It would be a pity to change them back,”said Lucy.“They’re so funny:and they’re rather nice.Do you think it would make any difference if I told them that ?”
“把他们变回去有点可惜,”露茜说,“他们很滑稽,而且一点都不难看。你认为如果我跟他们这么说会有用吗?”
“I’m sure it would-if you could get it into their heads.”
“如果你能让他们明白的话,会有用的。”
“Will you come with me and try ?”
“那你愿意陪我去试试吗?”
“No,no.You’ll get on far better without me.”
“不,不,我不在场效果会更好。”
“Thanks awfully for the lunch,”said Lucy and turned quickly away.She ran down the stairs which she had come up so nervously that morning and cannoned into Edmund at the bottom.All the others were there with him waiting,and Lucy’s conscience smote her when she saw their anxious faces and realized how long she had forgotten them.
“非常感谢你请我吃饭。”露茜说着转身就跑下楼梯。今天早上走在上面的时候心里还七上八下的呢。她在楼梯口一下子撞上了爱德蒙,其他人和他一起在那里等着她。露茜看见大家都非常焦虑的样子,才明白自己把他们一时忘记了,不由得心有不安。
“It’s all right,”she shouted.“Everything’s all right.The Magician’s a brick-and I’ve seen Him-Aslan.”
“没事啦,”她大声说,“什么事都没有啦,魔法师是个好人。我还看见它——阿斯兰。”
After that she went from them like the wind and out into the garden.Here the earth was shaking with the jumps and the air ringing with the shouts of the Monopods.Both were redoubled when they caught sight of her.
说完她像风一样跑到花园,独脚怪把地面跳得直震动,周围只听见一片叫喊。他们一看见她,跳得更厉害,也更起劲了。
“Here she comes,here she comes,”they cried.“Three cheers for the little girl.Ah ! She put it across the old gentleman properly,she did.”
“她来啦,她来啦,”他们嚷道着,“为小姑娘三呼万岁。哎呀! 是她把老头儿糊弄过去了。”
“And we’re extremely regrettable,”said the Chief Monopod, “that we can’t give you the pleasure of seeing us as we were before we were uglified,for you wouldn’t believe the difference,and that’s the truth,for there’s no denying we’re mortal ugly now,so we won’t deceive you.”
“我们非常遗憾,”独脚怪的头儿说,“没法让你看到我们没变丑时的模样。你不会相信这之间的差别,这是实话,不可否认。我们现在真是丑极了,所以我们不会骗你。”
“Eh,that we are,Chief,that we are,”echoed the others, bouncing like so many toy balloons.“You’ve said it,you’ve said it.”
“啊,说得对,老大,说得太对了,”其他人随声附和的同时, 像很多玩具气球一样蹦得很高,“你说得对,你说得对。”
“But I don’t think you are at all,”said Lucy,shouting to make herself heard.“I think you look very nice.”
“可是我一点也不觉得你们丑,”露茜提高声音说,好让大家听见,“我觉得你们很好看。”
“Hear her,hear her,”said the Monopods.“True for you, Missie.Very nice we look.You couldn’t find a handsomer lot.”They said this without any surprise and did not seem to notice that they had changed their minds.
“她说得对,她说得对,”独脚怪说,“小姑娘,你说得不错, 我们非常好看,没有更漂亮的人了。”他们毫不惊讶,而且根本没注意到自己已经改变主意了。
“She’s a-saying,”remarked the Chief Monopod,“as how we looked very nice before we were uglified.”
“她说的是,”独脚怪的头儿说,“我们大家比以前好看。”
“True for you,Chief,true for you,”chanted the others.“That’s what she says.We heard her ourselves.”
“说得对,头儿,说得太对了,”其他人又喊,“她就是这么说的, 我们亲耳听到的。”
“I did not,”bawled Lucy.“I said you’re very nice now.”
“我没那么说,”露茜大声喊着,“我是说你们现在好看。”
“So she did,so she did,”said the Chief Monopod,“said we were very nice then.”
“她是那么说的,就是那么说的,”独脚怪的头儿说,“说我们那时候非常好看。”
“Hear‘ em both,hear’em both,”said the Monopods.“There’s a pair for you.Always right.They couldn’t have put it better.”
“他们两个说的都对,他们两个说得都对,”独脚怪说,“你们太默契了,一向是这样,他们说得再好不过了。”
“But we’re saying just the opposite,”said Lucy,stamping her foot with impatience.
“可是我们两个说的话相反。”露茜不耐烦地跺跺脚。
“So you are,to be sure,so you are,”said the Monopods.“Nothing like an opposite.Keep it up,both of you.”
“一点不假,她是这意思,就是这意思,”独脚怪说,“不相反, 你们两个都说下去。”
“You’re enough to drive anyone mad,”said Lucy,and gave it up.But the Monopods seemed perfectly contented,and she decided that on the whole the conversation had been a success.
“你们真是胡搅蛮缠,我简直快疯了。”露茜干脆不说了。可是独脚怪好像心满意足的样子。然后她得出结论,这次谈话算得上是成功的。
And before everyone went to bed that evening something else happened which made them even more satisfied with their one-legged condition.Caspian and all the Narnians went back as soon as possible to the shore to give their news to Rhince and the others on board the Dawn Treader,who were by now very anxious. And,of course,the Monopods went with them,bouncing like footballs and agreeing with one another in loud voices till Eustace said,“I wish the Magician would make them inaudible instead of invisible.”(He was soon sorry he had spoken because then he had to explain that an inaudible thing is something you can’t hear,and though he took a lot of trouble he never felt sure that the Monopods had really understood,and what especially annoyed him was that they said in the end,“Eh,he can’t put things the way our Chief does.But you’ll learn,young man.Hark to him.He’ll show you how to say things.There’s a speaker for you !”)When they reached the bay,Reepicheep had a brilliant idea.He had his little coracle lowered and paddled himself about in it till the Monopods were thoroughly interested.He then stood up in it and said,“Worthy and intelligent Monopods,you do not need boats.Each of you has a foot that will do instead.Just jump as lightly as you can on the water and see what happens.”
"那天临睡前又出了些事,使那些独脚怪对于自己的现状更加满意了。凯斯宾和所有纳尼亚人回到岸边,向赖因斯和黎明踏浪号上的其他人报信,船上的人都急坏了。不用说,那些独脚怪也跟他们一起去,一边像足球似的蹦蹦跳跳,一边一唱一和,直到尤斯塔斯说了句: “我真希望魔法师不是把他们变成隐形人,而是无声人。”

