雙語《小約翰》 七

VII
七

The morning was cold and grey．The black shining boughs， swept bare by the storm，dripped in the fog．Little Johannes ran as fast as he could over the wet，down-beaten grass，looking before him in the distance where the wood was thinnest，as though he had some goal beyond．His eyes were red with crying，and dazed with fear and grief．He had been wandering about all night，seeking some light，—the feeling of being safe and at home had vanished with Windekind．The spirit of loneliness lurked in every dark corner；he dared not look round．
早晨是寒冷而黯淡。黑色的光亮的樹枝，被暴風雨脫了葉，在霧中哭泣。下垂的濕草上面，慌忙地跑著小約翰，凝視著前面，是樹林發(fā)亮的地方，似乎那邊就擺著他的目的。他的眼睛哭紅了，并且因為恐懼和苦惱而僵硬了。他是這樣地跑了一整夜，像尋覓著光明似的——和旋兒在一處，他是安穩(wěn)地如在故鄉(xiāng)的感覺。每一暗處，都坐著拋棄的游魂，他也不敢回顧自己的身后。

At last he came out of the wood；he looked over a meadowland， and fine close rain was pouring steadily．A horse was standing out in the rain close to a bare willow tree．It stood motionless，with bowed head，and the water trickled slowly off its shining flanks and plaited mane．
他終于到了一個樹林的邊際。他望見一片牧場，那上面徐徐下著細微的塵雨。牧場中央的一株禿柳樹旁站著一匹馬。它不動地彎著頸子，雨水從它發(fā)亮的背脊和粘成一片的鬃毛上懶散地滴瀝下來。

Johannes ran on，along the skirt of the wood．He looked with dim，timid eyes at the lonely beast，and the grey drizzle，and he softly groaned．
約翰還是跑遠去，沿著樹林。他用了疲乏的恐懼的眼光，看著那孤寂的馬和晦暗的雨煙，微微呻吟著。

“Now it is all over，”thought he．“Now the sun will never come again．Now everything will always look the same to me as it does here．”
“現(xiàn)在是都完了，”他想，“太陽就永不回來了。于我就要永是這樣，像這里似的?！?/span>

But he dared not stand still in his despair；something most dreadful would befall him，he thought．
在他的絕望中，他卻不敢靜靜地站定——驚人的事就要出現(xiàn)了，他想。

Then he espied the high wall of a garden，and a little house， under a lime-tree with faded yellow leaves．He went into the enclosure and ran along broad paths where the brown and gold lime-leaves thickly covered the ground．Purple asters and other gay autumn flowers grew by the grass plots in wild abundance．
他在那里看見一株帶著淡黃葉子的菩提樹下，有一個村舍的大的柵欄門和一間小屋子。他穿進門去，走過寬廣的樹間路，棕色的和黃的菩提葉，厚鋪在地面上。草壇旁邊生著紫色的翠菊，還隨便錯雜著幾朵彩色的秋花。

Then he came to a pond．By the side of it was a large house， with windows and doors all opening down to the ground．Climbing roses and other creepers grew against the walls．But it was all shut up and deserted．Half-stripped chestnut trees stood about the house， and on the earth，among the fallen leaves Johannes saw the shining brown chestnuts．
他走近一個池。池旁站著一所全有門戶和窗的大屋。薔薇叢和常春藤生在墻根。半已禿葉的栗樹圍繞著它，在地上和將落的枝葉之間，約翰還看見閃著光亮的棕色的栗子。

The cold，dead feeling about his heart disappeared．He thought of his own home—there two chestnut-trees grew，and at this season he always went out to pick up chestnuts．He suddenly longed to be there，as though an inviting voice had called him．He sat down on a bench close to the big house and cried himself to rest．
冰冷的死的感覺，從他這里退避了。他想到他自己的住所——那地方也有栗樹，當這時候他總是去覓光滑的栗子的。驀地有一個愿望捆住他了，他似乎聽得有熟識的聲音在呼喚。他就在大屋旁邊的板凳上坐下，并且靜靜地啜泣起來。

A peculiar smell made him look up．A man was standing by him，with a white apron on and a pipe in his mouth．Round his waist he had a wisp of bast with which he tied up the flowers．Johannes knew that smell so well！It reminded him of his own garden，and the gardener who brought him pretty caterpillars and showed him starling's eggs．
一種特別的氣味又引得他抬了頭。他近旁站著一個人，系著白色的圍裙，還有煙管銜在嘴里。環(huán)著腰帶有一條菩提樹皮，他用它系些花朵。約翰也熟識這氣味，他就記起了他在自己的園子里，并且想到那送他美麗的青蟲和為他選取鷓鴣蛋的園丁。

