Chapter 2: The Council Of Elrond

Chapter 2 THE COUNCIL OF ELROND Next day Frodo woke early, feeling refreshed and well. He walked along the terraces above the loud-flowing Bruinen and watched the pale, cool sun rise above the far mountains, and shine down, slanting through the thin silver mist; the dew upon the yellow leaves was glimmering, and the woven nets of gossamer twinkled on every bush. Sam walked beside him, saying nothing, but sniffing the air, and looking every now and again with wonder in his eyes at the great heights in the East. The snow was white upon their peaks. On a seat cut in the stone beside a turn in the path they came upon Gandalf and Bilbo deep in talk. ‘Hullo! Good morning!’ said Bilbo. ‘Feel ready for the great council?’ ‘I feel ready for anything,’ answered Frodo. ‘But most of all I should like to go walking today and explore the valley. I should like to get into those pine-woods up there.’ He pointed away far up the side of Rivendell to the north. “You may have a chance later,’ said Gandalf. ‘But we cannot make any plans yet. There is much to hear and decide today.’ Suddenly as they were talking a single clear bell rang out. “That is the warning bell for the Council of Elrond,’ cried Gandalf. ‘Come along now! Both you and Bilbo are wanted.’ Frodo and Bilbo followed the wizard quickly along the winding path back to the house; behind them, uninvited and for the moment forgotten, trotted Sam. Gandalf led them to the porch where Frodo had found his friends the evening before. The light of the clear autumn morning was now glowing in the valley. The noise of bubbling waters came up from the foaming river-bed. Birds were singing, and a wholesome peace lay on the land. To Frodo his dangerous flight, and the rumours of the darkness growing in the world outside, already seemed only the memories of a troubled dream; but the faces that were turned to meet them as they entered were grave. Elrond was there, and several others were seated in silence about him. Frodo saw Glorfindel and Gloin; and in a corner alone Strider was sitting, clad in his old travel-worn clothes again. Elrond drew Frodo to a seat by his side, and presented him to the company, saying: ‘Here, my friends, is the hobbit, Frodo son of Drogo. Few have

第二章 愛隆的會議 隔天，佛羅多起得很早，感覺神清氣爽，身體也很好。他沿著喧騰的布魯南河上方的平台散步，看著蒼白而清涼的太陽從遠山升起，斜斜地穿過薄薄的銀色霧氣灑下光芒；黃葉上的露珠閃閃發光，每叢灌木上交織的蛛網也晶晶亮亮。山姆走在他身旁，一語不發，只是嗅著空氣，時不時用充滿驚奇的眼神望著東方的高聳山脈。山峰上覆蓋著白雪。在路徑轉彎處一塊石頭鑿成的座位上，他們撞見甘道夫和比爾博正在深談。「哈囉！早安！」比爾博說。「準備好參加那場重要的會議了嗎？」「我準備好面對任何事了，」佛羅多回答。「但我最想做的，是今天去散散步，探索一下這個山谷。我想去那上面的松樹林裡走走。」他指向遠方瑞文戴爾北邊的山坡。「你之後或許有機會，」甘道夫說。「但我們現在還不能做任何計畫。今天有很多事要聽，也要決定。」他們正說著話，突然一聲清脆的鐘響傳來。「那是愛隆會議的預備鐘聲，」甘道夫喊道。「快來吧！你和比爾博都被點名了。」佛羅多和比爾博跟著巫師快步沿著蜿蜒的小徑回到屋子；在他們身後，未受邀請且暫時被遺忘的山姆小跑步跟著。甘道夫帶他們到前一天晚上佛羅多找到朋友們的門廊。清朗秋晨的光芒此刻正照耀著山谷。潺潺水聲從泡沫翻騰的河床傳來。鳥兒在歌唱，一片有益身心的寧靜籠罩著大地。對佛羅多而言，他那危險的逃亡，以及外界黑暗勢力日益增長的謠言，似乎都已只是一場惡夢的記憶；但當他們進去時，轉過來迎接他們的臉孔卻都十分嚴肅。愛隆在那裡，還有其他幾個人靜靜地坐在他周圍。佛羅多看見了葛羅芬戴爾和葛羅音；而在一個角落，神行客獨自坐著，又穿上了他那套陳舊、飽經風霜的旅行服。愛隆把佛羅多引到自己身邊的一個座位，並向在場眾人介紹他，說道：「朋友們，這位是哈比人，德羅哥之子佛羅多。很少有人……

240 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ever come hither through greater peril or on an errand more urgent.’ He then pointed out and named those whom Frodo had not met before. There was a younger dwarf at Gloin’s side: his son Gimli. Beside Glorfindel there were several other counsellors of Elrond’s household, of whom Erestor was the chief; and with him was Galdor, an Elf from the Grey Havens who had come on an errand from Cirdan the Shipwright. There was also a strange Elf clad in green and brown, Legolas, a messenger from his father, Thranduil, the King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood. And seated a little apart was a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance. He was cloaked and booted as if for a journey on horseback; and indeed though his garments were rich, and his cloak was lined with fur, they were stained with long travel. He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set; his locks were shorn about his shoulders. On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver that now was laid upon his knees. He gazed at Frodo and Bilbo with sudden wonder. ‘Here,’ said Elrond, turning to Gandalf, ‘is Boromir, a man from the South. He arrived in the grey morning, and seeks for counsel. I have bidden him to be present, for here his questions will be answered.’ Not all that was spoken and debated in the Council need now be told. Much was said of events in the world outside, especially in the South, and in the wide lands east of the Mountains. Of these things Frodo had already heard many rumours; but the tale of Gloin was new to him, and when the dwarf spoke he listened attentively. It appeared that amid the splendour of their works of hand the hearts of the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain were troubled. ‘It is now many years ago,’ said Gloin, ‘that a shadow of disquiet fell upon our people. Whence it came we did not at first perceive. Words began to be whispered in secret: it was said that we were hemmed in a narrow place, and that greater wealth and splendour would be found in a wider world. Some spoke of Moria: the mighty works of our fathers that are called in our own tongue Khazad-dim; and they declared that now at last we had the power and numbers to return.’ Gloin sighed. ‘Moria! Moria! Wonder of the Northern world! Too deep we delved there, and woke the nameless fear. Long have its vast mansions lain empty since the children of Durin fled. But now we spoke of it again with longing, and yet with dread; for no dwarf has dared to pass the doors of Khazad-dtiim for many lives of kings, save Thror only, and he perished. At last, however, Balin listened to the

從未有人冒著更大的危險，或帶著更緊急的任務來到此地。』接著，他為佛羅多指認並介紹了那些他未曾見過的人。葛羅因身旁坐著一位較年輕的矮人：他的兒子金靂。葛羅芬戴爾旁邊坐著幾位愛隆家中的其他顧問，其中以伊瑞斯特為首；與他同在的還有加爾多，一位來自灰色港灣的精靈，他奉『造船者』瑟丹之命前來。還有一位身穿綠色與棕色衣物的陌生精靈，勒苟拉斯，他是他父親，北幽暗密林精靈王瑟蘭督伊派來的信使。在稍遠處坐著一位高大的男子，他面容俊美高貴，黑髮灰眼，眼神中透著驕傲與嚴肅。他身披斗篷，腳穿馬靴，彷彿正準備騎馬遠行；的確，儘管他的衣著華麗，斗篷還襯有毛皮，卻都沾染了長途跋涉的風霜。他戴著一個銀製的項圈，上面鑲嵌著一顆白色的寶石；他的長髮修剪至齊肩。他斜背的皮帶上掛著一支巨大的號角，號角尖端鑲著銀飾，此刻正放在他的膝上。他帶著突如其來的驚奇凝視著佛羅多與比爾博。『這位，』愛隆轉向甘道夫說，『是波羅莫，一位來自南方的人類。他在灰濛的清晨抵達，前來尋求忠告。我已吩咐他出席，因為他的問題將在此得到解答。』會議中所說及所辯論的一切，無需在此贅述。許多討論都圍繞著外部世界的事件，特別是南方，以及山脈以東的廣闊土地。關於這些事，佛羅多早已聽聞許多謠言；但葛羅因的故事對他而言卻是新的，當這位矮人開口時，他專注地聆聽。看來，在他們巧奪天工的工藝成就之中，孤山矮人們的內心卻感到憂慮。『許多年以前，』葛羅因說，『一股不安的陰影降臨在我們人民身上。起初我們並未察覺它從何而來。秘密的耳語開始流傳：據說我們被困在一個狹窄之地，而在更廣闊的世界裡能找到更巨大的財富與輝煌。有些人提到了摩瑞亞：那是我們祖先的偉大傑作，在我們的語言中稱為凱薩督姆；他們宣稱，如今我們終於有足夠的力量與人數可以回歸了。』葛羅因嘆了口氣。『摩瑞亞！摩瑞亞！北方世界的奇蹟！我們在那裡挖掘得太深，喚醒了無名的恐懼。自從都靈的子嗣逃離後，它宏偉的廳堂已空置許久。但如今我們再次談起它，心中充滿渴望，卻又帶著恐懼；因為除了索爾——而他也已喪命——之外，已有許多代君王的時間，沒有矮人敢於踏入凱薩督姆的大門。然而，巴林最終還是聽從了……

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 241 whispers, and resolved to go; and though Dain did not give leave willingly, he took with him Ori and Oin and many of our folk, and they went away south. “That was nigh on thirty years ago. For a while we had news and it seemed good: messages reported that Moria had been entered and a great work begun there. Then there was silence, and no word has ever come from Moria since. “Then about a year ago a messenger came to Dain, but not from Moria — from Mordor: a horseman in the night, who called Dain to his gate. The Lord Sauron the Great, so he said, wished for our friendship. Rings he would give for it, such as he gave of old. And he asked urgently concerning hobbits, of what kind they were, and where they dwelt. “‘For Sauron knows,” said he, ‘“‘that one of these was known to you on a time.” ‘At this we were greatly troubled, and we gave no answer. And then his fell voice was lowered, and he would have sweetened it if he could. “‘As a small token only of your friendship Sauron asks this,’ he said: “‘that you should find this thief,’? such was his word, ‘‘and get from him, willing or no, a little ring, the least of rings, that once he stole. It is but a trifle that Sauron fancies, and an earnest of your good will. Find it, and three rings that the Dwarf-sires possessed of old shall be returned to you, and the realm of Moria shall be yours for ever. Find only news of the thief, whether he still lives and where, and you shall have great reward and lasting friendship from the Lord. Refuse, and things will not seem so well. Do you refuse?”’ ‘At that his breath came like the hiss of snakes, and all who stood by shuddered, but Dain said: “‘I say neither yea nor nay. I must consider this message and what it means under its fair cloak.” ‘“*Consider well, but not too long,” said he. “**The time of my thought is my own to spend,”’ answered Dain. ‘**Ror the present,”’ said he, and rode into the darkness. “Heavy have the hearts of our chieftains been since that night. We needed not the fell voice of the messenger to warn us that his words held both menace and deceit; for we knew already that the power that has re-entered Mordor has not changed, and ever it betrayed us of old. Twice the messenger has returned, and has gone unanswered. The third and last time, so he says, is soon to come, before the ending of the year. ‘And so I have been sent at last by Dain to warn Bilbo that he is sought by the Enemy, and to learn, if may be, why he desires this ring, this least of rings. Also we crave the advice of Elrond. For the Shadow grows and draws nearer. We discover that messengers have come also to King Brand in Dale, and that he is afraid. We fear that he may yield. Already war is gathering on his eastern borders. If we

「低語聲四起，他決心要去；雖然丹恩不情願地准許，他還是帶上了歐力、歐音和我們許多族人，往南去了。那已是將近三十年前的事了。起初我們還能收到消息，而且似乎都是好消息：信上說他們已進入摩瑞亞，並在那裡展開了偉大的事業。然後便是一片沉寂，從此再也沒有任何消息從摩瑞亞傳來。然後，大約一年前，有位信使來找丹恩，但不是從摩瑞亞來的——而是從魔多來的：一個夜裡的騎士，在丹恩的門前呼喊他。他說，偉大的索倫王希望得到我們的友誼。他會為此贈送戒指，就像他古時所贈的那樣。他還急切地詢問關於哈比人的事，他們是哪種人，住在哪裡。『因為索倫知道，』他說，『你們曾經認識其中一個。』這讓我們非常困擾，我們沒有回答。然後他那邪惡的聲音放低了，如果他能做到的話，他會試圖讓它聽起來甜美一些。『索倫只要求這個作為你們友誼的小小表示，』他說：『「你們要找到那個小偷，」』他是這麼說的，『「然後從他那裡，不管他願不願意，取回一枚小戒指，最小的戒指，他曾經偷走的那枚。這不過是索倫喜歡的一個小玩意，也是你們善意的一個保證。找到它，矮人祖輩過去擁有的三枚戒指將歸還給你們，摩瑞亞的王國將永遠是你們的。只要找到那個小偷的消息，無論他是否還活著、在哪裡，你們都將得到領主的豐厚獎賞和永恆友誼。拒絕的話，情況可就不那麼妙了。你們拒絕嗎？」』那時，他的氣息聽起來像蛇的嘶嘶聲，所有在旁的人都為之顫抖，但丹恩說：『我既不說是，也不說不。我必須考慮這訊息以及它美麗外衣下的真正含義。』『好好考慮，但別太久，』他說。『我思考的時間由我自己支配，』丹恩回答。『暫時告辭，』他說完，便騎馬消失在黑暗中。自那晚以來，我們首領們的心情一直很沉重。我們不需要那信使邪惡的聲音來警告我們他的話語中充滿了威脅與欺騙；因為我們早已知道，重返魔多的那股力量從未改變，且自古以來就不斷背叛我們。信使回來了兩次，都未得到答覆。他說，第三次也是最後一次，很快就會到來，在年底之前。『因此，我最終被丹恩派來，警告比爾博他正被敵人尋找，並盡可能地了解，為何敵人如此渴望這枚戒指，這最小的戒指。我們也渴望愛隆的建議。因為闇影正在增長並逼近。我們發現信使也去了河谷鎮的巴德王那裡，他很害怕。我們擔心他可能會屈服。戰爭已經在他的東部邊境集結。如果我們⋯⋯」

242 THE LORD OF THE RINGS make no answer, the Enemy may move Men of his rule to assail King Brand, and Dain also.’ “You have done well to come,’ said Elrond. ‘You will hear today all that you need in order to understand the purposes of the Enemy. There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone. You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the western world. The Ring! What shall we do with the Ring, the least of rings, the trifle that Sauron fancies? That is the doom that we must deem. “That is the purpose for which you are called hither. Called, I say, though I have not called you to me, strangers from distant lands. You have come and are here met, in this very nick of time, by chance as it may seem. Yet it is not so. Believe rather that it is so ordered that we, who sit here, and none others, must now find counsel for the peril of the world. ‘Now, therefore, things shall be openly spoken that have been hidden from all but a few until this day. And first, so that all may understand what is the peril, the Tale of the Ring shall be told from the beginning even to this present. And I will begin that tale, though others shall end it.’ Then all listened while Elrond in his clear voice spoke of Sauron and the Rings of Power, and their forging in the Second Age of the world long ago. A part of his tale was known to some there, but the full tale to none, and many eyes were turned to Elrond in fear and wonder as he told of the Elven-smiths of Eregion and their friendship with Moria, and their eagerness for knowledge, by which Sauron ensnared them. For in that time he was not yet evil to behold, and they received his aid and grew mighty in craft, whereas he learned all their secrets, and betrayed them, and forged secretly in the Mountain of Fire the One Ring to be their master. But Celebrimbor was aware of him, and hid the Three which he had made; and there was war, and the land was laid waste, and the gate of Moria was shut. Then through all the years that followed he traced the Ring; but since that history is elsewhere recounted, even as Elrond himself set it down in his books of lore, it is not here recalled. For it is a long tale, full of deeds great and terrible, and briefly though Elrond spoke, the sun rode up the sky, and the morning was passing ere he ceased. Of Numenor he spoke, its glory and its fall, and the return of the Kings of Men to Middle-earth out of the deeps of the Sea, borne upon the wings of storm. Then Elendil the Tall and his mighty sons, Isildur and Anarion, became great lords; and the North-realm they made in Arnor, and the South-realm in Gondor above the mouths of Anduin. But Sauron of Mordor assailed them, and they made the

