《最后一战》第29期:关于小矮人(4)
Everyone crowded round him and welcomed him and praised him and slapped him on the back. Of course one single Dwarf could not make a very great difference, but it was somehow very cheering to have even one. The whole party brightened up. But Jill and Eustace didn't stay bright for very long, for they were now yawning their heads off and too tired to think about anything but bed.
It was at the coldest hour of the night, just before dawn, that they got back to the Tower. If there had been a meal ready for them they would have been glad enough to eat, but the bother and delay of getting one was not to be thought of. They drank from a stream, splashed their faces with water, and tumbled into their bunks, except for Puzzle and Jewel who said they'd be more comfortable outside. This perhaps was just as well, for a Unicorn and a fat, full-grown Donkey indoors always make a room feel rather crowded.
Narnian Dwarfs, though less than four feet high, are for their size about the toughest and strongest creatures there are, so that Poggin, in spite of a heavy day and a late night, woke fully refreshed before any of the others. He at once took Jill's bow, went out and shot a couple of wood pigeons. Then he sat plucking them on the doorstep and chatting to Jewel and Puzzle. Puzzle looked and felt a good deal better this morning. Jewel, being a Unicorn and therefore one of the noblest and delicatest of Beasts, had been very kind to him, talking to him about things of the sort they could both understand like grass and sugar and the care of one's hoofs. When Jill and Eustace came out of the Tower yawning and rubbing their eyes at almost half past ten, the Dwarf showed them where they could gather plenty of a Narnian weed called Wild Fresney, which looks rather like our wood-sorrel but tastes a good deal nicer when cooked. (It needs a little butter and pepper to make it perfect, but they hadn't got these.) So that what with one thing and another, they had the makings of a capital stew for their breakfast or dinner, whichever you choose to call it. Tirian went a little further off into the wood with an axe and brought back some branches for fuel. While the meal was cooking - which seemed a very long time, especially as it smelled nicer and nicer the nearer it came to being done - the King found a complete Dwarfish outfit for Poggin: mail shirt, helmet, shield, sword, belt, and dagger. Then he inspected Eustace's sword and found that Eustace had put it back in the sheath all messy from killing the Calormene. He was scolded for that and made to clean and polish it.
All this while Jill went to and fro, sometimes stirring the pot and sometimes looking out enviously at the Donkey and the Unicorn who were contentedly grazing. How many times that morning she wished she could eat grass!
But when the meal came everyone felt it had been worth waiting for, and there were second helpings all round. When everyone had eaten as much as he could, the three humans and the Dwarf came and sat on the doorstep, the four-footed ones lay down facing them, the Dwarf (with permission both from Jill and from Tirian) lit his pipe, and the King said:
"Now, friend Poggin, you have more news of the enemy, belike, than we. Tell us all you know. And first, what tale do they tell of my escape?"
"As cunning a tale, Sire, as ever was devised," said Poggin. "It was the Cat, Ginger, who told it, and most likely made it up too. This Ginger, Sire - oh, he's a slyboots if ever a cat was - said he was walking past the tree to which those villains bound your Majesty. And he said (saving your reverence) that you were howling and swearing and cursing Aslan: 'language I wouldn't like to repeat' were the words he used, looking ever so prim and proper you know the way a Cat can when it pleases. And then, says Ginger, Aslan himself suddenly appeared in a flash of lightning and swallowed your Majesty up at one mouthful. All the Beasts trembled at this story and some fainted right away. And of course the Ape followed it up. There, he says, see what Aslan does to those who don't respect him. Let that be a warning to you all. And the poor creatures wailed and whined and said, it will, it will. So that in the upshot your Majesty's escape has not set them thinking whether you still have loyal friends to aid you, but only made them more afraid and more obedient to the Ape."