He was not frightened，—though it was a man who stood before him．He told the man that he had got lost and did not know his way， and thankfully followed him to the little cottage under the lime-tree．
他并不怕——雖然站在他身邊的也是一個人。他對那人說，他是被拋棄，而且迷路了，他還感謝地跟著他，進那黃葉的菩提樹下的小屋去。

Indoors，the gardener's wife sat knitting black stockings．A large kettle of water was hung to boil over the turf-fire in the hearth-place．On the mat by the fire lay a cat with her forepaws crossed，just as Simon had been lying when Johannes left home．
那里面坐著園丁的妻，織著黑色的襪子。灶頭的煤火上掛一個大的水罐，且煮著?；鹋缘南由献黄ヘ?，拳了前爪，正如約翰離家時候坐在那里的西蒙。

Johannes was made to sit down by the fire to dry his feet．“Tick-tick，tick-tick，”said the great hanging clock．Johannes looked at the steam which came singing out of the kettle，and at the little flames which skipped and jumped fantastically about the peat blocks．
約翰要烘干他的腳，便坐在火旁邊。“鏑！——鏑！——鏑！——鏑！”——那大的時鐘說。約翰看看呼哨著從水罐里紛飛出來的蒸汽，看看活潑而游戲地超過瓦器，跳著的小小的火苗。

“Here I am among men，”thought he．
“我就在人類里了?！彼?。

It was not alarming．He felt easy and safe．They were kind and friendly，and asked him what he would like to do．
然而于他并無不舒服。他覺得完全安寧了。他們都好心而且友愛，還問他怎樣是他最心愛的。

“I would rather stay here，”he replied．
“我最愛留在這里?！彼卮鹫f。

Here he was at peace，and if he went home there would be scolding and tears．He would have to listen in silence，and he would be told that he had been very naughty．He would be obliged to look back on the past，and think everything over once more．
這里給他安全，倘一回家，將就有憂愁和眼淚。他必須不開口，人也將說他做了錯事了。一切他就須再看見，一切又須想一回。

He longed，to be sure，for his little room，for his father，for Presto—but he could better endure the quiet longing for them here than the painful，miserable meeting．And he felt as though here he could still think of Windekind，while at home he could not．
他實在渴慕著他的小房子，他的父親，普烈斯多——但比起困苦的愁煩的再見來，他寧可在這里忍受著平靜的渴慕。他又覺得，仿佛這里是可以毫無攪擾地懷想著旋兒，在家里便不行了。

Windekind was now certainly quite gone．Gone far away to the sunny land where palm-trees bend over the blue sea．He would do penance here and await his friend's return．
旋兒一定是走掉了。遠遠地到了椰樹高出于碧海之上的晴朗的地方去了。他情愿在這里懺悔，并且堅候他。

So he begged the two good folks to let him live with them．He would be obedient and work for them．He would help to take care of the garden and the flowers，at any rate through this winter；for he hoped in his heart that Windekind would return with the Spring．
他因此請求這兩個好心的人們，許他留在他那里。他愿意幫助養(yǎng)園和花卉。只在這一冬。因為他私自盼望，旋兒是將和春天一同回來的。

The gardener and his wife supposed that Johannes had run away from home because he had been hardly treated．They pitied him，and promised to let him stay．
園丁和他的妻以為約翰是在家里受了嚴刻的待遇，所以逃出來的。他們對他懷著同情，并且許他留下了。

So he remained and helped to work in the garden and attend to the flowers．They gave him a little room to sleep in with a bedstead painted blue．Out of it，in the morning，he could see the wet yellow lime-leaves flutter past the window，and at night the black boughs waving to and fro，and the stars playing hide-and-seek between them．And he gave names to the stars，and the brightest of them he called Windekind．
他的愿望實現(xiàn)了。他留下來，幫助那花卉和園子的養(yǎng)護。他們給他一間小房，有一個藍板的床位。在那里，他早晨看那潮濕的黃色的菩提樹葉子怎樣地在窗前輕拂，夜間看那黑暗的樹干，后面有星星們玩著捉迷藏的游戲，怎樣地往來動搖。他就給星星們名字，而那最亮的一顆，他稱之為旋兒。

He told his history only to the flowers，most of which he had known before at home；to the large，solemn asters，the many-hued zinnias，and the white chrysanthemums which bloom on so late into the blustering autumn．When all the rest of the flowers were dead the chrysanthemums still stood upright—even when one morning the first snow had fallen and Johannes came to see how they were getting on，they held up their cheerful faces and said：“Yes，we are still here．You would never have thought it！”And they looked very brave；but two days later they were all dead．
給花卉們呢，那是他在故鄉(xiāng)時幾乎全都熟識的。他敘述自己的故事，給嚴正的大的翠菊，給彩色的莘尼亞，給潔白的菊花——那開得很長久，直到凜烈的秋天的。當別的花們?nèi)妓廊r，菊花還挺立著，待到初雪才下的清晨，約翰一早走來看它們的時候——它們也還伸著愉快的臉，并且說：“是的，我們還在這里呢！這是你沒有想到的罷！”它們自以為勇敢，但三天之后，它們卻都死了。