若不回應，敵人可能會驅使其統治下的人類去攻擊品牌王，以及丹恩。」 「你們來得正好，」愛隆說。「今天你們將會聽到所有能助你們了解敵人意圖的訊息。除了抵抗，無論懷抱希望與否，你們也無能為力。但你們並不孤單。你們會明白，你們的煩惱只是整個西方世界煩惱的一部分。魔戒！我們該如何處置這枚魔戒，這枚最微不足道的戒指，這個索倫心心念念的小玩意兒？這就是我們必須面對的宿命。 「這就是召集你們來此的目的。我說『召集』，但我並沒有親自召喚你們這些來自遠方的陌生人。你們自行前來，並在此相會，看似偶然，卻又恰逢其時。然而，事實並非如此。寧可相信這是冥冥中的安排，注定要由我們這些在座之人，而非他人，為世界的危局找出對策。 「因此，從今天起，那些至今只為少數人所知的秘密將被公諸於世。首先，為了讓所有人明白危險何在，我將從頭到尾講述魔戒的故事，直到此刻。我會開啟這個故事，但將由他人來為它作結。」 接著，眾人靜靜聆聽愛隆用他清朗的聲音，述說關於索倫和眾權能之戒的故事，以及它們在久遠的第二紀元是如何被鑄造的。在場有些人知道部分故事，但無人知曉全貌。當愛隆講到伊瑞詹的精靈工匠、他們與摩瑞亞的友誼，以及他們對知識的渴望如何讓索倫得以誘騙他們時，許多雙眼睛都因恐懼與驚奇而望向他。因為在那個時代，索倫的外表尚未顯露邪惡，他們接受了他的幫助，在工藝上變得極為強大，而他則學走了他們所有的秘密，背叛了他們，並在末日火山中秘密鑄造了那枚駕馭一切的至尊魔戒。但凱勒布理鵬察覺了他，並藏起了他所鑄造的三枚戒指；於是戰爭爆發，大地化為焦土，摩瑞亞的大門也隨之關閉。在之後的漫長歲月裡，他追尋著魔戒的蹤跡；但由於這段歷史在別處已有記載，就連愛隆自己也將其寫入了他的知識之書中，此處便不再贅述。因為那是一個充滿偉大與可怕事蹟的漫長故事，儘管愛隆講得簡潔，太陽已然升上高空，直到他停下時，整個上午都快過去了。他談到了努曼諾爾，它的榮耀與覆滅，以及人類之王如何從大海深處，乘著暴風之翼重返中土大陸。接著，高大的伊蘭迪爾和他強大的兒子埃西鐸與安那瑞安，成為了偉大的君王；他們在亞爾諾建立了北方王國，在安都因河口上方的剛鐸建立了南方王國。但魔多的索倫攻擊了他們，於是他們便

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 243 Last Alliance of Elves and Men, and the hosts of Gil-galad and Elendil were mustered in Arnor. Thereupon Elrond paused a while and sighed. ‘I remember well the splendour of their banners,’ he said. ‘It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended for ever, and it was not so.’ “You remember?’ said Frodo, speaking his thought aloud in his astonishment. ‘But I thought,’ he stammered as Elrond turned towards him, ‘I thought that the fall of Gil-galad was a long age ago.’ ‘So it was indeed,’ answered Elrond gravely. ‘But my memory reaches back even to the Elder Days. Earendil was my sire, who was born in Gondolin before its fall; and my mother was Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Luthien of Doriath. I have seen three ages in the West of the world, and many defeats, and many fruitless victories. ‘I was the herald of Gil-galad and marched with his host. I was at the Battle of Dagorlad before the Black Gate of Mordor, where we had the mastery: for the Spear of Gil-galad and the Sword of Elendil, Aeglos and Narsil, none could withstand. I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father’s sword, and took it for his own.’ At this the stranger, Boromir, broke in. ‘So that is what became of the Ring!’ he cried. ‘If ever such a tale was told in the South, it has long been forgotten. I have heard of the Great Ring of him that we do not name; but we believed that it perished from the world in the ruin of his first realm. Isildur took it! That is tidings indeed.’ ‘Alas! yes,’ said Elrond. ‘Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin’s fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest; and by Gil-galad only Cirdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel. “**This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother,” he said; and therefore whether we would or no, he took it to treasure it. But soon he was betrayed by it to his death; and so it is named in the North Isildur’s Bane. Yet death maybe was better than what else might have befallen him. ‘Only to the North did these tidings come, and only to a few. Small wonder is it that you have not heard them, Boromir. From the ruin of the Gladden Fields, where Isildur perished, three men only came ever back over the mountains after long wandering. One of these was Ohtar, the esquire of Isildur, who bore the shards of the

「『我要收下這個，作為我父親與我兄弟的血金。』他說；因此，無論我們願不願意，他都拿走了它，視為珍寶。但他很快就被它背叛，因而喪命；所以在北方，它被稱為『伊西鐸的禍根』。然而，死亡或許比其他可能降臨在他身上的命運要好。『這些消息只傳到了北方，而且只有少數人知道。難怪你沒聽過，波羅莫。在伊西鐸喪生的格拉頓平原那場災禍之後，只有三個人在長期流浪後翻山歸來。其中一位是奧赫塔，伊西鐸的侍從，他帶著那把斷劍的碎片……』」

244 THE LORD OF THE RINGS sword of Elendil; and he brought them to Valandil, the heir of Isildur, who being but a child had remained here in Rivendell. But Narsil was broken and its light extinguished, and it has not yet been forged again. ‘Fruitless did I call the victory of the Last Alliance? Not wholly so, yet it did not achieve its end. Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade. The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains they will endure. Many Elves and many mighty Men, and many of their friends, had perished in the war. Anarion was slain, and Isildur was slain; and Gil-galad and Elendil were no more. Never again shall there be any such league of Elves and Men; for Men multiply and the Firstborn decrease, and the two kindreds are estranged. And ever since that day the race of Numenor has decayed, and the span of their years has lessened. ‘In the North after the war and the slaughter of the Gladden Fields the Men of Westernesse were diminished, and their city of Annuminas beside Lake Evendim fell into ruin; and the heirs of Valandil removed and dwelt at Fornost on the high North Downs, and that now too is desolate. Men call it Deadmen’s Dike, and they fear to tread there. For the folk of Arnor dwindled, and their foes devoured them, and their lordship passed, leaving only green mounds in the grassy hills. ‘In the South the realm of Gondor long endured; and for a while its splendour grew, recalling somewhat of the might of Numenor, ere it fell. High towers that people built, and strong places, and havens of many ships; and the winged crown of the Kings of Men was held in awe by folk of many tongues. Their chief city was Osgiliath, Citadel of the Stars, through the midst of which the River flowed. And Minas Ithil they built, Tower of the Rising Moon, eastward upon a shoulder of the Mountains of Shadow; and westward at the feet of the White Mountains Minas Anor they made, Tower of the Setting Sun. There in the courts of the King grew a white tree, from the seed of that tree which Isildur brought over the deep waters, and the seed of that tree before came from Eresséa, and before that out of the Uttermost West in the Day before days when the world was young. ‘But in the wearing of the swift years of Middle-earth the line of Meneldil son of Anarion failed, and the Tree withered, and the blood of the Numenoreans became mingled with that of lesser men. Then the watch upon the walls of Mordor slept, and dark things crept back to Gorgoroth. And on a time evil things came forth, and they took Minas Ithil and abode in it, and they made it into a place of dread;

「我說最後同盟的勝利是徒勞的嗎？不盡然，但它並未達成最終目的。索倫的力量被削弱，但未被摧毀。他的戒指遺失了，但未被銷毀。黑暗塔雖已傾倒，其根基卻未被移除；因為它們是用魔戒的力量所造，只要魔戒尚存，它們就會屹立不搖。許多精靈和強大的人類，以及他們為數眾多的盟友，都在那場戰爭中殞命。安那瑞安被殺，埃西鐸被殺；吉爾加拉德和伊蘭迪爾也已逝去。精靈與人類之間再也不會有那樣的聯盟了；因為人類的數量增長，首生子女則日漸凋零，兩個親族之間也變得疏遠。從那天起，努曼諾爾的血脈便開始衰敗，他們的壽命也隨之縮短。在北方，戰爭與格拉頓平原的屠殺之後，西方皇族的人數銳減，他們在暮星湖畔的安努米那斯城也淪為廢墟；瓦蘭迪爾的後裔遷徙至北崗高處的佛諾斯特居住，而那裡如今也已荒蕪。人們稱之為亡者堤，且不敢踏足其上。因為亞爾諾的人民逐漸稀少，被敵人吞噬，他們的王權已逝，只在青草山丘上留下座座綠色土塚。在南方，剛鐸王國長久屹立；它的輝煌曾一度增長，在它衰落之前，依稀重現了幾分努曼諾爾的威勢。人們建造了高塔、堅固的堡壘和擁有眾多船隻的港灣；人類之王的翼冠曾為萬民所景仰。他們的主要城市是奧斯吉力亞斯，星辰之城，大河從城中流過。他們在黯影山脈的支脈上向東建造了米那斯伊希爾，月升之塔；在白色山脈的山腳下向西建造了米那斯雅諾，日落之塔。在國王的庭院裡，生長著一棵白樹，其種子來自埃西鐸從深海彼岸帶回來的那棵樹，而那棵樹的種子又來自伊瑞西亞，更早之前則來自世界尚且年輕的遠古之日裡的極西之地。但在中土大陸飛逝的歲月侵蝕下，安那瑞安之子梅蘭迪爾的血脈斷絕了，聖樹枯萎，努曼諾爾人的血液也與次等人類的血液相混。於是，魔多城牆上的守衛鬆懈了，黑暗生物悄悄潛回葛哥洛斯。然後有一次，邪惡傾巢而出，佔據了米那斯伊希爾並盤踞其中，將它變成了一個恐怖之地；」

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 245 and it is called Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery. Then Minas Anor was named anew Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard; and these two cities were ever at war, but Osgiliath which lay between was deserted and in its ruins shadows walked. ‘So it has been for many lives of men. But the Lords of Minas Tirith still fight on, defying our enemies, keeping the passage of the River from Argonath to the Sea. And now that part of the tale that I shall tell is drawn to its close. For in the days of Isildur the Ruling Ring passed out of all knowledge, and the Three were released from its dominion. But now in this latter day they are in peril once more, for to our sorrow the One has been found. Others shall speak of its finding, for in that I played small part.’ He ceased, but at once Boromir stood up, tall and proud, before them. ‘Give me leave, Master Elrond,’ said he, ‘first to say more of Gondor, for verily from the land of Gondor I am come. And it would be well for all to know what passes there. For few, I deem, know of our deeds, and therefore guess little at their peril, if we should fail at last. ‘Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Numenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten. By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay; and thus alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West. But if the passages of the River should be won, what then? “Yet that hour, maybe, is not now far away. The Nameless Enemy has arisen again. Smoke rises once more from Orodruin that we call Mount Doom. The power of the Black Land grows and we are hard beset. When the Enemy returned our folk were driven from Ithilien, our fair domain east of the River, though we kept a foothold there and strength of arms. But this very year, in the days of June, sudden war came upon us out of Mordor, and we were swept away. We were outnumbered, for Mordor has allied itself with the Easterlings and the cruel Haradrim; but it was not by numbers that we were defeated. A power was there that we have not felt before. ‘Some said that it could be seen, like a great black horseman, a dark shadow under the moon. Wherever he came a madness filled our foes, but fear fell on our boldest, so that horse and man gave way and fled. Only a remnant of our eastern force came back, destroying the last bridge that still stood amid the ruins of Osgiliath. ‘I was in the company that held the bridge, until it was cast down behind us. Four only were saved by swimming: my brother and myself and two others. But still we fight on, holding all the west shores of Anduin; and those who shelter behind us give us praise, if ever they

它被稱為米那斯魔窟，即巫術之塔。之後，米那斯雅諾被重新命名為米那斯提力斯，即守衛之塔；這兩座城市從此征戰不休，而位處兩者之間的奧斯吉力亞斯則被廢棄，斷垣殘壁間只有幢幢黑影行走。『這樣的情況已經持續了人類的好幾代。但米那斯提力斯的諸王仍在奮戰，反抗我們的敵人，守護著從亞苟那斯到大海的河道。而今，我要講述的這部分故事已接近尾聲。因為在埃西鐸的時代，至尊魔戒已完全失落無蹤，三枚戒指也因此脫離了它的支配。但到了這末後的日子，它們再次陷入險境，因為讓我們悲痛的是，那枚至尊魔戒已被找到了。至於它是如何被找到的，將由他人述說，因我在其中著力甚微。』他話音剛落，波羅莫隨即站起身來，他高大而驕傲地站在眾人面前。『請允許我，愛隆大師，』他說，『先多談一些關於剛鐸的事，因為我確實來自剛鐸之地。讓大家都知道那裡發生了什麼事，會是明智之舉。因為我認為，很少有人了解我們的功績，因此也無從猜測，一旦我們最終失敗，他們將面臨何等危險。』『請別相信在剛鐸的土地上，努曼諾爾的血脈已耗盡，也別以為它的驕傲與尊嚴已全被遺忘。憑藉我們的英勇，東方的野蠻民族至今仍受牽制，魔窟的恐怖也被擋在遠方；唯有如此，我們身後土地的和平與自由才得以維持，我們是西方的壁壘。但如果河道的關隘被攻下，那又會如何？『然而，那個時刻或許已不遠了。那無名之敵已再度崛起。我們稱為末日火山的歐洛都因，又再次升起了濃煙。黑地魔多的力量日益增長，我們正深受圍困。當敵人歸來時，我們的人民被逐出伊西力安——我們在河東的美麗領地，儘管我們在那裡仍保有一個據點和武力。但就在今年六月，一場突如其來的戰爭從魔多向我們發動，我們被徹底擊潰。我們寡不敵眾，因為魔多已與東方人及殘酷的哈拉德林人結盟；但我們並非因數量而敗。那裡出現了一股我們前所未見的力量。』『有人說曾看見它，像一個巨大的黑色騎士，是月光下的一道黑暗陰影。無論他所到何處，我們的敵人就充滿瘋狂，而我們最勇敢的戰士卻心生恐懼，以致人馬崩潰逃竄。我們東方部隊僅存的殘部退了回來，摧毀了奧斯吉力亞斯廢墟中僅存的最後一座橋。』『我當時就在守橋的隊伍中，直到橋在我們身後被毀。只有四個人靠游泳獲救：我哥哥、我自己，以及另外兩人。但我們仍在奮戰，守住安都因河所有的西岸；而那些在我們身後受庇護的人們，會給予我們讚美，如果他們曾經……』

246 THE LORD OF THE RINGS hear our name: much praise but little help. Only from Rohan now will any men ride to us when we call. ‘In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond: a hundred and ten days I have journeyed all alone. But I do not seek allies in war. The might of Elrond is in wisdom not in weapons, it is said. I come to ask for counsel and the unravelling of hard words. For on the eve of the sudden assault a dream came to my brother in a troubled sleep; and afterwards a like dream came oft to him again, and once to me. ‘In that dream I thought the eastern sky grew dark and there was a growing thunder, but in the West a pale light lingered, and out of it I heard a voice, remote but clear, crying: Seek for the Sword that was broken: In Imladris it dwells; There shall be counsels taken Stronger than Morgul-spells. There shall be shown a token That Doom is near at hand, For Isildur’s Bane shall waken, And the Halfling forth shall stand. Of these words we could understand little, and we spoke to our father, Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith, wise in the lore of Gondor. This only would he say, that Imladris was of old the name among the Elves of a far northern dale, where Elrond the Halfelven dwelt, greatest of lore-masters. Therefore my brother, seeing how desperate was our need, was eager to heed the dream and seek for Imladris; but since the way was full of doubt and danger, I took the journey upon myself. Loth was my father to give me leave, and long have I wandered by roads forgotten, seeking the house of Elrond, of which many had heard, but few knew where it lay.’ ‘And here in the house of Elrond more shall be made clear to you,’ said Aragorn, standing up. He cast his sword upon the table that stood before Elrond, and the blade was in two pieces. ‘Here is the Sword that was Broken!’ he said. ‘And who are you, and what have you to do with Minas Tirith?’ asked Boromir, looking in wonder at the lean face of the Ranger and his weather-stained cloak. ‘He is Aragorn son of Arathorn,’ said Elrond; ‘and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur Elendil’s son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dunedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk.’

