Chapter 1 THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL ‘Well, master, we’re in a fix and no mistake,’ said Sam Gamgee. He stood despondently with hunched shoulders beside Frodo, and peered out with puckered eyes into the gloom. It was the third evening since they had fled from the Company, as far as they could tell: they had almost lost count of the hours during which they had climbed and laboured among the barren slopes and stones of the Emyn Muil, sometimes retracing their steps because they could find no way forward, sometimes discovering that they had wandered in a circle back to where they had been hours before. Yet on the whole they had worked steadily eastward, keeping as near as they could find a way to the outer edge of this strange twisted knot of hills. But always they found its outward faces sheer, high and impassable, frowning over the plain below; beyond its tumbled skirts lay livid festering marshes where nothing moved and not even a bird was to be seen. The hobbits stood now on the brink of a tall cliff, bare and bleak, its feet wrapped in mist; and behind them rose the broken highlands crowned with drifting cloud. A chill wind blew from the East. Night was gathering over the shapeless lands before them; the sickly green of them was fading to a sullen brown. Far away to the right the Anduin, that had gleamed fitfully in sun-breaks during the day, was now hidden in shadow. But their eyes did not look beyond the River, back to Gondor, to their friends, to the lands of Men. South and east they stared to where, at the edge of the oncoming night, a dark line hung, like distant mountains of motionless smoke. Every now and again a tiny red gleam far away flickered upwards on the rim of earth and sky. ‘What a fix!’ said Sam. “That’s the one place in all the lands we’ve ever heard of that we don’t want to see any closer; and that’s the one place we’re trying to get to! And that’s just where we can’t get, nohow. We’ve come the wrong way altogether, seemingly. We can’t get down; and if we did get down, we’d find all that green land a nasty bog, Ill warrant. Phew! Can you smell it?’ He sniffed at the wind. ‘Yes, I can smell it,’ said Frodo, but he did not move, and his eyes remained fixed, staring out towards the dark line and the flickering flame. ‘Mordor!’ he muttered under his breath. ‘If I must go
「好了，主人，我們這下子肯定是陷入絕境了。」山姆·詹吉說。他垂頭喪氣地站在佛羅多身旁，聳著肩，瞇著眼望向昏暗之中。據他們判斷，這已是他們逃離魔戒遠征隊後的第三個傍晚了：他們幾乎已算不清自己在伊敏穆爾貧瘠的山坡與亂石中攀爬跋涉了多少個小時，時而因找不到前路而折返，時而發現自己兜兜轉轉，又回到了幾小時前的原點。然而，總體來說，他們還是一路穩定地向東推進，盡可能沿著這片奇異扭曲的丘陵地帶外緣前行。但他們總發現，這片丘陵向外的山壁陡峭、高聳且無法通行，彷彿正對著下方的平原皺眉；在它雜亂的山麓之外，橫陳著一片死氣沉沉、正在腐敗的青灰色沼澤，那裡萬物絕跡，連一隻鳥的蹤影也見不到。兩個哈比人此刻正站在一道高聳懸崖的邊緣，崖壁光禿而荒涼，底部被迷霧繚繞；他們身後，是破碎的高地，頂上飄浮著流雲。一股寒風從東方吹來。夜幕正籠罩著眼前輪廓不清的土地；那病態的綠色正逐漸褪為陰鬱的褐色。遠方右側的安都因河，白天還在陽光乍現時斷斷續續地閃爍，此刻已隱沒在陰影之中。但他們的目光並未越過大河，望向剛鐸，望向他們的朋友，望向人類的土地。他們凝視著南方和東方，在那即將降臨的夜幕邊緣，懸著一道黑線，宛如由靜止的濃煙構成的遠山。每隔一會兒，遠方天際線的邊緣便有微弱的紅光一閃而逝。「真是進退兩難啊！」山姆說。「在我們聽說過的所有地方裡，那是我們唯一不想靠近的地方；而那又偏偏是我們正努力要去的地方！結果我們就是到不了，無論如何都到不了。看來我們完全走錯路了。我們下不去；就算下去了，我敢說，我們會發現那片綠地是個討厭的泥沼。噗！你聞到了嗎？」他對著風嗅了嗅。「是的，我聞到了。」佛羅多說，但他沒有動，雙眼依舊凝視著那道黑線和閃爍的火光。「魔多！」他低聲自語。「如果我非去不可……
604 THE LORD OF THE RINGS there, I wish I could come there quickly and make an end!’ He shuddered. The wind was chilly and yet heavy with an odour of cold decay. ‘Well,’ he said, at last withdrawing his eyes, ‘we cannot stay here all night, fix or no fix. We must find a more sheltered spot, and camp once more; and perhaps another day will show us a path.’ ‘Or another and another and another,’ muttered Sam. ‘Or maybe no day. We’ve come the wrong way.’ ‘I wonder,’ said Frodo. ‘It’s my doom, I think, to go to that Shadow yonder, so that a way will be found. But will good or evil show it to me? What hope we had was in speed. Delay plays into the Enemy’s hands — and here I am: delayed. Is it the will of the Dark Tower that steers us? All my choices have proved ill. I should have left the Company long before, and come down from the North, east of the River and of the Emyn Muil, and so over the hard of Battle Plain to the passes of Mordor. But now it isn’t possible for you and me alone to find a way back, and the Orcs are prowling on the east bank. Every day that passes is a precious day lost. I am tired, Sam. I don’t know what is to be done. What food have we got left?’ ‘Only those, what d’you call ’em, lembas, Mr. Frodo. A fair supply. But they are better than naught, by a long bite. I never thought, though, when I first set tooth in them, that I should ever come to wish for a change. But I do now: a bit of plain bread, and a mug — aye, half a mug — of beer would go down proper. I’ve lugged my cooking-gear all the way from the last camp, and what use has it been? Naught to make a fire with, for a start; and naught to cook, not even grass!’ They turned away and went down into a stony hollow. The westering sun was caught into clouds, and night came swiftly. They slept as well as they could for the cold, turn and turn about, in a nook among great jagged pinnacles of weathered rock; at least they were sheltered from the easterly wind. ‘Did you see them again, Mr. Frodo?’ asked Sam, as they sat, stiff and chilled, munching wafers of Jembas, in the cold grey of early morning. ‘No,’ said Frodo. ‘I’ve heard nothing, and seen nothing, for two nights now.’ ‘Nor me,’ said Sam. ‘Grrr! Those eyes did give me a turn! But perhaps we’ve shaken him off at last, the miserable slinker. Gollum! Pll give him gollum in his throat, if ever I get my hands on his neck.’ ‘I hope you’ll never need to,’ said Frodo. ‘I don’t know how he followed us; but it may be that he’s lost us again, as you say. In this dry bleak land we can’t leave many footprints, nor much scent, even for his snuffling nose.’
