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双语·王子与贫儿 第十八章 王子与游民一同流浪

所属教程:译林版·王子与贫儿

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2022年06月11日

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Chapter XVIII.The Prince with the Tramps

The troop of vagabonds turned out at early dawn, and set forward on their march.There was a lowering sky overhead, sloppy ground under foot, and a winter chill in the air.All gaiety was gone from the company;some were sullen and silent, some were irritable and petulant, none were gentle-humoured, all were thirsty.

The Ruffler put “Jack”in Hugo's charge, with some brief in-structions, and commanded John Canty to keep away from him and let him alone;he also warned Hugo not to be too rough with the lad.

After a while the weather grew milder, and the clouds lifted somewhat.The troop ceased to shiver, and their spirits began to improve.They grew more and more cheerful, and finally began to chaff each other and insult passengers along the highway.This showed that they were awaking to an appreciation of life and its joys once more.The dread in which their sort was held was apparent in the fact that everybody gave them the road, and took their ribald insolences meekly, without venturing to talk back.They snatched linen from the hedges, occasionally, in full view of the owners, who made no protest, but only seemed grateful that they did not take the hedges, too.

By and by they invaded a small farm-house and made themselves at home while the trembling farmer and his people swept the larder clean to furnish a breakfast for them.They chucked the housewife and her daughters under the chin whilst receiving the food from their hands, and made coarse jests about them, accompanied with insulting epithets and bursts of horse-laughter.They threw bones and vegetables at the farmer and his sons, kept them dodging all the time, and applauded uproariously when a good hit was made.They ended by buttering the head of one of the daughters who resented some of their familiarities.When they took their leave they threatened to come back and burn the house over the heads of the family if any report of their doings got to the ears of the authorities.

About noon, after a long and weary tramp, the gang came to a halt behind a hedge on the outskirts of a considerable village.An hour was allowed for rest, then the crew scattered themselves abroad to enter the village at different points to ply their various trades.“Jack”was sent with Hugo.They wandered hither and thither for some time, Hugo watching for opportunities to do a stroke of business but finding none—so he finally said:

“I see naught to steal;it is a paltry place.Wherefore we will beg.”

“We, forsooth!Follow thy trade—it befits thee.But I will not beg.”

“Thou'lt not beg!”exclaimed Hugo, eyeing the king with surprise.“Prithee, since when hast thou reformed?”

“What dost thou mean?”

“Mean?Hast thou not begged the streets of London all thy life?”

“I?Thou idiot!”

“Spare thy compliments—thy stock will last the longer.Thy father says thou hast begged all thy days.Mayhap he lied.Peradventure you will even make so bold as to say he lied,”scoffed Hugo.

“Him you call my father?Yes, he lied.”

“Come, play not thy merry game of madman so far, mate;use it for thy amusement, not thy hurt.An'I tell him this, he will scorch thee finely for it.”

“Save thyself the trouble.I will tell him.”

“I like thy spirit, I do in truth;but I do not admire thy judgment.Bone-rackings and bastings be plenty enow in this life, without going out of one's way to invite them.But a truce to these matters;I believe your father.I doubt not he can lie;I doubt not he doth lie, upon occasion, for the best of us do that;but there is no occasion here.A wise man does not waste so good a commodity as lying for naught.But come;sith it is thy humour to give over begging, wherewithal shall we busy ourselves?With robbing kitchens?”

The king said, impatiently:

“Have done with this folly—you weary me!”

Hugo replied, with temper:

“Now harkee, mate;you will not beg, you will not rob;so be it.But I will tell you what you will do.You will play decoy whilst I beg.Refuse, an'you think you may venture!”

The king was about to reply contemptuously, when Hugo said, interrupting—

“Peace!Here comes one with a kindly face.Now will I fall down in a fit.When the stranger runs to me, set you up a wail, and fall upon your knees, seeming to weep;then cry out as if all the devils of misery were in your belly, and say,‘Oh, sir, it is my poor afflicted brother, and we be friendless;o’God’s name cast through your merciful eyes one pitiful look upon a sick, forsaken, and most miserable wretch;bestow one little penny out of thy riches upon one smitten of God and ready to perish!’—and mind you, keep you on wailing, and abate not till we bilk him of his penny, else shall you rue it.”