我們聽過我們的名字：讚美多，援助少。如今，當我們呼喚時，只有羅翰會派人前來。 「在這艱困的時刻，我帶著任務，越過許多危險的里格來到愛隆這裡：我獨自旅行了一百一十天。但我並非尋求戰爭盟友。據說，愛隆的力量在於智慧而非武器。我前來請求忠告，並解開難解的話語。因為就在那次突襲的前夕，我哥哥在不安的睡夢中見到一個夢境；之後，同樣的夢境又多次降臨於他，也曾有一次臨到我身上。『在夢中，我見東方天際變得黑暗，雷聲漸響，但在西方，一抹蒼白的光芒縈繞不去，從中我聽到一個遙遠卻清晰的聲音，哭喊著：尋找那折斷的聖劍：它就在伊姆拉崔；那裡的忠告，將比魔窟咒語更強。那裡將顯現一個跡象，末日已近在眼前，因為埃西鐸的剋星將會甦醒，而半身人將挺身而出。』這些話我們幾乎無法理解，於是我們告訴了我們的父親，米那斯提力斯的領主迪耐瑟，他精通剛鐸的古老知識。他只肯說，伊姆拉崔是精靈們對遙遠北方一個山谷的古稱，半精靈愛隆就住在那裡，他是最偉大的知識大師。因此，我哥哥見我們的需求何等迫切，便急於聽從夢境的指引，尋找伊姆拉崔；但由於路途充滿疑惑與危險，我便親自踏上了這段旅程。我父親很不情願地准許我離開，我沿著被人遺忘的道路流浪了許久，尋找愛隆的住所，許多人聽說過它，卻少有人知道它在哪裡。」「而在愛隆的家中，你將會明白更多事情。」亞拉岡站起來說。他將他的劍扔到愛隆面前的桌子上，劍刃斷成兩截。「這就是那折斷的聖劍！」他說。「你是誰？你和米那斯提力斯有什麼關係？」波羅莫問道，驚奇地看著那遊俠清瘦的臉龐和他那飽經風霜的斗篷。「他是亞拉松之子亞拉岡，」愛隆說，「他是米那斯伊希爾的埃蘭迪爾之子埃西鐸的後裔，傳承了許多代。他是北方登丹人的首領，而那個民族如今所剩無幾了。」

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 247 ‘Then it belongs to you, and not to me at all!’ cried Frodo in amazement, springing to his feet, as if he expected the Ring to be demanded at once. ‘It does not belong to either of us,’ said Aragorn; ‘but it has been ordained that you should hold it for a while.’ ‘Bring out the Ring, Frodo!’ said Gandalf solemnly. “The time has come. Hold it up, and then Boromir will understand the remainder of his riddle.’ There was a hush, and all turned their eyes on Frodo. He was shaken by a sudden shame and fear; and he felt a great reluctance to reveal the Ring, and a loathing of its touch. He wished he was far away. The Ring gleamed and flickered as he held it up before them in his trembling hand. ‘Behold Isildur’s Bane!’ said Elrond. Boromir’s eyes glinted as he gazed at the golden thing. “The Halfling!’ he muttered. ‘Is then the doom of Minas Tirith come at last? But why then should we seek a broken sword?’ “The words were not the doom of Minas Tinith,’ said Aragorn. ‘But doom and great deeds are indeed at hand. For the Sword that was Broken is the Sword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell. It has been treasured by his heirs when all other heirlooms were lost; for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again when the Ring, Isildur’s Bane, was found. Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?’ ‘I was not sent to beg any boon, but to seek only the meaning of a riddle,’ answered Boromir proudly. ‘Yet we are hard pressed, and the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope — if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past.’ He looked again at Aragorn, and doubt was in his eyes. Frodo felt Bilbo stir impatiently at his side. Evidently he was annoyed on his friend’s behalf. Standing suddenly up he burst out: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that 1s strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king.

「那麼它屬於你，根本不屬於我！」佛羅多驚訝地叫道，猛地站起身，彷彿以為對方會立刻索要魔戒。「它不屬於我們任何一人，」亞拉岡說，「但命運注定你將持有它一段時間。」「把魔戒拿出來，佛羅多！」甘道夫莊嚴地說。「時候到了。把它舉起來，這樣波羅莫就會明白他謎語的其餘部分了。」現場一片寂靜，所有人的目光都轉向佛羅多。他突然感到一陣羞愧和恐懼，極不情願地想揭示魔戒，並且厭惡觸碰它。他真希望自己身在遠方。當他在顫抖的手中將魔戒舉到眾人面前時，魔戒閃爍著微光。「看啊，埃西鐸的剋星！」愛隆說。波羅莫凝視著那金色的東西，眼中閃著光芒。「那個半身人！」他喃喃自語。「那麼米那斯提力斯的末日終究是來臨了嗎？但既然如此，我們又何必尋找一把斷劍？」「那些話並非米那斯提力斯的末日，」亞拉岡說。「但末日與偉業確實近在眼前了。因為那把曾斷裂的劍，正是伊蘭迪爾的聖劍，在他殞落時斷在他身下。當所有其他傳家寶都遺失時，他的繼承人卻珍藏著它；因為我們之中自古流傳著一個預言，當魔戒，也就是埃西鐸的剋星被找到時，它將被重鑄。現在你已見到你所尋找的劍，你還想問什麼？你希望伊蘭迪爾的家族重返剛鐸之地嗎？」「我並非被派來乞求任何恩惠，只是為了尋求一個謎語的解答，」波羅莫驕傲地回答。「然而我們處境艱難，伊蘭迪爾的聖劍將是我們意想不到的幫助——如果這樣的東西真能從過往的陰影中歸來的話。」他又看了看亞拉岡，眼中充滿了懷疑。佛羅多感覺到身旁的比爾博不耐煩地動了一下。顯然他為他的朋友感到惱火。他突然站起來，脫口而出：是金子，未必都閃亮，流浪者，未必都迷惘；老而彌堅者，不會枯萎，根深蒂固者，不畏冰霜。灰燼中，將有火焰甦醒，陰影裡，將有光明迸發；斷折的聖劍將被重鑄：無冕者將再度為王。

248 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘Not very good perhaps, but to the point — if you need more beyond the word of Elrond. If that was worth a journey of a hundred and ten days to hear, you had best listen to it.” He sat down with a snort. ‘I made that up myself,’ he whispered to Frodo, ‘for the Dunadan, a long time ago when he first told me about himself. I almost wish that my adventures were not over, and that I could go with him when his day comes.’ Aragorn smiled at him; then he turned to Boromir again. ‘For my part I forgive your doubt,’ he said. ‘Little do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in the halls of Denethor. I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself. I have had a hard life and a long; and the leagues that lie between here and Gondor are a small part in the count of my journeys. I have crossed many mountains and many rivers, and trodden many plains, even into the far countries of Rhtin and Harad where the stars are strange. ‘But my home, such as I have, is in the North. For here the heirs of Valandil have ever dwelt in long line unbroken from father unto son for many generations. Our days have darkened, and we have dwindled; but ever the Sword has passed to a new keeper. And this I will say to you, Boromir, ere I end. Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters — but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy; for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only. ‘If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dunedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave? ‘And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. “‘Strider’? I am to one fat man who lives within a day’s march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown. ‘But now the world is changing once again. A new hour comes. Isildur’s Bane is found. Battle is at hand. The Sword shall be reforged. I will come to Minas Tirith.’ ‘Isildur’s Bane is found, you say,’ said Boromir. ‘I have seen a

「或許寫得不怎麼樣，但很切題——如果你除了愛隆的話之外還需要更多證明。如果這值得你花一百一十天來聽，那你最好仔細聽。」他哼了一聲坐下。「這是我自己編的，」他對佛羅多輕聲說，「是為登丹人編的，很久以前他第一次告訴我他的身世時。我幾乎希望我的冒險還沒結束，這樣當他的時刻到來時，我就可以與他同行。」亞拉岡對他笑了笑，然後又轉向波羅莫。「就我而言，我原諒你的懷疑，」他說。「我跟迪耐瑟廳堂裡那些雄偉的伊蘭迪爾與埃西鐸雕像幾乎沒有相似之處。我只是埃西鐸的繼承人，不是埃西鐸本人。我的一生艱辛而漫長；這裡與剛鐸之間的距離，在我旅程的總數中只佔一小部分。我曾翻越無數山脈，渡過無數河流，踏遍無數平原，甚至遠至星辰奇異的盧恩和哈拉德之地。「但我那勉強可稱為家的地方，在北方。維蘭迪爾的後代子孫世世代代都居住於此，父傳子，血脈從未斷絕。我們的時日已趨黯淡，族人也已凋零；但那把聖劍總能傳給新的守護者。波羅莫，在我結束之前，我要告訴你這點。我們是孤獨的人，是荒野的遊俠，是獵人——但永遠是獵殺大敵僕役的獵人；因為他們在許多地方都能被發現，不只在魔多。「波羅莫，如果說剛鐸是一座堅實的堡壘，那麼我們則扮演了另一個角色。有許多邪惡之物，是你們堅固的城牆和鋒利的寶劍所無法阻擋的。你對疆域之外的土地所知甚少。你說和平與自由？若不是我們，北方對這些幾乎一無所知。恐懼早已將他們摧毀。但當黑暗之物從無人居住的山丘降臨，或從不見天日的森林中潛行而出，牠們會因我們而逃竄。如果登丹人沉睡了，或全都進了墳墓，那麼誰還敢踏上任何道路？寧靜的土地或尋常百姓的家園在夜晚還能有何安全可言？「然而我們得到的感謝卻比你們少。旅人對我們皺眉，鄉人給我們取難聽的名字。『神行客』？對於一個住在離敵人僅一日路程的胖子來說，我就是這個稱號。若非我們不眠不休地守護，那些敵人足以凍結他的心臟，或將他的小鎮夷為平地。但我們不願情況有任何改變。如果平民百姓能免於憂慮和恐懼，他們就能保持純樸，而我們必須保持神秘才能讓他們如此。這就是我族人的任務，在歲月流逝、草木生長之時。「但現在世界再次改變。新的時刻來臨。埃西鐸的剋星已被找到。大戰在即。聖劍將被重鑄。我將前往米那斯提力斯。」「你說埃西鐸的剋星被找到了，」波羅莫說。「我曾見過……

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 249 bright ring in the Halfling’s hand; but Isildur perished ere this age of the world began, they say. How do the Wise know that this ring is his? And how has it passed down the years, until it is brought hither by so strange a messenger?’ “That shall be told,’ said Elrond. ‘But not yet, I beg, Master!’ cried Bilbo. ‘Already the Sun is climbing to noon, and I feel the need of something to strengthen me.’ ‘I had not named you,’ said Elrond smiling. ‘But I do so now. Come! Tell us your tale. And if you have not yet cast your story into verse, you may tell it in plain words. The briefer, the sooner shall you be refreshed.’ ‘Very well,’ said Bilbo. ‘I will do as you bid. But I will now tell the true story, and if some here have heard me tell it otherwise’ — he looked sidelong at Gloin — ‘I ask them to forget it and forgive me. I only wished to claim the treasure as my very own in those days, and to be rid of the name of thief that was put on me. But perhaps I understand things a little better now. Anyway, this is what happened.’ To some there Bilbo’s tale was wholly new, and they listened with amazement while the old hobbit, actually not at all displeased, recounted his adventure with Gollum, at full length. He did not omit a single riddle. He would have given also an account of his party and disappearance from the Shire, if he had been allowed; but Elrond raised his hand. ‘Well told, my friend,’ he said, ‘but that is enough at this time. For the moment it suffices to know that the Ring passed to Frodo, your heir. Let him now speak!’ Then, less willingly than Bilbo, Frodo told of all his dealings with the Ring from the day that it passed into his keeping. Every step of his journey from Hobbiton to the Ford of Bruinen was questioned and considered, and everything that he could recall concerning the Black Riders was examined. At last he sat down again. ‘Not bad,’ Bilbo said to him. ‘You would have made a good story of it, if they hadn’t kept on interrupting. I tried to make a few notes, but we shall have to go over it all again together some time, if I am to write it up. There are whole chapters of stuff before you ever got here!’ “Yes, it made quite a long tale,’ answered Frodo. ‘But the story still does not seem complete to me. I still want to know a good deal, especially about Gandalf.’ Galdor of the Havens, who sat nearby, overheard him. ‘You speak for me also,’ he cried, and turning to Elrond he said: “The Wise may have good reason to believe that the halfling’s trove is indeed the

半身人手中的那枚閃亮戒指；但他們說，伊西鐸在這個世界紀元開始之前就已殞命。智者們如何知道這枚戒指是他的？它又是如何流傳多年，直到被這樣一位奇特的信使帶到此地？」 「那將會被告知，」愛隆說。 「但還不是現在，我請求您，主人！」比爾博喊道。「太陽已經快到中午了，我覺得需要點東西來補充體力。」 「我還沒點到你的名，」愛隆微笑著說。「但我現在點了。來吧！告訴我們你的故事。如果你還沒把你的故事寫成詩，你可以用平實的語言講述。說得越簡潔，你就能越快得到休息。」 「非常好，」比爾博說。「我會照您的吩咐做。但我現在要講出真實的故事，如果在座有人聽過我講過別的版本」——他斜眼看了看葛羅音——「我請他們忘掉並原諒我。在那些日子裡，我只是想把那件寶物當作我自己的，並擺脫別人加諸於我的小偷之名。但或許我現在對事情的理解更深入了些。總之，事情是這樣發生的。」 對在場的某些人來說，比爾博的故事是全新的，他們驚奇地聽著這位老哈比人——他其實一點也不覺得不悅——鉅細靡遺地敘述他與咕嚕的冒險。他一個謎語也沒漏掉。如果被允許的話，他還會講述他在夏爾舉辦宴會和消失的經過；但愛隆舉起了手。 「說得好，我的朋友，」他說，「但這次就到此為止。目前，我們只需知道戒指傳給了你的繼承人佛羅多就夠了。現在讓他來說吧！」 接著，佛羅多不像比爾博那樣情願，講述了他自從保管戒指那天起與它所有的交涉。他從哈比屯到布魯南渡口的每一步旅程都被仔細盤問與審視，他能回憶起關於黑騎士的一切也都被檢驗。最後，他又坐了下來。 「還不賴，」比爾博對他說。「如果他們沒有一直打斷，你本可以把這故事說得很精彩。我試著做了些筆記，但如果我要把它寫下來，我們得找個時間再一起重新梳理一遍。在你到達這裡之前，還有好幾個章節的內容呢！」 「是啊，這故事確實挺長的，」佛羅多回答。「但對我來說，故事似乎還不完整。我還想知道很多事，特別是關於甘道夫的。」 坐在附近的港口的加爾多無意中聽到了他的話。「你也說出了我的心聲，」他喊道，並轉向愛隆說：「智者們或許有充分的理由相信，那半身人的寶物確實是

