雙語散文|王士菁——幼年魯迅

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2018年08月25日

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幼年魯迅

在家里，領著幼年魯迅的是保姆長媽媽。她是一個淳樸的農村婦女。最初大約是一個生活在農村里的年輕的孤孀，死掉了丈夫和喪失了土地之后，就從農村來到城里謀生。她的姓名，當時是沒有人知道的，魯迅的祖母叫她“阿長”，因此人們也就跟著叫她“阿長”，但孩子們卻叫她“長媽媽”。她懂得許多莫名其妙的道理，還有許多規(guī)矩，這一切都是孩子們所不理解的。譬如說，人死了，不說死掉，而說“老掉了”；死了人或生了孩子的屋里，是不應該走進去的；飯粒子落在地上，必須撿起來，最好是吃下去；曬褲子用的竹竿底下，是萬不可鉆過去的，等等。平時她不許孩子們亂走動，拔一株草，翻一塊石頭，就說是頑皮，要去告訴母親去。起初，孩子們并不怎么喜歡她。尤其是當她不留心踩死了魯迅所心愛的隱鼠，這更使魯迅十分生氣。但是，有一件事，出乎意料之外，使魯迅對她發(fā)生了敬意，因為，她對孩子們能夠講述一些“長毛”（關于太平天國）的故事；又一件事，更使魯迅對她發(fā)生了很大的敬意，那就是，她不知從什么地方替魯迅找到了一部為他日夜所渴望的繪圖《山海經》。
魯迅對于繪圖《山海經》的渴望已不止一天了。這事是由和他家同住在這個臺門里的遠房叔祖玉田老人惹起來的。他是一個胖胖的和藹的老人，愛種一點珠蘭、茉莉之類的花木。他在家里無人可以攀談，所以就很喜歡和孩子們來往，有時簡直稱呼他們?yōu)?ldquo;小友”。他的藏書很豐富，其中有一本叫《花鏡》，上面印著許多好看的花草和樹木，是一部孩子們最心愛的書。但老人卻說還有一部更好看的哩，那是繪圖的《山海經》。人面的獸，九頭的蛇，三腳的鳥，生著翅膀的人，沒有頭的拿兩乳當作眼睛的怪物，……這本書上都有?？上?，老人一時找不到，不知被放到哪里去了。孩子們懷著十分迫切的心情，都急于想看這本充滿著奇異圖畫的書，但又不好意思逼著老人去尋找。問別人呢，很少有人知道。想買吧，不知到哪里去買，大街離得很遠，只有正月間才能夠去玩一趟，那時書鋪的門卻又是關著的。玩得熱鬧的時候倒也不覺得有什么，一到靜下來，可就想起了那繪圖的《山海經》。也許是魯迅過于念念不忘這本書吧，連長媽媽也知道了，來問是怎么一回事，魯迅就把這事對她說了。
過了十多天，也許是一個月吧，長媽媽在她請假回家轉來的時候，一見面，就將一包書遞給了魯迅。她高興地說道：“哥兒，有畫的《三哼經》，我給你找來了！”這是一個怎樣出人意外的消息啊，它比逢年過節(jié)還使魯迅興奮。他趕緊接過來，打開紙包一看，是四本小小的書。??！人面獸，九頭蛇，……果然都在里面了。雖然這是一部紙張很黃，圖像很壞，連動物的眼睛也都是長方形的，刻工印工都很粗糙的書，但它正是魯迅所日夜盼望的書。后來，魯迅把這一位貧農婦女和自己對她的深厚感情，寫在一篇充滿激情的散文里。
這確是四本小小的不平凡的書。魯迅從長媽媽的手里，連帶著她的那一份無比深厚的情意接受了過來。這是幼年的魯迅第一次讀到的比一切別的書更加使他感動的書。
在家庭里，祖母特別喜愛魯迅。夏夜，魯迅躺在一株大桂花樹下的小板桌上乘涼，祖母搖著芭蕉扇坐在桌旁，一面搖著扇子，一面講故事給他聽，或是叫他猜謎語。祖母對于民間故事是很熟悉的。她會講關于貓的故事，據(jù)說：貓是老虎的師父。老虎本來是什么也不會的，就投在貓的門下。貓教給它撲的方法，捉的方法，像自己捉老鼠一樣。這一些學完了，老虎想：本領都學到了，誰也比不過自己了，只有做過它的老師的貓還比自己強，要是把貓殺掉，自己便是最強的腳色了。它打定了主意，便往貓身上撲過去。貓是早知道它的心思的，一跳，便上了樹。老虎卻只能眼睜睜地在樹下蹲著。貓沒有將一切本領傳授完，還沒有教它上樹哩。祖母還會講“水滿金山”的故事，——有個叫作許仙的，他救了兩條蛇：一青一白，后來白蛇就化作女人來報恩，嫁給了許仙；青蛇化作丫環(huán)，也跟著。有個和尚叫作法海禪師，他看見許仙臉上有“妖氣”，于是就把許仙藏在金山寺的法座后面。白蛇娘娘前來尋夫，于是就“水滿金山”。后來，白蛇娘娘中了法海禪師的計策，被騙裝在一個小小的缽盂里了。這缽盂被埋在地下，上面造起一座塔來鎮(zhèn)壓她，這塔就是豎立在西湖邊上的雷峰塔。幼年的魯迅聽了這個故事，心里很不舒服，他深為白蛇娘娘抱不平。當時，他的唯一的希望，就是這座鎮(zhèn)壓白蛇娘娘反抗的雷峰塔快些倒掉。后來，他把這個民間故事寫在一篇反對黑暗反動統(tǒng)治的雜文里。