Then immediately Hugo began to moan, and groan, and roll his eyes, and reel and totter about;and when the stranger was close at hand, down he sprawled before him, with a shriek, and began to writhe and wallow in the dirt, in seeming agony.

“O dear, O dear!”cried the benevolent stranger,“Oh, poor soul, poor soul, how he doth suffer.There—let me help thee up.”

“O, noble sir, forbear, and God love you for a princely gentleman—but it giveth me cruel pain to touch me when I am taken so.My brother there will tell your worship how I am racked with anguish when these fits be upon me.A penny, dear sir, a penny, to buy a little food;then leave me to my sorrows.”

“A penny!thou shalt have three, thou hapless creature”—and he fumbled in his pocket with nervous haste and got them out.“There, poor lad, take them and most welcome.Now come hither, my boy, and help me carry thy stricken brother to yon house, where—”

“I am not his brother,”said the king, interrupting.

“What!not his brother?”

“Oh, hear him!”groaned Hugo, then privately ground his teeth.“He denies his own brother—and he with one foot in the grave!”

“Boy, thou art indeed hard of heart, if this is thy brother.For shame!—and he scarce able to move hand or foot.If he is not thy brother, who is he, then?”

“A beggar and a thief!He has got your money and has picked your pocket likewise.An'thou wouldst do a healing miracle, lay thy staff over his shoulders and trust Providence for the rest.”

But Hugo did not tarry for the miracle.In a moment he was up and off like the wind, the gentleman following after and raising the hue and cry lustily as he went.The king, breathing deep gratitude to Heaven for his own release,fled in the opposite direction and did not slacken his pace until he was out of harm’s reach.He took the first road that offered, and soon put the village behind him.He hurried along, as briskly as he could, during several hours, keeping a nervous watch over his shoulder for pursuit;but his fears left him at last, and a grateful sense of security took their place.He recognised now that he was hungry;and also very tired.So he halted at a farm-house;but when he was about to speak, he was cut short and driven rudely away.His clothes were against him.

He wandered on, wounded and indignant, and was resolved to put himself in the way of light treatment no more.But hunger is pride's master;so as the evening drew near, he made an attempt at another farm-house;but here he fared worse than before;for he was called hard names and was promised arrest as a vagrant except he moved on promptly.

The night came on, chilly and overcast;and still the footsore monarch laboured slowly on.He was obliged to keep moving, for every time he sat down to rest he was soon penetrated to the bone with the cold.All his sensations and experiences, as he moved through the solemn gloom and the empty vastness of the night, were new and strange to him.At intervals he heard voices approach, pass by, and fade into silence;and as he saw nothing more of the bodies they belonged to than a sort of formless drifting blur, there was something spectral and uncanny about it all that made him shudder.Occasionally he caught the twinkle of a light—always far away, apparently—almost in another world;if he heard the tinkle of a sheep's bell, it was vague, distant, indistinct;the muffled lowing of the herds floated to him on the night wind in vanishing cadences, a mournful sound;now and then came the complaining howl of a dog over viewless expanses of field and forest;all sounds were remote;they made the little king feel that all life and activity were far removed from him, and that he stood solitary, companionless, in the centre of a measureless solitude.

He stumbled along, through the gruesome fascinations of this new experience, startled occasionally by the soft rustling of the dry leaves overhead, so like human whispers they seemed to sound;and by and by he came suddenly upon the freckled light of a tin lantern near at hand.He stepped back into the shadows and waited.The lantern stood by the open door of a barn.The king waited some time—there was no sound, and nobody stirring.He got so cold, standing still, and the hospitable barn looked so enticing, that at last he resolved to risk everything and enter.He started swiftly and stealthily, and just as he was crossing the threshold he heard voices behind him.He darted behind a cask, within the barn, and stooped down.Two farm labourers came in, bringing the lantern with them, and fell to work, talking meanwhile.Whilst they moved about with the light, the king made good use of his eyes and took the bearings of what seemed to be a good-sized stall at the further end of the place, purposing to grope his way to it when he should be left to himself.He also noted the position of a pile of horse-blankets, midway of the route, with the intent to levy upon them for the service of the crown of England for one night.