250 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Great Ring of long debate, unlikely though that may seem to those who know less. But may we not hear the proofs? And I would ask this also. What of Saruman? He is learned in the lore of the Rings, yet he is not among us. What is his counsel — if he knows the things that we have heard?’ “The questions that you ask, Galdor, are bound together,’ said Elrond. ‘I had not overlooked them, and they shall be answered. But these things it is the part of Gandalf to make clear; and I call upon him last, for it is the place of honour, and in all this matter he has been the chief.’ ‘Some, Galdor,’ said Gandalf, ‘would think the tidings of Gloin, and the pursuit of Frodo, proof enough that the halfling’s trove is a thing of great worth to the Enemy. Yet it is a ring. What then? The Nine the Nazgtl keep. The Seven are taken or destroyed.’ At this Gloin stirred, but did not speak. “The Three we know of. What then is this one that he desires so much? “There is indeed a wide waste of time between the River and the Mountain, between the loss and the finding. But the gap in the knowledge of the Wise has been filled at last. Yet too slowly. For the Enemy has been close behind, closer even than I feared. And well is it that not until this year, this very summer, as it seems, did he learn the full truth. ‘Some here will remember that many years ago I myself dared to pass the doors of the Necromancer in Dol Guldur, and secretly explored his ways, and found thus that our fears were true: he was none other than Sauron, our Enemy of old, at length taking shape and power again. Some, too, will remember also that Saruman dissuaded us from open deeds against him, and for long we watched him only. Yet at last, as his shadow grew, Saruman yielded, and the Council put forth its strength and drove the evil out of Mirkwood — and that was in the very year of the finding of this Ring: a strange chance, if chance it was. ‘But we were too late, as Elrond foresaw. Sauron also had watched us, and had long prepared against our stroke, governing Mordor from afar through Minas Morgul, where his Nine servants dwelt, until all was ready. Then he gave way before us, but only feigned to flee, and soon after came to the Dark Tower and openly declared himself. Then for the last time the Council met; for now we learned that he was seeking ever more eagerly for the One. We feared then that he had some news of it that we knew nothing of. But Saruman said nay, and repeated what he had said to us before: that the One would never again be found in Middle-earth. ‘At the worst,” said he, ‘‘our Enemy knows that we have it not, and that it still is lost. But what was lost may yet be found, he thinks.

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 251 Fear not! His hope will cheat him. Have I not earnestly studied this matter? Into Anduin the Great it fell; and long ago, while Sauron slept, it was rolled down the River to the Sea. There let it lie until the End.”’’ Gandalf fell silent, gazing eastward from the porch to the far peaks of the Misty Mountains, at whose great roots the peril of the world had so long lain hidden. He sighed. “There I was at fault,’ he said. ‘I was lulled by the words of Saruman the Wise; but I should have sought for the truth sooner, and our peril would now be less.’ ‘We were all at fault,’ said Elrond, ‘and but for your vigilance the Darkness, maybe, would already be upon us. But say on!’ ‘From the first my heart misgave me, against all reason that I knew,’ said Gandalf, ‘and I desired to know how this thing came to Gollum, and how long he had possessed it. So I set a watch for him, guessing that he would ere long come forth from his darkness to seek for his treasure. He came, but he escaped and was not found. And then alas! I let the matter rest, watching and waiting only, as we have too often done. “Time passed with many cares, until my doubts were awakened again to sudden fear. Whence came the hobbit’s ring? What, if my fear was true, should be done with it? Those things I must decide. But I spoke yet of my dread to none, knowing the peril of an untimely whisper, if it went astray. In all the long wars with the Dark Tower treason has ever been our greatest foe. “That was seventeen years ago. Soon I became aware that spies of many sorts, even beasts and birds, were gathered round the Shire, and my fear grew. I called for the help of the Dunedain, and their watch was doubled; and I opened my heart to Aragorn, the heir of Isildur.’ ‘And I,’ said Aragorn, ‘counselled that we should hunt for Gollum, too late though it may seem. And since it seemed fit that Isildur’s heir should labour to repair Isildur’s fault, I went with Gandalf on the long and hopeless search.’ Then Gandalf told how they had explored the whole length of Wilderland, down even to the Mountains of Shadow and the fences of Mordor. ‘There we had rumour of him, and we guess that he dwelt there long in the dark hills; but we never found him, and at last I despaired. And then in my despair I thought again of a test that might make the finding of Gollum unneeded. The ring itself might tell if it were the One. The memory of words at the Council came back to me: words of Saruman, half-heeded at the time. I heard them now clearly in my heart.

「別怕！他的希望終將落空。我難道沒有認真研究過這件事嗎？它掉進了安都因大河；很久以前，在索倫沉睡之時，它順流而下，滾入了大海。就讓它在那裡躺著，直到世界末日吧。」」甘道夫沉默了，從門廊向東凝望，望向迷霧山脈遙遠的峰巒，世界的危機曾長久地隱藏在那巨大的山腳下。他嘆了口氣。「那件事我錯了，」他說。「我被智者薩魯曼的話語所蒙蔽；但我本該更早去尋求真相，我們的危險現在就會小一些。」「我們都有錯，」愛隆說，「但若不是有你的警惕，黑暗或許早已降臨。但請繼續說下去！」「從一開始，我的內心就有一種不祥的預感，這違背了我所知的一切常理，」甘道夫說，「我想知道這東西是怎麼到咕嚕手上的，以及他擁有了它多久。於是我派人監視他，猜想他不久便會從他的黑暗中出來尋找他的寶貝。他出來了，但他逃脫了，沒被找到。唉！然後我就把這件事擱置了，只是觀察和等待，就像我們過去經常做的那樣。「時光在許多憂慮中流逝，直到我的疑慮再次被喚醒，變成了突如其來的恐懼。哈比人的戒指是從哪裡來的？如果我的恐懼是真的，該如何處理它？這些事我必須決定。但我還未對任何人說出我的恐懼，因為我知道，一句不合時宜的耳語若傳錯了地方，會有多麼危險。在與黑暗魔君的漫長戰爭中，背叛向來是我們最大的敵人。「那是十七年前的事了。很快我意識到，各式各樣的間諜，甚至是飛禽走獸，都聚集在夏爾周圍，我的恐懼與日俱增。我請求登丹人的幫助，他們的守衛加倍了；我也向埃西鐸的繼承人亞拉岡敞開了心扉。」「而我，」亞拉岡說，「則建議我們也該去追捕咕嚕，儘管看似為時已晚。既然讓埃西鐸的繼承人去努力彌補埃西鐸的過錯似乎是合適的，我便與甘道夫一同踏上了那漫長而無望的搜尋之旅。」接著，甘道夫講述了他們如何探索了整個野地，甚至南下至黯影山脈與魔多的邊界。「我們在那裡聽到了關於他的謠言，猜測他在黑暗的山丘裡住了很久；但我們從未找到他，最後我絕望了。然後在絕望中，我又想起了一個或許能讓尋找咕嚕變得不必要的測試。戒指本身或許能揭示它是否就是至尊魔戒。在聖白議會上聽到的話語重回我的記憶：薩魯曼的話，當時我只聽進了一半。現在，它們在我心中清晰地響起。」

252 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘

魔戒 252

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 253 even as I write it ts cooled, and it seemeth to shrink, though it loseth neither its beauty nor its shape. Already the writing upon it, which at first was as clear as red flame, fadeth and is now only barely to be read. It is fashioned in an elven-script of Eregion, for they have no letters in Mordor for such subtle work; but the language is unknown to me. I deem it to be a tongue of the Black Land, since it 1s foul and uncouth. What evil it saith I do not know; but I trace here a copy of it, lest it fade beyond recall. The Ring misseth, maybe, the heat of Sauron’s hand, which was black and yet burned lItke fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed; and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed. But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all the works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain. ‘When I read these words, my quest was ended. For the traced writing was indeed as Isildur guessed, in the tongue of Mordor and the servants of the Tower. And what was said therein was already known. For in the day that Sauron first put on the One, Celebrimbor, maker of the Three, was aware of him, and from afar he heard him speak these words, and so his evil purposes were revealed. ‘At once I took my leave of Denethor, but even as I went northwards, messages came to me out of Lorien that Aragorn had passed that way, and that he had found the creature called Gollum. Therefore I went first to meet him and hear his tale. Into what deadly perils he had gone alone I dared not guess.’ ‘There is little need to tell of them,’ said Aragorn. ‘If a man must needs walk in sight of the Black Gate, or tread the deadly flowers of Morgul Vale, then perils he will have. I, too, despaired at last, and I began my homeward journey. And then, by fortune, I came suddenly on what I sought: the marks of soft feet beside a muddy pool. But now the trail was fresh and swift, and it led not to Mordor but away. Along the skirts of the Dead Marshes I followed it, and then I had him. Lurking by a stagnant mere, peering in the water as the dark eve fell, I caught him, Gollum. He was covered with green slime. He will never love me, I fear; for he bit me, and I was not gentle. Nothing more did I ever get from his mouth than the marks of his teeth. I deemed it the worst part of all my journey, the road back, watching him day and night, making him walk before me with a halter on his neck, gagged, until he was tamed by lack of drink and food, driving him ever towards Mirkwood. I brought him there at last and gave him to the Elves, for we had agreed that this should be done; and I was glad to be rid of his company, for he stank. For my part I hope never to look upon him again; but Gandalf came and endured long speech with him.’ “Yes, long and weary,’ said Gandalf, ‘but not without profit. For

「就在我寫下這些文字時，它冷卻了，而且似乎縮小了，雖然其美麗或形狀並未失去。上面的文字，起初清晰如紅焰，如今已漸漸褪色，僅能勉強辨認。它是用伊瑞詹的精靈文字鑄成的，因為魔多沒有字母能應付如此精細的工作；但我對那語言一無所知。我認為那是黑語，因為它既邪惡又粗鄙。它說了什麼邪惡之事我不知道；但我在此描摹一份副本，以免它褪色至無法憶起。這枚戒指或許想念索倫那隻又黑又如火般灼熱的手，吉爾加拉德就是這樣被摧毀的；或許若將黃金再次加熱，字跡便會重現。但對我而言，我不敢冒任何傷害此物的風險：在索倫所有作品中，這是唯一美麗之物。它對我而言很珍貴，儘管我是用巨大的痛苦換來的。『當我讀到這些話時，我的追尋便結束了。因為那描摹的文字確實如埃西鐸所料，是魔多及其高塔僕役的語言。而其中所述，早已為人所知。因為在索倫初次戴上至尊魔戒那天，三枚戒指的製造者凱勒布理鵬就察覺到了他，並從遠方聽見他說出那些話語，他邪惡的意圖因此而揭露。『我立刻向迪耐瑟告辭，但就在我北上途中，羅瑞安傳來消息，說亞拉岡經過那裡，並且找到了那個叫咕嚕的生物。因此我先去見他，聽他說他的故事。他獨自經歷了何等致命的危險，我不敢猜測。』『那些無需多言，』亞拉岡說。『如果一個人必須走在黑門的視線之內，或踏上魔窟谷的致命花朵，那麼他必會遭遇險境。我最後也絕望了，開始了返鄉之旅。然後，幸運地，我突然找到了我所尋找的：一個泥濘水池旁的柔軟腳印。但現在蹤跡既新又快，它不是引向魔多，而是遠離。我沿著死亡沼澤的邊緣追蹤，然後我抓到了他。當夜幕低垂時，他潛伏在一個停滯的池塘邊，凝視著水面，我抓住了他，咕嚕。他滿身綠色黏液。我怕他永遠不會喜歡我；因為他咬了我，而我也沒有手下留情。除了他的齒痕，我從他嘴裡再也沒得到任何東西。我認為我整個旅程最糟的部分，就是回來的路，日夜看著他，用頸索套著他，讓他走在我前面，嘴裡塞著東西，直到他因缺水缺食而變得溫順，一路驅趕他朝幽暗密林而去。我最後把他帶到那裡，交給了精靈們，因為我們已約定好要這麼做；我很樂意擺脫他的陪伴，因為他很臭。就我而言，我希望再也不要見到他；但甘道夫來了，並忍受了與他長時間的談話。』『是的，漫長而疲憊，』甘道夫說，『但並非沒有收穫。因為

254 THE LORD OF THE RINGS one thing, the tale he told of his loss agreed with that which Bilbo has now told openly for the first time; but that mattered little, since I had already guessed it. But I learned then first that Gollum’s ring came out of the Great River nigh to the Gladden Fields. And I learned also that he had possessed it long. Many lives of his small kind. The power of the ring had lengthened his years far beyond their span; but that power only the Great Rings wield. ‘And if that is not proof enough, Galdor, there is the other test that I spoke of. Upon this very ring which you have here seen held aloft, round and unadorned, the letters that Isildur reported may still be read, if one has the strength of will to set the golden thing in the fire a while. That I have done, and this I have read: Ash nazg durbatuliik, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulik agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.’ The change in the wizard’s voice was astounding. Suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. All trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears. ‘Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey,’ said Elrond, as the shadow passed and the company breathed once more. ‘And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again,’ answered Gandalf. ‘Nonetheless I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For if that tongue is not soon to be heard in every corner of the West, then let all put doubt aside that this thing is indeed what the Wise have declared: the treasure of the Enemy, fraught with all his malice; and in it lies a great part of his strength of old. Out of the Black Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew that they had been betrayed: One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them. ‘Know also, my friends, that I learned more yet from Gollum. He was loth to speak and his tale was unclear, but it is beyond all doubt that he went to Mordor, and there all that he knew was forced from him. Thus the Enemy knows now that the One is found, that it was long in the Shire; and since his servants have pursued it almost to our door, he soon will know, already he may know, even as I speak, that we have it here.’

