《能言马与男孩》第29期:科林王子(5)

When the meal was over the Faun told Shasta to stay quietly where he was.

"And it wouldn't do you any harm to have a little sleep," he added. "I'll call you in plenty of time to get on board. And then, Home. Narnia and the North!"

Shasta had so enjoyed his dinner and all the things Tumnus had been telling him that when he was left alone his thoughts took a different turn. He only hoped now that the real Prince Corin would not turn up until it was too late and that he would be taken away to Narnia by ship. I am afraid he did not think at all of what might happen to the real Corin when he was left behind in Tashbaan. He was a little worried about Aravis and Bree waiting for him at the Tombs. But then he said to himself, "Well, how can I help it?" and, "Anyway, that Aravis thinks she's too good to go about with me, so she can jolly well go alone," and at the same time he couldn't help feeling that it would be much nicer going to Narnia by sea than toiling across the desert.

When he had thought all this he did what I expect you would have done if you had been up very early and had a long walk and a great deal of excitement and then a very good meal, and were lying on a sofa in a cool room with no noise in it except when a bee came buzzing in through the wide open windows. He fell asleep.

What woke him was a loud crash. He jumped up off the sofa, staring. He saw at once from the mere look of the room - the lights and shadows all looked different - that he must have slept for several hours. He saw also what had made the crash: a costly porcelain vase which had been standing on the window-sill lay on -the floor broken into about thirty pieces. But he hardly noticed all these things. What he did notice was two hands gripping the window-sill from outside. They gripped harder and harder (getting white at the knuckles) and then up came a head and a pair of shoulders. A moment later there was a boy of Shasta's own age sitting astride the sill with one leg hanging down inside the room.

Shasta had never seen his own face in a looking-glass. Even if he had, he might not have realized that the other boy was (at ordinary times) almost exactly like himself. At the moment this boy was not particularly like anyone for he had the finest black eye you ever saw, and a tooth missing, and his clothes (which must have been splendid ones when he put them on) were torn and dirty, and there was both blood and mud on his face.

"Who are you?" said the boy in a whisper.

"Are you Prince Corin?" said Shasta.

"Yes, of course," said the other. "But who are you?"

"I'm nobody, nobody in particular, I mean," said Shasta. "King Edmund caught me in the street and mistook me for you. I suppose we must look like one another. Can I get out the way you've got in?"

吃完饭，羊怪嘱咐沙斯塔静静地待在原来的地方休息。

“你稍稍睡一觉也无妨，”他补充道，”我要过好久才来叫你上船呢。上了船，就还乡。直奔纳尼亚和北方！”

正餐和图姆纳斯告诉他的一切事情，沙斯塔都十分欣赏，留下他一个人在房间里时，他的思想发生了截然不同的转向和变化。他现在只是希望真正的王子科林迟迟不会到来，这样他就可以坐在船上被带到纳尼亚去了。恐怕他压根儿没想一想：真正的科林给丢在塔什班城会碰到什么危险。他稍稍有点儿为在坟场上等候他的阿拉维斯和布里担心。但他接着又跟自己说道，”哎，我又有什么办法呢?“以及，”无论如何，那个阿拉维斯认为她跟我混在一起是太抬举我了，现在她可以高高兴兴地一个人走了。”同时，他又禁不住想道；辛辛苦苦穿过大沙漠，远不如从海上坐船到纳尼亚去舒服哩。+

沙斯塔想着这一切时，不觉睡着了。如果你曾大清旱起身，走了长长的路，经历了极大的紧张激动，然后又美美地吃了一顿饭，躺在凉快房间里的一张沙发上，四周寂静无声，只有一只从大开着的窗子里飞进来的蜜蜂嗡嗡叫着，你也会睡觉的。

响亮的啪啦一声把他惊醒了。他从沙发上跳起身来，瞪着眼睛直瞧。仅仅从房间里的情形——光和影截然不同了——看来，他立刻明白他必定已经睡了好几个钟头。他也弄明白了是什么弄出啪啦声来的：原来放在窗台上的一个珍贵瓷瓶，在地板上碎成了三十片光景。但他没注意这些事情。他注意的是两只从外边抓住窗台的手。双手愈抓愈紧(指关节都发白了)，接着就冒出来一个脑袋和一副肩膀。一会儿以后，便有一个年龄同沙斯塔相仿的孩子跨在窗台上了，一条腿已经伸在房间里面了。

沙斯塔从未在镜子里看见过他自己的脸。即使他看见过，他也看不出(在平常时候)这个孩子几乎长得跟他自己一模一样。而此时此刻，这孩子可并不特别像其他任何人，因为他长着你见过的最美丽的黑眼睛，掉了一个牙齿，而他的衣服(他穿上身时是挺华丽的)破破烂烂、肮肮脏脏，他脸上既有血又有污泥。

“你是什么人?”那孩子低声问道。

“你是王子科林吗?”沙斯塔说。

“是啊，当然是王子科林口罗！”那孩子说道，”可你是什么人呢?”

“我是小东西，我的意思是，我不过是个无名小卒。”沙斯塔说道，”国王爱德蒙在街上逮住了我，错把我当做你了。我猜想我们必定长得很相像。我可以从你进来的地方出去吗?”