说完他就后悔了,因为他不得不跟他们解释无声就是听不见声音。尽管他费了不少口舌,但是也不知道他们是不是真的明白了。更让他恼火的是,最后他们竟然说:“嗯,他不能像我们的老大那样会讲话。不过你会明白的,年轻人。听老大讲话吧,他会教你怎么讲, 多会演讲的人呀!”

大家来到海滩,雷佩契普想到一个好主意。它放下自己的小筏子, 坐在里面划船,独脚怪非常感兴趣。于是他站起来说:“聪明的独脚先生,你们用不着小船。你们的脚可以当船用,只要尽量在水面上轻轻地跳就行了。”
"
The Chief Monopod hung back and warned the others that they’d find the water powerful wet,but one or two of the younger ones tried it almost at once;and then a few others followed their example,and at last the whole lot did the same.It worked perfectly.The huge single foot of a Monopod acted as a natural raft or boat,and when Reepicheep had taught them how to cut rude paddles for themselves,they all paddled about the bay and round the Dawn Treader,looking for all the world like a fleet of little canoes with a fat dwarf standing up in the extreme stern of each.And they had races,and bottles of wine were lowered down to them from the ship as prizes,and the sailors stood leaning over the ship’s sides and laughed till their own sides ached.
独脚怪的头儿缩在后面,警告其他人水是潮湿的,可是一两个年轻人还是决定去试试,接着又有几个跟着,最后所有人都到水里去了。独脚怪的大脚可以当一只天然筏子或小船,雷佩契普教他们做简单的桨,他们就在海湾绕着黎明踏浪号划过来划过去,看上去像一支小筏子组成的船队,每条小筏子的船尾都站着一个胖胖的小矮人。他们还进行比赛,大船还给他们一瓶瓶酒作奖品。水手们趴在大船舷上看他们的模样,笑得肚子都痛了。
The Duffers were also very pleased with their new name of Monopods,which seemed to them a magnificent name though they never got it right.“That’s what we are,”they bellowed, “Moneypuds,Pomonods,Poddymons.Just what it was on the tips of our tongues to call ourselves.”But they soon got it mixed up with their old name of Duffers and finally settled down to calling themselves the Dufflepuds;and that is what they will probably be called for centuries.
那些笨蛋对“独脚怪”的新名称兴致盎然,虽然他们念不准, 可是在他们心中这似乎是个了不起的名字。“我们就叫这个,”他们大吼大叫道,“独角怪,怪独角,角怪独。这个称呼实在太简明顺口了。” 一眨眼的工夫,他们就把新称呼与旧称呼“笨蛋”搞混了,叫着叫着就叫成了“笨蛋怪”。他们大概还会叫上好几百年吧。
That evening all the Narnians dined upstairs with the Magician,and Lucy noticed how different the whole top floor looked now that she was no longer afraid of it.The mysterious signs on the doors were still mysterious but now looked as if they had kind and cheerful meanings,and even the bearded mirror now seemed funny rather than frightening.At dinner everyone had by magic what everyone liked best to eat and drink,and after dinner the Magician did a very useful and beautiful piece of magic.He laid two blank sheets of parchment on the table and asked Drinian to give him an exact account of their voyage up to date:and as Drinian spoke,everything he described came out on the parchment in fine clear lines till at last each sheet was a splendid map of the Eastern Ocean,showing Galma,Terebinthia,the Seven Isles, the Lone Islands,Dragon Island,Burnt Island,Deathwater, and the land of the Duffers itself,all exactly the right sizes and in the right positions.They were the first maps ever made of those seas and better than any that have been made since without magic. For on these,though the towns and mountains looked at first just as they would on an ordinary map,when the Magician lent them a magnifying glass you saw that they were perfect little pictures of the real things,so that you could see the very castle and slave market and streets in Narrowhaven,all very clear though very distant,like things seen through the wrong end of a telescope. The only drawback was that the coastline of most of the islands was incomplete,for the map showed only what Drinianhad seen with his own eyes.When they were finished the.Magician kept one himself and presented the other to Caspian:it still hangs in his Chamber of Instruments at Cair Paravel.But the Magician could tell them nothing about seas or lands further east.He did, however,tell them that about seven years before a Narnian ship had put in at his waters and that she had on board the lords Revilian, Argoz,Mavramorn and Rhoop:so they judged that the golden man they had seen lying in Deathwater must be the Lord Restimar.
"那天晚上,所有纳尼亚的客人都在楼上和魔法师共进晚餐,露茜注意到整个楼都变了,感觉一点都不可怕。门上的神秘符号还是神秘的,可是现在看上去却也是善良可亲,甚至长胡子的镜子现在看上去也没有那么吓人,而是很有趣的样子。席间,靠魔法的力量,大家都尝到自己最喜爱的菜肴和饮料。饭后,魔法师还使出了另外一种非常实用的魔法。