「那裡，我真希望我能快點到那裡做個了結！」他打了個寒顫。風很冷，卻又帶著一股冰冷腐敗的沉重氣味。「唉，」他終於移開目光說道，「不管我們是不是身陷困境，總不能整晚待在這裡。我們得找個更隱蔽的地方再紮營一次；也許再過一天就會有路了。」「或者再一天、再一天、又再一天，」山姆咕噥道。「或者永遠沒有那一天。我們走錯路了。」「我不知道，」佛羅多說。「我想，我的宿命就是要走向那邊的黑影，這樣才能找到一條路。但指引我的是善還是惡呢？我們唯一的希望在於速度。拖延正中敵人下懷——而我現在卻被耽擱了。是黑暗塔的意志在引導我們嗎？我所有的選擇都證明是錯的。我早該離開遠征隊，從北方下來，繞過大河與伊敏穆爾的東邊，然後越過堅硬的戰鬥平原，前往魔多的隘口。但現在，光靠你我兩人不可能找到回去的路，而且半獸人正在東岸潛行。每過去一天，都是寶貴的一天被浪費掉。我累了，山姆。我不知道該怎麼辦。我們還剩下什麼食物？」「只剩那些，該怎麼稱呼它們的，蘭巴斯，佛羅多先生。存量還算充足。但那可比什麼都沒有好太多了。不過，我第一次嚐到它的時候，可從沒想過有一天我會希望能換換口味。但我現在真的想了：來點普通的麵包，還有一大杯——唉，半杯也好——啤酒下肚一定非常過癮。我把我的炊具從上個營地一路扛過來，結果有什麼用？首先，沒東西生火；再來，沒東西可煮，連草都沒有！」他們轉身走下一個滿是石頭的窪地。西沉的太陽被雲層吞沒，夜色迅速降臨。他們在飽經風霜的巨大鋸齒狀岩峰間的一個角落裡，輪流睡覺，盡可能地抵禦寒冷；至少那裡可以躲避東風。「你又看到它們了嗎，佛羅多先生？」山姆問道，他們在寒冷灰暗的清晨中，身體僵硬冰冷地坐著，啃著蘭巴斯薄餅。「沒有，」佛羅多說。「我已經兩晚沒聽到也沒看到任何東西了。」「我也沒有，」山姆說。「哼！那雙眼睛可真嚇了我一跳！但或許我們總算甩掉他了，那個可憐的潛行鬼。咕嚕！要是我能抓到他的脖子，我會讓他喉嚨裡『咕嚕』個夠。」「我希望你永遠不需要這麼做，」佛羅多說。「我不知道他是怎麼跟蹤我們的；但可能就像你說的，他又跟丟我們了。在這片乾燥荒蕪的土地上，我們留不下太多腳印，也沒什麼氣味，即使對他那愛抽動的鼻子來說也一樣。
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 605 ‘I hope that’s the way of it,’ said Sam. ‘I wish we could be rid of him for good!’ ‘So do I,’ said Frodo; ‘but he’s not my chief trouble. I wish we could get away from these hills! I hate them. I feel all naked on the east side, stuck up here with nothing but the dead flats between me and that Shadow yonder. There’s an Eye in it. Come on! We’ve got to get down today somehow.’ But that day wore on, and when afternoon faded towards evening they were still scrambling along the ridge and had found no way of escape. Sometimes in the silence of that barren country they fancied that they heard faint sounds behind them, a stone falling, or the imagined step of flapping feet on the rock. But if they halted and stood still listening, they heard no more, nothing but the wind sighing over the edges of the stones — yet even that reminded them of breath softly hissing through sharp teeth. All that day the outer ridge of the Emyn Muil had been bending gradually northward, as they struggled on. Along its brink there now stretched a wide tumbled flat of scored and weathered rock, cut every now and again by trench-like gullies that sloped steeply down to deep notches in the cliff-face. To find a path in these clefts, which were becoming deeper and more frequent, Frodo and Sam were driven to their left, well away from the edge, and they did not notice that for several miles they had been going slowly but steadily downhill: the cliff-top was sinking towards the level of the lowlands. At last they were brought to a halt. The ridge took a sharper bend northward and was gashed by a deeper ravine. On the further side it reared up again, many fathoms at a single leap: a great grey cliff loomed before them, cut sheer down as if by a knife stroke. They could go no further forwards, and must turn now either west or east. But west would lead them only into more labour and delay, back towards the heart of the hills; east would take them to the outer precipice. “There’s nothing for it but to scramble down this gully, Sam,’ said Frodo. ‘Let’s see what it leads to!’ ‘A nasty drop, Pll bet,’ said Sam. The cleft was longer and deeper than it seemed. Some way down they found a few gnarled and stunted trees, the first they had seen for days: twisted birch for the most part, with here and there a fir-tree. Many were dead and gaunt, bitten to the core by the eastern winds. Once in milder days there must have been a fair thicket in the ravine, but now, after some fifty yards, the trees came to an end, though old broken stumps straggled on almost to the cliff’s brink. The bottom
《馴服史麥戈》605 「希望是這樣。」山姆說。「真希望我們能永遠擺脫他！」 「我也是。」佛羅多說。「但他不是我最主要的煩惱。我真希望我們能離開這些山丘！我討厭它們。我覺得自己在東邊完全赤裸，被困在這裡，除了我和那邊那個黑影之間一片死寂的平地外，什麼都沒有。那裡面有隻眼睛。走吧！我們今天無論如何都得下去。」 但那一天就這樣過去了，當下午漸漸轉為傍晚時，他們仍在山脊上艱難地爬行，還沒找到任何逃脫的路。有時，在這片荒蕪土地的寂靜中，他們彷彿聽到身後傳來微弱的聲音，一顆石頭落下，或是想像中拍打的腳步聲踩在岩石上。但如果他們停下來靜靜聆聽，就再也聽不到任何聲音，只有風吹過石頭邊緣的嘆息聲——然而，即使是那聲音也讓他們想起從利齒間輕輕發出的嘶嘶呼吸聲。 整整一天，他們掙扎前行時，伊敏穆爾的外圍山脊一直在逐漸向北彎曲。沿著山脊邊緣，現在延伸著一片寬闊、雜亂的平地，上面是刻劃著痕跡、飽經風霜的岩石，時不時被一些像壕溝一樣的溝壑切斷，這些溝壑陡峭地向下傾斜，通往懸崖面上深深的缺口。為了在這些越來越深、越來越頻繁的裂縫中找到路，佛羅多和山姆被迫往左邊走，遠離邊緣，他們沒有注意到，好幾英里以來，他們一直在緩慢但穩定地走下坡：懸崖頂正在向低地的水平面下沉。 最後，他們被迫停了下來。山脊向北急轉，被一道更深的峽谷劃開。在另一邊，山脊又一次高高聳起，一次跳躍就有好幾噚高：一座巨大的灰色懸崖聳立在他們面前，像被刀砍一樣垂直切下。他們無法再前進，現在必須轉向西或東。但向西只會讓他們更加勞累和延誤，回到山丘的中心地帶；向東則會把他們帶到外圍的懸崖邊。「除了沿著這條溝壑爬下去，別無他法了，山姆。」佛羅多說。「讓我們看看它通向哪裡！」 「我敢打賭是個險惡的陡坡。」山姆說。 這條裂縫比看起來更長更深。往下走了一段路，他們發現了幾棵扭曲矮小的樹木，這是他們幾天來第一次看到樹：大部分是扭曲的樺樹，偶爾有幾棵冷杉。許多樹都已枯死，瘦骨嶙峋，被東風侵蝕到核心。在過去氣候溫和的日子裡，這峽谷裡一定有一片茂密的灌木叢，但現在，走了大約五十碼後，樹木就消失了，儘管老舊的斷樁幾乎一直零星地延伸到懸崖邊緣。底部
606 THE LORD OF THE RINGS of the gully, which lay along the edge of a rock-fault, was rough with broken stone and slanted steeply down. When they came at last to the end of it, Frodo stooped and leaned out. ‘Look!’ he said. ‘We must have come down a long way, or else the cliff has sunk. It’s much lower here than it was, and it looks easier too.’ Sam knelt beside him and peered reluctantly over the edge. Then he glanced up at the great cliff rising up, away on their left. ‘Easier!’ he grunted. ‘Well, I suppose it’s always easier getting down than up. Those as can’t fly can jump!’ ‘It would be a big jump still,’ said Frodo. ‘About, well’ — he stood for a moment measuring it with his eyes — ‘about eighteen fathoms, I should guess. Not more.’ ‘And that’s enough!’ said Sam. ‘Ugh! How I do hate looking down from a height! But looking’s better than climbing.’ ‘All the same,’ said Frodo, ‘I think we could climb here; and I think we shall have to try. See — the rock is quite different from what it was a few miles back. It has slipped and cracked.’ The outer fall was indeed no longer sheer, but sloped outwards a little. It looked like a great rampart or sea-wall whose foundations had shifted, so that its courses were all twisted and disordered, leaving great fissures and long slanting edges that were in places almost as wide as stairs. ‘And if we’re going to try and get down, we had better try at once. It’s getting dark early. I think there’s a storm coming.’ The smoky blur of the mountains in the East was lost in a deeper blackness that was already reaching out westwards with long arms. There was a distant mutter of thunder borne on the rising breeze. Frodo sniffed the air and looked up doubtfully at the sky. He strapped his belt outside his cloak and tightened it, and settled his light pack on his back; then he stepped towards the edge. ‘I’m going to try it,’ he said. ‘Very good!’ said Sam gloomily. ‘But I’m going first.’ ‘Your’ said Frodo. ‘What’s made you change your mind about climbing?’ ‘I haven’t changed my mind. But it’s only sense: put the one lowest as is most likely to slip. I don’t want to come down atop of you and knock you off — no sense in killing two with one fall.’ Before Frodo could stop him, he sat down, swung his legs over the brink, and twisted round, scrabbling with his toes for a foothold. It is doubtful if he ever did anything braver in cold blood, or more unwise. ‘No, no! Sam, you old ass!’ said Frodo. ‘You'll kill yourself for certain, going over like that without even a look to see what to make
溝壑底部沿著一道岩石斷層的邊緣延伸，滿是碎石，崎嶇不平，並陡峭地向下傾斜。當他們終於走到盡頭時，佛羅多彎下腰，探身出去。「你看！」他說。「我們一定下降了很長一段路，不然就是懸崖下沉了。這裡比剛才低得多，而且看起來也好走多了。」山姆跪在他身旁，不情願地朝崖邊窺探。然後他抬頭瞥了一眼左邊那高聳入雲的巨大懸崖。「好走多了！」他咕噥道。「嗯，我想下去總比上來容易。那些不會飛的，就只能跳了！」「那還是一大段跳躍呢，」佛羅多說。「大約，嗯——」他站著用眼睛測量了一下——「我猜大概十八英尋吧。不會更多。」「那也夠嗆了！」山姆說。「呃！我怎麼這麼討厭從高處往下看！不過看總比爬好。」「話是這麼說，」佛羅多道，「但我覺得我們可以在這裡攀爬；而且我想我們非試不可。你看——這裡的岩石跟幾哩前的完全不同。它滑動過，也裂開了。」外側的峭壁確實不再是垂直的，而是稍微向外傾斜。它看起來像一座巨大的壁壘或海堤，地基已經移位，導致層層岩石都扭曲錯亂，留下了巨大的裂縫和長長的斜邊，有些地方幾乎跟樓梯一樣寬。「如果我們要嘗試下去，最好馬上就試。天黑得早。我想暴風雨要來了。」東方山脈那煙霧般的模糊輪廓消失在一片更深的黑暗中，而這片黑暗已經伸出長臂向西蔓延。漸起的微風中傳來遠方的隱隱雷鳴。佛羅多嗅了嗅空氣，懷疑地望向天空。他將腰帶繫在斗篷外並束緊，把輕便的背包在背上安頓好；然後他走向崖邊。「我要試試看，」他說。「非常好！」山姆陰鬱地說。「但我先走。」「你？」佛羅多說。「是什麼讓你改變心意，不怕攀爬了？」「我沒改變心意。但這才合理：讓最可能滑倒的那個走在最下面。我可不想摔到你頭上把你撞下去——一摔死兩個划不來。」佛羅多還來不及阻止，山姆便已坐下，雙腿盪出崖邊，然後轉過身，用腳尖摸索著尋找踏足點。他一生中是否曾如此冷靜地做出更勇敢——或更不明智——的舉動，實屬可疑。「不，不！山姆，你這老傻瓜！」佛羅多說。「你這樣連看都不看就下去，肯定會摔死自己的。」
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 607 for. Come back!’ He took Sam under the armpits and hauled him up again. ‘Now, wait a bit and be patient!’ he said. Then he lay on the ground, leaning out and looking down; but the light seemed to be fading quickly, although the sun had not yet set. ‘I think we could manage this,’ he said presently. ‘I could at any rate; and you could too, if you kept your head and followed me carefully.’ ‘I don’t know how you can be so sure,’ said Sam. ‘Why! You can’t see to the bottom in this light. What if you comes to a place where there’s nowhere to put your feet or your hands?’ ‘Climb back, I suppose,’ said Frodo. ‘Easy said,’ objected Sam. ‘Better wait till morning and more light.’ ‘No! Not if I can help it,’ said Frodo with a sudden strange vehemence. ‘I grudge every hour, every minute. I’m going down to try it out. Don’t you follow till I come back or call!’ Gripping the stony lip of the fall with his fingers he let himself gently down, until when his arms were almost at full stretch, his toes found a ledge. ‘One step down!’ he said. ‘And this ledge broadens out to the right. I could stand there without a hold. P’ll——’ his words were cut short. The hurrying darkness, now gathering great speed, rushed up from the East and swallowed the sky. There was a dry splitting crack of thunder right overhead. Searing lightning smote down into the hills. Then came a blast of savage wind, and with it, mingling with its roar, there came a high shrill shriek. The hobbits had heard just such a cry far away in the Marish as they fled from Hobbiton, and even there in the woods of the Shire it had frozen their blood. Out here in the waste its terror was far greater: it pierced them with cold blades of horror and despair, stopping heart and breath. Sam fell flat on his face. Involuntarily Frodo loosed his hold and put his hands over his head and ears. He swayed, slipped, and slithered downwards with a wailing cry. Sam heard him and crawled with an effort to the edge. ‘Master, master!’ he called. ‘Master!’ He heard no answer. He found he was shaking all over, but he gathered his breath, and once again he shouted: ‘Master!’ The wind seemed to blow his voice back into his throat, but as it passed, roaring up the gully and away over the hills, a faint answering cry came to his ears: ‘All right, all right! I’m here. But I can’t see.’ Frodo was calling with a weak voice. He was not actually very far away. He had slid and not fallen, and had come up with a jolt to his feet on a wider ledge not many yards lower down. Fortunately the rock-face at this point leaned well back and the wind had pressed
「回來！」他抓住山姆的腋下，又把他拉了上來。「好了，稍等一下，耐心點！」他說。然後他趴在地上，探出身子往下看；但儘管太陽還沒下山，光線似乎正迅速消逝。「我想我們應付得來，」他過了一會兒說。「至少我行；你也可以，只要你保持冷靜，小心跟著我。」「我不知道你怎麼能這麼肯定，」山姆說。「天哪！在這種光線下你根本看不到底。萬一你到了一個手腳都沒地方放的地方怎麼辦？」「我想就爬回來吧，」佛羅多說。「說得倒容易，」山姆反駁道。「最好等到早上光線好一點再說。」「不！如果我能避免，我絕不等，」佛羅多突然用一種奇特的激烈語氣說。「我珍惜每一小時，每一分鐘。我要下去試試看。在我回來或叫你之前，你別跟著！」他用手指緊緊抓住瀑布的石緣，輕輕地讓自己垂下去，直到手臂幾乎完全伸直時，他的腳趾才找到一個壁架。「下來一步了！」他說。「而且這個壁架往右邊變寬了。我可以在那裡站穩，不用抓東西。我會——」他的話被打斷了。急速來臨的黑暗，此刻正以極快的速度聚集，從東方湧上，吞噬了天空。頭頂正上方傳來一聲乾裂的雷響。灼熱的閃電劈向山丘。接著是一陣狂野的風，風聲中夾雜著一聲高亢尖銳的刺耳尖叫。哈比人們在逃離哈比屯時，曾在遙遠的沼澤地聽過正是這樣的叫聲，即使當時在夏爾的林地裡，那聲音也已讓他們血液凍結。如今在這片荒野中，它的恐怖遠勝以往：它用冰冷的恐懼與絕望之刃刺穿他們，讓他們心跳與呼吸都停止了。山姆臉朝下趴倒在地。佛羅多不由自主地鬆開手，用雙手摀住頭和耳朵。他搖晃著，滑了一跤，伴隨著一聲哀號向下滑去。山姆聽到了，費力地爬到邊緣。「主人，主人！」他喊道。「主人！」他沒聽到回答。他發現自己全身發抖，但他深吸一口氣，再次大喊：「主人！」風似乎把他的聲音吹回喉嚨裡，但當風呼嘯著穿過峽谷，越過山丘遠去時，一聲微弱的回應傳入他耳中：「沒事，沒事！我在這裡。但我看不見。」佛羅多用微弱的聲音喊著。他其實離得不遠。他是滑下去而不是摔下去的，經過一陣顛簸後，他雙腳落在下方不遠處一個更寬的壁架上。幸運的是，此處的岩壁向後傾斜得相當厲害，風把他緊緊壓在岩壁上。