When Lu Xun Was a Child

As a child, Lu Xun was in the charge of a nurse called Mama Chang. She was an honest country woman. At first she must have been a young widow in the countryside, who went to town to seek a living for herself after her husband died and she lost her land. Nobody knew what her name was. As Lu Xun's grandmother called her "Achang", other people also called her by the same name. But the children usually called her "Mama Chang". She was so full of mysterious lore and had so many rules of behaviour that the children sometimes found her quite puzzling. For instance, if someone died, you should not say he was dead but "he has passed away". You should not enter a room where someone had died or a child had been born. If a grain of rice fell to the ground, you should pick it up, and the best thing was to eat it. On no account must you walk under the bamboo pole on which trousers or pants were hanging out to dry. She would not let the children get up to mischief. If they pulled up a weed or turned over a stone, she would say they were naughty and threaten to tell their mother. In the beginning, the children did not think much of her. Lu Xun was especially angry with her when she inadvertently stepped on and killed his favourite little mouse. However, one thing which unexpectedly made Lu Xun feel respect for her was that she often told the children stories of the "Long Hairs" (the Taiping Rebellion). Another thing which inspired Lu Xun with a still greater respect for her was that she was able to produce from nobody knew where an illustrated edition of the Book of Hills and Seas, which Lu Xun had been longing for day and night.
Lu Xun had been longing for an illustrated copy of the Book of Hills and Seas for sometime. The whole business started with a distant great-uncle named Yutian, who was living in the same compound. A fat and kindly old man, he liked to grow flowers such as chloranthus and jasmine. The old man was a lonely soul with no one to talk to, so he liked the children's company and often even called them his "young friends". He owned a big collection of books, one of which was called The Mirror of Flowerswith many beautiful illustrations of flowers and trees. The children found this book most attractive. But the old man told them that the illustrated edition of the Book of Hills and Seas was even more attractive, with pictures of man-faced beasts, nine-headed snakes, three-footed birds, winged men and headless monsters who used their teats as eyes... Unfortunately, he happened to have mislaid it. Eager as they were to look at the book with such strange pictures, the children did not like to press him to find it. None of the people the children asked knew where to get it, and the children had no idea where they could buy it themselves. The main street was a long way from their home, and the New Year holiday was the only time in the year when they were able to go there to look around, but during that period the bookshops were closed. As long as the children were playing, it was not so bad, but the moment they sat down they would think of the Book of Hills and Seas. Probably because Lu Xun harped on the subject so much, even Achang got wind of it and started asking what this Book of Hills and Seas was. Lu Xun then told her about it.
About a fortnight or a month later, Mama Chang came back after some leave at home and the moment she saw Lu Xun, she handed him a package. "Here, son!" she said cheerfully. "I've bought you that Book of Holy Seas with pictures." What an unexpected piece of news! To young Lu Xun it was even more thrilling than the New Year holiday or a festival. He hastened to take the package and unwrap the paper. There were four small volumes and, sure enough, the man-faced beast, the nine-headed snake... all of them were there. Although the paper was yellow and the drawings very poor — so much so that even the animals' eyes were oblong, and both the engraving and printing were very crude, nevertheless, it was Lu Xun's most treasured book. Later, in a highly impassioned essay Lu Xun paid tribute to this country woman of peasant origin and described his own deep affection for her.
The book was indeed something extraordinary. Lu Xun received it from Mama Chang's hands along with her incomparably deep affection for him. It touched the young Lu Xun more deeply than any other book he had read.
Of all the children at home, his grandmother loved Lu Xun most. On summer evenings when Lu Xun was lying on a small wooden table under an osmanthus tree to enjoy the evening cool, she would sit by the table with a palm-leaf fan in her hand. Waving the fan, she would tell him stories or ask him riddles. She was very familiar with folk tales. The cat, she said, was the tiger's teacher. Originally the tiger couldn't do anything, so he turned to the cat for help. The cat taught him how to pounce and catch his prey the way that he caught rats. After these lessons the tiger said to himself, "Now that I've mastered all the skills no other creature is a match for me except my master the cat. If I kill the cat I shall be king of the beasts." He made up his mind to do this, and was about to pounce on the cat. But the cat, knowing what he was up to, leaped up onto a tree. The tiger was left squatting below and glaring upwards. The cat had not taught all his skills: he had not taught the tiger to climb trees. His grandmother also told Lu Xun the story "Flooding Jinshan Monastery". A man named Xu Xian rescued two snakes, one white and one green. The white snake changed into a woman to repay Xu's kindness and married him, while the green snake changed into her maid and accompanied her. A Buddhist monk by the name of Fa Hai saw from Xu's face that he had been bewitched by an evil spirit, so he hid Xu behind the shrine in Jinshan Monastery, and when Lady White Snake came to look for her husband the whole place was flooded. In the end Fa Hai trapped Lady White Snake, and put her in a small alms-bowl. He buried this bowl in the ground, and built a pagoda over it to prevent her getting out. This was Leifeng Pagoda by West Lake. The story made young Lu Xun uncomfortable. He was deeply concerned at the injustice done to Lady White Snake, and his one wish at that time was for the pagoda imprisoning Lady White Snake underneath it soon to collapse. Later, Lu Xun used this folktale in an essay opposing the reactionary rule of the forces of darkness.

《幼年魯迅》摘自王士菁（1918—　）著《魯迅傳》一書（1959年初版）。作者為魯迅研究專家，江蘇沭陽人，1943年畢業(yè)于西南聯(lián)大中文系，建國后曾任人民文學出版社副總編輯。

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