他在桌上铺了两张羊皮纸,让德里宁精确地讲述到目前的全部航程:德里宁一开始讲,纸上就清晰地显出他讲的细节,最后每张纸都成了一幅绝妙的东方海洋的地图,上边标注了加尔马、特里宾西亚、七群岛、孤独群岛、龙岛、火烧岛、死水岛和野蛮人居住的地方,比例、位置、方向丝毫不差。这是那片海域的第一次张地图,比后来他们不用魔法制作的地图好得多。

这两张地图上标注的城镇和山脉乍一看和普通地图一模一样, 可是魔法师给他们一个放大镜后,看到的就是活的真实景物的缩小版了,能看见狭港那个城堡和奴隶市场还有街道,虽然很远,却很清晰, 就跟用望远镜看到的东西一样。唯一的缺陷是大部分岛屿的海岸线都不是完整的,因为地图只能根据德里宁亲眼看到的来标注。地图完成之后,魔法师就留下一幅,另一幅送给了凯斯宾,这幅地图至今仍然挂在凯尔帕拉维尔仪器馆里。

然后,魔法师却无法告诉他们再往东航行的海洋和陆地的情况。他告诉他们,七年前有一艘纳尼亚船来过这里,船上有雷维廉、阿尔戈兹、马弗拉蒙、罗普几位公爵。于是大家一致推断那个躺在死水里的金人就是雷斯蒂玛公爵。
"
Next day,the Magician magically mended the stern of the Dawn Treader where it had been damaged by the Sear Serpent and loaded her with useful gifts.There was a most friendly parting, and when she sailed,two hours after noon,all the Dufflepuds paddled out with her to the harbour mouth,and cheered until she was out of sound of their cheering.
第二天,魔法师用魔法修理好黎明踏浪号上被海蛇破坏的船尾, 还送给他们很多有用的礼物。大家友好的道别,下午两点起航时,所有的笨蛋怪都划着桨到港口,一直欢呼直到船上听不到他们的声音。
“But do they dare to talk about you like that ?”said Lucy. “They seemed to be so afraid of you yesterday.Don’t they know you might be listening ?”