608 THE LORD OF THE RINGS him against the cliff, so that he had not toppled over. He steadied himself a little, laying his face against the cold stone, feeling his heart pounding. But either the darkness had grown complete, or else his eyes had lost their sight. All was black about him. He wondered if he had been struck blind. He took a deep breath. ‘Come back! Come back!’ he heard Sam’s voice out of the blackness above. ‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘I can’t see. I can’t find any hold. I can’t move yet.’ ‘What can I do, Mr. Frodo? What can I do?’ shouted Sam, leaning out dangerously far. Why could not his master see? It was dim, certainly, but not as dark as all that. He could see Frodo below him, a grey forlorn figure splayed against the cliff. But he was far out of the reach of any helping hand. There was another crack of thunder; and then the rain came. In a blinding sheet, mingled with hail, it drove against the cliff, bitter cold. ‘I’m coming down to you,’ shouted Sam, though how he hoped to help in that way he could not have said. ‘No, no! wait!’ Frodo called back, more strongly now. ‘I shall be better soon. I feel better already. Wait! You can’t do anything without a rope.’ ‘Rope!’ cried Sam, talking wildly to himself in his excitement and relief. ‘Well, if I don’t deserve to be hung on the end of one as a warning to numbskulls! You’re nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee: that’s what the Gaffer said to me often enough, it being a word of his. Rope!’ ‘Stop chattering!’ cried Frodo, now recovered enough to feel both amused and annoyed. ‘Never mind your gaffer! Are you trying to tell yourself you’ve got some rope in your pocket? If so, out with it!’ “Yes, Mr. Frodo, in my pack and all. Carried it hundreds of miles, and I’d clean forgotten it!’ “Then get busy and let an end down!’ Quickly Sam unslung his pack and rummaged in it. There indeed at the bottom was a coil of the silken-grey rope made by the folk of Lorien. He cast an end to his master. The darkness seemed to lift from Frodo’s eyes, or else his sight was returning. He could see the grey line as it came dangling down, and he thought it had a faint silver sheen. Now that he had some point in the darkness to fix his eyes on, he felt less giddy. Leaning his weight forward, he made the end fast round his waist, and then he grasped the line with both hands. Sam stepped back and braced his feet against a stump a yard or two from the edge. Half hauled, half scrambling, Frodo came up and threw himself on the ground.
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 609 Thunder growled and rumbled in the distance, and the rain was still falling heavily. The hobbits crawled away back into the gully; but they did not find much shelter there. Rills of water began to run down; soon they grew to a spate that splashed and fumed on the stones, and spouted out over the cliff like the gutters of a vast roof. ‘I should have been half drowned down there, or washed clean off,’ said Frodo. ‘What a piece of luck you had that rope!’ ‘Better luck if I’d thought of it sooner,’ said Sam. ‘Maybe you remember them putting the ropes in the boats, as we started off: in the Elvish country. I took a fancy to it, and I stowed a coil in my pack. Years ago, it seems. “‘It may be a help in many needs,” he said: Haldir, or one of those folk. And he spoke right.’ ‘A pity I didn’t think of bringing another length,’ said Frodo; ‘but I left the Company in such a hurry and confusion. If only we had enough we could use it to get down. How long is your rope, I wonder?’ Sam paid it out slowly, measuring it with his arms: ‘Five, ten, twenty, thirty ells, more or less,’ he said. ‘Who’d have thought it!’ Frodo exclaimed. ‘Ah! Who would?’ said Sam. ‘Elves are wonderful folk. It looks a bit thin, but it’s tough; and soft as milk to the hand. Packs close too, and as light as light. Wonderful folk to be sure!’ ‘Thirty ells!’ said Frodo considering. ‘I believe it would be enough. If the storm passes before nightfall, ’m going to try it.’ “The rain’s nearly given over already,’ said Sam; ‘but don’t you go doing anything risky in the dim again, Mr. Frodo! And I haven’t got over that shriek on the wind yet, if you have. Like a Black Rider it sounded — but one up in the air, if they can fly. ’m thinking we’d best lay up in this crack till night’s over.’ ‘And I’m thinking that I won’t spend a moment longer than I need, stuck up on this edge with the eyes of the Dark Country looking over the marshes,’ said Frodo. With that he stood up and went down to the bottom of the gully again. He looked out. Clear sky was growing in the East once more. The skirts of the storm were lifting, ragged and wet, and the main battle had passed to spread its great wings over the Emyn Muil, upon which the dark thought of Sauron brooded for a while. Thence it turned, smiting the Vale of Anduin with hail and lightning, and casting its shadow upon Minas Tirith with threat of war. Then, lowering in the mountains, and gathering its great spires, it rolled on slowly over Gondor and the skirts of Rohan, until far away the Riders on the plain saw its black towers moving behind the sun, as they rode into the West. But here, over the desert and the reeking marshes the deep blue sky of evening opened once more, and a few pallid stars
