《最後一戰》第2期:大鍋深淵(2)
So Shift promised, and Puzzle went cloppety—clop on his four hoofs round the rocky edge of the Pool to find a place where he could get in. Quite apart from the cold it was no joke getting into that quivering and foaming water, and Puzzle had to stand and shiver for a whole minute before he made up his mind to do it. But then Shift called out from behind him and said: "Perhaps I'd better do it after all, Puzzle." And when Puzzle heard that he said, "No, no. you.promised. I'm in now," and in he went.
A great mass of foam got him in the face and filled his mouth with water and blinded him. Then he went under altogether for a few seconds, and when he came up again he was in quite another part of the Pool. Then the swirl caught him and carried him round and round and faster and faster till it took him right under the waterfall itself, and the force of the water plunged him down, deep down, so that he thought he would never be able to hold his breath till he came up again. And when he had come up and when at last he got somewhere near the thing he was trying to catch, it sailed away from him till it too got under the fall and was forced down to the bottom. When it came up again it was further from him than ever. But at last, when he was almost tired to death, and bruised all over and numb with cold, he succeeded in gripping the thing with his teeth. And out he came carrying it in front of him and getting his front hoofs tangled up in it, for it was as big as a large hearthrug, and it was very heavy and cold and slimy.
He flung it down in front of Shift and stood dripping and shivering and trying to get his breath back. But the Ape never looked at him or asked him how he felt. The Ape was too busy going round and round the Thing and spreading it out and patting it and smelling it. Then a wicked gleam came into his eye and he said:
"It is a lion's skin."
"Ee — auh — auh — oh, is it?" gasped Puzzle.
"Now I wonder . . . I wonder . . . I wonder," said Shift to himself, for he was thinking very hard.
"I wonder who killed the poor lion," said Puzzle presently. "It ought to be buried. We must have a funeral."
"Oh, it wasn't a Talking Lion," said Shift. "You needn't bother about that. There are no Talking Beasts up beyond the Falls, up in the Western Wild. This skin must have belonged to a dumb, wild lion."
This, by the way, was true. A Hunter, a Man, had killed and skinned this lion somewhere up in the Western Wild several months before. But that doesn't come into this story.
"All the same, Shift," said Puzzle, "even if the skin only belonged to a dumb, wild lion, oughtn't we to give it a decent burial? I mean, aren't all lions rather — well, rather solemn? Because of you know Who. Don't you see?"
"Don't you start getting ideas into your head, Puzzle," said Shift. "Because, you know, thinking isn't your strong point. We'll make this skin into a fine warm winter coat for you."
"Oh, I don't think I'd like that," said the Donkey. "It would look — I mean, the other Beasts might think — that is to say, I shouldn't feel —"
"What are you talking about?" said Shift, scratching himself the wrong way up as Apes do.
"I don't think it would be respectful to the Great Lion, to Aslan himself, if an ass like me went about dressed up in a lion—skin," said Puzzle.
"Now don't stand arguing, please," said Shift. "What does an ass like you know about things of that sort? You know you're no good at thinking, Puzzle, so why don't you let me do your thinking for you? Why don't you treat me as I treat you? I don't think I can do everything. I know you're better at some things than I am. That's why I let you go into the Pool; I knew you'd do it better than me. But why can't I have my turn when it comes to something I can do and you can't? Am I never to be allowed to do anything? Do be fair. Turn and turn about."
"Oh, well, of course, if you put it that way," said Puzzle.
"I tell you what," said Shift. "You'd better take a good brisk trot down river as far as Chippingford and see if they have any oranges or bananas."
"But I'm so tired, Shift," pleaded Puzzle.
"Yes, but you are very cold and wet," said the Ape. "You want something to warm you up. A brisk trot would be just the thing. Besides, it's market day at Chippingford today." And then of course Puzzle said he would go.
As soon as he was alone shift went shambling along, sometimes on two paws and sometimes on four, till he reached his own tree. Then he swung himself up from branch to branch, chattering and grinning all the time, and went into his little house. He found needle and thread and a big pair of scissors there; for he was a clever Ape and the Dwarfs had taught him how to sew. He put the ball of thread (it was very thick stuff, more like cord than thread) into his mouth so that his cheek bulged out as if he were sucking a big bit of toffee. He held the needle between his lips and took the scissors in his left paw. Then he came down the tree and shambled across to the lion—skin. He squatted down and got to work.