CHAPTER ELEVEN THE DUFFLEPUDS MADE HAPPY

Lucy followed the great Lion out into the passage and at once she saw coming towards them an old man,barefoot,dressed in a red robe.His white hair was crowned with a chaplet of oak leaves,his beard fell to his girdle,and he supported himself with a curiously carved staff.When he saw Aslan he bowed low and said,
“Welcome,Sir,to the least of your houses.”
“Do you grow weary,Coriakin,of ruling such foolish subjects as I have given you here ?”
“No,”said the Magician,“they are very stupid but there is no real harm in them.I begin to grow rather fond of the creatures. Sometimes,perhaps,I am a little impatient,waiting for the day when they can be governed by wisdom instead of this rough magic.”
“All in good time,Coriakin,”said Aslan.
“Yes,all in very good time,Sir,”was the answer.“Do you intend to show yourself to them ?”
“Nay,”said the Lion,with a little half-growl that meant (Lucy thought)the same as a laugh.“I should frighten them out of their senses.Many stars will grow old and come to take their rest in islands before your people are ripe for that.And today before sunset I must visit Trumpkin the Dwarf where he sits in the castle of Cair Paravel counting the days till his master Caspian comes home. I will tell him all your story,Lucy.Do not look so sad.We shall meet soon again.”
“Please,Aslan,”said Lucy,“what do you call soon ?”
“I call all times soon,”said Aslan;and instantly he was vanished away and Lucy was alone with the Magician.
“Gone !”said he,“and you and I quite crestfallen.It’s always like that,you can’t keep him;it’s not as if he were a tame lion.And how did you enjoy my book ?”
“Parts of it very much indeed,”said Lucy.“Did you know I was there all the time ?”
“Well,of course I knew when I let the Duffers make themselves invisible that you would be coming along presently to take the spell off.I wasn’t quite sure of the exact day.And I wasn’t especially on the watch this morning.You see they had made me invisible too and being invisible always makes me so sleepy.Heigh-ho-there I’m yawning again.Are you hungry ?”
“Well,perhaps I am a little,”said Lucy.“I’ve no idea what the time is.”
“Come,”said the Magician.“All times may be soon to Aslan;but in my home all hungry times are one o’clock.”
He led her a little way down the passage and opened a door.Passing in,Lucy found herself in a pleasant room full of sunlight and flowers.The table was bare when they entered,but it was of course a magic table,and at a word from the old man the tablecloth,silver,plates,glasses and food appeared.
“I hope that is—what you would like,”said he.“I have tried to give you food more like the food of your own land than perhaps you have had lately.”
“It’s lovely,”said Lucy,and so it was;an omelette,piping hot,cold lamb and green peas,a strawberry ice,lemonsquash to drink with the meal and a cup of chocolate to follow.But the magician himself drank only wine and ate only bread.There was nothing alarming about him,and Lucy and he were soon chatting away like old friends.
“When will the spell work ?”asked Lucy.“Will the Duffers be visible again at once ?”
“Oh yes,they’re visible now.But they’re probably all asleep still;they always take a rest in the middle of the day.”
“And now that they’re visible,are you going to let them off being ugly ? Will you make them as they were before ?”
“Well,that’s rather a delicate question,”said the Magician. “You see,it’s only they who think they were so nice to look at before.They say they’ve been uglified,but that isn’t what I called it. Many people might say the change was for the better.”
“Are they awfully conceited ?”
“They are.Or at least the Chief Duffer is,and he’s taught all the rest to be.They always believe every word he says.”
“We’d noticed that,”said Lucy.
“Yes-we’d get on better without him,in a way.Of course I could turn him into something else,or even put a spell on him which would make them not believe a word he said.But I don’t like to do that.It’s better for them to admire him than to admire nobody.”
“Don’t they admire you ?”asked Lucy.
“Oh,not me,”said the Magician.“They wouldn’t admire me.”
“What was it you uglified them for-I mean,what they call uglified ?”
“Well,they wouldn’t do what they were told.Their work is to mind the garden and raise food-not for me,as they imagine, but for themselves.They wouldn’t do it at all if I didn’t make them.And of course for a garden you want water.There is a beautiful spring about half a mile away up the hill.And from that spring there flows a stream which comes right past the garden.All I asked them to do was to take their water from the stream instead of trudging up to the spring with their buckets two or three times a day and tiring themselves out besides spilling half of it on the way back. But they wouldn’t see it.In the end they refused point blank.”
“Are they as stupid as all that ?”asked Lucy.
The Magician sighed.“You wouldn’t believe the troubles I’ve had with them.A few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner:they said it saved time afterwards. I’ve caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up.One day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out;no one thought of moving the cat.But I see you’ve finished.Let’s go and look at the Duffers now they can be looked at.”
They went into another room which was full of polished instruments hard to understand-such as Astrolabes,Orreries, Chronoscopes,Poesimeters,Choriambuses and Theodolinds-and here,when they had come to the window,the Magician said, “There.There are your Duffers.”
“I don’t see anybody,”said Lucy.“And what are those mushroom things ?”
The things she pointed at were dotted all over the level grass. They were certainly very like mushrooms,but far too big-the stalks about three feet high and the umbrellas about the same length from edge to edge.When she looked carefully she noticed too that the stalks joined the umbrellas not in the middle but at one side which gave an unbalanced look to them.And there was something-a sort of little bundle-lying on the grass at the foot of each stalk.In fact the longer she gazed at them the less like mushrooms they appeared. The umbrella part was not really round as she had thought at first. It was longer than it was broad,and it widened at one end.There were a great many of them,fifty or more.
The clock struck three.
Instantly a most extraordinary thing happened.Each of the“mushrooms”suddenly turned upside-down.The little bundles which had lain at the bottom of the stalks were heads and bodies.The stalks themselves were legs.But not two legs to each body.Each body had a single thick leg right under it(not to one side like the leg of a one-legged man)and at the end of it,a single enormous foot-a broadtoed foot with the toes curling up a little so that it looked rather like a small canoe.She saw in a moment why they had looked like mushrooms.They had been lying flat on their backs each with its single leg straight up in the air and its enormous foot spread out above it.She learned afterwards that this was their ordinary way of resting;for the foot kept off both rain and sun and for a Monopod to lie under its own foot is almost as good as being in a tent.
“Oh,the funnies,the funnies,”cried Lucy,bursting into laughter.“Did you make them like that ?”
“Yes,yes.I made the Duffers into Monopods,”said the Magician.He too was laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks. “But watch,”he added.
It was worth watching.Of course these little one-footed men couldn’t walk or run as we do.They got about by jumping,like fleas or frogs.And what jumps they made !as if each big foot were a mass of springs.And with what a bounce they came down; that was what made the thumping noise which had so puzzled Lucy yesterday.For now they were jumping in all directions and calling out to one another,“Hey,lads !We’re visible again.”
“Visible we are,”said one in a tasselled red cap who was obviously the Chief Monopod.“And what I say is,when chaps are visible,why,they can see one another.”
“Ah,there it is,there it is,Chief,”cried all the others.“There’s the point.No one’s got a clearer head than you.You couldn’t have made it plainer.”
“She caught the old man napping,that little girl did,”said the Chief Monopod.“We’ve beaten him this time.”