By and by the men finished and went away, fastening the door behind them and taking the lantern with them.The shivering king made for the blankets, with as good speed as the darkness would allow;gathered them up and then groped his way safely to the stall.Of two of the blankets he made a bed, then covered himself with the remaining two.He was a glad monarch now, though the blankets were old and thin, and not quite warm enough;and besides gave out a pungent horsey odor that was almost suffocatingly powerful.

Although the king was hungry and chilly, he was also so tired and so drowsy that these latter influences soon began to get the advantage of the former, and he presently dozed off into a state of semiconsciousness.Then, just as he was on the point of losing himself wholly, he distinctly felt something touch him!He was broad awake in a moment, and gasping for breath.The cold horror of that mysterious touch in the dark almost made his heart stand still.He lay motionless, and listened, scarcely breathing.But nothing stirred, and there was no sound.He continued to listen, and wait, during what seemed a long time, but still nothing stirred, and there was no sound.So he began to drop into a drowse once more at last;and all at once he felt that mysterious touch again!It was a grisly thing, this light touch from this noiseless and invisible presence;it made the boy sick with ghostly fears.What should he do?That was the question;but he did not know how to answer it.Should he leave these reasonably comfortable quarters and fly from this inscrutable horror?But fly whither?He could not get out of the barn;and the idea of scurrying blindly hither and thither in the dark, within the captivity of the four walls, with this phantom gliding after him, and visiting him with that soft hideous touch upon cheek or shoulder at every turn, was intolerable.But to stay where he was, and endure this living death all night—was that better?No.What, then, was there left to do?Ah, there was but one course;he knew it well—he must put out his hand and find that thing!

It was easy to think this;but it was hard to brace himself up to try it.Three times he stretched his hand a little way out into the dark gingerly;and snatched it suddenly back, with a gasp—not because it had encountered anything, but because he had felt so sure it was just going to.But the fourth time he groped a little further, and his hand lightly swept against something soft and warm.This petrified him nearly with fright—his mind was in such a state that he could imagine the thing to be nothing else than a corpse, newly dead and still warm.He thought he would rather die than touch it again.But he thought this false thought because he did not know the immortal strength of human curiosity.In no long time his hand was tremblingly groping again—against his judgment, and without his consent—but groping persistently on, just the same.It encountered a bunch of long hair;he shuddered, but followed up the hair and found what seemed to be a warm rope;followed up the rope and found an innocent calf!—for the rope was not a rope at all, but the calf's tail.

The king was cordially ashamed of himself for having gotten all that fright and misery out of so paltry a matter as a slumbering calf;but he need not have felt so about it, for it was not the calf that frightened him but a dreadful nonexistent something which the calf stood for;and any other boy, in those old superstitious times, would have acted and suffered as he had done.

The king was not only delighted to find that the creature was only a calf, but delighted to have the calf's company;for he had been feeling so lonesome and friendless that the company and comradeship of even this humble animal was welcome.And he had been so buffeted, so rudely entreated by his own kind, that it was a real comfort to him to feel that he was at last in the society of a fellow-creature that had at least a soft heart and a gentle spirit, whatever loftier attributes might be lacking.So he resolved to waive rank and make friends with the calf.

While stroking its sleek warm back—for it lay near him and within easy reach—it occurred to him that this calf might be utilised in more ways than one.Whereupon he rearranged his bed, spreading it down close to the calf;then he cuddled himself up to the calf's back, drew the covers up over himself and his friend, and in a minute or two was as warm and comfortable as he had ever been in the downy couches of the regal palace of Westminster.

Pleasant thoughts came at once;life took on a cheerfuller seeming.He was free of the bonds of servitude and crime, free of the companionship of base and brutal outlaws;he was warm, he was sheltered;in a word, he was happy.The night wind was rising;it swept by in fitful gusts that made the old barn quake and rattle, then its forces died down at intervals, and went moaning and wailing around corners and projections—but it was all music to the king, now that he was snug and comfortable:let it blow and rage, let it batter and bang, let it moan and wail, he minded it not, he only enjoyed it.He merely snuggled the closer to his friend, in a luxury of warm contentment, and drifted blissfully out of consciousness into a deep and dreamless sleep that was full of serenity and peace.The distant dogs howled, the melancholy kine complained, and the winds went on raging, whilst furious sheets of rain drove along the roof;but the majesty of England slept on undisturbed, and the calf did the same, it being a simple creature and not easily troubled by storms or embarrassed by sleeping with a king.