遠方雷聲隆隆作響，大雨依舊滂沱。哈比人爬回溝壑裡，但那裡也沒什麼遮蔽。一道道水流開始往下淌；很快就匯集成一股在石頭上飛濺、冒著水氣的急流，像巨大屋頂的排水溝般噴出懸崖。「我剛才在下面差點被淹死，或被沖得一乾二淨了，」佛羅多說。「你帶了那條繩子真是好運！」「要是我早點想到就更幸運了，」山姆說。「也許你還記得我們出發時，在精靈國度，他們把繩子放進船裡。我一眼就看上了它，所以在我的背包裡藏了一捆。感覺像是好幾年前的事了。『它在許多危急時刻可能會有幫助，』他說：哈爾達，或是那些人中的一個。他說得對。」「可惜我沒想到多帶一條，」佛羅多說；「但我離開遠征隊時太匆忙混亂了。要是我們有足夠的繩子，就能用它下去了。我很好奇你的繩子有多長？」山姆慢慢地把繩子放出來，用手臂測量著：「五、十、二十、三十厄爾，差不多，」他說。「誰想得到啊！」佛羅多驚呼。「是啊！誰想得到呢？」山姆說。「精靈真是了不起的民族。這繩子看起來有點細，但很堅韌；摸起來像牛奶一樣柔軟。收起來也很小，而且輕如鴻毛。他們真是了不起的民族！」「三十厄爾！」佛羅多思索著說。「我相信夠了。如果暴風雨在天黑前停了，我就要試試看。」「雨已經快停了，」山姆說；「但佛羅多先生，您可別再在昏暗中冒險了！而且我還沒忘掉風中那聲尖叫，就算您忘了。聽起來像個黑騎士——但像是在空中的，如果他們會飛的話。我想我們最好在這裂縫裡待到天亮。」「而我想的是，我一刻也不想多待，被困在這懸崖邊，讓黑暗國度的眼睛俯瞰著這片沼澤，」佛羅多說。說完，他站起來，再次走到溝壑底部。他向外望去。東方的晴空再次擴展。暴風雨的邊緣正掀起，破爛而濕漉，主戰場已過境，展開巨大的翅膀籠罩在伊敏穆爾上空，索倫的黑暗思緒在那裡盤桓片刻。接著，它轉向，用冰雹和閃電襲擊安都因河谷，並將其陰影投向米那斯提力斯，帶著戰爭的威脅。然後，它在山中低垂，聚集起巨大的尖塔，緩緩滾過剛鐸和羅翰的邊緣，直到遠方平原上的驃騎在向西馳騁時，看見它黑色的高塔在太陽後方移動。但在這裡，在沙漠和惡臭的沼澤之上，深藍的夜空再次展開，幾顆蒼白的星星顯現。
610 THE LORD OF THE RINGS appeared, like small white holes in the canopy above the crescent moon. ‘It’s good to be able to see again,’ said Frodo, breathing deep. ‘Do you know, I thought for a bit that I had lost my sight? From the lightning or something else worse. I could see nothing, nothing at all, until the grey rope came down. It seemed to shimmer somehow.’ ‘It does look sort of silver in the dark,’ said Sam. ‘Never noticed it before, though I can’t remember as I’ve ever had it out since I first stowed it. But if you’re so set on climbing, Mr. Frodo, how are you going to use it? Thirty ells, or say, about eighteen fathom: that’s no more than your guess at the height of the cliff.’ Frodo thought for a while. ‘Make it fast to that stump, Sam!’ he said. “Then I think you shall have your wish this time and go first. I'll lower you, and you need do no more than use your feet and hands to fend yourself off the rock. Though, if you put your weight on some of the ledges and give me a rest, it will help. When you’re down, [ll follow. I feel quite myself again now.’ ‘Very well,’ said Sam heavily. ‘If it must be, let’s get it over!’ He took up the rope and made it fast over the stump nearest to the brink; then the other end he tied about his own waist. Reluctantly he turned and prepared to go over the edge a second time. It did not, however, turn out half as bad as he had expected. The rope seemed to give him confidence, though he shut his eyes more than once when he looked down between his feet. There was one awkward spot, where there was no ledge and the wall was sheer and even undercut for a short space; there he slipped and swung out on the silver line. But Frodo lowered him slowly and steadily, and it was over at last. His chief fear had been that the rope-length would give out while he was still high up, but there was still a good bight in Frodo’s hands, when Sam came to the bottom and called up: ‘?m down!’ His voice came up clearly from below, but Frodo could not see him; his grey elven-cloak had melted into the twilight. Frodo took rather more time to follow him. He had the rope about his waist and it was fast above, and he had shortened it so that it would pull him up before he reached the ground; still he did not want to risk a fall, and he had not quite Sam’s faith in this slender grey line. He found two places, all the same, where he had to trust wholly to it: smooth surfaces where there was no hold even for his strong hobbit fingers and the ledges were far apart. But at last he too was down. ‘Well!’ he cried. “‘We’ve done it! We’ve escaped from the Emyn Muil! And now what next, I wonder? Maybe we shall soon be sighing for good hard rock under foot again.’ But Sam did not answer: he was staring back up the cliff. ‘Ninny
星星出現了，像新月上方樹冠層裡的小白洞。「又能看見東西真好，」佛羅多深深吸了一口氣說。「你知道嗎，我剛才一度以為我瞎了呢？被閃電或其他更糟的東西弄的。我什麼都看不見，一點都看不見，直到那條灰色的繩子放下來。它好像還會發光。」「它在黑暗中看起來確實有點像銀色的，」山姆說。「以前從沒注意過，不過我也不記得自從第一次收起來後，有沒有再拿出來用過。可是，佛羅多先生，如果您這麼堅持要爬，您打算怎麼用它呢？三十厄爾，或者說，大約十八英尋：這不比您猜的懸崖高度多啊。」佛羅多想了一會兒。「把它綁緊在那樹樁上，山姆！」他說。「那麼我想這次該如你所願，你先下去。我會把你放下去，你只需要用手腳撐著岩壁，別撞到就好。不過，如果你能踩在一些岩架上，讓你的重量分攤一下，也讓我休息一下，會很有幫助。你下去之後，我就跟著來。我現在感覺完全恢復了。」「好吧，」山姆沉重地說。「如果非得如此，那就快點了結吧！」他拿起繩子，把它牢牢綁在最靠近崖邊的樹樁上；然後把另一端繫在自己的腰上。他很不情願地轉過身，準備第二次爬下懸崖。然而，情況並沒有他預期的那麼糟。繩子似乎給了他信心，儘管當他低頭看腳下時，還是不只一次地閉上了眼睛。有一個很尷尬的地方，那裡沒有岩架，岩壁既陡峭又有一小段內凹；他在那裡滑了一下，在銀色的繩索上盪了出去。但佛羅多緩慢而穩定地將他放下去，最後總算結束了。他最主要的恐懼是繩子長度會在他還高高掛在半空中時就用完，但當山姆到達底部並向上喊：「我下來了！」時，佛羅多手中還握著一大段繩子。他的聲音清晰地從下方傳來，但佛羅多看不見他；他灰色的精靈斗篷已融入了暮色之中。佛羅多花了更長的時間才跟著下去。他把繩子繫在腰上，上面也固定好了，而且他把繩子縮短了，這樣在到達地面之前繩子就會拉住他；但他仍然不想冒險摔落，他對這條纖細的灰繩也不像山姆那樣有信心。儘管如此，他還是發現有兩處地方他必須完全信賴它：那是些光滑的岩面，連他強壯的哈比人手指都找不到抓握處，而且岩架之間相距甚遠。但最後他也下來了。「嘿！」他喊道。「我們辦到了！我們逃出伊敏穆爾了！現在接下來呢，我很好奇？或許我們很快又會渴望腳下能踩到堅實的岩石了。」但山姆沒有回答：他正凝視著上方的懸崖。
