儿童英语读物《神奇树屋》 第四册 Pirates Past Noon 10

10.又见宝藏

安妮最先会过神来。“你就是那个代号为M的人吗?”她小声问。

“是的，我就是。”摩根说。

“你是从哪儿来的呢?”杰克问。

“你们听说过亚瑟王吗?”摩根问他们。

杰克点了点头。

“那好，我就是亚瑟王的姐姐。”摩根说。

“你是从卡米洛特王国来?”杰克说，“我们是从书中得知卡米洛特王国的。”

“书中关于我都写了些什么呢，杰克?”摩根问。

“你，你是个女巫。”

摩根笑了，“书上写的东西你不能全信，杰克。”

“那你是魔术师吗?”安妮问。

“人们都叫我魔法师。但我还是个图书管理员。”摩根说。

“图书管理员?”安妮问。

“对呀。我来到你们的时代——20世纪，是为了收集图书。能生在这样一个书籍丰富的时代真是你们的幸运啊!”

“是为卡米洛特王国图书馆收集图书吗?”杰克问。

“正是。”摩根说，“我乘坐这个树屋，穿越时空，满世界地收集图书。”

“那你在这儿找到书了吗?”杰克问。

“找到啦!这儿有许多有趣的书呢!我想把它们借出去，让我们的抄书吏抄下来。”

“是你在这些书里放的书签吗?”

“对。你看，我喜欢这些书里的图片。有时候我想去画里看看，所以，这些书签所在的位置都是我想去的地方。”

“那你怎么去那儿呢?”安妮问。

“我对树屋施魔法呀!”摩根说，“只要我指着图片许个愿，树屋就会把我带到那儿啦。”

“我想你把这个落在恐龙时代了。”杰克说。

他把金牌交给摩根。

“噢，谢谢你!我都想不起来在哪儿掉的了。”她说。她把金牌放进披风的暗袋里。

“那是不是什么人都可以对树屋施魔法呢?”安妮问，“不论什么人，一试就灵吗?”

“噢，当然不是什么人都可以的。”摩根说，“你们两个是除我以外唯一可以施魔法的人。除了你们，还没人看见过我的树屋呢!”

“树屋是一般人看不见的吗?”安妮问。

“那当然。”摩根说，“我原以为树屋是不会被发现的，谁知道你们两个来了，怎么一下就掌握了我的魔法。”

“怎么会呢?”杰克问。

“我想这有两个原因。”摩根解释说，“首先，安妮是相信有魔法的，所以她能看见树屋。而她的坚信也帮助你，杰克，你也看到了树屋。”

“哦，是这样啊。”杰克说。

“然后杰克你拿起一本书。因为你那么爱书，所以使我的魔法起了作用。”

“噢!”安妮说。

“你们知道当你们要去恐龙时代时我有多惊愕吗?我不得不迅速地作出决定，与你们一同去。”

“噢，那么说你就是那只翼龙!”安妮说。

摩根笑了笑。

“那只猫、那位骑士和波利也是你装的啰?”安妮问。

“没错!”摩根轻声说。

“您装扮成所有这些是来帮助我们的吗?”杰克问。

“对。但是现在我要回去了，卡米洛特王国的人民需要我的帮助。”

“你这就要走了吗?”杰克小声说。

“恐怕是的。”摩根说。

她捡起杰克的背包递给他。杰克和安妮拿起他们的雨衣。雨已经停了。

“你不会忘记我们的吧?”安妮一边穿雨衣一边问。

“永远不会。”摩根冲他们两个笑着说，“你们俩儿与我很像。安妮，你喜欢不可能的事;杰克，你热爱知识。还有比你们两个更好的组合吗?”

摩根·拉菲温柔地摸了摸安妮和杰克的额头，笑了。

“再见。”她说。

“再见。”杰克和安妮说。

安妮率先离开树屋，杰克紧随其后。他们最后一次爬下绳梯。

他们站在橡树下抬头向上看，只见摩根正在窗前目送着他们，她那长长的白发在风中飘动着。

突然，风吹了起来。

树叶开始颤动。

到处响起狂风呼啸的声音。

杰克捂住耳朵，紧闭双眼。

然后一切都平静了。

绝对的平静。

杰克张开他的眼睛，发现树屋不见了，全没有了。

安妮和杰克站了好一会儿，呆呆地看着空空的橡树，听着周围一片寂静。

安妮叹了口气，轻声说，“咱们走吧。”

杰克只点了点头，难过得说不出话来。他们往回走时他把手伸进口袋，他感到里面有什么东西，拿出来的是那只金牌。“看!”他说，“它怎么会……”

安妮笑了。“一定是摩根放进去的!”她说。

“但她怎么放进去的呢?”

“魔法呗。”安妮说，“我觉得这说明她还会回来的。”

杰克笑了。他紧紧攥着金牌，与安妮一起走出潮湿、但阳光明媚的森林。

一路上，阳光透过树林，使湿漉漉的叶子发出熠熠光芒。

树叶、树枝、水坑、树丛、青草、藤蔓、野花——都在像珠宝一样闪闪发光。

或者说在像金子一样地闪烁着。

安妮是对的，杰克想。

“别管那个珠宝箱!”