首先，他講述的失落經過，與比爾博如今首次公開的說法一致；但那無關緊要，因為我早已猜到。但我當時才首次得知，咕嚕的戒指來自大河，靠近金鳶尾沼地之處。我也得知他已擁有它許久。有他那小小同類的許多輩子那麼長。戒指的力量將他的歲月延長到遠超其壽命；但只有至尊魔戒才擁有那種力量。蓋爾多，如果那還不足以證明，我還有提過的另一個測試。只要有足夠的意志力，將那金色的東西在火中燒一會兒，就能在這枚你們剛才看見被高舉、圓潤無飾的戒指上，讀到埃西鐸所記載的那些文字。我已經這麼做了，而我讀到的是：Ash nazg durbatuliik, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulik agh burzum-ishi krimpatul。巫師的聲音變化令人震驚。它突然變得充滿威脅、強而有力，像石頭一樣冷酷。一道陰影似乎掠過高掛的太陽，門廊一時之間暗了下來。所有人都顫抖著，精靈們則摀住了耳朵。「灰袍甘道夫，以前從未有任何聲音膽敢在伊姆拉崔說出那種語言的詞句，」愛隆說，此時陰影已過，眾人再次鬆了口氣。「也讓我們期望，再也沒有人會在此地說它了，」甘道夫回答。「即便如此，我也不請求您的原諒，愛隆大師。因為如果那語言不是很快就會在西方每個角落被聽見，那麼就讓所有人拋開懷疑，確信此物確實是智者們所宣稱的：敵人的寶物，充滿了他所有的惡意；他舊時的很大部分力量也存於其中。從黑暗年代傳來了伊瑞詹工匠們聽見的話語，他們因此知道自己被背叛了：至尊戒，馭眾戒；至尊戒，尋眾戒；魔戒至尊引眾戒，禁錮眾戒黑暗中。「我的朋友們，也請知曉，我從咕嚕那裡還得知了更多。他本不願開口，故事也說得不清不楚，但無庸置疑地，他去了魔多，在那裡，他所知的一切都被強行逼問出來。因此，敵人現在知道至尊魔戒已現，而且長期待在夏爾；既然他的僕人已將它追蹤到我們門前，他很快就會知道，或許已經知道，甚至就在我說話的此刻，我們已將它帶到此地。」

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 255 All sat silent for a while, until at length Boromir spoke. ‘He is a small thing, you say, this Gollum? Small, but great in mischief. What became of him? To what doom did you put him?’ ‘He is in prison, but no worse,’ said Aragorn. ‘He had suffered much. There is no doubt that he was tormented, and the fear of Sauron lies black on his heart. Still I for one am glad that he is safely kept by the watchful Elves of Mirkwood. His malice is great and gives him a strength hardly to be believed in one so lean and withered. He could work much mischief still, if he were free. And I do not doubt that he was allowed to leave Mordor on some evil errand.’ ‘Alas! alas!’ cried Legolas, and in his fair Elvish face there was great distress. “The tidings that I was sent to bring must now be told. They are not good, but only here have I learned how evil they may seem to this company. Sméagol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped.’ ‘Escaped?’ cried Aragorn. “That is ill news indeed. We shall all rue it bitterly, I fear. How came the folk of Thranduil to fail in their trust?’ ‘Not through lack of watchfulness,’ said Legolas; ‘but perhaps through over-kindliness. And we fear that the prisoner had aid from others, and that more is known of our doings than we could wish. We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf’s bidding, much though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black thoughts.’ “You were less tender to me,’ said Gldin with a flash of his eyes, as old memories were stirred of his imprisonment in the deep places of the Elven-king’s halls. ‘Now come!’ said Gandalf. ‘Pray, do not interrupt, my good Gloin. That was a regrettable misunderstanding, long set right. If all the grievances that stand between Elves and Dwarves are to be brought up here, we may as well abandon this Council.’ Gloin rose and bowed, and Legolas continued. ‘In the days of fair weather we led Gollum through the woods; and there was a high tree standing alone far from the others which he liked to climb. Often we let him mount up to the highest branches, until he felt the free wind; but we set a guard at the tree’s foot. One day he refused to come down, and the guards had no mind to climb after him: he had learned the trick of clinging to boughs with his feet as well as with his hands; so they sat by the tree far into the night. ‘It was that very night of summer, yet moonless and starless, that Orcs came on us at unawares. We drove them off after some time; they were many and fierce, but they came from over the mountains,

256 THE LORD OF THE RINGS and were unused to the woods. When the battle was over, we found that Gollum was gone, and his guards were slain or taken. It then seemed plain to us that the attack had been made for his rescue, and that he knew of it beforehand. How that was contrived we cannot guess; but Gollum is cunning, and the spies of the Enemy are many. The dark things that were driven out in the year of the Dragon’s fall have returned in greater numbers, and Mirkwood is again an evil place, save where our realm is maintained. ‘We have failed to recapture Gollum. We came on his trail among those of many Orcs, and it plunged deep into the Forest, going south. But ere long it escaped our skill, and we dared not continue the hunt; for we were drawing nigh to Dol Guldur, and that is still a very evil place; we do not go that way.’ ‘Well, well, he is gone,’ said Gandalf. ‘We have no time to seek for him again. He must do what he will. But he may play a part yet that neither he nor Sauron have foreseen. ‘And now I will answer Galdor’s other questions. What of Saruman? What are his counsels to us in this need? This tale I must tell in full, for only Elrond has heard it yet, and that in brief; but it will bear on all that we must resolve. It is the last chapter in the Tale of the Ring, so far as it has yet gone. ‘At the end of June I was in the Shire, but a cloud of anxiety was on my mind, and I rode to the southern borders of the little land; for I had a foreboding of some danger, still hidden from me but drawing near. There messages reached me telling me of war and defeat in Gondor, and when I heard of the Black Shadow a chill smote my heart. But I found nothing save a few fugitives from the South; yet it seemed to me that on them sat a fear of which they would not speak. I turned then east and north and journeyed along the Greenway; and not far from Bree I came upon a traveller sitting on a bank beside the road with his grazing horse beside him. It was Radagast the Brown, who at one time dwelt at Rhosgobel, near the borders of Mirkwood. He is one of my order, but I had not seen him for many a year. “**Gandalf!”’ he cried. “‘I was seeking you. But I am a stranger in these parts. All I knew was that you might be found in a wild region with the uncouth name of Shire.” “**Your information was correct,’’ I said. “But do not put it that way, if you meet any of the inhabitants. You are near the borders of the Shire now. And what do you want with me? It must be pressing. You were never a traveller, unless driven by great need.” ‘“T have an urgent errand,” he said. ‘““My news is evil.’’ Then he looked about him, as if the hedges might have ears. ‘‘Nazgtl,’’ he

「『甘道夫！』他喊道。『我正在找你。但我在這一帶人生地不熟。我只知道你可能會在一個叫「夏爾」的粗野地方。』『你的消息沒錯，』我說。『但如果你遇到任何居民，可別這麼說。你現在就在夏爾的邊界附近了。你找我有什麼事？想必很緊急。你從來不是個愛旅行的人，除非有天大的需要。』『我有緊急的差事，』他說。『我的消息很糟。』然後他環顧四周，彷彿樹籬都有耳朵。『納茲古……』他

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 257 whispered. ‘“The Nine are abroad again. They have crossed the River secretly and are moving westward. They have taken the guise of riders in black.” ‘I knew then what I had dreaded without knowing it. ‘*“The Enemy must have some great need or purpose,” said Radagast; ““but what it is that makes him look to these distant and desolate parts, I cannot guess.” “*“What do you mean?”’ said I. ‘“T have been told that wherever they go the Riders ask for news of a land called Shire.”’ ‘

「『那九名騎士又出動了。他們已偷偷渡河，正朝西方移動。他們化身為黑衣騎士的模樣。』我那時便明白了，那正是我一直以來隱約恐懼之事。『*敵人必定有某種重大的需求或目的，』瑞達加斯特說；『但究竟是什麼讓他把目光投向這些遙遠荒涼的地方，我可猜不透。』『*「你這是什麼意思？」』我問道。『我聽說那些騎士所到之處，都在打聽一個叫做夏爾的地方。』」

258 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘However, I wrote a message to Frodo, and trusted to my friend the innkeeper to send it to him. I rode away at dawn; and I came at long last to the dwelling of Saruman. That is far south in Isengard, in the end of the Misty Mountains, not far from the Gap of Rohan. And Boromir will tell you that that is a great open vale that lies between the Misty Mountains and the northmost foothills of Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains of his home. But Isengard is a circle of sheer rocks that enclose a valley as with a wall, and in the midst of that valley is a tower of stone called Orthanc. It was not made by Saruman, but by the Men of Numenor long ago; and it is very tall and has many secrets; yet it looks not to be a work of craft. It cannot be reached save by passing the circle of Isengard; and in that circle there is only one gate. ‘Late one evening I came to the gate, like a great arch in the wall of rock; and it was strongly guarded. But the keepers of the gate were on the watch for me and told me that Saruman awaited me. I rode under the arch, and the gate closed silently behind me, and suddenly I was afraid, though I knew no reason for it. ‘But I rode to the foot of Orthanc, and came to the stair of Saruman; and there he met me and led me up to his high chamber. He wore a ring on his finger. “**So you have come, Gandalf,’’ he said to me gravely; but in his eyes there seemed to be a white light, as if a cold laughter was in his heart. ““*Yes, I have come,” I said. “I have come for your aid, Saruman the White.” And that title seemed to anger him. “*“Have you indeed, Gandalf the Grey!’ he scoffed. “‘For aid? It has seldom been heard of that Gandalf the Grey sought for aid, one so cunning and so wise, wandering about the lands, and concerning himself in every business, whether it belongs to him or not.” ‘I looked at him and wondered. ‘“‘But if I am not deceived,”’ said I, “things are now moving which will require the union of all our strength.” ‘**That may be so,” he said, “‘but the thought is late in coming to you. How long, I wonder, have you concealed from me, the head of the Council, a matter of greatest import? What brings you now from your lurking-place in the Shire?’’ “**The Nine have come forth again,”’ I answered. ““They have crossed the River. So Radagast said to me.” “**Radagast the Brown!”’ laughed Saruman, and he no longer concealed his scorn. ‘‘Radagast the Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool! Yet he had just the wit to play the part that I set him. For you have come, and that was all the purpose of my message. And here you will stay, Gandalf the Grey, and rest from journeys.

「然而，我寫了封信給佛羅多，託付我那位客棧老闆朋友務必送達。我黎明時分就策馬離去；費了很長的時間，終於來到薩魯曼的居所。那地方在遙遠的南方，位於艾辛格，就在迷霧山脈的盡頭，離羅翰隘口不遠。波羅莫會告訴你，那是一片開闊的巨大谷地，介於迷霧山脈與他家鄉的白色山脈——伊瑞德尼姆拉斯——最北麓的山丘之間。但艾辛格本身是由一圈峭壁環繞而成，像城牆一樣圍住了一片山谷，而在山谷中央，矗立著一座名為歐散克的石塔。它並非薩魯曼所造，而是由努曼諾爾人很久以前建造的；它非常高聳，藏有許多秘密；但看起來卻不像是工藝之作。除非穿過艾辛格的環形壁，否則無法抵達；而那圈石壁上只有一道門。「一天傍晚，我來到那座大門前，它就像石牆上的一座巨大拱門；而且守衛森嚴。但守門人已在等候我，並告訴我薩魯曼正等著我。我騎馬穿過拱門，大門在我身後無聲地關上，我突然感到一陣恐懼，雖然我說不出任何理由。「但我還是騎到了歐散克塔腳下，來到薩魯曼的階梯前；他在那裡迎接我，並領我上到他高處的房間。他手指上戴著一枚戒指。『你總算來了，甘道夫，』他嚴肅地對我說；但他眼中似乎有道白光，彷彿心中藏著一陣冰冷的笑聲。『是的，我來了，』我說。『我是來尋求你的幫助，白袍薩魯曼。』而這個頭銜似乎激怒了他。『是嗎，灰袍甘道夫！』他嘲諷道。『來尋求幫助？真是聞所未聞，灰袍甘道夫竟然會尋求幫助，一個如此狡猾又如此聰明，在各地遊蕩，對每件事都要插手，不管那事是否與他有關的人。』我看著他，感到很疑惑。『但如果我沒弄錯的話，』我說，『現在情勢的發展，需要我們團結所有力量。』『或許如此，』他說，『但你這想法來得太遲了。我倒想知道，你向我——議會的首領——隱瞞這件最重要的事有多久了？是什麼把你從你在夏爾的藏身之處引來的？』『那九戒靈又出現了，』我回答。『他們已經渡過了那條河。瑞達加斯特是這麼告訴我的。』『褐袍瑞達加斯特！』薩魯曼大笑起來，不再掩飾他的輕蔑。『馴鳥師瑞達加斯特！頭腦簡單的瑞達加斯特！傻瓜瑞達加斯特！不過他倒還有點小聰明，剛好能扮演我派給他的角色。因為你來了，這就是我傳訊的全部目的。而你將會待在這裡，灰袍甘道夫，好好休息，不用再奔波了。』

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 259 For Iam Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!” ‘I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered. ‘

「因為我是智者薩魯曼、製戒者薩魯曼、多彩的薩魯曼！」我那時一看，才發現他那原本看似白色的長袍並非如此，而是由所有顏色交織而成，他一移動，袍子便閃爍變換色澤，令人眼花撩亂。

260 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Gandalf?” he whispered. ‘“‘Why not? The Ruling Ring? If we could command that, then the Power would pass to us. That is in truth why I brought you here. For I have many eyes in my service, and I believe that you know where this precious thing now lies. Is it not so? Or why do the Nine ask for the Shire, and what is your business there?”’? As he said this a lust which he could not conceal shone suddenly in his eyes. “**Saruman,”’ I said, standing away from him, ‘‘only one hand at a time can wield the One, and you know that well, so do not trouble to say we! But I would not give it, nay, I would not give even news of it to you, now that I learn your mind. You were head of the Council, but you have unmasked yourself at last. Well, the choices are, it seems, to submit to Sauron, or to yourself. I will take neither. Have you others to offer?” “He was cold now and perilous. “‘Yes,’’ he said. “‘I did not expect you to show wisdom, even in your own behalf; but I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, and so saving yourself much trouble and pain. The third choice is to stay here, until the end.” **Until what end?” ‘**Until you reveal to me where the One may be found. I may find means to persuade you. Or until it is found in your despite, and the Ruler has time to turn to lighter matters: to devise, say, a fitting reward for the hindrance and insolence of Gandalf the Grey.” ‘**That may not prove to be one of the lighter matters,”’ said I. He laughed at me, for my words were empty, and he knew it. “They took me and they set me alone on the pinnacle of Orthanc, in the place where Saruman was accustomed to watch the stars. There is no descent save by a narrow stair of many thousand steps, and the valley below seems far away. I looked on it and saw that, whereas it had once been green and fair, it was now filled with pits and forges. Wolves and orcs were housed in Isengard, for Saruman was mustering a great force on his own account, in rivalry of Sauron and not in his service, yet. Over all his works a dark smoke hung and wrapped itself about the sides of Orthanc. I stood alone on an island in the clouds; and I had no chance of escape, and my days were bitter. I was pierced with cold, and I had but little room in which to pace to and fro, brooding on the coming of the Riders to the North. “That the Nine had indeed arisen I felt assured, apart from the words of Saruman which might be lies. Long ere I came to Isengard I had heard tidings by the way that could not be mistaken. Fear was ever in my heart for my friends in the Shire; but still I had some hope. I hoped that Frodo had set forth at once, as my letter had urged, and that he had reached Rivendell before the deadly pursuit