第十八章 王子与游民一同流浪

那一队游民在黎明时候起来,随即就出发远行。头上是阴沉的天,脚下是泥泞的地,空中有冬季的寒气。这一群人的快乐情绪完全消失了,有的垂头丧气、不声不响,有的烦躁而易怒,谁也不轻松愉快,大家都觉得口渴。

帮头给了雨果一些简单的指示,就把“贾克”交给雨果负责,并且命令约翰·康第和这孩子离开一点儿,不要惹他;他还警告雨果,不许对这孩子过于粗暴。

过了一会儿,天气渐渐晴朗起来,天上的黑云稍微散了一些。那一群人不再哆嗦了,他们的精神也开始好转。他们越来越愉快,后来就开始互相戏弄,并且还侮辱大路上的过往行人。这就表示他们渐渐从苦闷中开朗起来,重新欣赏生活和其中的快乐了。人家碰见他们这帮家伙就让路,对他们那种下流的侮辱都温顺地忍受着,简直不敢回嘴,这就分明表示人家对他们怀着畏惧心理。有时候他们把篱笆上晾着的麻布东西抢走,主人尽管睁眼望着,也不敢提出抗议,反而好像因为他们没有连篱笆一起拿走而表示感谢似的。

后来他们就侵入了一个小农庄,在那儿毫不客气地让人家招待他们。这个农家的主人和他一家人战战兢兢地把全部食物都拿出来,供给他们一顿早餐。他们从主妇和她的女儿们手里接过食物来的时候,就要顺手摸摸她们的下巴,对她们开些粗鄙的玩笑,还要给她们取些有意侮辱的绰号,一阵一阵地对她们哈哈大笑。他们把骨头和蔬菜往那农人和他的儿子们身上扔,使他们老是东躲西躲,要是打中了,他们就哄堂大笑。最后有一户人家的女儿对他们的调戏表示愤慨,他们就往她头上抹奶油。临别的时候,他们还警告这家人,如果把他们干的事情传出去,让官家知道了,他们就要回来烧掉这所房子,把他们全家人都烧死。

中午的时候,这帮人经过一段艰苦疲劳的长途步行之后,在一个相当大的村子外面的一道篱笆后面停住了。大家休息了一个钟头,然后就向各处分散,从不同的地点进入这个村庄,各自施展他们的绝技。“贾克”被分派和雨果同去。他们东窜西窜地走了一会儿,雨果老在找机会想打个起发,可是毫无结果——于是后来他说:

“我找不到什么可偷的,这个地方真是糟糕,那么咱们只好去讨钱了。”

“‘咱们’呀,你真说得好!你去干你这本行吧——这对你很相宜。我可不去讨钱。”

“你不讨钱?”雨果用惊讶的眼光盯着国王,大声喊道,“请问你是什么时候改邪归正的?”

“你这是什么意思?”

“什么意思?你不是一辈子在伦敦街上到处讨钱的吗?”

“我?你这糊涂虫!”

“你别随便骂人——留着多使几回吧。你父亲说你向来是讨钱的,也许是他撒谎,也许是你大着胆子说他撒谎吧。”雨果嘲笑地说。

“是你认为是我父亲的那个家伙吗?是呀,是他撒谎。”

“算了,别把你那假装疯子的把戏耍得太过火吧,伙计;你拿它开开心倒不要紧,可别自找苦吃。我要是把你这句话告诉他,他就非狠狠地收拾你一顿不可。”

“用不着你麻烦,我自己会告诉他。”

“我很喜欢你这种精神,实在是喜欢,可是我不佩服你的见识。咱们过的日子本来就够受了,挨揍的机会多得很,犯不着发神经病,自己再去惹到头上来。别再来这一套了吧,我可是相信你父亲。我并不怀疑他会撒谎,我也不怀疑他有时候是要撒一撒谎,因为我们当中最棒的角色也撒谎哩,可是这桩事情他可用不着撒谎。一个聪明人决不会浪费那么多唇舌而一无所获的。好吧,算了,你既然打算不去讨钱,咱们到底干什么才好呢?去抢人家的厨房怎么样?”