他们家就有宝藏，无尽的宝藏!而且到处都是!

10 Treasure Again

Annie found her voice first. “The M person，” she whispered.

“Yes. I’m the M person，” said Morgan.

“Wh-where are you from?” asked Jack.

“Have you ever heard of King Arthur?” said Morgan.

Jack nodded.

“Well， I am King Arthur’s sister，” said Morgan.

“You’re from Camelot，” said Jack.“I’ve read about Camelot.”

“What did you read about me， Jack?” said Morgan.

“You—you’re a witch.”

Morgan smiled.“You can’t believe everything you read， Jack.”

“But are you a magician?” said Annie.

“Most call me an enchantress. But I’m also a librarian，” said Morgan.

“A librarian?” said Annie.

“Yes. And I’ve come to the 20th century， your time， to collect books.You are lucky to be born in a time with so many books.”

“For the Camelot library?” asked Jack.

“Precisely，” said Morgan. “I travel in this tree house to collect words from many different places around the world.And from many different time periods.”

“Did you find books here?” said Jack.

“Oh yes.Many wonderful books.I want to borrow them for our scribes to copy.”

“Did you put all the bookmarks in them?” said Jack.

“Yes. You see， I like the pictures in the books.Sometimes I want to visit the scenes in the pictures.So all the bookmarks mark places I wish to go.”

“How do you get there?” asked Annie.

“I placed a spell on the tree house，” said Morgan.“So when I point to a picture and make the wish， the tree house takes me there.”

“I think you dropped this in dinosaur times，” said Jack.

He handed the gold medallion to Morgan.

“Oh， thank you!I wondered where I’d lost it，” she said. She put the medallion into a hidden pocket in her cape.

“So can anybody work the spell?” asked Annie. “Anybody who tries it?”

“Oh dear，no!Not just anybody，” Morgan said. “You two are the only ones besides me to do it.No one else has ever even seen my tree house before.”

“Is it invisible?” asked Annie.

“Yes，” said Morgan. “I had no idea it would ever be discovered. But then you two came along.Somehow you hooked right into my magic.”

“H-how?” asked Jack.

“Well， for two reasons， I think，” explained Morgan. “First， Annie believes in magic. So she actually saw the tree house. And her belief helped you to see it， Jack.”

“Oh man，” said Jack.

“Then you picked up a book， Jack. And because you love books so much， you caused my magic spell to work.”

“Wow，” said Annie.

“You can’t imagine my dismay when you started to take off for dinosaur times. I had to make a very quick decision. And I decided to come along.”

“Oh， so you were the pteranodon!” said Annie.

Morgan smiled.

“And the cat and the knight and Polly!” said Annie.

“Yes，” said Morgan softly.

“You were all these things to help us?” asked Jack.

“Yes， but I must go home now. The people in Camelot need my help.”

“You’re leaving?” whispered Jack.

“I’m afraid I must，” said Morgan.

She picked up Jack’s backpack and handed it to him. Jack and Annie picked up their raincoats. It had stopped raining.

“You won’t forget us， will you?” asked Annie， as they put their raincoats on.

“Never，” said Morgan. She smiled at both of them.“You remind me too much of myself.You love the impossible， Annie. And you love knowledge， Jack. What better combination is there?”

Morgan le Fay touched Annie’s forehead gently. And then Jack’s. She smiled.

“Good-bye，” she said.

“Good-bye，” said Annie and Jack.

Annie left the tree house first. Jack followed.They climbed down the rope ladder for the last time.

They stood below the oak tree and looked up.

Morgan was looking out the window. Her long white hair blew in the breeze.

Suddenly the wind began to blow.

The leaves began to shake.

A loud whistling sound filled the air.

Jack covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

Then everything was silent.

Absolutely silent.

Jack opened his eyes.

The tree house was gone.

All gone.

Absolutely gone.

Annie and Jack stood a moment， staring up at the empty oak tree. Listening to the silence.

Annie sighed. “Let’s go，” she said softly.

Jack just nodded. He felt too sad to speak. As they started walking，he put his hands into his pockets.

He felt something.

Jack pulled out the gold medallion.“Look!” he said. “How did—?”

Annie smiled.“Morgan must have put it there，” she said.

“But how?”

“Magic，” said Annie. “I think it means she’ll be coming back.”

Jack smiled. He clutched the medallion as he and Annie took off through the wet， sunny woods.

As they walked， the sun shined through the woods. And all the wet leaves sparkled.

Everything， in fact， was shining.

Leaves， branches， puddles， bushes， grass， vines， wild flowers—all glittered like jewels.

Or gleamed like gold.

Annie had been right， thought Jack.

Forget the treasure chest.

They had treasure at home. A ton of it. Everywhere.