「為什麼不？至尊魔戒？如果我們能駕馭它，那股力量就會轉移到我們手上。說真的，這就是我帶你來這裡的原因。因為我麾下有許多眼線，我相信你知道這寶物現在在哪。不是嗎？不然九戒靈為何要打探夏爾的消息，你又在那裡做什麼？」他說話時，眼中突然閃現出一種無法掩飾的貪欲。「『薩魯曼，』我邊說邊離他遠一些，『一次只有一隻手能揮舞至尊魔戒，這點你很清楚，所以別費心說「我們」了！但我不會把它給你，不，既然我看清了你的心思，我連它的消息都不會透露給你。你曾是聖白議會之首，但你終究是撕下假面了。看來，選擇似乎是屈服於索倫，或是屈服於你。我兩者都不會選。你還有別的選項嗎？』」「他此刻變得冷酷而危險。『有的，』他說。『我本不指望你會為自己著想、展現點智慧；但我給了你一個機會，讓你自願協助我，從而為自己省去許多麻煩與痛苦。第三個選擇就是待在這裡，直到終結。』」「『直到什麼終結？』」「『直到你向我揭露至尊魔戒的下落。我也許能找到辦法說服你。或者，直到魔戒不顧你的阻撓而被找到，屆時統治者將有餘裕處理些較輕鬆的事：比方說，為灰袍甘道夫的阻礙與傲慢設計一份相稱的獎賞。』」「『那恐怕不會是件輕鬆事。』我說。他對我大笑，因為我的話語空洞無力，他心知肚明。「他們抓住了我，將我獨自囚禁在歐散克塔頂，那是薩魯曼過去慣於觀星的地方。除了數千階的窄梯外，沒有任何下去的路，下方的山谷看似遙遠。我望著它，看見那片曾經青翠美麗的土地，如今已滿是坑洞與鍛爐。狼群與半獸人進駐了艾辛格，因為薩魯曼正為自己集結一支大軍，意圖與索倫抗衡，而非為他效力。他所有造物的上空都懸著黑煙，纏繞著歐散克塔的塔身。我獨自站在雲中孤島上；我沒有任何逃脫的機會，日子過得十分苦澀。我被寒冷刺透，只有狹小的空間來回踱步，憂心著戒靈北上的事。「我確信九戒靈確實已經出動了，這點無關薩魯曼的話語——那可能是謊言。早在我抵達艾辛格之前，我沿途就聽到了不會錯的消息。我心中始終為夏爾的朋友們擔憂；但我仍抱持著一絲希望。我希望佛羅多已照我信中所催促的，立刻出發，並在那致命的追捕到來前，抵達了瑞文戴爾。

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 261 began. And both my fear and my hope proved ill-founded. For my hope was founded on a fat man in Bree; and my fear was founded on the cunning of Sauron. But fat men who sell ale have many calls to answer; and the power of Sauron is still less than fear makes it. But in the circle of Isengard, trapped and alone, it was not easy to think that the hunters before whom all have fled or fallen would falter in the Shire far away.’ ‘I saw you!’ cried Frodo. ‘You were walking backwards and forwards. The moon shone in your hair.’ Gandalf paused astonished and looked at him. ‘It was only a dream,’ said Frodo, ‘but it suddenly came back to me. I had quite forgotten it. It came some time ago; after I left the Shire, I think.’ “Then it was late in coming,’ said Gandalf, ‘as you will see. I was in an evil plight. And those who know me will agree that I have seldom been in such need, and do not bear such misfortune well. Gandalf the Grey caught like a fly in a spider’s treacherous web! Yet even the most subtle spiders may leave a weak thread. ‘At first I feared, as Saruman no doubt intended, that Radagast had also fallen. Yet I had caught no hint of anything wrong in his voice or in his eye at our meeting. If I had, I should never have gone to Isengard, or I should have gone more warily. So Saruman guessed, and he had concealed his mind and deceived his messenger. It would have been useless in any case to try and win over the honest Radagast to treachery. He sought me in good faith, and so persuaded me. “That was the undoing of Saruman’s plot. For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood where he had many friends of old. And the Eagles of the Mountains went far and wide, and they saw many things: the gathering of wolves and the mustering of Orcs; and the Nine Riders going hither and thither in the lands; and they heard news of the escape of Gollum. And they sent a messenger to bring these tidings to me. ‘So it was that when summer waned, there came a night of moon, and Gwaihir the Windlord, swiftest of the Great Eagles, came unlooked-for to Orthanc; and he found me standing on the pinnacle. Then I spoke to him and he bore me away, before Saruman was aware. I was far from Isengard, ere the wolves and orcs issued from the gate to pursue me. ‘**How far can you bear me?” I said to Gwaihir. “**Many leagues,”’ said he, “‘but not to the ends of the earth. I was sent to bear tidings not burdens.”’ ‘““Then I must have a steed on land,” I said, “cand a steed surpassingly swift, for I have never had such need of haste before.”’ ‘**Then I will bear you to Edoras, where the Lord of Rohan sits in his halls,’’ he said; ‘‘for that is not very far off.’’ And I was glad,

「『你能載我多遠？』我問關赫。『很多里格，』他說，『但到不了天涯海角。我奉命前來是為了傳遞消息，不是背負重擔。』」「『那麼我需要一匹陸上的坐騎，』我說，『而且是一匹無比迅捷的坐騎，因為我從未如此急迫過。』」「『那我載你到伊多拉斯，洛汗國王正在他的殿堂裡，』他說，『那裡離這不遠。』」而我很高興，

262 THE LORD OF THE RINGS for in the Riddermark of Rohan the Rohirrim, the Horse-lords, dwell, and there are no horses like those that are bred in that great vale between the Misty Mountains and the White. “**Are the Men of Rohan still to be trusted, do you think?”’ I said to Gwaihir, for the treason of Saruman had shaken my faith. “*“They pay a tribute of horses,’’ he answered, “cand send many yearly to Mordor, or so it is said; but they are not yet under the yoke. But if Saruman has become evil, as you say, then their doom cannot be long delayed.” ‘He set me down in the land of Rohan ere dawn; and now I have lengthened my tale over long. The rest must be more brief. In Rohan I found evil already at work: the lies of Saruman; and the king of the land would not listen to my warnings. He bade me take a horse and be gone; and I chose one much to my liking, but little to his. I took the best horse in his land, and I have never seen the like of him.’ ‘Then he must be a noble beast indeed,’ said Aragorn; ‘and it grieves me more than many tidings that might seem worse to learn that Sauron levies such tribute. It was not so when last I was in that land.’ ‘Nor is it now, I will swear,’ said Boromir. ‘It is a lie that comes from the Enemy. I know the Men of Rohan, true and valiant, our allies, dwelling still in the lands that we gave them long ago.’ “The shadow of Mordor lies on distant lands,’ answered Aragorn. ‘Saruman has fallen under it. Rohan is beset. Who knows what you will find there, if ever you return?’ ‘Not this at least,’ said Boromir, ‘that they will buy their lives with horses. They love their horses next to their kin. And not without reason, for the horses of the Riddermark come from the fields of the North, far from the Shadow, and their race, as that of their masters, is descended from the free days of old.’ “True indeed!’ said Gandalf. ‘And there is one among them that might have been foaled in the morning of the world. The horses of the Nine cannot vie with him; tireless, swift as the flowing wind. Shadowfax they called him. By day his coat glistens like silver; and by night it is like a shade, and he passes unseen. Light is his footfall! Never before had any man mounted him, but I took him and I tamed him, and so speedily he bore me that I reached the Shire when Frodo was on the Barrow-downs, though I set out from Rohan only when he set out from Hobbiton. ‘But fear grew in me as I rode. Ever as I came north I heard tidings of the Riders, and though I gained on them day by day, they were ever before me. They had divided their forces, I learned: some

因為在羅翰的利德馬克，居住著羅希林人，也就是馬王們，而在那片介於迷霧山脈與白色山脈之間的宏偉谷地所培育出來的馬，是無與倫比的。『「你覺得羅翰人還值得信任嗎？」』我問關赫，因為薩魯曼的背叛動搖了我的信心。『「他們進貢馬匹，」他回答，「據說每年送許多到魔多去；但他們尚未被奴役。不過，如果你說的沒錯，薩魯曼已然墮落，那他們的末日恐怕也為時不遠了。」』『天亮前，他將我放在羅翰的土地上；我這故事說得太長了，接下來得簡短些。在羅翰，我發現邪惡已在作祟：薩魯曼的謊言；而那裡的國王不願聽我的警告。他命我隨便牽匹馬就走；我選了一匹我極為中意，他卻不怎麼喜歡的。我帶走了他國土上最棒的馬，我從未見過像牠那樣的駿馬。』『那牠肯定是一頭神駒了，』亞拉岡說，『而得知索倫強徵此等貢品，比許多看似更糟的消息都令我悲痛。我上次到那片土地時，情況並非如此。』『我敢發誓，現在也不是，』波羅莫說。『那是來自敵人的謊言。我了解羅翰人，他們真誠而英勇，是我們的盟友，至今仍居住在我們很久以前贈予他們的土地上。』『魔多的陰影籠罩著遠方的土地，』亞拉岡回答。『薩魯曼已墮入其下。羅翰正四面受敵。誰知道你若有朝一日回去，會在那裡發現什麼？』『至少不會是這個，』波羅莫說，『他們絕不會用馬匹來換取性命。他們愛馬僅次於愛自己的親人。這不是沒有道理的，因為利德馬克的馬匹來自遠離黑影的北方原野，牠們的血統，就如同牠們主人的血統一樣，都源自於遠古的自由時代。』『確實如此！』甘道夫說。『而在牠們之中，有一匹簡直像是在世界晨曦之時所生。那九戒靈的坐騎都無法與牠匹敵；牠不知疲倦，迅如流風。他們稱牠為影疾。白天，牠的毛皮如銀光閃耀；夜晚，牠則宛如一道幽影，無蹤無影地穿行。牠的腳步輕盈！從未有人騎上過牠，但我帶走了牠，馴服了牠，牠載著我飛速賓士，當佛羅多還在古墓崗時，我便已抵達夏爾，而我從羅翰出發時，他才剛離開哈比屯。』『但隨著我騎行，恐懼在我心中滋長。我越往北走，就越聽到關於戒靈騎士的消息，雖然我日復一日地追趕他們，他們卻始終在我前面。我得知他們已分兵：一部分……』

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 263 remained on the eastern borders, not far from the Greenway, and some invaded the Shire from the south. I came to Hobbiton and Frodo had gone; but I had words with old Gamgee. Many words and few to the point. He had much to say about the shortcomings of the new owners of Bag End. ‘“T can’t abide changes,” said he, ‘‘not at my time of life, and least of all changes for the worst.’ ‘“Changes for the worst,’’ he repeated many times. “Worst is a bad word,” I said to him, ‘‘and I hope you do not live to see it.” But amidst his talk I gathered at last that Frodo had left Hobbiton less than a week before, and that a black horseman had come to the Hill the same evening. Then I rode on in fear. I came to Buckland and found it in uproar, as busy as a hive of ants that has been stirred with a stick. I came to the house at Crickhollow, and it was broken open and empty; but on the threshold there lay a cloak that had been Frodo’s. Then for a while hope left me, and I did not wait to gather news, or I might have been comforted; but I rode on the trail of the Riders. It was hard to follow, for it went many ways, and I was at a loss. But it seemed to me that one or two had ridden towards Bree; and that way I went, for I thought of words that might be said to the innkeeper. ‘**Butterbur they call him,” thought I. “‘If this delay was his fault, I will melt all the butter in him. I will roast the old fool over a slow fire.”” He expected no less, and when he saw my face he fell down flat and began to melt on the spot.’ ‘What did you do to him?’ cried Frodo in alarm. ‘He was really very kind to us and did all that he could.’ Gandalf laughed. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I did not bite, and I barked very little. So overjoyed was I by the news that I got out of him, when he stopped quaking, that I embraced the old fellow. How it had happened I could not then guess, but I learned that you had been in Bree the night before, and had gone off that morning with Strider. “**Strider!”’ I cried, shouting for joy. ‘Yes, sir, I am afraid so, sir,” said Butterbur, mistaking me. ‘““He got at them, in spite of all that I could do, and they took up with him. They behaved very queer all the time they were here: wilful, you might say.” “**Ass! Fool! Thrice worthy and beloved Barliman!”’ said I. “‘It’s the best news I have had since Midsummer; it’s worth a gold piece at the least. May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!’ said I. ““Now I can take a night’s rest, the first since I have forgotten when.”’ ok

愛隆會議第263頁。他們留在東邊邊界，離綠大道不遠，還有些從南方入侵了夏爾。我到了哈比屯，佛羅多已經走了；但我跟老詹吉談了談。說了很多話，但沒幾句說到重點。他對袋底洞新主人的缺點有很多怨言。「我可受不了改變，」他說，「尤其是在我這把年紀，更別說是越變越糟的改變。」「越變越糟，」他重複了好幾次。「『最糟』是個不祥的詞，」我對他說，「我希望你永遠不會見識到它。」但在他的談話中，我總算弄明白了，佛羅多在不到一週前離開了哈比屯，而且當天晚上就有一個黑騎士來到了小丘。然後我恐懼地繼續前行。我來到布克蘭，發現那裡一片騷動，就像被棍子攪亂的蟻巢一樣亂成一團。我來到溪谷地的房子，門被撞開，裡面空無一物；但門檻上躺著一件曾是佛羅多穿的斗篷。那一刻，希望離我而去，我沒有停下來打探消息，否則或許能得到些安慰；但我繼續追蹤騎士們的蹤跡。蹤跡很難追尋，因為它分岔成好幾條路，我一時不知所措。但我看來似乎有一兩騎朝著布理的方向去了；我便朝那個方向走，心裡想著該對那酒店老闆說些什麼話。「他們叫他奶油伯，」我心想。「如果這次的耽擱是他的錯，我要把他身上的奶油全都融化掉。我要把那個老傻瓜放在慢火上烤。」他也沒指望我會輕饒他，當他看到我的臉時，他立刻癱倒在地，當場就嚇得要融化了。「你對他做了什麼？」佛羅多驚慌地叫道。「他對我們真的很好，而且已經盡力了。」甘道夫笑了。「別怕！」他說。「我沒有咬人，也只是稍微吼了幾聲。」當他不再發抖後，我從他那裡得到的消息讓我欣喜若狂，以至於我擁抱了那個老傢伙。我當時猜不到事情是怎麼發生的，但我得知你們前一晚在布理，並且那天早上跟著「神行客」一起離開了。「『神行客』！」我高興地大喊。「是的，先生，恐怕是這樣，先生，」奶油伯誤會了我的意思說。「儘管我盡力了，他還是接近了他們，他們也跟他混在一起了。他們在這裡的時候行為一直很古怪：可以說是任性妄為。」「『蠢驢！笨蛋！三倍可敬又親愛的巴力曼！』」我說。「『這是我自仲夏以來聽過最好的消息；它至少值一枚金幣。願你的啤酒被施下魔法，在未來七年都無比醇美！』我說。『現在我總算可以好好睡一晚了，這是我忘了多久以來的第一個安穩覺。』」

264 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘So I stayed there that night, wondering much what had become of the Riders; for only of two had there yet been any news in Bree, it seemed. But in the night we heard more. Five at least came from the west, and they threw down the gates and passed through Bree like a howling wind; and the Bree-folk are still shivering and expecting the end of the world. I got up before dawn and went after them. ‘I do not know, but it seems clear to me that this is what happened. Their Captain remained in secret away south of Bree, while two rode ahead through the village, and four more invaded the Shire. But when these were foiled in Bree and at Crickhollow, they returned to their Captain with tidings, and so left the Road unguarded for a while, except by their spies. The Captain then sent some eastward straight across country, and he himself with the rest rode along the Road in great wrath. ‘I galloped to Weathertop like a gale, and I reached it before sundown on my second day from Bree — and they were there before me. They drew away from me, for they felt the coming of my anger and they dared not face it while the Sun was in the sky. But they closed round at night, and I was besieged on the hill-top, in the old ring of Amon Stl. I was hard put to it indeed: such light and flame cannot have been seen on Weathertop since the war-beacons of old. ‘At sunrise I escaped and fled towards the north. I could not hope to do more. It was impossible to find you, Frodo, in the wilderness, and it would have been folly to try with all the Nine at my heels. So I had to trust to Aragorn. But I hoped to draw some of them off, and yet reach Rivendell ahead of you and send out help. Four Riders did indeed follow me, but they turned back after a while and made for the Ford, it seems. That helped a little, for there were only five, not nine, when your camp was attacked. ‘I reached here at last by a long hard road, up the Hoarwell and through the Ettenmoors, and down from the north. It took me nearly fifteen days from Weathertop, for I could not ride among the rocks of the troll-fells, and Shadowfax departed. I sent him back to his master; but a great friendship has grown between us, and if I have need he will come at my call. But so it was that I came to Rivendell only two days before the Ring, and news of its peril had already been brought here — which proved well indeed. ‘And that, Frodo, is the end of my account. May Elrond and the others forgive the length of it. But such a thing has not happened before, that Gandalf broke tryst and did not come when he promised. An account to the Ring-bearer of so strange an event was required, I think. ‘Well, the Tale is now told, from first to last. Here we all are, and