“Just what we were,going to say ourselves,”chimed the chorus.“You’re going stronger than ever today,Chief.Keep it up,keep it up.”
“But do they dare to talk about you like that ?”said Lucy. “They seemed to be so afraid of you yesterday.Don’t they know you might be listening ?”
“That’s one of the funny things about the Duffers,”said the Magician.“One minute they talk as if I ran everything and overheard everything and was extremely dangerous.The next moment they think they can take me in by tricks that a baby would see through-bless them !”
“Will they have to be turned back into their proper shapes ?”asked Lucy.“Oh,I do hope it wouldn’t be unkind to leave them as they are.Do they really mind very much ?They seem pretty happy.I say-look at that jump.What were they like before ?”
“Common little dwarfs,”said he.“Nothing like so nice as the sort you have in Narnia.”
“It would be a pity to change them back,”said Lucy.“They’re so funny:and they’re rather nice.Do you think it would make any difference if I told them that ?”
“I’m sure it would-if you could get it into their heads.”
“Will you come with me and try ?”
“No,no.You’ll get on far better without me.”
“Thanks awfully for the lunch,”said Lucy and turned quickly away.She ran down the stairs which she had come up so nervously that morning and cannoned into Edmund at the bottom.All the others were there with him waiting,and Lucy’s conscience smote her when she saw their anxious faces and realized how long she had forgotten them.
“It’s all right,”she shouted.“Everything’s all right.The Magician’s a brick-and I’ve seen Him-Aslan.”
After that she went from them like the wind and out into the garden.Here the earth was shaking with the jumps and the air ringing with the shouts of the Monopods.Both were redoubled when they caught sight of her.
“Here she comes,here she comes,”they cried.“Three cheers for the little girl.Ah ! She put it across the old gentleman properly,she did.”
“And we’re extremely regrettable,”said the Chief Monopod, “that we can’t give you the pleasure of seeing us as we were before we were uglified,for you wouldn’t believe the difference,and that’s the truth,for there’s no denying we’re mortal ugly now,so we won’t deceive you.”
“Eh,that we are,Chief,that we are,”echoed the others, bouncing like so many toy balloons.“You’ve said it,you’ve said it.”
“But I don’t think you are at all,”said Lucy,shouting to make herself heard.“I think you look very nice.”
“Hear her,hear her,”said the Monopods.“True for you, Missie.Very nice we look.You couldn’t find a handsomer lot.”They said this without any surprise and did not seem to notice that they had changed their minds.
“She’s a-saying,”remarked the Chief Monopod,“as how we looked very nice before we were uglified.”
“True for you,Chief,true for you,”chanted the others.“That’s what she says.We heard her ourselves.”
“I did not,”bawled Lucy.“I said you’re very nice now.”
“So she did,so she did,”said the Chief Monopod,“said we were very nice then.”
“Hear‘ em both,hear’em both,”said the Monopods.“There’s a pair for you.Always right.They couldn’t have put it better.”
“But we’re saying just the opposite,”said Lucy,stamping her foot with impatience.
“So you are,to be sure,so you are,”said the Monopods.“Nothing like an opposite.Keep it up,both of you.”
“You’re enough to drive anyone mad,”said Lucy,and gave it up.But the Monopods seemed perfectly contented,and she decided that on the whole the conversation had been a success.
And before everyone went to bed that evening something else happened which made them even more satisfied with their one-legged condition.Caspian and all the Narnians went back as soon as possible to the shore to give their news to Rhince and the others on board the Dawn Treader,who were by now very anxious. And,of course,the Monopods went with them,bouncing like footballs and agreeing with one another in loud voices till Eustace said,“I wish the Magician would make them inaudible instead of invisible.”(He was soon sorry he had spoken because then he had to explain that an inaudible thing is something you can’t hear,and though he took a lot of trouble he never felt sure that the Monopods had really understood,and what especially annoyed him was that they said in the end,“Eh,he can’t put things the way our Chief does.But you’ll learn,young man.Hark to him.He’ll show you how to say things.There’s a speaker for you !”)When they reached the bay,Reepicheep had a brilliant idea.He had his little coracle lowered and paddled himself about in it till the Monopods were thoroughly interested.He then stood up in it and said,“Worthy and intelligent Monopods,you do not need boats.Each of you has a foot that will do instead.Just jump as lightly as you can on the water and see what happens.”
The Chief Monopod hung back and warned the others that they’d find the water powerful wet,but one or two of the younger ones tried it almost at once;and then a few others followed their example,and at last the whole lot did the same.It worked perfectly.The huge single foot of a Monopod acted as a natural raft or boat,and when Reepicheep had taught them how to cut rude paddles for themselves,they all paddled about the bay and round the Dawn Treader,looking for all the world like a fleet of little canoes with a fat dwarf standing up in the extreme stern of each.And they had races,and bottles of wine were lowered down to them from the ship as prizes,and the sailors stood leaning over the ship’s sides and laughed till their own sides ached.
The Duffers were also very pleased with their new name of Monopods,which seemed to them a magnificent name though they never got it right.“That’s what we are,”they bellowed, “Moneypuds,Pomonods,Poddymons.Just what it was on the tips of our tongues to call ourselves.”But they soon got it mixed up with their old name of Duffers and finally settled down to calling themselves the Dufflepuds;and that is what they will probably be called for centuries.
That evening all the Narnians dined upstairs with the Magician,and Lucy noticed how different the whole top floor looked now that she was no longer afraid of it.The mysterious signs on the doors were still mysterious but now looked as if they had kind and cheerful meanings,and even the bearded mirror now seemed funny rather than frightening.At dinner everyone had by magic what everyone liked best to eat and drink,and after dinner the Magician did a very useful and beautiful piece of magic.He laid two blank sheets of parchment on the table and asked Drinian to give him an exact account of their voyage up to date:and as Drinian spoke,everything he described came out on the parchment in fine clear lines till at last each sheet was a splendid map of the Eastern Ocean,showing Galma,Terebinthia,the Seven Isles, the Lone Islands,Dragon Island,Burnt Island,Deathwater, and the land of the Duffers itself,all exactly the right sizes and in the right positions.They were the first maps ever made of those seas and better than any that have been made since without magic. For on these,though the towns and mountains looked at first just as they would on an ordinary map,when the Magician lent them a magnifying glass you saw that they were perfect little pictures of the real things,so that you could see the very castle and slave market and streets in Narrowhaven,all very clear though very distant,like things seen through the wrong end of a telescope. The only drawback was that the coastline of most of the islands was incomplete,for the map showed only what Drinianhad seen with his own eyes.When they were finished the.Magician kept one himself and presented the other to Caspian:it still hangs in his Chamber of Instruments at Cair Paravel.But the Magician could tell them nothing about seas or lands further east.He did, however,tell them that about seven years before a Narnian ship had put in at his waters and that she had on board the lords Revilian, Argoz,Mavramorn and Rhoop:so they judged that the golden man they had seen lying in Deathwater must be the Lord Restimar.
Next day,the Magician magically mended the stern of the Dawn Treader where it had been damaged by the Sear Serpent and loaded her with useful gifts.There was a most friendly parting, and when she sailed,two hours after noon,all the Dufflepuds paddled out with her to the harbour mouth,and cheered until she was out of sound of their cheering.


