纳尼亚传奇的书评 《魔法师的外甥》第71期:栽树(5)

《魔法师的外甥》第71期:栽树(5)  

"I - I nearly ate one myself
Aslan
" said Digory. "Would I -"
"You would
child
" said Aslan. "For the fruit always works - it must work - but it does not work happily for any who pluck it at their own will. If any Narnian
unbidden
had stolen an apple and planted it here to protect Narnia
it would have protected Narnia. But it would have done so by making Narnia into another strong and cruel empire like Charn
not the kindly land I mean it to be. And the Witch tempted you to do another thing
my son
did she not?"
"Yes
Aslan. She wanted me to take an apple home to Mother."
"Understand
then
that it would have healed her; but not to your joy or hers. The day would have e when both you and she would have looked back and said it would have been better to die in that illness."
And Digory could say nothing
for tears choked him and he gave up all hopes of saving his Mother's life; but at the same time he knew that the Lion knew what would have happened
and that there might be things more terrible even than losing someone you love by death. But now Aslan was speaking again
almost in a whisper:
"That is what would have happened
child
with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now. What I give you now will bring joy. It will not
in your world
give endless life
but it will heal. Go. Pluck her an apple from the Tree."
For a second Digory could hardly understand. It was as if the whole world had turned inside out and upside down. And then
like someone in a dream
he was walking across to the Tree
and the King and Queen were cheering him and all the creatures were cheering too. He plucked the apple and put it in his pocket. Then he came back to Aslan.
"Please
" he said
"may we go home now?" He had fotten to say "Thank you"
but he meant it
and Aslan understood.
“我——我自己差点儿吃了一个，阿斯兰。”迪格雷说，“我——我会……?”
“你会的，孩子，”阿斯兰说，“因为苹果总是要起作用的——必须起作用——但不会对那些为了自己的私欲而摘它的人有好结果。如果任何一位纳尼亚公民不听劝告，偷一个苹果，然后栽在这里保卫纳尼亚，当然它就会保卫纳尼亚。但是，它会把纳尼亚变成恰恩那样强大而残酷的帝国，而不是我所希望的这种友爱的国家。女巫还诱惑你干另一件事，不是吗，我的孩子?”
“是的，阿斯兰。她要我摘一个苹果带回家给妈妈。”
“要知道，这也会治好她的病，但不会给你或她带来欢乐。如果你那样做了，总有一天，你和她回想起这件事时，会说，当初还不如病死的好。”
眼中的泪水噎得迪格雷说不出话来。他放弃了救妈妈性命的全部希望；但同时他也明白，狮子对于会发生的一切都了如指掌，也许有些事情比一个你所爱的人去世还要可怕。这时，阿斯兰又说：
“如果偷一个苹果，结果就和我刚刚说的那样。但现在不会发生这样的事。我现在给你的苹果会带来欢乐。在你们的世界里，它不会使人长生不老，但能够治病。去吧，从树上摘一个苹果给你妈妈。”
一时间，迪格雷简直被弄糊涂了。好像整个世界都颠倒混乱了。然后，他仿佛做梦一样，向那棵树走去，国王和王后为他欢呼，动物们也都为他欢呼。他摘下苹果，放进口袋，回到阿斯兰身边。.
“对不起，”他说，“我们可以回家了吗?”他忘了说“谢谢”，但他有这个意思，而阿斯兰也理解他。