Chapter Eleven In The Dark Castle

第十一章 在黑暗城堡中

When the meal (which was pigeon pie, cold ham, salad, and cakes) had been brought, and all had drawn their chairs up to the table and begun, the Knight continued:

饭菜（鸽子肉馅饼、冷火腿、沙拉和蛋糕）端上来后，他们三人立刻把椅子拉近桌子大口开吃。骑士继续讲道：

"You must understand, friends, that I know nothing of who I was and whence I came into this Dark World.

“朋友们，你们必须理解我刚来地下王国时根本不知道自己是谁，自己是从何处来此的。

I remember no time when I was not dwelling, as now, at the court of this all but heavenly Queen; but my thought is that she saved me from some evil enchantment and brought me hither of her exceeding bounty. (Honest Frogfoot, your cup is empty. Suffer me to refill it.)

我记不得自己住进女王宫殿之前的事，但我想她肯定是把我从什么邪恶的魔法中救了出来，然后带到自己的宫殿，我觉得这种可能性比较大。这真是慷慨的救助啊。——正直的青蛙，你的酒杯空了，让我再为你斟满吧。

And this seems to me the likelier because even now I am bound by a spell, from which my Lady alone can free me.

因为直到现在，我仍被一种邪恶的力量所控制，只有女王陛下才能拯救我。

Every night there comes an hour when my mind is most horribly changed, and, after my mind, my body.

这种邪恶的魔法每晚都要发作，每次大约一小时。届时，我的意识将完全转移，接着身体也不听使唤。

For first I become furious and wild and would rush upon my dearest friends to kill them, if I were not bound.

首先，我会变得脾气暴躁，性情狂野，如果不被绑，甚至会冲到好朋友面前把他们统统杀掉。

And soon after that, I turn into the likeness of a great serpent, hungry, fierce, and deadly.

之后，我很有可能会变成一条蛇，饥肠辘辘，残忍无比，危及他人生命。

(Sir, be pleased to take another breast of pigeon, I entreat you.) So they tell me, and they certainly speak truth, for my Lady says the same.

——先生，我请求您再吃块鸽子肉馅饼吧。——以上这些都是洞穴人告诉我的，这肯定是真话，因为女王陛下也这样说。

I myself know nothing of it, for when my hour is past I awake forgetful of all that vile fit and in my proper shape and sound mind—saving that I am somewhat wearied.

反正我自己是一点都想不起来，因为发作期结束后，我就会恢复正常，根本不记得自己邪恶时是什么样子，只是感觉有点累。

(Little lady, eat one of these honey cakes, which are brought for me from some barbarous land in the far south of the world.)

——小女士，吃一块蜂蜜蛋糕吧，那可是他们特意从世界最南端的荒蛮之地给我带来的。

Now the Queen's majesty knows by her art that I shall be freed from this enchantment when once she has made me king of a land in the Overworld and set its crown upon my head.

——现在，女王陛下终于知道只有占领地上世界的一块土地并让我在那里称王，我才能摆脱邪恶魔法。当王冠戴在头上的那一刻魔法就会彻底消失。

The land is already chosen and the very place of our breaking out. Her Earthmen have worked day and night digging a way beneath it, and have now gone so far and so high that they tunnel not a score of feet beneath the very grass on which the Updwellers of that country walk.

据说土地已经选好，现在就等大军破土而出了。洞穴人正夜以继日地挖隧道，深度和高度已经快到位了，如今隧道离那块地表面的草皮只差二十英尺。

It will be very soon now that those Uplanders' fate will come upon them. She herself is at the diggings tonight, and I expect a message to go to her.

那些居民的命运很快就要转变了。今晚连女王自己也加入了施工大队，我正想派信使去找她呢。

Then the thin roof of earth which still keeps me from my kingdom will be broken through, and with her to guide me and a thousand Earthmen at my back, I shall ride forth in arms,

不久，那块将我与我的王国隔开的地皮就要被掀开，在女王的带领下，我将率领一千名洞穴人冲击而出，

fall suddenly on our enemies, slay their chief men, cast down their strong places, and doubtless be their crowned king within four and twenty hours."

给敌人突然一击，杀死敌军主帅，推倒他们的坚固工事，只需一天，我就将成为那里的国王。”

"It's a bit rough luck on them, isn't it?" said Scrubb. "Thou art a lad of a wondrous, quick-working wit!" exclaimed the Knight. "For, on my honour, I had never thought of it so before. I see your meaning."

“那帮人够倒霉的，不是吗？”斯库波说。“你这家伙反应够快，够敏捷的！”骑士呼喊道，“我发誓，我以前从没想过这个问题。我明白你的意思。”

He looked slightly, very slightly troubled for a moment or two; but his face soon cleared and he broke out, with another of his loud laughs,

骑士稍稍皱眉，思考了一下，只是一下而已；但很快，他的脸就舒展了，然后大声笑着说道，

"But fie on gravity! Is it not the most comical and ridiculous thing in the world to think of them all going about their business and never dreaming that under their peaceful fields and floors, only a fathom down, there is a great army ready to break out upon them like a fountain!

“呸！别装得一本正经！这难道不是最有趣可笑的事吗？想象一下，人们正在各忙各的，根本想不到在这片平静的土地下，就在几英尺之下，一只大军马上就要破土而出，和喷泉似的！

And they never to have suspected! Why, they themselves, when once the first smart of their defeat is over, can hardly choose but laugh at the thought!"

他们真是做梦都想不到！一旦打了败仗，这些人也就只能接受现实了。”

"I don't think it's funny at all," said Jill. "I think you'll be a wicked tyrant." "What?" said the Knight, still laughing and patting her head in a quite infuriating fashion.

“我不认为这有什么好笑的。”吉尔说，“你一定是个残忍的暴君。”“什么？”骑士大笑着说，一边拍拍吉尔的头，他拍人的方式可真让人冒火，

"Is our little maid a deep politician? But never fear, sweetheart. In ruling that land, I shall do all by the counsel of my Lady, who will then be my Queen too. Her word shall be my law, even as my word will be law to the people we have conquered."

“我们的小女士还真是个深沉的政治家呢，不是吗？但别害怕，亲爱的。在治理国家上，我一定会遵循女王陛下的意见，到那时她就是我的王后了。她说的话就是我的圣旨，就像我的话就是臣民们的圣旨一样。”

"Where I come from," said Jill, who was disliking him more every minute, "they don't think much of men who are bossed about by their wives."

“在我们那儿，”吉尔越来越不喜欢骑士，她说，“怕老婆的男人都会受人鄙视。”

"Shalt think otherwise when thou hast a man of thine own, I warrant you," said the Knight, apparently thinking this very funny.

“你有男朋友就不这么想了，我保证。”骑士说，很显然，他觉得吉尔的言论很滑稽，

"But with my Lady, it is another matter. I am well content to live by her word, who has already saved me from a thousand dangers.

“但我的女王另当别论。我非常高兴能听从她的指示，因为正是她数次救我于危难之中。

No mother has taken pains more tenderly for her child, than the Queen's grace has for me.

她对我简直比妈妈对孩子还要温柔。你们看，她简直对我关怀备至。

Why, look you, amid all her cares and business, she rideth out with me in the Overworld many a time and oft to accustom my eyes to the sunlight.

举个例子，女王陛下总带我去陆地上骑马，为了让我的双眼尽快适应阳光。