《能言馬與男孩》第23期:在塔什班城門口(5)
"Oh Corin, Corin, how could you? And thou and I such close friends ever since thy mother died. And what should I have said to thy royal father if I came home without thee? Would have been a cause almost of war between Archenland and Narnia which are friends time out of mind. It was naught, playmate, very naught of thee to use us so."
"Apparently," thought Shasta to himself, "I'm being mistaken for a prince of Archenland, wherever that is. And these must be the Narnians. I wonder where the real Corin is?" But these thoughts did not help him say anything out loud.
"Where hast been, Corin?" said the lady, her hands still on Shasta's shoulders.
"I- I don't know," stammered Shasta.
"There it is, Susan," said the King. "I could get no tale out of him, true or false."
"Your Majesties! Queen Susan! King Edmund!" said a voice: and when Shasta turned to look at the speaker he nearly jumped out of his skin with surprise. For this was one of these queer people whom he had noticed out of the corner of his eye when he first came into the room. He was about the same height as Shasta himself. From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were hairy like a goat's, and shaped like a goat's and he had goat's hooves and a tail. His skin was rather red and he had curly hair and a short pointed beard and two little horns. He was in fact a Faun, which is a creature Shasta had never seen a picture of or even heard of. And if you've read a book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe you may like to know that this was the very same Faun, Tumnus by name, whom Queen Susan's sister Lucy had met on the very first day when she found her way into Narnia. But he was a good deal older now for by this time Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy had been Kings and Queens of Narnia for several years.
"Your Majesties," he was saying, "His little Highness has had a touch of the sun. Look at him! He is dazed. He does not know where he is."
Then of course everyone stopped scolding Shasta and asking him questions and he was made much of and laid on a sofa and cushions were put under his head and he was given iced sherbet in a golden cup to drink and told to keep very quiet.
Nothing like this had ever happened to Shasta in his life before. He had never even imagined lying on anything so comfortable as that sofa or drinking anything so delicious as that sherbet. He was still wondering what had happened to the others and how on earth he was going to escape and meet them at the Tombs, and what would happen when the real Corin turned up again. But none of these worries seemed so pressing now that he was comfortable. And perhaps, later on, there would be nice things to eat!
Meanwhile the people in that cool airy room were very interesting. Besides the Faun there were two Dwarfs (a kind of creature he had never seen before) and a very large Raven. The rest were all humans; grown-ups, but young, and all of them, both men and women, had nicer faces and voices than most Calormenes. And soon Shasta found himself taking an interest in the conversation.
"Now, Madam," the King was saying to Queen Susan (the lady who had kissed Shasta). "What think you? We have been in this city fully three weeks. 說Have you yet settled in your mind whether you will marry this dark-faced lover of yours, this Prince Rabadash, or no?"
“顯而易見，”沙斯塔心中想道，”我被誤認爲阿欽蘭的一個王子了，不論阿欽蘭是在哪兒。這些人必定是納尼亞人。我不知道那真正的科林在什麼地方。”但這些想法也不能幫他大聲作出任何回答來。
“你上哪兒去了，科林？”女士說道她的雙手還按在沙斯塔的肩膀上。
“我——我不知道。”沙斯塔結結巴巴地說道。
“真是毫無辦法，蘇珊，”國工說，”真話也好，假話也好，我都沒有辦法叫他講出來。”
“國王陛下！女王蘇珊！國王愛德蒙！”有個聲音說道；沙斯塔轉過身來看那說話的人時，詫異得心驚肉跳。因爲說這話的人，便是他剛走進房間時從眼角里瞅見的那些古怪人物之。他跟沙斯塔一般兒高，腰部以上像個人，但腿上多毛，像只羊，他還長着羊蹄和一條羊尾巴。他的皮膚相當紅，他生着拳曲的頭髮，一把短而尖的鬍子，兩隻羊角。事實上他是個羊怪，沙斯塔從未見過這樣一個傢伙的畫像，甚至聽也沒聽人講起過。如果你讀過本書，叫做《獅子、女巫和魔衣櫃》，你倒會高興地知道他就是那個叫圖姆納斯的羊怪，女王蘇珊的妹妹露茜找到途徑進入納尼亞王國時，第一天碰到的就是他。不過，現在他比當初老得多了這時候彼得、蘇珊、愛德蒙和露茜都已經做了好幾年的納尼亞國王和女王了。
“陛下，”羊怪說道，”小王爺有點兒中暑。你瞧瞧！他迷迷糊糊的。他不知道他是在什麼地方。”
於是，大家當然不再責備他，也不再盤問他了，大家鄭重其事地對待他，把他安置在沙發上，用靠枕墊在他的腦袋後面，用金盃盛了冰凍果汁給他唱，還囑咐他要保持十分的安靜。
沙斯塔以前的生活中從來不曾發生過這樣的事。他甚至沒有夢想過躺在像那樣舒適的沙發上，沒有夢想過喝那樣美味的果汁哩。他仍舊在想另外三個碰到了什麼事，他自己究竟要怎樣脫身，到古老墳場上去和他們相會，以及如果真正的科林重新出現，情況又會怎樣變化。但如今他是舒舒服服的，這些個焦慮似乎沒有件是很迫切的了。也許，不久就會有好東西可吃呢
當時在那涼爽、軒敞的房間裏的人，都是十分有趣的。在羊怪之外，還有兩個小矮人(他以前從未見過的一種人物)，和一隻很大的渡鴉。其餘的都是人，成年人，可都很年輕，他們大家，不論男女，都比大部分卡樂門人面容漂亮、聲音好聽。沙斯塔不久就發現自己對他們的談話很感興趣。
“晤，女士，”國王對女王蘇珊(就是親吻沙斯塔的那一位)說道，”你怎麼考慮的？我們在這城裏呆了足足三個星期了。你心裏還沒有打定主意是否嫁給你的這位黑臉愛慕者，這位拉巴達什王子嗎？”
