《能言馬與男孩》第80期:布里怎樣變成一匹聰明的馬兒(4)
"A mere scratch," said Cor, using for the first time a rather lordly tone. But a moment later he burst out laughing and said, "If you want to know the truth, it isn't a proper wound at all. I only took the skin off my knuckles just as any clumsy fool might do without going near a battle."
"Still you were in the battle," said Aravis. "It must have been wonderful."
“可你畢竟是參加了戰鬥，”阿拉維斯說，”這必定是了不得、不得了的。”"It wasn't at all like what I thought," said Cor.
“壓根兒不像我原先想像的那樣。”科奧說。
"But Sha - Cor, I mean - you haven't told me anything yet about King Lune and how he found out who you were."
“但沙——我本來想說科奧——關於國王倫恩和他怎樣發現你是誰的事，你還一點兒也沒有跟我談起呢。”"Well, let's sit down," said Cor. "For it's rather a long story. And by the way, Father's an absolute brick. I'd be just as pleased - or very nearly - at finding he's my father even if he wasn't a king. Even though Education and all sorts of horrible things are going to happen to me. But you want the story. Well, Corin and I were twins. And about a week after we were both born, apparently, they took us to a wise old Centaur in Narnia to be blessed or something. Now this Centaur was a prophet as a good many Centaurs are. Perhaps you haven't seen any Centaurs yet? There were some in the battle yesterday. Most remarkable people, but I can't say I feel quite at home with them yet. I say, Aravis, there are going to be a lot of things to get used to in these Northern countries."
“好吧，讓我們坐下來談，”科奧說，”因爲這是很長的故事。順便說一句，父親是個絕對的好心人。發現他是我的父親，哪怕他不是個國王，我也會同樣高興的；儘管教育和其他種種可怕的事情都要逼到我頭上來了。但你要聽的是故事。哦，原來科林和我是孿生兄弟。很明顯，我們倆出生後一個星期，他們就把我們帶到納尼亞一個年邁聰明的人頭馬家裏，去接受祝福什麼的。卻說這怪物是個預言家，就像許多優秀的人頭馬那樣。昨天的戰鬥中也有幾個人頭馬，確是最最傑出的人物：但我跟它們在一起還不能感到十分自在。我說，阿拉維斯，在這些北方國家裏，我們有許多東西必須習慣起來纔好。”"Yes, there are," said Aravis. "But get on with the story."
“是的，有好多哩，”阿拉維斯說道，”可你把故事講下去啊！”"Well, as soon as he saw Corin and me, it seems this Centaur looked at me and said, A day will come when that boy will save Archenland from the deadliest danger in which ever she lay. So of course my Father and Mother were very pleased. But there was someone present who wasn't. This was a chap called the Lord Bar who had been Father's Lord Chancellor. And apparently he'd done something wrong - bezzling or some word like that - I didn't understand that part very well - and Father had had to dismiss him. But nothing else was done to him and he was allowed to go on living in Archenland. But he must have been as bad as he could be, for it came out afterwards he had been in the pay of the Tisroc and had sent a lot of secret information to Tashbaan. So as soon as he heard I was going to save Archenland from a great danger he decided I must be put out of the way. Well, he succeeded in kidnapping me (I don't exactly know how) and rode away down the Winding Arrow to the coast. He'd had everything prepared and there was a ship manned with his own followers lying ready for him and he put out to sea with me on board. But Father got wind of it, though not quite in time, and was after him as quickly as he could. The Lord Bar was already at sea when Father reached the coast, but not out of sight. And Father was embarked in one of his own warships within twenty minutes.
“哦，一看見科林和我，這怪物似乎瞧着我說道：有朝一日，這孩子將把阿欽蘭從它從未遇到過的致命危險中拯救出來。所以，我的父親和母親當然十分高興。然而，有個在場的人並不高興。這是個叫做巴爾勳爵的傢伙，他曾經做過我父親手下的大法官。顯然他犯了些錯誤——貪污瀆職或者類似這樣的詞兒——這段情節我不大明白——父親不得不解除他的職務，但沒有對他作其他懲罰，仍舊允許他繼續生活在阿欽蘭。但他必定是儘可能爲非作歹，因爲後來查明，他曾經接受蒂斯羅克的收買，把許多祕密情報送到了塔什班城。所以，他一聽見我將把阿欽蘭從極大的危險中拯救出來，就下定決心必須把我除掉。接着，他成功地綁架了我(我不知道究竟怎樣綁架的)，騎馬沿着旋箭河跑往海灘。他把一切都準備好了，有一條由他的隨從們控制的船在那兒等他，他帶着我上船出海去了。但我父親風聞其事，雖然不太及時，還是盡力地追趕。父親到達海灘時，巴爾勳爵已經出海，但還望得見。父親在二十分鐘之內便跳上了他的一艘戰艦。"It must have been a wonderful chase. They were six days following Bar's galleon and brought her to battle on the seventh. It was a great sea-fight (I heard a lot about it yesterday evening) from ten o'clock in the morning till sunset. Our people took the ship in the end. But I wasn't there. The Lord Bar himself had been killed in the battle. But one of his men said that, early that morning, as soon as he saw he was certain to be overhauled, Bar had given me to one of his knights and sent us both away in the ship's boat. And that boat was never seen again. But of course that was the same boat that Aslan (he seems to be at the back of all the stories) pushed ashore at the right place for Arsheesh to pick me up. I wish I knew that knight's name, for he must have kept me alive and starved himself to do it."
“這必定是一場了不得的跟蹤追擊。他們追趕巴爾的大帆船六天六夜，第七天逼得他交戰。這是一次偉大的海戰(昨兒晚上我聽到人家講了許許多多)，從上午十點鐘一直打到日落西山。我們的士卒終於佔領了那條大帆船。但我不在那船上。巴爾勳爵本人在戰鬥中給殺死了。但他手下的一個人說，那天大清早，他剛發覺他必將被追上時，便把我交給了一個武士，用一隻小艇把我們兩人送走了。那小艇永遠沒有人再見到過。但是，當然囉，阿斯蘭(看來一切故事的背後都有阿斯蘭在安排哩)把它推到海灘上恰當的地方，以便阿什伊什把我撿起來的，便是這隻小艇。我希望我能知道這位武士的姓名，因爲他爲保住我的生命，自己忍飢挨餓，把一切留給我吃。”;"I suppose Aslan would say that was part of someone else's story," said Aravis.
“我想，阿斯蘭會說，這一部分是另一個人的故事了。”阿拉維斯說。"I was forgetting that," said Cor.
“我倒忘了這一點了。”科奧說。