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 611 hammers!’ he said. ‘Noodles! My beautiful rope! There it is tied to a stump, and we’re at the bottom. Just as nice a little stair for that slinking Gollum as we could leave. Better put up a signpost to say which way we’ve gone! I thought it seemed a bit too easy.’ ‘If you can think of any way we could have both used the rope and yet brought it down with us, then you can pass on to me ninnyhammer, or any other name your gaffer gave you,’ said Frodo. ‘Climb up and untie it and let yourself down, if you want to!’ Sam scratched his head. ‘No, I can’t think how, begging your pardon,’ he said. ‘But I don’t like leaving it, and that’s a fact.’ He stroked the rope’s end and shook it gently. ‘It goes hard parting with anything I brought out of the Elf-country. Made by Galadriel herself, too, maybe. Galadriel,’ he murmured, nodding his head mournfully. He looked up and gave one last pull to the rope as if in farewell. To the complete surprise of both the hobbits it came loose. Sam fell over, and the long grey coils slithered silently down on top of him. Frodo laughed. ‘Who tied the rope?’ he said. ‘A good thing it held as long as it did! To think that I trusted all my weight to your knot!’ Sam did not laugh. ‘I may not be much good at climbing, Mr. Frodo,’ he said in injured tones, ‘but I do know something about rope and about knots. It’s in the family, as you might say. Why, my grand-dad, and my uncle Andy after him, him that was the Gaffer’s eldest brother, he had a rope-walk over by Tighfield many a year. And I put as fast a hitch over the stump as anyone could have done, in the Shire or out of it.’ “Then the rope must have broken — frayed on the rock-edge, I expect,’ said Frodo. ‘I bet it didn’t!’ said Sam in an even more injured voice. He stooped and examined the ends. ‘Nor it hasn’t neither. Not a strand!’ “Then I’m afraid it must have been the knot,’ said Frodo. Sam shook his head and did not answer. He was passing the rope through his fingers thoughtfully. ‘Have it your own way, Mr. Frodo,’ he said at last, ‘but I think the rope came off itself — when I called.’ He coiled it up and stowed it lovingly in his pack. ‘It certainly came,’ said Frodo, ‘and that’s the chief thing. But now we’ve got to think of our next move. Night will be on us soon. How beautiful the stars are, and the Moon!’ “They do cheer the heart, don’t they?’ said Sam looking up. ‘Elvish they are, somehow. And the Moon’s growing. We haven’t seen him for a night or two in this cloudy weather. He’s beginning to give quite a light.’ ‘Yes,’ said Frodo; ‘but he won’t be full for some days. I don’t think we'll try the marshes by the light of half a moon.’ 1 BS
「真是的！」他說。「麵條！我漂亮的繩子！它就這麼綁在樹樁上，而我們卻在底下。簡直是給那鬼鬼祟祟的咕嚕留了個現成的樓梯嘛。乾脆再立個路標，告訴他我們往哪兒走了！我就覺得事情有點太順利了。」 「如果你能想出什麼辦法，讓我們既能用繩子下來，又能把它一起帶下來，那你就叫我傻瓜，或你老爹給你取的任何綽號都行，」佛羅多說。「你要是想的話，就爬上去解開繩子再自己下來吧！」 山姆搔了搔頭。「不，我想不出來，請您原諒，」他說。「但我不喜歡把它留著，這是實話。」他撫摸著繩子的末端，輕輕地搖了搖。「要跟任何我從精靈國度帶出來的東西分開，都很難受。說不定還是凱蘭崔爾女王親手做的呢。凱蘭崔爾，」他喃喃自語，悲傷地點著頭。他抬起頭，像在告別一樣，最後拉了一下繩子。 令兩個哈比人完全沒想到的是，繩子竟然鬆開了。山姆摔了一跤，那長長的灰色繩圈悄無聲息地滑落到他身上。佛羅多笑了。「是誰綁的繩子啊？」他說。「幸好它撐了那麼久！真想不到我竟然把全身重量都託付在你的繩結上！」 山姆沒有笑。「佛羅多先生，我也許不太會爬，」他語氣受傷地說，「但我對繩子和繩結確實懂一些。可以說是我們家的祖傳本事。我外公，還有在他之後的安迪舅舅，就是老爹的大哥，他以前在泰格田那邊開了好幾年的製繩廠。而且我在樹樁上打的結，不管在夏爾境內還是境外，都沒人能比我打得更牢固了。」 「那繩子一定是斷了——我猜是在岩石邊緣磨斷的，」佛羅多說。 「我敢說沒有！」山姆用更加受傷的語氣說。他彎下腰檢查繩子的兩端。「根本沒有。一絲都沒斷！」 「那我恐怕一定是繩結的問題了，」佛羅多說。 山姆搖搖頭，沒有回答。他若有所思地讓繩子從指間滑過。「隨您怎麼說吧，佛羅多先生，」他最後說，「但我認為繩子是自己鬆開的——在我呼喚它的時候。」他把繩子盤起來，愛惜地收進他的背包裡。 「它確實下來了，」佛羅多說，「那才是最重要的。但現在我們得想想下一步了。天很快就要黑了。星星和月亮多美啊！」 「它們確實能振奮人心，不是嗎？」山姆抬頭看著說。「總覺得它們有精靈的氣息。而且月亮越來越圓了。這幾天陰天，我們一兩晚沒見到他了。他開始變得挺亮的。」 「是啊，」佛羅多說，「但還要幾天才會是滿月。我想我們不會想藉著半個月亮的光去闖那片沼澤。」
612 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Under the first shadows of night they started out on the next stage of their journey. After a while Sam turned and looked back at the way they had come. The mouth of the gully was a black notch in the dim cliff. ‘’'m glad we’ve got the rope,’ he said. ‘We’ve set a little puzzle for that footpad, anyhow. He can try his nasty flappy feet on those ledges!’ They picked their steps away from the skirts of the cliff, among a wilderness of boulders and rough stones, wet and slippery with the heavy rain. The ground still fell away sharply. They had not gone very far when they came upon a great fissure that yawned suddenly black before their feet. It was not wide, but it was too wide to jump across in the dim light. They thought they could hear water gurgling in its depths. It curved away on their left northward, back towards the hills, and so barred their road in that direction, at any rate while darkness lasted. ‘We had better try a way back southwards along the line of the cliff, I think,’ said Sam. ‘We might find some nook there, or even a cave or something.’ ‘I suppose so,’ said Frodo. ‘I’m tired, and I don’t think I can scramble among stones much longer tonight — though I grudge the delay. I wish there was a clear path in front of us: then I'd go on till my legs gave way.’ They did not find the going any easier at the broken feet of the Emyn Muil. Nor did Sam find any nook or hollow to shelter in: only bare stony slopes frowned over by the cliff, which now rose again, higher and more sheer as they went back. In the end, worn out, they just cast themselves on the ground under the lee of a boulder lying not far from the foot of the precipice. There for some time they sat huddled mournfully together in the cold stony night, while sleep crept upon them in spite of all they could do to hold it off. The moon now rode high and clear. Its thin white light lit up the faces of the rocks and drenched the cold frowning walls of the cliff, turning all the wide looming darkness into a chill pale grey scored with black shadows. ‘Well!’ said Frodo, standing up and drawing his cloak more closely round him. ‘You sleep for a bit Sam and take my blanket. Pll walk up and down on sentry for a while.’ Suddenly he stiffened, and stooping he gripped Sam by the arm. ‘What’s that?’ he whispered. ‘Look over there on the cliff!’ Sam looked and breathed in sharply through his teeth. ‘Ssss!’ he said. ‘That’s what it is. It’s that Gollum! Snakes and adders! And to think that I thought that we’d puzzle him with our bit of a climb! Look at him! Like a nasty crawling spider on a wall.’
