兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第四冊 Pirates Past Noon 10

10.又見寶藏

安妮最先會過神來。“你就是那個代號為M的人嗎?”她小聲問。

“是的，我就是。”摩根說。

“你是從哪兒來的呢?”杰克問。

“你們聽說過亞瑟王嗎?”摩根問他們。

杰克點了點頭。

“那好，我就是亞瑟王的姐姐。”摩根說。

“你是從卡米洛特王國來?”杰克說，“我們是從書中得知卡米洛特王國的。”

“書中關于我都寫了些什么呢，杰克?”摩根問。

“你，你是個女巫。”

摩根笑了，“書上寫的東西你不能全信，杰克。”

“那你是魔術師嗎?”安妮問。

“人們都叫我魔法師。但我還是個圖書管理員。”摩根說。

“圖書管理員?”安妮問。

“對呀。我來到你們的時代——20世紀，是為了收集圖書。能生在這樣一個書籍豐富的時代真是你們的幸運啊!”

“是為卡米洛特王國圖書館收集圖書嗎?”杰克問。

“正是。”摩根說，“我乘坐這個樹屋，穿越時空，滿世界地收集圖書。”

“那你在這兒找到書了嗎?”杰克問。

“找到啦!這兒有許多有趣的書呢!我想把它們借出去，讓我們的抄書吏抄下來。”

“是你在這些書里放的書簽嗎?”

“對。你看，我喜歡這些書里的圖片。有時候我想去畫里看看，所以，這些書簽所在的位置都是我想去的地方。”

“那你怎么去那兒呢?”安妮問。

“我對樹屋施魔法呀!”摩根說，“只要我指著圖片許個愿，樹屋就會把我?guī)У侥莾豪病?rdquo;

“我想你把這個落在恐龍時代了。”杰克說。

他把金牌交給摩根。

“噢，謝謝你!我都想不起來在哪兒掉的了。”她說。她把金牌放進披風的暗袋里。

“那是不是什么人都可以對樹屋施魔法呢?”安妮問，“不論什么人，一試就靈嗎?”

“噢，當然不是什么人都可以的。”摩根說，“你們兩個是除我以外唯一可以施魔法的人。除了你們，還沒人看見過我的樹屋呢!”

“樹屋是一般人看不見的嗎?”安妮問。

“那當然。”摩根說，“我原以為樹屋是不會被發(fā)現的，誰知道你們兩個來了，怎么一下就掌握了我的魔法。”

“怎么會呢?”杰克問。

“我想這有兩個原因。”摩根解釋說，“首先，安妮是相信有魔法的，所以她能看見樹屋。而她的堅信也幫助你，杰克，你也看到了樹屋。”

“哦，是這樣啊。”杰克說。

“然后杰克你拿起一本書。因為你那么愛書，所以使我的魔法起了作用。”

“噢!”安妮說。

“你們知道當你們要去恐龍時代時我有多驚愕嗎?我不得不迅速地作出決定，與你們一同去。”

“噢，那么說你就是那只翼龍!”安妮說。

摩根笑了笑。

“那只貓、那位騎士和波利也是你裝的啰?”安妮問。

“沒錯!”摩根輕聲說。

“您裝扮成所有這些是來幫助我們的嗎?”杰克問。

“對。但是現在我要回去了，卡米洛特王國的人民需要我的幫助。”

“你這就要走了嗎?”杰克小聲說。

“恐怕是的。”摩根說。

她撿起杰克的背包遞給他。杰克和安妮拿起他們的雨衣。雨已經停了。

“你不會忘記我們的吧?”安妮一邊穿雨衣一邊問。

“永遠不會。”摩根沖他們兩個笑著說，“你們倆兒與我很像。安妮，你喜歡不可能的事;杰克，你熱愛知識。還有比你們兩個更好的組合嗎?”

摩根·拉菲溫柔地摸了摸安妮和杰克的額頭，笑了。

“再見。”她說。

“再見。”杰克和安妮說。

安妮率先離開樹屋，杰克緊隨其后。他們最后一次爬下繩梯。

他們站在橡樹下抬頭向上看，只見摩根正在窗前目送著他們，她那長長的白發(fā)在風中飄動著。

突然，風吹了起來。

樹葉開始顫動。

到處響起狂風呼嘯的聲音。

杰克捂住耳朵，緊閉雙眼。

然后一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜。

杰克張開他的眼睛，發(fā)現樹屋不見了，全沒有了。

安妮和杰克站了好一會兒，呆呆地看著空空的橡樹，聽著周圍一片寂靜。

安妮嘆了口氣，輕聲說，“咱們走吧。”

杰克只點了點頭，難過得說不出話來。他們往回走時他把手伸進口袋，他感到里面有什么東西，拿出來的是那只金牌。“看!”他說，“它怎么會……”

安妮笑了。“一定是摩根放進去的!”她說。

“但她怎么放進去的呢?”