第十一章 独脚怪欢天喜地

露茜跟着狮王出来,走进长廊,迎面过来了一位老人,光着脚, 身穿红袍。白发上戴着一顶橡树叶编的花冠,胡须垂到腰带,拄着一根巧夺天工的雕花手杖。见到阿斯兰,他就深深地鞠了一躬,说:
“欢迎阁下光临,真是蓬荜生辉。”
“科里亚金,我把这些笨蛋交给你管,你是不是不耐烦了?”
“不,他们笨是笨,但是没有坏心眼。”魔法师说,“只是我一直在期待有一天可以用智慧而不是魔法来管他们,可我还真是等得有点不耐烦了。
“到那时候就好了,科里亚金。”阿斯兰说。
“是啊,到那时候就好了,阁下,”他回答说,“你不打算在他们面前露面吗?”
“不。”狮子说,略带几分咆哮,露茜想这大概就是笑笑的意思吧。“我会吓死他们的。恐怕等岛上的日月星辰都老得该退休了, 那些家伙也不见得有多少长进呢。今天太阳落山之前我还要去看看小矮人杜鲁普金,他现在正坐在凯尔帕拉维尔的城堡里等着他主人凯斯宾回家。我会把你们的经历全告诉他。露茜,别愁眉苦脸的,我们很快就会再见的。”
“那,阿斯兰,”露茜说,“很快是多久啊?”
“随时都是很快。”阿斯兰回答着,突然就消失了。只剩下了露茜和魔法师。
“他走了!”他说,“你我都很失望,可是他向来都是这样, 留不住的。他不是一头温驯的狮子。你觉得我的那本书怎么样?”
“书里很多地方都很有意思,”露茜说,“我在那儿,你一直都知道吗?”
“这个,那是当然的。我把那群笨蛋变成隐形人的时候,就知道你不久就会经过这里破解魔法。可是不确定是哪一天,今天早上倒是没有防备。你看,魔法把我也变成隐形了,隐形了以后我老是想睡觉,啊……哈……看我又在打哈欠了。你饿吗?”
“嗯,你一说,我还真有点饿了,”露茜说,“现在几点了?”
“跟我来,”魔法师说,“对阿斯兰来说,随时都是很快。不过我在我家里随时饿了都是一点钟。”
他带她走过一段走廊,打开一扇门。露茜看到是一间满是阳光和鲜花的房间。桌子上是空的,因为那是一张魔法桌子。魔法师念了一句咒语,桌布、银器、盘子、酒杯和吃的都出来了。
“希望你能喜欢,”他说,“我尽力给你弄一些合乎你口味的食物, 不是你最近吃的那些。”
“太好了。”露茜说,“我确实喜欢。”她看见桌上有滚烫的煎蛋、冷羊肉、豌豆、草莓冰淇淋和可作佐餐的柠檬汽水还有一杯巧克力。
“这咒语什么时候起作用呢?”露茜问,“那些笨蛋是不是马上就会现形?”
“是啊,他们这会儿已经现形了。不过他们可能都还在睡,他们中午都是要午休的。”
“既然他们都现了形,你会去掉他们的丑样儿吗?要不要恢复他们以前的模样?”
“这个,一两句说不清,”魔法师说,“要知道,只有他们觉得自己从前好看。他们说他们被变丑了,可是我并不觉得,好多人反而变好看了呢。”
“他们一直都这样自以为是吗?”
“他们就是这样。至少为首的那家伙是这样,他把其他人都教得跟他一样。他说什么,他们就信什么。”
“我看出来了。”露茜说。
“是啊,所以说,没有他的话我们日子会更好。当然我能把他变成其他东西,或者念一种咒语,使他们对他一句话都不信。可是我不想这么做,还是让他们崇拜他吧,总比对谁都不崇拜的好。”
“难道他们不崇拜你吗?”露茜问。
“哎呀,才不会呢,”魔法师说,“他们不愿崇拜我。”
“你为什么把他们变丑——我的意思是,他们所谓的变丑?”
“说起来,是他们自己不听话。让他们照料照料花园,种种粮食——不是像他们想象的那样,那并不是为我,而是为他们自己。要是我不逼迫他们干,他们就不干。打理花园当然少不了浇水,山上大约半英里就有眼山泉,有条小溪从山泉一直流到花园旁。我只是让他们从这条小溪里取水,用不着一天两三回提着水桶,爬上山到泉眼里打水再筋疲力尽的回来,路上还会洒掉一半。可是他们死活都不明白, 到最后他们直接不干了。”
“他们真的那么笨吗?”露茜问。
他叹了口气,说:“他们惹的麻烦,说了你也不信。两三个月前,饭前他们就去洗餐盘和刀子,说这可以节约时间,说饭后就不用洗了。有一回他们刨地,我发现他们在种煮熟的土豆,说是吃的时候就不用煮了。有一天猫溜进了牛奶房,他们二十个人把牛奶桶搬了出来, 谁都没想过把猫赶出去。唉,我看你吃完了。那我们去看看这些笨蛋现在的样子吧。”
他们走进一间房间,里面全是让人搞不明白的仪表器具,被擦得铮亮铮亮的。比如测天体位置的星盘、太阳系仪、瞬时仪、节奏测量仪、韵律计算仪,经纬仪,等等。他们走到窗口,魔法师说:“瞧, 这就是你要看的笨蛋。”
“我什么人都没看见啊,”露茜说,“那些长得像蘑菇的东西是什么?”
她说的是草地上的那些东西。确实很像蘑菇,可是个头要大得多,伞柄约三英尺高,伞盖的直径也有这么长。她仔细一看,才发现蘑菇柄不是在伞盖中间,而是偏在一边,看上去不对称。每根蘑菇根部都有什么东西像一个小包袱一样躺在草地上。这些东西越看越不像蘑菇。正如她开头所想,伞盖部分并不圆,直径不一样长。有好多, 差不多有五十多个。
时钟敲响三声。
离奇的事发生了。所有“蘑菇”忽然一下子都颠倒过来了。根部的小包袱原来是脑袋和身子,柄是腿,但不是每个身子都长着两条腿。每个身子下面只长着一条粗腿,腿下是一只奇大无比的脚,脚趾很粗,略为上翘,像一只小小的独木舟。露茜突然就明白为什么看上去像蘑菇了。原来他们都仰天平躺在地上,把那条独脚伸出来,大脚正好在身子上面。事后她才知道这是他们休息的姿势。而且这只脚既遮雨又挡太阳,他们躺在自己脚下面就跟躺在帐篷里一样。
“哎呀,真有意思,太有意思了,”露茜大笑,“是你让他们变成这样的吗?”
“是啊,是啊,我把这些笨蛋变成了独脚怪。”魔法师说完, 也哈哈大笑,笑得脸上眼泪直淌,“可是你看。”他又说。
这倒值得一看。这些独脚小人当然不能跟我们一样走啊跑啊的, 他们就像跳蚤或青蛙一样跳来跳去,而且蹦得很有劲啊!每只大脚都像是一大团弹簧。他们跳得也很有劲。那声音正是昨天搞得露茜莫名其妙的砰砰声。这会儿他们四处蹦蹦跳跳,大喊大叫:“嗨,伙计们! 我们又现形了。”
“我们现形了,”一个戴着红色流苏帽子的人说,显然他就是那个老大,“我们现形了,彼此能看见对方了。”
“啊,说得对,说得太对了,老大,”其他的人齐声喊,“一针见血, 谁的头脑也比不上你清醒,你说得再明白不过了。”
“那小姑娘弄得老头措手不及,她真行,”独角怪的头儿说,“这回我们骗过他了。”
“我们也这么觉得,”大家齐声附和,“你今天比往日强多了, 老大。厉害,厉害。”

