"It is the only thing left for us to do, Sire," said the Unicorn. He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go on alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil came of their rashness in the end.
“陛下,留给我们去干的,只有这一件事情了。”独角兽说道。在这个时刻里,他并没看到他俩单独前往是多么愚蠢;国王也没看到这问题。他们太愤怒了,因而头脑就糊涂了,然而,他们的鲁莽招来了许许多多的灾难。
Suddenly the King leaned hard on his friend's neck and bowed his head.
国王突然紧靠在他朋友的脖子上,低下头来。
"Jewel," he said, "what lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before today we should have been happy."
“珍宝,”他说道,“摆在我们面前的是什么光景?我的心里涌起了可怕的思想。如果我们在今天之前死去,我们倒幸福了。”
"Yes," said Jewel. "We have lived too long. The worst thing in the world has come upon us." They stood like that for a minute or two and then went on.
“是啊,”珍宝说,“我们已经活得太长久了。世界上最糟糕的事情临到我们头上啦。”他们这样站立了一两分钟,然后又继续前进。
Before long they could hear the hack-hack-hack of axes falling on timber, though they could see nothing yet because there was a rise of the ground in front of them. When they had reached the top of it they could see right into Lantern Waste itself. And the King's face turned white when he saw it.
过了不久,他们便听到斧头乱劈乱砍木材的乒乒乓乓的声音,尽管由于前边土地隆起,他们还什么也看不见。及至他们到达隆起的高处,他们就能一览无遗地望见灯柱野林。国王看在眼里,气得脸都发白了。
Right through the middle of that ancient forest - that forest where the trees of gold and of silver had once grown and where a child from our world had once planted the Tree of Protection - a broad lane had already been opened. It was a hideous lane like a raw gash in the land, full of muddy ruts where felled trees had been dragged down to the river. There was a great crowd of people at work, and a cracking of whips, and horses tugging and straining as they dragged at the logs. The first thing that struck the King and the Unicorn was that about half the people in the crowd were not Talking Beasts but Men. The next thing was that these men were not the fair-haired men of Narnia: they were dark, bearded men from Calormen, that great and cruel country that lies beyond Archenland across the desert to the south. There was no reason, of course, why one should not meet a Calormene or two in Narnia - a merchant or an ambassador - for there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those days. But Tirian could notunderstand why there were so many of them: nor why they were cutting down a Narnian forest. He grasped his sword tighter and rolled his cloak round his left arm. They came quickly down among the men.
贯穿古老的森林,已经开辟出了一条宽阔的通道。那可是一度生长过金树银树的森林,而我们这个世界里的一个孩子也曾在那儿种了一棵“保护之树”。这是一条叫人厌恶的通道,仿佛是土地上新裂开来的一道豁口,充满了树木拖到河边去时沿路留下的瘾迹。有一大群人在那儿干活,马鞭子嚼嚼啪啪地响,马儿拖动木头时拉拉扯扯,使出了九牛二虎之力。引起国王和独角兽注意的第一件事情是:人群中大半数都不是会说人话的马儿,倒是人。第二件事情是;这些人都不是金发白皮肤的纳尼亚人,他们都是来自卡乐门王国的黑皮肤大胡子大汉。卡乐门是个残酷的大国,位于阿钦兰背后、大沙漠之南。当然啦,没有理由不该在纳尼亚碰到一两个卡乐门人——个商人或是一个大使——因为在这些日子里,纳尼亚王国和卡乐门王国是和平相处的。然而蒂莲不明白,为什么竟有那么多的卡乐门人,现在他们为什么正在砍伐一片纳尼亚的森林。他紧握着他的剑,把他的外套卷在左臂上。他俩迅速来到这些人中间。
Two Calormenes were driving a horse which was harnessed to a log. Just as the King reached them the log had got stuck in a bad muddy place.
两个卡乐门人正鞭策着一匹拉着木头的马儿。国王刚走到他们跟前时,木头正陷在一个糟糕的泥坑里。
"Get on, son of sloth! Pull, you lazy pig!" cried the Calormenes, cracking their whips. The horse was already straining himself as hard as he could; his eyes were red and he was covered with foam.
“走呀,懒惰崽子!拉呀,你这懒猪!”卡乐门人暗暗啪啪挥舞着鞭子,大声喊道。马儿已经拼命用劲拉了,它眼睛发红,浑身冒着汗水。
"Work, lazy brute," shouted one of the Calormenes: and as he spoke he struck the horse savagely with his whip. It was then that the really dreadful thing happened.
“干活呀,懒惰的畜生!”一个卡乐门人一边嚷嚷,一边用马鞭子野蛮地鞭打着马儿。就是在这个时候,真正可怕的事情发生了。
Up till now Tirian had taken it for granted that the horses which the Calormenes were driving were their own horses; dumb, witless animals like the horses of our own world. And though he hated to see even a dumb horse overdriven, he was of course thinking more about the murder of the Trees. It had never crossed his mind that anyone would dare to harness one of the free Talking Horses of Narnia, much less to use a whip on it. But as that savage blow fell the horse reared up and said, half screaming:
直到此刻为止,国王蒂莲想当然地认为卡乐门人驱策的马儿是他们自己的马儿,是哑口无言的毫无智慧的牲口,就像我们这个世界的马儿一样。虽然他不愿看到哪怕是一匹哑巴马儿过分受到虐待,他想得更多的当然是神圣树木的被谋害。他从来没有想到竟有人大胆逼迫自由的会说人话的纳尼亚马儿拉木头,更不会想到会有人用鞭子抽打纳尼亚马儿。但,当那野蛮的鞭子打下来时,马儿用后腿站了起来,一半儿像是叫喊地说道!
"Fool and tyrant! Do you not see I am doing all I can?"
“傻瓜和暴君!难道你没看见我正全力以赴吗?”
When Tirian knew that the Horse was one of his own Narnians, there came over him and over Jewel such a rage that they did not know what they were doing. The King's sword went up, the Unicorn's horn went down. They rushed forward together. Next moment both the Calormenes lay dead, the one beheaded by Tirian's sword and the other gored through the heart by Jewel's horn.
当国王蒂莲知道这马儿是一头他自己国家里的纳尼亚马时,一股怒气冲上他和独角兽的心头,弄得他们不知道自己正在干什么。国王的剑举了起来,独角兽的角往下直恨。他俩一起跑上前去。两个卡乐门人随即倒下死了,一个被蒂莲的剑砍掉了脑袋,另一个被珍宝的独角刺穿了心脏。