夜幕初降，他們開始了下一階段的旅程。過了一會兒，山姆轉身回望來時的路。峽谷的入口在昏暗的懸崖上，像一個黑色的缺口。「幸好我們有繩子，」他說。「總之，我們給那個攔路賊出了個小難題。讓他用他那雙噁心的、扁平的大腳去試試那些岩架吧！」他們小心翼翼地離開懸崖的邊緣，走進一片亂石嶙峋的荒野，大雨過後，石頭又濕又滑。地面仍然陡峭地向下傾斜。他們沒走多遠，就遇到一條巨大的裂縫，在他們腳前突然張開黑洞洞的大口。它不寬，但在昏暗的光線下跳過去又太寬了。他們似乎能聽到深處傳來潺潺的水聲。裂縫向左邊、向北彎去，回到山丘的方向，因此阻斷了他們朝那個方向的路，至少在天黑的時候是如此。「我想我們最好沿著懸崖線往南試試，」山姆說。「我們也許能在那裡找到一個角落，甚至一個山洞什麼的。」「我想也是，」佛羅多說。「我累了，今晚大概沒辦法再在石頭堆裡爬多久了——雖然我很不甘心這樣耽擱。真希望前面有條明路，那樣我就會一直走到雙腿不支為止。」在伊敏穆爾破碎的山腳下，他們並未覺得路好走一些。山姆也沒有找到任何可以躲避的角落或凹洞：只有光禿禿的石坡，懸崖在其上陰沉地聳立著，隨著他們往回走，懸崖變得更高、更陡峭。最後，他們筋疲力盡，就在離懸崖腳不遠的一塊巨石的背風處，把自己扔在地上。有好一陣子，他們在寒冷多石的夜晚裡悲傷地擠在一起，儘管他們想盡辦法抵抗，睡意還是悄悄襲來。月亮此刻已高掛空中，清澈明亮。它清冷的白光照亮了岩石的表面，浸透了懸崖冰冷陰森的峭壁，將廣闊而逼近的黑暗變成了一片冰冷的灰白，上面刻畫著道道黑色的陰影。「好了！」佛羅多說著站起來，把斗篷裹得更緊了些。「山姆，你睡一會兒，用我的毯子。我來回走動守一會兒哨。」他突然僵住了，彎下腰抓住山姆的手臂。「那是什麼？」他低聲說。「看那邊的懸崖上！」山姆望過去，倒抽一口涼氣。「嘶嘶！」他說。「就是它。是那個咕嚕！蛇和毒蛇！虧我還以為我們那點小攀爬能難倒他！看他！就像一隻噁心的爬行蜘蛛在牆上。」
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 613 Down the face of a precipice, sheer and almost smooth it seemed in the pale moonlight, a small black shape was moving with its thin limbs splayed out. Maybe its soft clinging hands and toes were finding crevices and holds that no hobbit could ever have seen or used, but it looked as if it was just creeping down on sticky pads, like some large prowling thing of insect-kind. And it was coming down head first, as if it was smelling its way. Now and again it lifted its head slowly, turning it right back on its long skinny neck, and the hobbits caught a glimpse of two small pale gleaming lights, its eyes that blinked at the moon for a moment and then were quickly lidded again. ‘Do you think he can see us?’ said Sam. ‘I don’t know,’ said Frodo quietly, ‘but I think not. It is hard even for friendly eyes to see these elven-cloaks: I cannot see you in the shadow even at a few paces. And I’ve heard that he doesn’t like Sun or Moon.’ “Then why is he coming down just here?’ asked Sam. ‘Quietly, Sam!’ said Frodo. ‘He can smell us, perhaps. And he can hear as keen as Elves, I believe. I think he has heard something now: our voices probably. We did a lot of shouting away back there; and we were talking far too loudly until a minute ago.’ ‘Well, I’m sick of him,’ said Sam. ‘He’s come once too often for me, and I’m going to have a word with him, if I can. I don’t suppose we could give him the slip now anyway.’ Drawing his grey hood well over his face, Sam crept stealthily towards the cliff. ‘Careful!’ whispered Frodo coming behind. ‘Don’t alarm him! He’s much more dangerous than he looks.’ The black crawling shape was now three-quarters of the way down, and perhaps fifty feet or less above the cliff’s foot. Crouching stonestill in the shadow of a large boulder the hobbits watched him. He seemed to have come to a difficult passage or to be troubled about something. They could hear him snuffling, and now and again there was a harsh hiss of breath that sounded like a curse. He lifted his head, and they thought they heard him spit. Then he moved on again. Now they could hear his voice creaking and whistling. ‘Ach, sss! Cautious, my precious! More haste less speed. We musstn’t rissk our neck, musst we, precious? No, precious — gollum!’ He lifted his head again, blinked at the moon, and quickly shut his eyes. ‘We hate it,’ he hissed. ‘Nassty, nassty shivery light it is — sss — it spies on us, precious — it hurts our eyes.’ He was getting lower now and the hisses became sharper and clearer. ‘Where iss it, where iss it: my Precious, my Precious? It’s ours, it is, and we wants it. The thieves, the thieves, the filthy little thieves. Where are they with my Precious? Curse them! We hates them.’
在蒼白的月光下，一道陡峭且近乎光滑的懸崖峭壁上，一個黑色的小身影正張開它纖細的四肢移動著。或許它那柔軟而有吸附力的手腳找到了任何哈比人都無法看見或使用的裂縫和抓握點，但它看起來倒像是在用黏黏的肉墊爬行，宛如某种潛行的大型昆蟲。而且它是頭下腳上地爬下來，彷彿在用嗅覺探路。它不時緩緩抬起頭，將頭顱在它那細長的脖子上向後轉，哈比人瞥見了兩點蒼白微光，那是它的眼睛，對著月亮眨了一下，隨即又迅速閉上。 「你覺得他看得到我們嗎？」山姆說。 「我不知道，」佛羅多輕聲說，「但我想不會。即使是友善的眼睛也很難看穿這些精靈斗篷：就算在幾步之遙的陰影裡，我也看不到你。而且我聽說他討厭太陽或月亮。」 「那他為什麼偏偏從這裡下來？」山姆問。 「小聲點，山姆！」佛羅多說。「他或許聞得到我們。而且我相信他的聽力跟精靈一樣敏銳。我想他現在聽到什麼了：大概是我們的聲音。我們剛才在那邊大喊大叫的；直到一分鐘前，我們說話也太大聲了。」 「唉，我真是受夠他了，」山姆說。「他出現得太頻繁了，讓我覺得不舒服，如果可以，我要跟他談談。反正我看我們現在也甩不掉他了。」 山姆將他的灰色兜帽拉得低低的，蓋住臉，偷偷地朝懸崖爬去。 「小心！」佛羅多跟在後面輕聲說。「別驚動他！他比看起來危險得多。」 那個黑色爬行的身影現在已經下來四分之三了，距離崖底大概五十英尺或更少。哈比人像石頭一樣靜止地蹲伏在一塊大圓石的陰影裡看著他。他似乎來到了一段難走的路，或正為某事所困。他們能聽見他킁킁地吸著鼻子，不時還發出刺耳的嘶嘶呼吸聲，聽起來像是在咒罵。他抬起頭，他們彷彿聽到他吐了口唾沫。然後他又繼續移動。現在他們能聽到他那嘎吱作響又帶有口哨聲的嗓音。 「啊，嘶！小心點，我的寶貝！欲速則不達。我們可不能冒著生命危險，是不是啊，寶貝？不，寶貝——咕嚕！」他又抬起頭，對著月亮眨了眨眼，然後迅速閉上。「我們恨它，」他嘶嘶地說。「討厭、討厭、讓人發抖的光——嘶——它在監視我們，寶貝——它刺痛我們的眼睛。」 他越爬越低，嘶嘶聲也變得更尖銳清晰。「它在哪裡，它在哪裡：我的寶貝，我的寶貝？它是我們的，是我們的，我們要它。那些小偷，那些小偷，那些骯髒的小偷。他們帶著我的寶貝在哪裡？詛咒他們！我們恨他們。」
