可笑吧蒙面唱将第几期 《能言马与男孩》第84期:可笑的拉巴达什(3)

《能言马与男孩》第84期:可笑的拉巴达什(3)  

They couldn't help it. Rabadash had been wagging his ears all the time and as soon as Aslan said
"The hour has struck!" the ears began to change. They grew longer and more pointed and soon were covered with grey hair. And while everyone was wondering where they had seen ears like that before
Rabadash's face began to change too. It grew longer
and thicker at the top and larger eyed
and the nose sank back into the face (or else the face swelled out and became all nose) and there was hair all over it. And his arms grew longer and came down in front of him till his hands were resting on the ground: only they weren't hands
now
they were hoofs. And he was standing on all fours
and his clothes disappeared
and everyone laughed louder and louder (because they couldn't help it) for now what had been Rabadash was
simply and unmistakably
a donkey. The terrible thing was that his human speech lasted just a moment longer than his human shape
so that when he realized the change that was ing over him
he screamed out:
"Oh
not a Donkey! Mercy! If it were even a horse - e'en - a hor - eeh - auh
eeh-auh." And so the words died away into a donkey's bray.
"Now hear me
Rabadash
" said Aslan. "Justice shall be mixed with mercy. You shall not always be an Ass."
“拉巴达什，你听着。”阿斯兰说道，”公正的审判里将包含着大慈大悲。你将来不会永远是头驴子的。”
At this of course the Donkey itched its ears forward and that also was so funny that everybody laughed all the more. They tried not to
but they tried in vain.
"You have appealed to Tash
" said Aslan. "And in the temple of Tash you shall be healed. You must stand before the altar of Tash in Tashbaan at the great Autumn Feast this year and there
in the sight of all Tashbaan
your ass's shape will fall from you and all men will know you for Prince Rabadash. But as long as you live
if ever you go more than ten miles away from the great temple in Tashbaan you shall instantly bee again as you now are. And from that second change there will be no return."
There was a short silence and then they all stirred and looked at one another as if they were waking from sleep. Aslan was gone. But there was a brightness in the air and on the grass
and a joy in their hearts
which assured them that he had been no dream: and anyway
there was the donkey in front of them.
King Lune was the kindest-hearted of men and on seeing his enemy in this regrettable condition he fot all his anger.
"Your royal Highness
" he said. "I am most truly sorry that things have e to this extremity. Your Highness will bear witness that it was none of our doing. And of course we shall be delighted to provide your Highness with shipping back to Tashbaan for the - er - treatment which Aslan has prescribed. You shall have every fort which your Highness's situation allows: the best of the cattleboats - the freshest carrots and thistles -"
But a deafening bray from the Donkey and a well-aimed kick at one of the guards made it clear that these kindly offers were ungratefully received.
And here
to get him out of the way
I'd better finish off the story of Rabadash. He (or it) was duly sent back by boat to Tashbaan and brought into the temple of Tash at the great Autumn Festival
and then he became a man again. But of course four or five thousand people had seen the transformation and the affair could not possibly be hushed up. And after the old Tisroc's death when Rabadash became Tisroc in his place he turned out the most peaceable Tisroc Calormen had ever known. This was because
not daring to go more than ten miles from Tashbaan
he could never go on a war himself: and he didn't want his Tarkaans to win fame in the wars at his expense
for that is the way Tisrocs get overthrown. But though his reasons were selfish
it made things much more fortable for all the smaller countries round Calormen. His own people never fot that he had been a donkey. During his reign
and to his face
he was called Rabadash the Peacemaker
but after his death and behind his back he was called Rabadash the Ridiculous
and if you look him up in a good History of Calormen (try the local library) you will find him under that name. And to this day in Calormene schools
if you do anything unusually stupid
you are very likely to be called "a second Rabadash".
Meanwhile at Anvard everyone was very glad that he had been disposed of before the real fun began
which was a grand feast held that evening on the lawn before the castle
with dozens of lanterns to help the moonlight. And the wine flowed and tales were told and jokes were cracked
and then silence was made and the King's poet with o fiddlers stepped out into the middle of the circle. Aravis and Cor prepared themselves to be bored
for the only poetry they knew was the Calormene kind
and you know now what that was like. But at the very first scrape of the fiddles a rocket seemed to go up inside their heads
and the poet sang the great old lay of Fair Olvin and how he fought the Giant Pire and turned him into stone (and that is the origin of Mount Pire - it was a o-headed Giant) and won the Lady Liln for his bride; and when it was over they wished it was going to begin again. And though Bree couldn't sing he told the story of the fight at Zalindreh. And Lucy told again (they had all
except Aravis and Cor
heard it many times but they all wanted it again) the tale of the Wardrobe and how she and King Edmund and Queen Susan and Peter the High King had first e into Narnia.