「所以那天晚上我留在那裡，心裡一直納悶那些黑騎士到底怎麼了；因為當時在布理似乎只有關於其中兩位的消息。但到了晚上，我們聽到了更多。至少有五個從西邊來，他們撞倒了大門，像一陣呼嘯的狂風般穿過布理；布理的居民至今仍在顫抖，以為世界末日要來了。我在黎明前起床，跟著他們去了。 「我不知道，但在我看來，事情的經過顯然是這樣。他們的頭目秘密地留在布理南方，同時派了兩騎穿過村莊，另外四騎入侵了夏爾。但當他們在布理和克里克窪的行動受挫後，便帶著消息回到他們頭目那裡，因此有段時間大路無人看守，只剩下他們的探子。那頭目於是派了一些人直接向東越野前進，他自己則帶著剩下的人，怒氣沖沖地沿著大路而來。 「我如狂風般馳騁到風雲頂，從布理出發的第二天日落前就抵達了——而他們比我更早到。他們從我面前退開，因為他們感覺到我怒氣的迫近，在太陽還高掛天空時不敢面對我。但到了晚上，他們便圍攏過來，我在山頂上，在阿蒙蘇爾的古老石環中被圍困了。我確實應付得十分艱難：自古時的示警烽火以來，風雲頂上恐怕再也沒見過那樣的光與火。 「日出時我逃脫了，朝北方奔去。我無法指望能做得更多。要在荒野中找到你，佛羅多，是不可能的，而且在九名騎士緊追不捨的情況下嘗試這麼做是愚蠢的。所以我只能信任亞拉岡。但我希望能引開他們一部分人，並且趕在你之前抵達瑞文戴爾派出援兵。確實有四名騎士跟著我，但他們追了一陣子後就折返，似乎是往渡口去了。這多少有點幫助，因為你們的營地被攻擊時，只有五名騎士，而不是九名。 「我最終走了一條漫長艱辛的路才到達這裡，沿著灰水河而上，穿過艾頓荒原，再從北方南下。從風雲頂到這裡花了我將近十五天，因為我無法在食人妖丘陵的岩石間騎馬，影疾也離開了。我把他送回他的主人那裡；但我們之間已建立了深厚的友誼，如果我有需要，他會應我的呼喚而來。但就是這樣，我比魔戒只早兩天到達瑞文戴爾，而關於它危險的消息早已傳到此地——這確實是件好事。 「佛羅多，這就是我的全部說明了。願愛隆和其他人能原諒我說得這麼長。但這樣的事從未發生過，甘道夫竟然失約，沒有在他承諾的時候出現。我認為，對於這麼一件奇特的事，有必要向魔戒持有者做個交代。 「好了，故事從頭到尾都說完了。我們大家都在這裡，而且」

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 265 here is the Ring. But we have not yet come any nearer to our purpose. What shall we do with it?’ There was a silence. At last Elrond spoke again. ‘This is grievous news concerning Saruman,’ he said; ‘for we trusted him and he is deep in all our counsels. It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill. But such falls and betrayals, alas, have happened before. Of the tales that we have heard this day the tale of Frodo was most strange to me. I have known few hobbits, save Bilbo here; and it seems to me that he is perhaps not so alone and singular as I had thought him. The world has changed much since I last was on the westward roads. ‘The Barrow-wights we know by many names; and of the Old Forest many tales have been told: all that now remains is but an outlier of its northern march. Time was when a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard. In those lands I journeyed once, and many things wild and strange I knew. But I had forgotten Bombadil, if indeed this is still the same that walked the woods and hills long ago, and even then was older than the old. That was not then his name. Iarwain Ben-adar we called him, oldest and fatherless. But many another name he has since been given by other folk: Forn by the Dwarves, Orald by Northern Men, and other names beside. He is a strange creature, but maybe I should have summoned him to our Council.’ ‘He would not have come,’ said Gandalf. ‘Could we not still send messages to him and obtain his help?’ asked Erestor. ‘It seems that he has a power even over the Ring.’ ‘No, I should not put it so,’ said Gandalf. ‘Say rather that the Ring has no power over him. He is his own master. But he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others. And now he is withdrawn into a little land, within bounds that he has set, though none can see them, waiting perhaps for a change of days, and he will not step beyond them.’ ‘But within those bounds nothing seems to dismay him,’ said Erestor. ‘Would he not take the Ring and keep it there, for ever harmless?’ ‘No,’ said Gandalf, ‘not willingly. He might do so, if all the free folk of the world begged him, but he would not understand the need. And if he were given the Ring, he would soon forget it, or most likely throw it away. Such things have no hold on his mind. He would be a most unsafe guardian; and that alone is answer enough.’ ‘But in any case,’ said Glorfindel, ‘to send the Ring to him would only postpone the day of evil. He is far away. We could not now take it back to him, unguessed, unmarked by any spy. And even if we

「魔戒在此。但我們離我們的目標絲毫沒有更近一步。我們該如何處置它？」一片寂靜。最後，愛隆再度開口。「關於薩魯曼的消息令人悲痛，」他說；「因為我們曾信任他，而他深涉我們所有的計謀。不論動機是好是壞，過於深入地研究敵人的技藝總是危險的。然而，唉，這樣的墮落與背叛，過去也曾發生過。在我們今天聽到的所有故事中，佛羅多先生的故事對我而言最為奇特。除了比爾博之外，我認識的哈比人不多；而在我看來，他或許並不如我所想的那般孤單與獨特。自我上次行走於西方道路以來，世界已改變了許多。『古墓屍妖我們以許多名字稱之；關於老林也有許多傳說：如今所剩下的，不過是它北方邊界地帶的一塊孤立殘餘。曾有那麼一段時間，一隻松鼠可以不落地，從樹梢一路從今日的夏爾跳到艾辛格西邊的登蘭德。我曾一度在那片土地上旅行，見識過許多狂野奇異之事。但我已忘了龐巴迪，如果他確實仍是那位很久以前漫步於林間山丘、且在當時就已比年老者更老的那位。那時他的名字不叫這個。我們稱他為伊阿凡·本-阿達，最年長無父者。但自那之後，其他民族給了他許多別的名字：矮人稱他為佛恩，北方人稱他為歐拉德，此外還有其他名字。他是個奇特的生物，但或許我當初應該召他來我們的會議。』『他不會來的，』甘道夫說。『我們難道不能派信給他，尋求他的幫助嗎？』伊瑞斯托問。『看來他甚至有駕馭魔戒的力量。』『不，我不該這麼說，』甘道夫說。『應該說，是魔戒對他沒有力量。他獨立自主。但他無法改變魔戒本身，也無法破解它對他人的力量。如今他已退隱到一小片他自己設定了邊界、但無人能看見的土地上，或許在等待時局的變遷，而他絕不會踏出那界線一步。』『但在那界線之內，似乎沒有什麼能使他沮喪，』伊瑞斯托說。『他難道不願收下魔戒，讓它在那裡永無害處嗎？』『不，』甘道夫說，『他不會心甘情願這麼做。如果全世界所有自由的人民都懇求他，他或許會做，但他不會理解其必要性。而且要是把魔戒給了他，他很快就會忘了它，或最可能把它扔掉。這類事物無法掌控他的心智。他會是個最不安全的守護者；而單是這一點就足以作為答案了。』『但無論如何，』葛羅芬戴爾說，『把魔戒送到他那裡只會拖延邪惡之日的到來。他離這裡太遠了。我們現在無法在不被任何間諜猜測或標記的情況下，將它送回他手上。而且即使我們……」

266 THE LORD OF THE RINGS could, soon or late the Lord of the Rings would learn of its hiding place and would bend all his power towards it. Could that power be defied by Bombadil alone? I think not. I think that in the end, if all else is conquered, Bombadil will fall, Last as he was First; and then Night will come.’ ‘I know little of Iarwain save the name,’ said Galdor; ‘but Glorfindel, I think, is right. Power to defy our Enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself. And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills. What power still remains lies with us, here in Imladris, or with Cirdan at the Havens, or in Lorien. But have they the strength, have we here the strength to withstand the Enemy, the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is overthrown?’ ‘I have not the strength,’ said Elrond; ‘neither have they.’ “Then if the Ring cannot be kept from him for ever by strength,’ said Glorfindel, ‘two things only remain for us to attempt: to send it over the Sea, or to destroy it.’ ‘But Gandalf has revealed to us that we cannot destroy it by any craft that we here possess,’ said Elrond. ‘And they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it: for good or ill it belongs to Middle-earth; it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it.’ ‘Then,’ said Glorfindel, ‘let us cast it into the deeps, and so make the lies of Saruman come true. For it is clear now that even at the Council his feet were already on a crooked path. He knew that the Ring was not lost for ever, but wished us to think so; for he began to lust for it for himself. Yet oft in lies truth is hidden: in the Sea it would be safe.’ ‘Not safe for ever,’ said Gandalf. “There are many things in the deep waters; and seas and lands may change. And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.’ ‘And that we shall not find on the roads to the Sea,’ said Galdor. ‘If the return to Iarwain be thought too dangerous, then flight to the Sea is now fraught with gravest peril. My heart tells me that Sauron will expect us to take the western way, when he learns what has befallen. He soon will. The Nine have been unhorsed indeed, but that is but a respite, ere they find new steeds and swifter. Only the waning might of Gondor stands now between him and a march in power along the coasts into the North; and if he comes, assailing the White Towers and the Havens, hereafter the Elves may have no escape from the lengthening shadows of Middle-earth.’ ‘Long yet will that march be delayed,’ said Boromir. ‘Gondor wanes, you say. But Gondor stands, and even the end of its strength is still very strong.’

「無論如何，魔戒之主遲早會發現它的藏身之處，並會傾其所有力量奪取它。單憑龐巴迪一人，能抵抗那股力量嗎？我不認為。我想，到頭來，如果其他一切都被征服，龐巴迪也將淪陷，他將是最後一個，如同他是第一個；屆時黑夜便會降臨。」 「關於雅爾溫，我除了名字之外一無所知，」加爾多說，「但我想，葛羅芬戴爾是對的。他沒有力量能反抗我們的敵人，除非那力量源於大地本身。然而我們也看到，索倫能折磨並摧毀山巒。剩下的力量就在我們這裡，在伊姆拉崔，或在瑟丹所在的灰港岸，或在羅瑞安。但他們有那樣的實力嗎？我們這裡有實力抵擋敵人嗎？當萬物傾覆，索倫最終到來之時？」 「我沒有那樣的實力，」愛隆說，「他們也沒有。」 「那麼，如果無法用力量永遠阻止他得到魔戒，」葛羅芬戴爾說，「我們只剩下兩條路可嘗試：將它送過大海，或是摧毀它。」 「但甘道夫已經向我們揭示，以我們此處擁有的任何技藝都無法摧毀它，」愛隆說。「而居住在海外的那些人也不會接收它：無論好壞，它都屬於中土大陸；得由我們這些仍居住於此的人來處理它。」 「那麼，」葛羅芬戴爾說，「讓我們將它投入深海，好讓薩魯曼的謊言成真。因為現在很清楚，即便在會議上，他的腳也已經踏上了一條歪路。他知道魔戒並未永遠遺失，卻希望我們這麼認為；因為他自己開始對它起了貪念。然而謊言中常藏著真相：在海中，它會是安全的。」 「並非永遠安全，」甘道夫說。「深水之中有許多東西；海洋和陸地也可能改變。我們的責任不是只為一時、或為人類短暫的幾代、或為世界流轉的一個時代來考量。我們應該尋求徹底終結這個威脅，即便我們不指望能親手達成。」 「而我們在通往大海的路上是找不到答案的，」加爾多說。「如果返回雅爾溫之處被認為太危險，那麼逃往大海現在更是充滿了最嚴重的危險。我的心告訴我，當索倫得知發生了什麼事，他會料到我們走西邊的路。他很快就會知道的。九戒靈確實已失去坐騎，但這只是短暫的喘息，他們很快會找到新的、更快的坐騎。如今，只有剛鐸日漸衰微的力量還能阻擋他大舉沿著海岸向北進軍；如果他來了，攻擊白塔和灰港岸，此後精靈們可能將無處可逃，只能面對中土大陸不斷擴張的陰影。」 「那場進軍還會被拖延很久，」波羅莫說。「你說，剛鐸正在衰落。但剛鐸依然屹立，即使是它力量的盡頭，也仍然非常強大。」

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 267 ‘And yet its vigilance can no longer keep back the Nine,’ said Galdor. ‘And other roads he may find that Gondor does not guard.’ ‘Then,’ said Erestor, ‘there are but two courses, as Glorfindel already has declared: to hide the Ring for ever; or to unmake it. But both are beyond our power. Who will read this riddle for us?’ ‘None here can do so,’ said Elrond gravely. ‘At least none can foretell what will come to pass, if we take this road or that. But it seems to me now clear which is the road that we must take. The westward road seems easiest. Therefore it must be shunned. It will be watched. Too often the Elves have fled that way. Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril — to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire.’ Silence fell again. Frodo, even in that fair house, looking out upon a sunlit valley filled with the noise of clear waters, felt a dead darkness in his heart. Boromir stirred, and Frodo looked at him. He was fingering his great horn and frowning. At length he spoke. ‘I do not understand all this,’ he said. ‘Saruman is a traitor, but did he not have a glimpse of wisdom? Why do you speak ever of hiding and destroying? Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely defeat the Enemy. That is what he most fears, I deem. “The Men of Gondor are valiant, and they will never submit; but they may be beaten down. Valour needs first strength, and then a weapon. Let the Ring be your weapon, if it has such power as you say. Take it and go forth to victory!’ ‘Alas, no,’ said Elrond. ‘We cannot use the Ruling Ring. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron’s throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it.’ ‘Nor I,’ said Gandalf. Boromir looked at them doubtfully, but he bowed his head. ‘So be it,’ he said. “Then in Gondor we must trust to such weapons as