“那些笨蛋总是干这样好笑的事,”魔法师说,“他们一会儿说我掌管一切,监听一切,极度危险。一会儿又说三岁小孩儿都能看出来的把戏就能骗过我,天哪!”
“你要把他们变成原来的样子吗?”露茜问,“唉,如果我希望他们就这样不会很过分吧。他们真的在乎吗?他们这样好像很快乐。哎呀,瞧那蹦蹦跳跳的样子。他们原来是什么样子的?”
“普通的小矮人啊,”他说,“不过,跟纳尼亚的小矮人比差远了。”
“把他们变回去有点可惜,”露茜说,“他们很滑稽,而且一点都不难看。你认为如果我跟他们这么说会有用吗?”
“如果你能让他们明白的话,会有用的。”
“那你愿意陪我去试试吗?”
“不,不,我不在场效果会更好。”
“非常感谢你请我吃饭。”露茜说着转身就跑下楼梯。今天早上走在上面的时候心里还七上八下的呢。她在楼梯口一下子撞上了爱德蒙,其他人和他一起在那里等着她。露茜看见大家都非常焦虑的样子,才明白自己把他们一时忘记了,不由得心有不安。
“没事啦,”她大声说,“什么事都没有啦,魔法师是个好人。我还看见它——阿斯兰。”
说完她像风一样跑到花园,独脚怪把地面跳得直震动,周围只听见一片叫喊。他们一看见她,跳得更厉害,也更起劲了。
“她来啦,她来啦,”他们嚷道着,“为小姑娘三呼万岁。哎呀! 是她把老头儿糊弄过去了。”
“我们非常遗憾,”独脚怪的头儿说,“没法让你看到我们没变丑时的模样。你不会相信这之间的差别,这是实话,不可否认。我们现在真是丑极了,所以我们不会骗你。”
“啊,说得对,老大,说得太对了,”其他人随声附和的同时, 像很多玩具气球一样蹦得很高,“你说得对,你说得对。”
“可是我一点也不觉得你们丑,”露茜提高声音说,好让大家听见,“我觉得你们很好看。”
“她说得对,她说得对,”独脚怪说,“小姑娘,你说得不错, 我们非常好看,没有更漂亮的人了。”他们毫不惊讶,而且根本没注意到自己已经改变主意了。
“她说的是,”独脚怪的头儿说,“我们大家比以前好看。”
“说得对,头儿,说得太对了,”其他人又喊,“她就是这么说的, 我们亲耳听到的。”
“我没那么说,”露茜大声喊着,“我是说你们现在好看。”
“她是那么说的,就是那么说的,”独脚怪的头儿说,“说我们那时候非常好看。”
“他们两个说的都对,他们两个说得都对,”独脚怪说,“你们太默契了,一向是这样,他们说得再好不过了。”
“可是我们两个说的话相反。”露茜不耐烦地跺跺脚。
“一点不假,她是这意思,就是这意思,”独脚怪说,“不相反, 你们两个都说下去。”
“你们真是胡搅蛮缠,我简直快疯了。”露茜干脆不说了。可是独脚怪好像心满意足的样子。然后她得出结论,这次谈话算得上是成功的。
"那天临睡前又出了些事,使那些独脚怪对于自己的现状更加满意了。凯斯宾和所有纳尼亚人回到岸边,向赖因斯和黎明踏浪号上的其他人报信,船上的人都急坏了。不用说,那些独脚怪也跟他们一起去,一边像足球似的蹦蹦跳跳,一边一唱一和,直到尤斯塔斯说了句: “我真希望魔法师不是把他们变成隐形人,而是无声人。”