国王很不耐烦地说:

“你不要再说这些胡说八道的话了吧——实在叫我听了讨厌得很!”

雨果也动气地说:

“你听着,伙计。你不肯讨钱,又不肯抢东西,那也好吧。可是我得告诉你非干不可的事儿,我来讨钱,你来装相儿哄人。你要是连这个也不干……看你有没有这个胆子!”

国王正打算用鄙视的口气回答,雨果却打断他说:

“别说话!有个人来了,他的样子还挺和气哩。我现在假装发了急病倒在地上。等那个陌生人冲我这儿跑,你就哭起来,跪在地上,装作掉眼泪的样子;跟着你就大声喊叫,好像所有的倒霉鬼都钻到你肚子里去了似的。你说,‘啊,先生,他是我多灾多难的哥哥,我们现在无亲无友,您看在上帝面上,发点慈悲,对这害病的、没人管的、倒霉透了的可怜虫望一眼吧;把您的钱丢一个便士给这遭天罚的、快死的人吧!’——你可得记住,一直哭一直哭,不把他的钱哄到手就哭个不停,要不然就得叫你吃苦头。”

然后雨果马上就开始呻吟、叫喊,同时还直转眼珠子,身子也摇摇晃晃。那个陌生人快到身边的时候,他就惨叫一声,扑倒在他面前,开始装出剧痛的样子,在灰土中翻来覆去直打滚。

“哎呀,哎呀!”那仁慈的陌生人喊道,“啊,可怜的人,可怜的人,他多么痛苦呀——喂,让我把你扶起来吧。”

“啊,好心的先生,您别扶我,上帝保佑您这位高贵的先生吧——我这个病一发作就不能碰,碰一下就痛得要命。我那兄弟会告诉您,大人,我这个急病发作起来,会把我痛成什么样子。给我一个便士吧,亲爱的先生,您给我一个便士,让我买点儿东西吃吧。别的您不用管,让我自己受罪吧。”

“一个便士!我给你三个吧,你这倒霉的人。”——他急急忙忙地在口袋里摸钱,拿出三个便士来。“好吧,可怜的小伙子,你拿着吧,我很愿意帮你的忙。喂,小孩儿,过来吧,你帮我把你这有病的哥哥扶到那边那个房子里去吧,我们可以在那儿——”

“我不是他的兄弟。”国王打断他的话说。

“什么!不是他的兄弟?”

“啊,听哪!”雨果呻吟着说,随后又暗自咬牙切齿。

“他连他的亲哥哥都不认了——眼看着他一只脚已经进了棺材呀!”

“小孩儿,他要是你的哥哥,你可真是心肠太硬了。真丢人!——他简直连手脚都不大能动了。他要不是你哥哥的话,又是谁呢?”

“叫花子和小偷!他拿到你的钱,还扒了你的口袋哩。你要是愿意开个仙方,把他的病治好的话,那就给他肩膀上揍两棍,别的你就不用管,让老天爷安排吧。”

可是雨果并没有等着人家开那个仙方,他立刻就站起来,一阵风似的跑掉了;那位先生在后面直追,一面跑,一面扯开嗓子拼命地嚷着捉贼。国王因为自己得到脱身的机会,真是说不尽的谢天谢地,于是他就往相反的方向逃跑,直到脱离了危险,才把脚步缓下来。他找到第一条大路,就顺着它走,不久就把那个村子甩在背后了。他尽量迅速地往前赶,一直走了几个钟头,老是提心吊胆地回头看看,以防有人追他,后来他终于摆脱了恐惧心理,取而代之的是一种令人爽快的安全感。这时候他才感觉到肚子饿了,而且也非常疲乏。于是他就在一个农家门前停下来,但是他正待开口说话,就被人一声喝住,很粗鲁地撵走了。原来是他那身衣服对他不利。

他继续向前漂泊,心里又委屈又气愤,决计不再让自己这么受人怠慢了。但是饥饿毕竟控制了自尊心,于是天快黑的时候,他就到另一个农家去碰碰运气,可是这回他比上次碰的钉子更大,人家把他臭骂了一顿,还说他如果不马上走开,就要把他当作游民逮捕起来。