But palms and tree-ferns were still thriving in the hot-house，and the strange blossoms of orchids hung in the damp heat．Johannes peeped with amazement into their gorgeous cups，and thought of Windekind．How cold and colourless everything seemed then when he came out again—the sloppy snow with black footmarks，and the sighing，dripping branches of the trees！
溫室中這時還盛裝著木本羊齒和椰樹，在潤濕的悶熱里，并且掛著蘭類的奇特的花須。約翰驚異地凝視在這些華美的花托上，一面想著旋兒。但他一到野外，一切是怎樣地寒冷而無色呵，帶著黑色的足印的雪，索索作響的滴水的禿樹。

But when the snow-flakes had been noiselessly falling hour after hour so that the boughs bent under the growing burthen， Johannes ran off gleefully into the purple twilight of the snow-laden wood．That was silence—but not death．It was almost more lovely than summer verdure，as the dazzling whiteness of the tangled twigs made lace-work against the light-blue sky，or as one of the over-weighted boughs shook off its load of snow，which fell in a cloud of glittering powder．
倘若雪團沉默著下得很久，樹枝因著增長的茸毛而彎曲了，約翰便喜歡走到雪林的紫色的昏黃中去。那是沉靜，卻不是死。如果那伸開的小枝條的皎潔的白，分布在明藍的天空中，或者過于負重的叢莽，搖去積雪，使它紛飛成一陣燦爛的云煙的時候，卻幾乎更美于夏綠。

Once in the course of such a walk，when he had gone so far that all round him there was nothing to be seen but snow and snow-wrapped woods，half white and half black，and every sound of life seemed stifled under the glistening downy shroud，it happened that he thought he saw a tiny white creature running swiftly in front of him．He followed it—it resembled no animal that he knew；but when he tried to catch it，it promptly vanished into a hollow trunk．Johannes stared into the hole where it had disappeared and thought to himself：“I wonder if it was Wistik？”
有一次，就在這樣的游行中，他走得很遠，周圍只看見戴雪的枝條——半黑，半白——而且各個聲響、各個生命，仿佛都在燦爛的蒙茸里消融了，于是使他似乎見有一匹小小的白色的動物在他前面走。他追隨它——這不像是他所認識的動物——但當他想要捉，它卻慌忙消失在一株樹干里了。約翰窺探著黑色的穴口，那小動物所伏匿的，并且自問道：“這許是旋兒罷？”

But he did not think much about him．He fancied it was wrong， and he would not spoil his fit of repentance．And his life with these two kind people left him little to ask for．In the evenings he had indeed to read aloud out of a thick book in which a great deal was said about God；but he was familiar with the book，and read unheeding．That night，however，after his walk in the snow，he lay awake in his bed，looking at the cold gleam of the moonlight on the floor．All at once he saw two tiny hands which came out from below the bedstead and firmly clutched the edge．Then the top of a little white fur cap came into sight between the two hands，and at last he saw a pair of grave eyes under uplifted eyebrows．
他不甚想念他。他以他為不好，他也不肯輕減他的懺悔。而在兩個好人身邊的生活，也使他很少疑問了。他雖然每晚必須讀一點大而且黑的書，其中許多是關(guān)于上帝的議論，但他卻認識那書，也讀得很輕率。然而在他游行雪地以后的那一夜，他醒著躺在床上，眺望那地上的寒冷的月光。他驀地看見一雙小手，怎樣地伸上床架來試探，并且緊緊地扳住了床沿。于是在兩手之間顯出一個白的小皮帽的尖來，末后，他看見揚起的眉毛之下，一對嚴正的小眼。

“Good-evening，Johannes！”said Wistik．“I am come to remind you of your promise．You cannot yet have found the Book，for it is not yet Spring time．But do you ever think it over？ What is that thick book which you are made to read？ But that cannot be the right book．Do not imagine that．”
“好晚上，約翰！”將知說，“我到你這里來一下，為的是使你記念我們的前約。你不能覓得那書兒，是因為還不是春天。但你卻想著那個么？那是怎樣地一本厚書呀，那我看見你所讀的？那不能是那正當?shù)暮?。不要信它罷！”

“I do not imagine that，Wistik，”said Johannes．He turned over to go to sleep again；but he could not get the gold key out of his head．Before now，when reading the big Book，he had thought of that，and he saw plainly that it could not be the right Book．
“我不信它，將知?！奔s翰說。他翻一個身，且要睡去了。然而那小鎖匙卻不肯離開他的心念。從此他每讀那本厚書的時候，也就想到那匙兒，于是他看得很清楚，那不是那正當?shù)摹?/span>