《魔法師的外甥》第58期:草莓遠征(2)

"Little son of Adam, you shall have help," said Aslan. He then turned to the Horse who had been standing quietly beside them all this time, swishing his tail to keep the flies off, and listening with his head on one side as if the conversation were a little difficult to understand.

"My dear," said Aslan to the Horse, "would you like to be a winged horse?"

You should have seen how the Horse shook its mane and how its nostrils widened, and the little tap it gave the ground with one back hoof. Clearly it would very much like to be a winged horse. But it only said:

"If you wish, Aslan - if you really mean - I don't know why it should be me - I'm not a very clever horse."

"Be winged. Be the father of all flying horses," roared Aslan in a voice that shook the ground. "Your name is Fledge."

The horse shied, just as it might have shied in the old, miserable days when it pulled a hansom. Then it roared. It strained its neck back as if there were a fly biting its shoulders and it wanted to scratch them. And then, just as the beasts had burst out of the earth, there burst out from the shoulders of Fledge wings that spread and grew, larger than eagles', larger than swans', larger than angels' wings in church windows. The feathers shone chestnut colour and copper colour. He gave a great sweep with them and leaped into the air.

Twenty feet above Aslan and Digory he snorted, neighed, and curvetted. Then, after circling once round them, he dropped to the earth, all four hoofs together, looking awkward and surprised, but extremely pleased.

"Is it good, Fledge?" said Aslan.

"It is very good, Aslan," said Fledge.

"Will you carry this little son of Adam on your back to the mountainvalley I spoke of?"

"What? Now? At once?" said Strawberry - or Fledge, as we must now call him - "Hurrah! Come, little one, I've had things like you on my back before. Long, long ago. When there were green fields; and sugar."

"What are the two daughters of Eve whispering about?" said Aslan, turning very suddenly on Polly and the Cabby's wife, who had in fact been making friends.

"If you please, sir," said Queen Helen (for that is what Nellie the cabman's wife now was), "I think the little girl would love to go too, if it weren't no trouble."

"What does Fledge say about that?" asked the Lion.

"Oh, I don't mind two, not when they're little ones," said Fledge. "But I hope the Elephant doesn't want to come as well."

The Elephant had no such wish, and the new King of Narnia helped both the children up: that is, he gave Digory a rough heave and set Polly as gently and daintily on the horse's back as if she were made of china and might break.

“小小的亞當的兒子，你會得到幫助的。”阿斯蘭說着轉向那匹馬。它一直靜靜地站在他們旁邊，尾巴一搖一擺地驅趕蒼蠅，偏着頭聽他們說話，似乎要理解這對話有點兒困難。

“我親愛的，”阿斯蘭對馬說，“你願意做一匹飛馬嗎？”

你要是在場的話，就能看見那匹馬鬃毛搖晃、鼻孔大張、後蹄輕輕踏地的樣子。顯然，它巴不得成爲一匹飛馬。但它只說：

“如果你希望，阿斯蘭——如果你真的想——我不明白爲什麼會選中我——我不是一匹很聰明的馬。”

“長上翅膀，成爲天下飛馬之父，”阿斯蘭大吼一聲，驚天動地，“你的名字叫弗蘭奇。”

那匹馬吃驚地倒退了一步，在它拉車的悲慘歲月裏，它可能也像今天這樣受過驚。然後，它用後腿站起來，扭着脖子，彷彿想捉住叮咬它肩膀的蒼蠅似的。接着，猶如動物們先前從地裏蹦出來一樣，弗蘭奇的肩上鑽出一對翅膀，越長越寬，越長越大，超過了鷹的翅膀、天鵝的翅膀和教堂窗戶上天使的翅膀。這對翅膀的羽毛呈栗色和銅色。

它猛地展翅，衝向空中，在阿斯蘭和迪格雷頭上二十多英尺高的空中打着響鼻、嘶鳴、騰躍。圍着他們轉了一圈後，它降落下來，四蹄一併，看上去有點兒不熟練，有點兒驚訝，但十分歡喜。

“好嗎，弗蘭奇？”阿斯蘭說。

“很好，阿斯蘭。”弗蘭奇說。

“你願意讓這個亞當的兒子騎在你背上到我說的山谷去嗎？”

“什麼？現在？馬上去？”“草莓”——或弗蘭奇——說。我們現在必須這麼稱呼它了。“快！上來吧，小個子，我以前馱過像你這樣的東西。很久以前了，在有綠色田野和糖塊的時候。”

“這兩個夏娃的女兒在悄悄說什麼？”阿斯蘭說着突然轉向波莉和馬車伕的妻子。她們兩人已經交上了朋友。

“對不起，閣下，”海倫王后(馬車伕的妻子蕾麗現在的稱呼)說，“我想，如果方便的話，這小姑娘願意跟着去。”

“弗蘭奇有何意見？”獅子問。

“噢，馱兩個孩子我不在乎，”弗蘭奇說，“但我希望大象不要上來。”

大象根本沒想上去。納尼亞的新國王幫助兩個孩子騎上馬背。當然，他將迪格雷重重地一舉，而把波莉當作一件易碎的瓷器一樣輕手輕腳地託了上去。