“魔法唄。”安妮說，“我覺得這說明她還會回來的。”

杰克笑了。他緊緊攥著金牌，與安妮一起走出潮濕、但陽光明媚的森林。

一路上，陽光透過樹林，使?jié)皲蹁醯娜~子發(fā)出熠熠光芒。

樹葉、樹枝、水坑、樹叢、青草、藤蔓、野花——都在像珠寶一樣閃閃發(fā)光。

或者說在像金子一樣地閃爍著。

安妮是對的，杰克想。

“別管那個珠寶箱!”

他們家就有寶藏，無盡的寶藏!而且到處都是!

10 Treasure Again

Annie found her voice first. “The M person，” she whispered.

“Yes. I’m the M person，” said Morgan.

“Wh-where are you from?” asked Jack.

“Have you ever heard of King Arthur?” said Morgan.

Jack nodded.

“Well， I am King Arthur’s sister，” said Morgan.

“You’re from Camelot，” said Jack.“I’ve read about Camelot.”

“What did you read about me， Jack?” said Morgan.

“You—you’re a witch.”

Morgan smiled.“You can’t believe everything you read， Jack.”

“But are you a magician?” said Annie.

“Most call me an enchantress. But I’m also a librarian，” said Morgan.

“A librarian?” said Annie.

“Yes. And I’ve come to the 20th century， your time， to collect books.You are lucky to be born in a time with so many books.”

“For the Camelot library?” asked Jack.

“Precisely，” said Morgan. “I travel in this tree house to collect words from many different places around the world.And from many different time periods.”

“Did you find books here?” said Jack.

“Oh yes.Many wonderful books.I want to borrow them for our scribes to copy.”

“Did you put all the bookmarks in them?” said Jack.

“Yes. You see， I like the pictures in the books.Sometimes I want to visit the scenes in the pictures.So all the bookmarks mark places I wish to go.”

“How do you get there?” asked Annie.

“I placed a spell on the tree house，” said Morgan.“So when I point to a picture and make the wish， the tree house takes me there.”

“I think you dropped this in dinosaur times，” said Jack.

He handed the gold medallion to Morgan.

“Oh， thank you!I wondered where I’d lost it，” she said. She put the medallion into a hidden pocket in her cape.

“So can anybody work the spell?” asked Annie. “Anybody who tries it?”

“Oh dear，no!Not just anybody，” Morgan said. “You two are the only ones besides me to do it.No one else has ever even seen my tree house before.”

“Is it invisible?” asked Annie.

“Yes，” said Morgan. “I had no idea it would ever be discovered. But then you two came along.Somehow you hooked right into my magic.”

“H-how?” asked Jack.

“Well， for two reasons， I think，” explained Morgan. “First， Annie believes in magic. So she actually saw the tree house. And her belief helped you to see it， Jack.”

“Oh man，” said Jack.

“Then you picked up a book， Jack. And because you love books so much， you caused my magic spell to work.”

“Wow，” said Annie.

“You can’t imagine my dismay when you started to take off for dinosaur times. I had to make a very quick decision. And I decided to come along.”

“Oh， so you were the pteranodon!” said Annie.

Morgan smiled.

“And the cat and the knight and Polly!” said Annie.

“Yes，” said Morgan softly.

“You were all these things to help us?” asked Jack.

“Yes， but I must go home now. The people in Camelot need my help.”

“You’re leaving?” whispered Jack.

“I’m afraid I must，” said Morgan.

She picked up Jack’s backpack and handed it to him. Jack and Annie picked up their raincoats. It had stopped raining.

“You won’t forget us， will you?” asked Annie， as they put their raincoats on.

“Never，” said Morgan. She smiled at both of them.“You remind me too much of myself.You love the impossible， Annie. And you love knowledge， Jack. What better combination is there?”

Morgan le Fay touched Annie’s forehead gently. And then Jack’s. She smiled.

“Good-bye，” she said.

“Good-bye，” said Annie and Jack.

Annie left the tree house first. Jack followed.They climbed down the rope ladder for the last time.

They stood below the oak tree and looked up.

Morgan was looking out the window. Her long white hair blew in the breeze.

Suddenly the wind began to blow.

The leaves began to shake.

A loud whistling sound filled the air.

Jack covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.

Then everything was silent.

Absolutely silent.

Jack opened his eyes.

The tree house was gone.

All gone.

Absolutely gone.

Annie and Jack stood a moment， staring up at the empty oak tree. Listening to the silence.

Annie sighed. “Let’s go，” she said softly.

Jack just nodded. He felt too sad to speak. As they started walking，he put his hands into his pockets.

He felt something.

Jack pulled out the gold medallion.“Look!” he said. “How did—?”

Annie smiled.“Morgan must have put it there，” she said.

“But how?”

“Magic，” said Annie. “I think it means she’ll be coming back.”

Jack smiled. He clutched the medallion as he and Annie took off through the wet， sunny woods.

As they walked， the sun shined through the woods. And all the wet leaves sparkled.

Everything， in fact， was shining.

Leaves， branches， puddles， bushes， grass， vines， wild flowers—all glittered like jewels.

Or gleamed like gold.

Annie had been right， thought Jack.

Forget the treasure chest.

They had treasure at home. A ton of it. Everywhere.