《魔法师的外甥》第6期:开错的门(2)

"All in good time, my boy," said Uncle Andrew. "They let old Mrs Lefay out before she died and I was one of the very few people whom she would allow to see her in her last illness. She had got to dislike ordinary, ignorant people, you understand. I do myself. But she and I were interested in the same sort of things. It was only a few days before her death that she told me to go to an old bureau in her house and open a secret drawer and bring her a little box that I would find there. The moment I picked up that box I could tell by the pricking in my fingers that I held some great secret in my hands. She gave it me and made me promise that as soon as she was dead I would burn it, unopened, with certain ceremonies. That promise I did not keep."
"Well, then, it was jolly rotten of you," said Digory.
"Rotten?" said Uncle Andrew with a puzzled look.
"Oh, I see. You mean that little boys ought to keep their promises. Very true: most right and proper, I'm sure, and I'm very glad you have been taught to do it. But of course you must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys - and servants - and women - and even people in general, can't possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages. No, Digory. Men like me, who possess hidden wisdom, are freed from common rules just as we are cut off from common pleasures. Ours, my boy, is a high and lonely destiny."
As he said this he sighed and looked so grave and noble and mysterious that for a second Digory really thought he was saying something rather fine. But then he remembered the ugly look he had seen on his Uncle's face the moment before Polly had vanished: and all at once he saw through Uncle Andrew's grand words. "All it means," he said to himself, "Is that he thinks he can do anything he likes to get anything he wants."
"Of course," said Uncle Andrew, "I didn't dare to open the box for a long time, for I knew it might contain something highly dangerous. For my godmother was a very remarkable woman. The truth is, she was one of the last mortals in this country who had fairy blood in her. (She said there had been two others in her time. One was a duchess and the other was a charwoman.) In fact, Digory, you are now talking to the last man (possibly) who really had a fairy godmother. There! That'll be something for you to remember when you are an old man yourself."
"I bet she was a bad fairy," thought Digory; and added out loud. "But what about Polly?"
"How you do harp on that!" said Uncle Andrew. "As if that was what mattered! My first task was of course to study the box itself. It was very ancient. And I knew enough even then to know that it wasn't Greek, or Old Egyptian, or Babylonian, or Hittite, or Chinese. It was older than any of those nations. Ah - that was a great day when I at last found out the truth. The box was Atlantean; it came from the lost island of Atlantis. That meant it was centuries older than any of the stone-age things they dig up in Europe. And it wasn't a rough, crude thing like them either. For in the very dawn of time Atlantis was already a great city with palaces and temples and learned men."
He paused for a moment as if he expected Digory to say something. But Digory was disliking his Uncle more every minute, so he said nothing.
"Meanwhile," continued Uncle Andrew, "I was learning a good deal in other ways (it wouldn't be proper to explain them to a child) about Magic in general. That meant that I came to have a fair idea what sort of things might be in the box. By various tests I narrowed down the possibilities. I had to get to know some - well, some devilish queer people, and go through some very disagreeable experiences. That was what turned my head grey. One doesn't become a magician for nothing. My health broke down in the end. But I got better. And at last I actually knew."

“别着急，我的孩子，还没到时候。”安德鲁舅舅说，“临死之前，莱菲夫人被放了出来。弥留之际，她只想让为数极少的几个人去看她，我是其中之一。你知道，她不喜欢无知的普通的人。我也不喜欢。而且，她和我兴趣相同。就在她去世的前几天，她让我去她家中，找到一张旧书桌上的一个秘密抽屉，将里面一个小盒子取出来交给她。刚拿起盒子，我的手指就感到刺痛，我明白，我正握着一个很大的秘密。她把盒子交给我，并要我发誓，她一死，我就以某些仪式将盒子原封不动地烧掉。结果我没有听她的话。”
“唉呀，你这人真糟糕。”迪格雷说。
“糟糕？”安德鲁舅舅的脸上露出迷惑不解的神色。“哦，我知道了，你是说，小男孩应该遵守诺言。确实如此，我相信，这是最正确、最高尚的道理，我很高兴你学会了这样做。然而你必须懂得，这些规矩，好，都可能不适合于渊博的学者、伟大的思想家和圣人。不适合，迪格雷。像我这样有神秘智慧的人不受普通规矩的约束，正如我们跟普通人的乐趣无缘一样。孩子，我们命定是高贵而孤独的。”
他边说边叹气，看上去那么一本正经，那么高尚，那么神秘．以至有一秒钟，迪格雷真的以为他在高谈阔论美好的事情。但他想起波莉失踪以前从他脸上看到的丑恶神态，马上就明白了他那些大话的真实含义。“他的意思就是，”他对自己说，“可以不择手段地得到他想要的任何东西。”“当然，”安德鲁舅舅说，“我好长时间没敢打开盒子，我知道，里面可能装着非常危险的东西，因为我的教母太与众不同了。享实上，她是这个国家有神仙血统的最后几个凡人之一
（据她讲，与她同时代的还有两位，一位是公爵夫人，一位是女魔法师。）其实，迪格雷，你正在跟也许是最后一个有过神仙教母的人谈话。啊，有些事留给你自己老了再回忆吧。”
“我敢扫赌她是个鳌脚的神仙。”迪格雷想：接着高声说，“那么波莉呢？”
“你总是唠唠叨叨的，”安德鲁舅舅说，“好像那件事有什么要紧似的。我的首要任务当然是研究盒子木身。那是个古老的盒子。那时，我就清楚，它不是希腊的、古埃及的、巴比伦的、赫梯注的或中国的，它的年代比那些民族还要久远。啊——我最终弄明白事实的那一天是多么了不起。这盒子是阿特兰蒂斯②的，出自消失了的岛国阿特兰蒂斯。这表明，这比欧洲出土的石器时代的文物要古老几百年；而且也不像那些文物粗糙原始。因为阿特兰蒂斯很早就是个伟大的城市，有宫殿、寺庙和学者。”-
他停了一下，似乎等着迪格雷开口。但每过一分钟，迪格雷就更加讨厌他的安德鲁舅舅，所以，他沉默着。“同时，”安德鲁舅舅继续说，“我靠其他手段学到不少魔法常识（对一个孩子解说那性手段是不合适的）。这样，对盒子里装的东西我就有了一个合理的估计。通过各种试验，我缩小了范围。我不得不结识了一些极端古怪的人，做了一些很难受的试验，我的头发也就这样变白了。一个人不付出代价是不可能成为魔法师的。到后来，我的身体完全垮了，但我有了进步，最后，我真的懂了。”
虽然根本不可能有人偷听．他还是斜着身子，几乎耳语一般地说：