说完他就后悔了,因为他不得不跟他们解释无声就是听不见声音。尽管他费了不少口舌,但是也不知道他们是不是真的明白了。更让他恼火的是,最后他们竟然说:“嗯,他不能像我们的老大那样会讲话。不过你会明白的,年轻人。听老大讲话吧,他会教你怎么讲, 多会演讲的人呀!”

大家来到海滩,雷佩契普想到一个好主意。它放下自己的小筏子, 坐在里面划船,独脚怪非常感兴趣。于是他站起来说:“聪明的独脚先生,你们用不着小船。你们的脚可以当船用,只要尽量在水面上轻轻地跳就行了。”
"
独脚怪的头儿缩在后面,警告其他人水是潮湿的,可是一两个年轻人还是决定去试试,接着又有几个跟着,最后所有人都到水里去了。独脚怪的大脚可以当一只天然筏子或小船,雷佩契普教他们做简单的桨,他们就在海湾绕着黎明踏浪号划过来划过去,看上去像一支小筏子组成的船队,每条小筏子的船尾都站着一个胖胖的小矮人。他们还进行比赛,大船还给他们一瓶瓶酒作奖品。水手们趴在大船舷上看他们的模样,笑得肚子都痛了。
那些笨蛋对“独脚怪”的新名称兴致盎然,虽然他们念不准, 可是在他们心中这似乎是个了不起的名字。“我们就叫这个,”他们大吼大叫道,“独角怪,怪独角,角怪独。这个称呼实在太简明顺口了。” 一眨眼的工夫,他们就把新称呼与旧称呼“笨蛋”搞混了,叫着叫着就叫成了“笨蛋怪”。他们大概还会叫上好几百年吧。
"那天晚上,所有纳尼亚的客人都在楼上和魔法师共进晚餐,露茜注意到整个楼都变了,感觉一点都不可怕。门上的神秘符号还是神秘的,可是现在看上去却也是善良可亲,甚至长胡子的镜子现在看上去也没有那么吓人,而是很有趣的样子。席间,靠魔法的力量,大家都尝到自己最喜爱的菜肴和饮料。饭后,魔法师还使出了另外一种非常实用的魔法。

他在桌上铺了两张羊皮纸,让德里宁精确地讲述到目前的全部航程:德里宁一开始讲,纸上就清晰地显出他讲的细节,最后每张纸都成了一幅绝妙的东方海洋的地图,上边标注了加尔马、特里宾西亚、七群岛、孤独群岛、龙岛、火烧岛、死水岛和野蛮人居住的地方,比例、位置、方向丝毫不差。这是那片海域的第一次张地图,比后来他们不用魔法制作的地图好得多。

这两张地图上标注的城镇和山脉乍一看和普通地图一模一样, 可是魔法师给他们一个放大镜后,看到的就是活的真实景物的缩小版了,能看见狭港那个城堡和奴隶市场还有街道,虽然很远,却很清晰, 就跟用望远镜看到的东西一样。唯一的缺陷是大部分岛屿的海岸线都不是完整的,因为地图只能根据德里宁亲眼看到的来标注。地图完成之后,魔法师就留下一幅,另一幅送给了凯斯宾,这幅地图至今仍然挂在凯尔帕拉维尔仪器馆里。

然后,魔法师却无法告诉他们再往东航行的海洋和陆地的情况。他告诉他们,七年前有一艘纳尼亚船来过这里,船上有雷维廉、阿尔戈兹、马弗拉蒙、罗普几位公爵。于是大家一致推断那个躺在死水里的金人就是雷斯蒂玛公爵。
"
第二天,魔法师用魔法修理好黎明踏浪号上被海蛇破坏的船尾, 还送给他们很多有用的礼物。大家友好的道别,下午两点起航时,所有的笨蛋怪都划着桨到港口,一直欢呼直到船上听不到他们的声音。


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