黑夜来到了,天又冷又阴沉,然而那走痛了脚的国王仍旧慢慢地勉强往前走。他不得不继续走,因为他每回坐下来休息休息,马上就觉得寒气透入骨髓。他在那阴森森的一片黑暗和空虚的无边夜色里移动着,一切感觉和经历对他都是新奇的。每过一会儿工夫,他就听见一些声音由远而近,再由他身边飘过,渐渐地低下去,变为寂静无声了。他听不出这些声音究竟是由什么东西发出来的,只见一种形象不定的、飘荡的模糊影子,所以他觉得这一切都有一股妖魔作怪似的、阴森恐怖的意味,这不免使他发抖。他偶尔瞥见一道光闪一闪——总是好像离得很远——几乎是在另一个世界似的;如果他听见一只羊儿身上的叮当声,那也是老远的、模糊不清的;牛群闷沉沉的叫声顺着夜间的风飘到他这里来,总是一阵阵飘过去就听不见了,声调也很凄凉;时而有一只狗像哭诉似的嗥叫声,从那看不见的、广阔无边的田野与森林的上空飘过来。一切的声音都是遥远的,它们使这小国王感觉到一切生命和活动都与他相隔很远,感觉到他自己是孤零零的、举目无亲的,站在一片无边无际的旷野的中心。

这前所未有的经历使他毛骨悚然、惊心动魄,他就在这些恐怖之中,东歪西倒地前进。有时候被头上干树叶子的沙沙响声所惊吓,因为那种响声很像悄悄说话的人声。后来,他忽然看见近处一只铁皮灯笼发出的斑斑点点的灯光。他向后退到阴影里等待着,那只灯笼放在一个谷仓敞开的门口。国王等了一会儿——没有什么响声,也没有人动弹。他静立在那儿,简直冷得要命,那准备招待客人的谷仓又对他诱惑力很大,因此后来他终于不顾一切危险,决定要进去。他迅速地、偷偷地迈步往里走,正当他迈过门槛的时候,就听见后面有人说话。他连忙闪避到谷仓里的一只大桶背后,弯下身去。两个农家的长工提着灯笼进来了,一面开始工作,一面谈话。他们提着灯笼到处走动的时候,国王就拼命睁开眼睛四处看,发现这个谷仓另一头好像有个不小的牛栏,他就把它的方位打量清楚,预备等到只剩下他一个人的时候,就摸索着上那儿去。他还看清楚了半路上一堆马毯的位置,打算把它们征用一下,给大英国王使用一夜。

过了一会儿,那两个人就做完了他们的工作出去了,他们随手在外面把门扣上,带着灯笼走了。冷得发抖的国王在黑暗中尽量迅速地往那些毯子那边走;他把它们拿起来,然后小心地摸索着到牛栏里去了。他把两条毯子铺在地上当卧铺,然后把剩下的两条盖在身上。这时候他是个很快乐的国王了,虽然毯子又旧又薄,而且不大暖和;不但如此,还发出一种刺鼻的马臭,这种臭味相当强烈,几乎把人熏得透不过气来。

国王又饿又冷,同时他也疲劳不堪,困倦得要命。最后还是疲惫的感觉占了上风,因此,他随即就打起盹来,进入了半醒半睡的状态。后来正当他将要完全失去知觉的时候,却清清楚楚地感到有个什么东西碰到他身上来了!他立刻就完全清醒过来,吓得直喘气。那个东西在黑暗中神秘地碰了他一下,引起了寒冷的恐惧感,这几乎使他的心停止跳动了。他躺着不动,几乎是憋住气息倾听着。但是并没有什么东西动弹,也没有什么声响。他继续倾听。再等了一阵,好像等了一段很长的时间,仍旧没有什么东西动弹,也没有什么声音。因此他终于又一次打起瞌睡来,但是他突然又觉得那个神秘的东西碰了他一下!这个无声的、看不见的东西这样轻轻地碰到他身上,真是可怕,这使得这孩子充满了怕鬼的心理,很不自在。他怎么办才好呢?问题就在这里,可是他不知道怎样回答这个问题。他是否应该离开这个相当舒适的地方,逃避这不可思议的恐怖呢?可是逃到哪儿去?他被关在这个谷仓里,根本就出不去;他想在黑暗中盲目地东奔西窜,但是他被围困在那四面墙当中,又有这个幽灵在他背后跟着,随时都会伸出那软软的、吓死人的手在他脸上或是肩膀上碰一下,这可实在叫他受不了。那么就在原处待着,通宵忍住这种受活罪的滋味——那是否较好呢?不。那么,还有什么办法呢?啊,只有一条路可走,他知道得很清楚——他必须伸出手去,找到那个东西才行!

