《魔法师的外甥》第52期:迪格雷和他的舅舅又陷困境(2)

"And yet, you know," said the Elephant (the She Elephant, of course; her husband, as you remember, had been called away by Aslan). "And yet, you know, it might be an animal of some kind. Mightn't the whitish lump at this end be a sort of face? And couldn't those holes be eyes and a mouth? No nose, of course. But then - ahem - one mustn't be narrow-minded. Very few of us have what could exactly be called a Nose." She squinted down the length of her own trunk with pardonable pride.

"I object to that remark very strongly," said the Bulldog.

"The Elephant is quite right," said the Tapir.

"I tell you what!" said the Donkey brightly, "perhaps it's an animal that can't talk but thinks it can."

"Can it be made to stand up?" said the Elephant thoughtfully. She took the limp form of Uncle Andrew gently in her trunk and set him up on end: upside down, unfortunately, so that two half-sovereigns, three halfcrowns, and a sixpence fell out of his pocket. But it was no use. Uncle Andrew merely collapsed again.

"There!" said several voices. "It isn't an animal at all, It's not alive."

"I tell you, it is an animal," said the Bulldog. "Smell it for yourself."

"Smelling isn't everything," said the Elephant.

"Why," said the Bulldog, "if a fellow can't trust his nose, what is he to trust?"

"Well, his brains perhaps," she replied mildly.

"I object to that remark very strongly," said the Bulldog.

"Well, we must do something about it," said the Elephant. "Because it may be the Neevil, and it must be shown to Aslan. What do most of us think? Is it an animal or something of the tree kind?"

"Tree! Tree!" said a dozen voices.

"Very well," said the Elephant. "Then, if it's a tree it wants to be planted. We must dig a hole."

“你们知道，”大象说(当然是母象，她的丈夫，你还记得，被阿斯兰叫走了)，“你们知道，它可能是某种动物。这头这块白的不像脸吗？那些洞不是眼睛和嘴吗？没鼻子，当然。但是——啊——不必太狭隘。确切地说，我们当中，只有极少数有那种被叫做鼻子的东西。”它斜睨着自己的长鼻子，那种骄傲的神态是可以谅解的。

“我强烈反对这种说法。”公狗说。"

“象是对的。”貘说。

“我告诉你吧！”驴子伶牙俐齿地说，“也许它是一种不能说话但觉得自己能说话的动物。”

“能让它站起来吗？”大象关心地说。它用鼻子将安德鲁舅舅柔软的身体轻轻一卷，并把他竖在地上，但不幸放反了，两枚二分之一金镑、三枚五分之二先令和一枚六便士硬币从他的衣袋里掉了出来。但没有用，安德鲁舅舅又倒了下去。

“啊哈！”几个声音说，“根本不是动物，它不是活的。”

“我告诉你们，它是动物，”公狗说，“你们自己闻闻吧！”

“气味并不能说明一切。”象说。

“那么，”公狗说，“如果谁连自己的鼻子都不相信，它还相信什么？”

“大概应相信头脑吧。”象温和地说。

“我强烈反对这种观点。”公狗说。

“嗯，我们必须有所行动，”象说，“因为它也许就是那个‘馍’，必须把它交给阿斯兰。大家是怎么看的？它是动物还是树一类的东西？”

“树！树！”十几个声音回答。

“好，”象说，“那么，如果是树，它一定想被栽在土里。我们要挖个洞。”