大家都向他围拢来，欢迎他，称赞他，拍拍他的背脊。当然，光是一个小矮人也不能使局面有多大的不同，但，哪怕只有一个小矮人，毕竟也是令人高兴的。大伙儿为之面有喜色。但吉尔和尤斯塔斯容光焕发可并不长久；因为他们哈欠连连，头昏脑涨，疲倦得只能想些不幸的事情了。
他们回到堡垒时，正是夜间最寒冷的时刻，天色快要破晓了。如果早已为他们准备了食物，他们会高高兴兴地吃一顿的，但没有想到弄一顿饭吃要那么费事和费时。他们在一条小溪里喝了点水，把水泼在脸上洗了一洗，便倒在床铺上睡觉，只有迷惑和珍宝说是它们待在户外倒更加舒服。或许这样正好，因为一头独角兽和一头胖胖的长足了肉体的驴子，都待在室内，总是会使人感觉到房间里很拥挤的。
纳尼亚的小矮人，虽然身高不到四英尺，就其身材而言，却是最吃苦耐劳和最强壮有力的动物；所以，波金虽然过了沉重的一天，夜间又睡得很晚，却比任何人都醒得早，醒来时体力完全恢复，已经神清气爽了。他立刻拿着吉尔的弓箭，走出去射中了两只林中野鸽。然后他坐在门前石阶上一边给鸽子拔毛，边跟珍宝和迷惑闲谈。迷惑在这天早晨感到好得多了，珍宝是头独角兽，因而是兽类中最高贵而又最娇嫩的一种动物，它对待小矮人十分和蔼可亲，跟他说些双方都能理解的事情，例如青草呀、糖呀、对蹄子的爱护呀。在快要十点半的时候，吉尔和尤斯塔斯打着哈欠擦着眼睛，从堡垒里走出来，小矮人给他们看一种叫做野弗雷斯尼的纳尼亚野草；他们在那儿可以采集到许许多多，看起来外形像我们的浆草，但煮熟了吃起来，味道要好得多。(要使它尽善尽美，就需要加点儿黄油和胡椒，但他们手头没有这些玩意儿。)再加点儿这个那个的，他们就炖成了一个精美的菜肴作为他们的早餐或正餐(你愿意管它叫什么就叫什么)。蒂莲带着斧头稍稍深入树林，砍了些树枝带回来当柴火。那菜肴正炖着的时候——似乎炖的时间很长久——特别是接近于炖熟、香味愈来愈美妙时，更觉得炖久了，国王替波金找到了一整套小矮人装备锁子甲、头盔、盾牌、剑、剑带和匕首。然后国王又检查了尤斯塔斯的剑，发现尤斯塔斯杀死了卡乐门士兵后就把血污的剑插进剑鞠里去了。国王责备他，叫他把剑揩干净擦亮。
在这一段时间里，吉尔走来走去，有时搅搅锅里炖着的食物，有时妒忌地望着正在心满意足地吃草的驴子和独角兽。那天早晨，她好几次但愿她也能吃草哩。
但，当菜肴端上来的时候，大家都觉得是值得等待的了，而且一圈分过来后大家还有第二份可吃。谁都尽量吃了个畅快后，三个人和一个小矮人便来到门口台阶上坐下，两个四足动物面向着他们躺下，而小矮人得到吉尔和蒂莲的允许，点上了他的烟斗，于是国王开言道：
"哦，朋友波金，你所知道的关于敌人的消息，极可能比我们多。把你所知道的，统统告诉我们吧。第一，对于我的脱身逃走，他们在编些什么故事?"
"陛下，编了个空前狡猾的故事，"波金说道，"故事是猫儿金格讲出来的，说不定也是它编造出来的。陛下，这个金格——啊，如果猫是滑头，那么它就是个老滑头——它说它正走过恶棍们把你绑在上面的那棵树。它说(我是冒昧如实汇报)你正在号叫骂人，诅咒阿斯兰。原话我不想重复了，尽管它用的词儿，看上去很正经很得体——你知道，一只猫儿如果高兴的话，它是能够说得这样的。据金格说，阿斯兰突然在一阵闪电中亲自出现了，一口就把陛下吞到他肚子里去了。所有的野兽听到这故事都哆哆嗦嗦，有的当场吓昏过去。当然，无尾猿就跟着添油加酱地发挥了。行了，无尾猿说，瞧瞧阿斯兰是怎么对待那些不尊敬他的人的吧!要把这件事看做是对你们大家的一个警告。于是可怜的野兽们号啕呜咽，说道，是呀，是呀。所以，陛下脱身逃遁的结果，并没使野兽们考虑你是否仍有王室的朋友在帮助你，却仅仅使野兽们更加害怕，对无尾猿更加俯首帖耳了。"