「然而它的警戒再也擋不住那九個了，」加爾多說。「而且他可能會找到剛鐸沒有守衛的其他道路。」 「那麼，」伊瑞斯特說，「就只有兩條路，如同葛羅芬戴爾已經說過的：永遠藏起魔戒；或者毀掉它。但這兩者都超出了我們的能力。誰能為我們解開這個謎題？」 「這裡沒有人能做到，」愛隆莊重地說。「至少沒有人能預言，如果我們走上這條或那條路，將會發生什麼。但在我看來，我們必須走的路現在已經很清楚了。向西的路似乎最容易。因此必須避開它。那條路會被監視。精靈們太多次從那條路逃走了。現在，在最後關頭，我們必須走一條艱難的路，一條無法預料的路。我們的希望就在那裡，如果那還能算是希望的話。走向危險——走向魔多。我們必須把魔戒送入末日火山的烈焰中。」 寂靜再次降臨。佛羅多，即使身處在這美麗的屋子裡，望著陽光普照、充滿清澈流水聲的山谷，心中卻感到一片死寂的黑暗。 波羅莫動了一下，佛羅多看著他。他正撫摸著他的大號角，皺著眉頭。最後他開口了。 「我不完全明白這一切，」他說。「薩魯曼是個叛徒，但他難道沒有一絲智慧的洞見嗎？你們為什麼總是在談論躲藏和摧毀？我們為什麼不認為至尊魔戒落入我們手中，是為了在我們最需要的時刻為我們效力？自由人民的自由君王們揮舞著它，必能擊敗敵人。我認為，那才是他最害怕的。『剛鐸的人民英勇無畏，他們永不屈服；但他們可能會被打垮。英勇首先需要力量，然後是武器。如果魔戒真有你們說的那種力量，就讓它成為你們的武器。拿著它，走向勝利！』」 「唉，不，」愛隆說。「我們不能使用至尊魔戒。這一點我們現在已經太清楚了。它屬於索倫，由他獨自鑄造，並且完全是邪惡的。波羅莫，它的力量太強大了，任何人都無法隨心所欲地使用，除非是那些本身就擁有強大力量的人。但對他們來說，它帶來了更致命的危險。僅僅是渴望擁有它的念頭就會腐化人心。想想薩魯曼。如果有任何一位智者用這枚魔戒推翻了魔多之王，使用的卻是魔王自己的伎倆，那麼他就會自己坐上索倫的寶座，另一個黑暗魔君就會出現。這也是魔戒必須被摧毀的另一個原因：只要它還在世上，即使對智者來說也是一個危險。因為沒有什麼事物在起初就是邪惡的。即使是索倫也不是。我不敢拿走魔戒去藏匿它。我不會拿走魔戒去使用它。」 「我也不會，」甘道夫說。 波羅莫懷疑地看著他們，但他低下了頭。「就這樣吧，」他說。「那麼在剛鐸，我們必須信賴我們現有的武器……」

268 THE LORD OF THE RINGS we have. And at the least, while the Wise ones guard this Ring, we will fight on. Mayhap the Sword-that-was-Broken may still stem the tide — if the hand that wields it has inherited not an heirloom only, but the sinews of the Kings of Men.’ ‘Who can tell?’ said Aragorn. ‘But we will put it to the test one day.’ ‘May the day not be too long delayed,’ said Boromir. ‘For though I do not ask for aid, we need it. It would comfort us to know that others fought also with all the means that they have.’ “Then be comforted,’ said Elrond. ‘For there are other powers and realms that you know not, and they are hidden from you. Anduin the Great flows past many shores, ere it comes to Argonath and the Gates of Gondor.’ ‘Still it might be well for all,’ said Gloin the Dwarf, ‘if all these strengths were joined, and the powers of each were used in league. Other rings there may be, less treacherous, that might be used in our need. The Seven are lost to us — if Balin has not found the ring of Thror, which was the last; naught has been heard of it since Thror perished in Moria. Indeed I may now reveal that it was partly in hope to find that ring that Balin went away.’ ‘Balin will find no ring in Moria,’ said Gandalf. “Thror gave it to Thrain his son, but not Thrain to Thorin. It was taken with torment from Thrain in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. I came too late.’ ‘Ah, alas!’ cried Gloin. ‘When will the day come of our revenge? But still there are the Three. What of the Three Rings of the Elves? Very mighty Rings, it is said. Do not the Elf-lords keep them? Yet they too were made by the Dark Lord long ago. Are they idle? I see Elf-lords here. Will they not say?’ The Elves returned no answer. ‘Did you not hear me, Gloin?’ said Elrond. “The Three were not made by Sauron, nor did he ever touch them. But of them it is not permitted to speak. So much only in this hour of doubt I may now say. They are not idle. But they were not made as weapons of war or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained. These things the Elves of Middle-earth have in some measure gained, though with sorrow. But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One. It would be better if the Three had never been. That is his purpose.’ ‘But what then would happen, if the Ruling Ring were destroyed, as you counsel?’ asked Gloin. ‘We know not for certain,’ answered Elrond sadly. ‘Some hope

我們所擁有的。至少，當智者們守護這枚戒指時，我們會繼續戰鬥。或許那把斷折的聖劍仍能力挽狂瀾——前提是，揮舞它的那隻手不僅繼承了一件傳家寶，更繼承了人皇的血脈與力量。」「誰知道呢？」亞拉岡說。「但總有一天我們會去驗證它。」「願那一天不會來得太遲，」波羅莫說。「雖然我不求援助，但我們確實需要。若能得知其他人也正傾其所有地奮戰，我們會感到欣慰。」「那麼就請寬心吧，」愛隆說。「因為還有其他你所不知的力量與國度，它們對你而言是隱藏的。大河安都因在流抵亞苟那斯與剛鐸之門前，已流經了許多岸邊。」「儘管如此，若能將所有力量聯合起來，彼此結盟運用，對大家都會更好，」矮人葛羅因說。「或許還有其他戒指，沒那麼奸險，可以在我們需要時使用。七戒我們已經失去了——除非巴林找到了索爾的戒指，那是最後一枚；自從索爾在摩瑞亞殞命後，就再也沒有它的消息了。事實上，我現在可以透露，巴林之所以離開，部分原因就是希望能找到那枚戒指。」「巴林在摩瑞亞找不到任何戒指，」甘道夫說。「索爾把戒指給了他的兒子索恩，但索恩沒有傳給索林。它是在多爾哥多的地牢裡，從備受折磨的索恩身上被奪走的。我趕到時已經太遲了。」「啊，天哪！」葛羅因喊道。「我們復仇之日何時才能到來？但還有三戒。精靈三戒呢？據說它們是力量非常強大的戒指。不是由精靈王們保管著嗎？然而它們也是很久以前由黑暗魔君所造。它們閒置著嗎？我看見這裡就有精靈王。他們不願意說嗎？」精靈們沒有回答。「你沒聽見我說的話嗎，葛羅因？」愛隆說。「三戒並非由索倫所造，他也從未觸碰過它們。但關於它們的事，是不允許談論的。在這充滿疑慮的時刻，我只能說這麼多。它們並非閒置。但它們並非被當作戰爭或征服的武器來製造：那不是它們的力量。製造它們的人不渴望力量、統治或囤積的財富，而是渴望理解、創造與療癒，以保護萬物不受玷污。中土世界的精靈們在某種程度上獲得了這些，儘管伴隨著悲傷。但凡是揮舞三戒者所成就的一切，都將成為他們的敗因，一旦索倫重獲至尊魔戒，他們的心靈與思想就會向他暴露無遺。那樣的話，三戒還不如從未存在過。這就是他的目的。」「但是，如果照您的建議，摧毀了至尊魔戒，那會發生什麼事呢？」葛羅因問。「我們無法確知，」愛隆悲傷地回答。「有些希望

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 269 that the Three Rings, which Sauron has never touched, would then become free, and their rulers might heal the hurts of the world that he has wrought. But maybe when the One has gone, the Three will fail, and many fair things will fade and be forgotten. That is my belief.’ “Yet all the Elves are willing to endure this chance,’ said Glorfindel, “if by it the power of Sauron may be broken, and the fear of his dominion be taken away for ever.’ “Thus we return once more to the destroying of the Ring,’ said Erestor, ‘and yet we come no nearer. What strength have we for the finding of the Fire in which it was made? That is the path of despair. Of folly I would say, if the long wisdom of Elrond did not forbid me.’ ‘Despair, or folly?’ said Gandalf. ‘It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning.’ ‘At least for a while,’ said Elrond. “The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.’ ‘Very well, very well, Master Elrond!’ said Bilbo suddenly. ‘Say no more! It is plain enough what you are pointing at. Bilbo the silly hobbit started this affair, and Bilbo had better finish it, or himself. I was very comfortable here, and getting on with my book. If you want to know, I am just writing an ending for it. I had thought of putting: and he lived happily ever afterwards to the end of his days. It is a good ending, and none the worse for having been used before. Now I shall have to alter that: it does not look like coming true; and anyway there will evidently have to be several more chapters, if I live to write them. It is a frightful nuisance. When ought I to start?’ Boromir looked in surprise at Bilbo, but the laughter died on his lips when he saw that all the others regarded the old hobbit with grave respect. Only Gloin smiled, but his smile came from old memories. ‘Of course, my dear Bilbo,’ said Gandalf. ‘If you had really started

那三枚索倫從未染指的戒指屆時將會自由，而它們的持有者或能治癒他對世界造成的創傷。但或許至尊戒一旦消失，三戒也會失效，許多美好的事物將會凋零、被遺忘。這是我的看法。」「然而所有的精靈都願意承受這個風險，」葛羅芬戴爾說，「只要索倫的力量能因此被摧毀，他那統治的恐懼能被永遠除去。」「於是我們又回到了摧毀戒指這件事上，」伊瑞斯特說，「但我們卻毫無進展。我們有什麼能耐去找到當初鑄造它的末日火山之火呢？那是條絕望之路。要不是顧及愛隆的淵博智慧，我會說那是愚行。」「絕望，還是愚行？」甘道夫說。「這不是絕望，因為絕望只屬於那些確信結局已定、再無轉圜餘地的人。我們並非如此。當所有其他路徑都已權衡過後，認清勢之所趨便是智慧，儘管在那些執著於虛假希望的人看來，這或許像是愚行。好吧，那就讓愚行做我們的斗篷，做遮蔽敵人雙眼的圍巾吧！因為他非常聰明，會用他那惡意的天平精準地衡量萬物。但他唯一能理解的尺度就是慾望，對力量的慾望；因此他以此判斷所有人的心。他心中絕不會閃過這樣的念頭：竟會有人拒絕它，我們拿著戒指竟是為了要摧毀它。如果我們這麼做，就會讓他失算。」「至少能讓他失算一陣子，」愛隆說。「這條路必須走，但會非常艱辛。而且無論力量或智慧，都無法帶我們走遠。這趟遠征，弱者與強者成功的希望是均等的。然而，推動世界巨輪轉動的功業，其歷程往往如此：由小人物的雙手來完成，因為他們別無選擇，而偉人們的目光卻在別處。」「說得好，說得好，愛隆大師！」比爾博突然說。「別再說了！您在指什麼已經夠清楚了。是比爾博這個傻哈比人惹出的這件事，最好也由比爾博來了結它，或了結他自己。我在這裡過得非常舒服，還在寫我的書。跟您說，我正在為它寫結局。我本來想寫：『從此他過著幸福快樂的日子，直到天長地久。』這是個好結局，而且不會因為以前被用過而變差。現在我得改掉它了：看來是無法成真了；而且無論如何，要是我還能活著寫下去，顯然還得再加好幾個章節。這真是個天大的麻煩。我該什麼時候出發？」波羅莫驚訝地看著比爾博，但當他看到其他人全都帶著肅然的敬意注視著這位老哈比人時，他嘴邊的笑意凝固了。只有葛羅因笑了，但他的笑容來自於舊日的回憶。「當然了，我親愛的比爾博，」甘道夫說。「要是你真的動身……

270 THE LORD OF THE RINGS this affair, you might be expected to finish it. But you know well enough now that starting is too great a claim for any, and that only a small part is played in great deeds by any hero. You need not bow! Though the word was meant, and we do not doubt that under jest you are making a valiant offer. But one beyond your strength, Bilbo. You cannot take this thing back. It has passed on. If you need my advice any longer, I should say that your part is ended, unless as a recorder. Finish your book, and leave the ending unaltered! There is still hope for it. But get ready to write a sequel, when they come back.’ Bilbo laughed. ‘I have never known you give me pleasant advice before,’ he said. ‘As all your unpleasant advice has been good, I wonder if this advice is not bad. Still, I don’t suppose I have the strength or luck left to deal with the Ring. It has grown, and I have not. But tell me: what do you mean by they?’ “The messengers who are sent with the Ring.’ ‘Exactly! And who are they to be? That seems to me what this Council has to decide, and all that it has to decide. Elves may thrive on speech alone, and Dwarves endure great weariness; but I am only an old hobbit, and I miss my meal at noon. Can’t we think of some names now? Or put it off till after dinner?’ No one answered. The noon-bell rang. Still no one spoke. Frodo glanced at all the faces, but they were not turned to him. All the Council sat with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought. A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo’s side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice. ‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, ‘though I do not know the way.’ Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him, and Frodo felt his heart pierced by the sudden keenness of the glance. ‘If I understand aright all that I have heard,’ he said, ‘I think that this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? ‘But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty Elf-friends of old,

《魔戒》270頁 這件事，人們或許會期望由你來了結。但你現在很清楚，對任何人來說，宣稱自己是開端都過於自大，任何英雄在偉大功業中扮演的都只是個小角色。你不必鞠躬！雖然那句話是真心的，我們也毫不懷疑你在玩笑之下提出了一個英勇的提議。但這已超出了你的力量範圍，比爾博。你無法收回這東西。它已經傳承下去了。如果你還需要我的建議，我會說你的部分已經結束了，除非是作為一名記錄者。完成你的書，結局不要更動！它仍有希望。但準備好寫續集吧，當他們回來的時候。」比爾博笑了。「我從未聽你給過我愉快的建議，」他說。「既然你所有不愉快的建議都是好的，我懷疑這個建議會不會是壞的。不過，我想我沒有剩下足夠的力量或運氣去處理魔戒了。它變強了，而我沒有。但告訴我：你說的『他們』是指誰？」「那些被派去護送魔戒的使者。」「正是！他們會是誰呢？在我看來，這正是這次會議需要決定的，也是唯一需要決定的事。精靈或許光靠說話就能精神飽滿，矮人能忍受極大的疲憊；但我只是一個老哈比人，我錯過了我的午餐。我們不能現在就想些名字嗎？或者推到晚餐後？」沒有人回答。午時的鐘聲響起。依然沒有人說話。佛羅多掃視了所有人的臉，但他們都沒有轉向他。所有與會者都垂著眼，彷彿在深思。一股巨大的恐懼籠罩了他，彷彿他正在等待某個他早已預見、卻徒然希望永遠不會被宣告的宿命判決。一股強烈的渴望在他心中 भर滿，渴望能待在比爾博身邊，在瑞文戴爾安歇。最後，他費力地開口，驚訝地聽著自己的話語，彷彿有另一個意志在使用他微弱的聲音。「我願意帶走魔戒，」他說，「雖然我不知道路該怎麼走。」愛隆抬起眼看著他，佛羅多感覺自己的心被那突如其來的銳利目光刺穿了。「如果我沒理解錯我所聽到的一切，」他說，「我想這個任務是為你指定的，佛羅多；如果你找不到路，就沒有人能找到了。這是夏爾人的時刻，他們從寧靜的田野中崛起，去撼動強權巨塔與權謀。所有智者中，誰能預見到這一點？或者，如果他們是智者，又為何期望在時刻到來之前就能知曉呢？」「但這是一個沉重的負擔。沉重到沒有人能將它加諸於他人。我不會將它加諸於你。但如果你是自由地接受它，我會說你的選擇是正確的；而且，即使是所有古代強大的精靈之友，

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND 271 Hador, and Hurin, and Turin, and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them.’ ‘But you won’t send him off alone surely, Master?’ cried Sam, unable to contain himself any longer, and jumping up from the corner where he had been quietly sitting on the floor. ‘No indeed!’ said Elrond, turning towards him with a smile. “You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not.’ Sam sat down, blushing and muttering. ‘A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo!’ he said, shaking his head.

「要是哈多、胡林、圖林，以及貝倫本人都聚集在此，你的座位也應在他們其中。」「但是，主人，您總不會讓他一個人去吧？」山姆再也忍不住了，從他一直安靜坐著的地板角落跳了起來。「當然不！」愛隆笑著轉向他說。「至少你會跟他一起去。要把你們兩個分開幾乎是不可能的，即使當他被召喚來參加秘密會議而你沒有時也一樣。」山姆坐下，臉紅地喃喃自語。「我們可真是自找了個大麻煩啊，佛羅多先生！」他搖著頭說。