“也許壓根兒還不如我跳進水裏去的好！”迷惑聽到這話，便說道“不，不，你答應不下水的。我現在下水了。”它就跳進水裏去了。
一大片泡沫衝到迷惑的臉上，使迷惑滿嘴是水，眼睛也看不清楚。接着，它下沉了幾秒鐘，等到它重新冒出水面時，它已經到了深淵的另一部分。遊渦捲住了它，帶着它轉了又轉，轉得愈來愈快，終於把它衝到了大瀑布的正下方，瀑布的力量壓得它往下沉，沉得很深，迷惑認爲它在冒出水面之前要屏息靜氣是無能爲力了。當迷惑冒出水面，終於到了靠近那東西的地方，企圖抓住它時，它又從迷惑身邊漂開去了，它也給衝到了瀑布下方，被壓到水底裏去了。它重新浮上來時離迷惑更遠。但，最後，疲乏得要死、渾身傷痕而且冷得四肢麻木時，迷惑終於成功地用牙齒咬住了這件東西。迷惑爬出深淵，把這件東西放在前面，前蹄伸在它裏邊，使勁擡起它來，因爲這東西很大，像一塊火爐前的地毯，而且很重，很冷，很黏滑。
迷惑把這東西丟在詭譎面前的地上，它渾身滴水，格格發抖，竭力緩過氣來。但無尾猿卻瞧也不瞧它，也不問問它感覺如何。無尾猿忙於繞着這東西打轉，把它攤開來，拍拍它，聞聞它。無尾猿眼睛裏閃過一星邪惡的亮光，它說道：
“這是一張獅子的毛皮。”
“叫尹伊—奧—奧—啊，是嗎？”迷惑上氣不接下氣地說道。
“現在我很想知道……我很想知道……我很想知道。”
詭譎跟它自己說道，因爲它正在拼命思索。
“我想知道是誰殺了這可憐的獅子，”迷惑立刻說了出來，“應該把它埋葬。我們必須爲它舉行葬禮。”
“啊，它可不是一頭會說人話的獅子。”詭譎說道，“你無需爲此自找麻煩。在西部荒原裏，越過大瀑布就沒有說人話的野獸了。這張毛皮必定是屬於一頭啞巴野獅子的。”
順便說一旬，詭譎這句話倒說對了。幾個月之前，一個獵戶，一個男子漢，在西部荒原上某一個地方，殺死了這頭獅子，剝下了它的皮，但這事與這個故事不相干。
“詭譎，這可完全一樣，”迷惑說道，“即使這張皮屬於一頭啞巴野獅子，難道我們就不該爲它舉行體面的葬禮嗎？我的意思是，所有的獅子豈不——哦，豈不都是令人敬畏的嗎？你明白，這是由於誰的緣故。難道你不明白嗎？”
“迷惑啊，別讓什麼餿主意開始進入你的腦袋，”詭譎說道，“因爲，你心裏明白。思索並不是你的長處。我們要用這張獅子毛皮替你縫製一件優質的暖烘烘的冬季外套。”
“啊，我想我不會喜歡的，”驢子道，“穿上這個，我看上去就會像——我的意思是說，其他野獸會認爲——那就是說，我會感到——”
“你在說什麼呀？”詭譎一邊說，一邊像無尾猿通常所做的那樣在身上亂搔。
“如果像我這樣一頭驢子竟穿上了獅皮外套，我認爲就是對偉大的獅王，對獅王阿斯蘭不尊敬。”迷惑說道。
“哦，請你別站在那兒辯論了，”詭譎說道，“像你這樣的一頭驢子，對這種事情懂個啥？你要知道，迷惑，你在思考問題上是不行的，你幹嗎不讓我來替你思考呢？你幹嗎不像我對待你那樣對待我呢？我並不認爲我能幹好一切事情。我知道你在有些事情上比我高明。這就是我爲什麼讓你下到深淵裏去的緣故；我知道你會幹得比我好。然而，遇到我能幹而你幹不了的事情，爲什麼不該輪到我去幹呢？難道永遠不容許我去幹什麼事情嗎？要公平對待，依次輪流。
“如果你那麼說，那當然是可以的啦。”迷惑說道。
“我告訴你吧，”詭譎說道，“你最好還是沿河輕快地小跑到下游的奇賓福德去，瞧瞧可有橘子或香蕉。”
“可我疲倦極了，詭譎啊。”迷惑懇求道。
“是呀，可你又冷又溼，”無尾猿說道，“你需要能使你暖和起來的東西。輕快的小跑正好是對症下藥。何況今兒個奇賓福德還是趕集的日子哩。”於是，迷惑當然說它願意去了。
留下詭譎獨個兒時，它就拖拖沓沓地走動起來，有時兩足着地，有時四肢着地，終於爬到了它自己那棵大樹上。接着它就搖晃着身體，從這根樹枝晃到那根樹枝，口中吱吱亂叫，笑得牙齒都露了出來，最後它走進了它那築在丫枝上的小屋子。它在屋子裏找到了針、線和一把大剪刀；因爲它是頭聰明的無尾猿，小矮人們教過它如何縫製衣服。它把一團紗線(那可是很粗的貨色，與其說是像線，不如說是像繩子)塞進嘴巴里，它的兩頰便鼓了起來，彷彿喝了一大口咖啡似的。它把針咬在上下嘴脣之間，用左爪拿着剪刀，然後它就爬下樹來，蹣跚地向獅子毛皮走去。它蹲下來幹活。