这事情想想倒是容易,可是他很难壮起胆来试这一下。他三次畏畏缩缩地向黑暗中稍微把手伸出去一点,每次都吓得喘着气突然缩回来——并不是因为他的手碰到了什么东西,而是因为他觉得一定是快要碰到什么了。但是第四次他再往前一点摸了一下,他的手就轻轻地触到了一个又软又温暖的什么东西。这一下几乎把他吓呆了——他当时的心情使他只能想象着那东西是个刚死的、还有些热气的尸体,而不会是别的。他觉得他宁肯死也不愿意再摸它一下了。他起了这个错误的念头,是因为他不懂得人类的好奇心有一种非凡的力量。过了不久,他的手又战战兢兢地摸索起来了——这是违反他的理智、他的心愿的——但是无论如何,他反正还是坚持摸索着。后来他的手碰到了一绺长头发,他打了个冷战;但是他没有停下,而是顺着那绺头发往上摸,结果就摸到了一个什么东西,好像是一根暖和的绳子;再顺着那根绳子往上摸,终于摸到了一头老老实实的小牛!——刚才他摸到的头发根本就不是什么头发,绳子也不是绳子,而是小牛的尾巴。

国王因为一头酣睡的小牛这么个渺小的东西受了那么大的惊,吃了那么大的苦,不免感到由衷的惭愧;但是他其实无须有这种感觉,因为使他恐怖的并不是那头小牛,而是那头小牛所代表的一种根本不存在的东西;在从前那种迷信的年代,随便哪个小孩儿也会和他有同样的举动,并且也会同样吃苦的。

国王不但很高兴地发现那个东西不过是一头小牛,而且还乐得有这头小牛给他做伴,因为他一直都苦于太孤寂和没有朋友,因此现在连这么一个下贱的畜生和他在一起,他也是很欢迎的。何况他从自己的同类那里受了那么大的打击,遭了他们那么无情的虐待,因此他现在觉得自己终于和这么一个生物相处,虽然它也许没有什么高贵的品德,却至少有一颗柔和的心和温顺的脾性,无论如何,总算使他获得了真正的安慰。所以他就决定抛开他的高贵身份,和这头小牛交朋友。

小牛离他很近,他很容易够着它。他一面抚摸着它那光滑而温暖的背,一面想到他还可以利用这头小牛得点别的好处。于是他就把他的卧铺重新安排了一下,紧紧铺在小牛身边,然后他贴着小牛的背睡觉,扯起毯子把他自己和他的朋友都盖起来。过了一两分钟,他就觉得非常温暖而舒适,简直就和他从前在威斯敏斯特王宫里躺在羽绒被褥上一样。

愉快的念头立刻就来了,生命显得较有趣味了。他摆脱了奴役和罪恶的束缚,摆脱了那些下流和野蛮的盗匪;他获得了温暖,获得了栖身之所;总而言之,他快活了。夜间的风刮起来了,一阵一阵地在外面扫过,把这座老谷仓吹得震动起来,嘎啦嘎啦地响,风力时而减退,绕着墙角和突出的地方呜呜咽咽地往远处去了——但是这在国王听来居然都成了音乐,因为他实在是很舒适、很痛快。让它去吹,让它去吼吧,让它去乱轰乱响吧,让它去呜呜地叫、伤心地哭吧。他都不在乎,反而还觉得有趣。他只向他的朋友更加偎紧一点,心里有一股十足的温暖惬意的滋味,随后就满心快乐地飘出了清醒的境界,进入那充满平和安静气氛的睡乡,获得了酣甜无梦的安眠。远处的狗还在嗥叫,丧气的牛还在哀鸣,狂风还在刮个不停,同时还有一阵一阵的暴雨在屋顶上扫过,可是大英国王陛下仍旧睡得很酣,不受搅扰;小牛也是一样,因为它是个老老实实的畜生,既不容易被狂风暴雨所打搅,也不会因为和国王在一起睡觉而不安。

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