614 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘It doesn’t sound as if he knew we were here, does it?’ whispered Sam. ‘And what’s his Precious? Does he mean the : ‘Hsh!’ breathed Frodo. ‘He’s getting near now, near enough to hear a whisper.’ Indeed Gollum had suddenly paused again, and his large head on its scrawny neck was lolling from side to side as if he was listening. His pale eyes were half unlidded. Sam restrained himself, though his fingers were twitching. His eyes, filled with anger and disgust, were fixed on the wretched creature as he now began to move again, still whispering and hissing to himself. At last he was no more than a dozen feet from the ground, right above their heads. From that point there was a sheer drop, for the cliff was slightly undercut, and even Gollum could not find a hold of any kind. He seemed to be trying to twist round, so as to go legs first, when suddenly with a shrill whistling shriek he fell. As he did so, he curled his legs and arms up round him, like a spider whose descending thread is snapped. Sam was out of his hiding in a flash and crossed the space between him and the cliff-foot in a couple of leaps. Before Gollum could get up, he was on top of him. But he found Gollum more than he bargained for, even taken like that, suddenly, off his guard after a fall. Before Sam could get a hold, long legs and arms were wound round him pinning his arms, and a clinging grip, soft but horribly strong, was squeezing him like slowly tightening cords; clammy fingers were feeling for his throat. Then sharp teeth bit into his shoulder. All he could do was to butt his hard round head sideways into the creature’s face. Gollum hissed and spat, but he did not let go. Things would have gone ill with Sam, if he had been alone. But Frodo sprang up, and drew Sting from its sheath. With his left hand he drew back Gollum’s head by his thin lank hair, stretching his long neck, and forcing his pale venomous eyes to stare up at the sky. ‘Let go! Gollum,’ he said. “This is Sting. You have seen it before once upon a time. Let go, or you’ll feel it this time! Pll cut your throat.’ Gollum collapsed and went as loose as wet string. Sam got up, fingering his shoulder. His eyes smouldered with anger, but he could not avenge himself: his miserable enemy lay grovelling on the stones whimpering. ‘Don’t hurt us! Don’t let them hurt us, precious! They won’t hurt us will they, nice little hobbitses? We didn’t mean no harm, but they jumps on us like cats on poor mices, they did, precious. And we’re so lonely, gollum. We'll be nice to them, very nice, if they’ll be nice to us, won’t we, yes, yess.’ ‘Well, what’s to be done with it?’ said Sam. ‘Tie it up, so as it can’t come sneaking after us no more, I say.’
「聽起來他好像不知道我們在這裡，對吧？」山姆輕聲說。「還有他的『寶貝』是什麼？他指的是那個——」「噓！」佛羅多屏息道。「他現在越來越近了，近到能聽見耳語。」果不其然，咕嚕又突然停了下來，他那瘦骨嶙峋的脖子上頂著一顆大腦袋，無力地左右搖晃，像是在傾聽。他蒼白的眼睛半睜著。山姆克制住自己，儘管他的手指在抽動。他的雙眼充滿了憤怒與厭惡，緊盯著那個可憐的生物。那生物又開始移動，依舊對自己竊竊私語、發出嘶嘶聲。終於，他離地面不過十幾呎，就在他們頭頂正上方。從那點往下是個陡峭的懸崖，因為岩壁略微內凹，即使是咕嚕也找不到任何可以抓握的地方。他似乎正試圖轉過身，想讓腳先下去，就在這時，他突然發出一聲尖銳如哨的慘叫，摔了下來。摔下來的同時，他把手腳蜷縮在身邊，像一隻垂降的絲線被扯斷的蜘蛛。山姆一瞬間就從藏身處衝了出來，兩三步就跨越了他與崖腳之間的距離。還沒等咕嚕爬起來，他就已經壓在了咕嚕身上。但他發現，即便是在這樣突然、趁著對方剛摔下還措手不及時，咕嚕也遠比他想像的要難對付。山姆還沒能抓住他，咕嚕的長手長腳就纏了上來，壓住了他的手臂，一股黏膩的抓力，柔軟卻異常強勁，像緩緩收緊的繩索般擠壓著他；濕冷的指頭正摸索著他的喉嚨。接著，尖牙咬進了他的肩膀。山姆唯一能做的，就是用他那又硬又圓的腦袋朝那生物的臉上猛地一撞。咕嚕發出嘶嘶聲並吐了口口水，但沒有鬆手。如果只有山姆一個人，情況恐怕會對他很不利。但佛羅多跳了起來，從劍鞘中拔出了刺針。他用左手抓住咕嚕稀疏的長髮，將他的頭往後拉，拉長了他細長的脖子，迫使他那雙蒼白而惡毒的眼睛望向天空。「放手！咕嚕，」他說。「這是刺針。很久很久以前你見過它一次。放手，否則這次你會感覺到它！我會割斷你的喉嚨。」咕嚕癱倒在地，像濕繩子一樣軟綿綿的。山姆站起來，摸著自己的肩膀。他的眼中燃燒著怒火，卻無法報復：他那可悲的敵人正趴在石頭上嗚咽求饒。「別傷害我們！別讓他們傷害我們，寶貝！他們不會傷害我們的，對吧，好心的小哈比人？我們沒有惡意，可是他們像貓抓可憐的老鼠一樣撲向我們，他們是的，寶貝。而且我們好孤單，咕嚕。我們會對他們好的，非常好，如果他們對我們好的話，我們会的，是的，是的是的。」「嗯，該怎麼處置『它』呢？』山姆說。『我說，把它綁起來，這樣它就不能再偷偷跟著我們了。」
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 615 ‘But that would kill us, kill us,’ whimpered Gollum. ‘Cruel little hobbitses. Tie us up in the cold hard lands and leave us, gollum, gollum.’ Sobs welled up in his gobbling throat. ‘No,’ said Frodo. ‘If we kill him, we must kill him outright. But we can’t do that, not as things are. Poor wretch! He has done us no harm.’ ‘Oh hasn’t he!’ said Sam rubbing his shoulder. ‘Anyway he meant to, and he means to, T’ll warrant. Throttle us in our sleep, that’s his plan.’ ‘I daresay,’ said Frodo. ‘But what he means to do is another matter.” He paused for a while in thought. Gollum lay still, but stopped whimpering. Sam stood glowering over him. It seemed to Frodo then that he heard, quite plainly but far off, voices out of the past: What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature, when he had a chance! Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death. Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends. ‘Very well,’ he answered aloud, lowering his sword. ‘But still I am afraid. And yet, as you see, I will not touch the creature. For now that I see him, I do pity him.’ Sam stared at his master, who seemed to be speaking to some one who was not there. Gollum lifted his head. “Yess, wretched we are, precious,’ he whined. ‘Misery misery! Hobbits won’t kill us, nice hobbits.’ ‘No, we won’t,’ said Frodo. ‘But we won’t let you go, either. You’re full of wickedness and mischief, Gollum. You will have to come with us, that’s all, while we keep an eye on you. But you must help us, if you can. One good turn deserves another.’ “Yess, yes indeed,’ said Gollum sitting up. ‘Nice hobbits! We will come with them. Find them safe paths in the dark, yes we will. And where are they going in these cold hard lands, we wonders, yes we wonders?’ He looked up at them, and a faint light of cunning and eagerness flickered for a second in his pale blinking eyes. Sam scowled at him, and sucked his teeth; but he seemed to sense that there was something odd about his master’s mood and that the matter was beyond argument. All the same he was amazed at Frodo’s reply. Frodo looked straight into Gollum’s eyes which flinched and
《馴服史麥戈》615頁。「可是那會殺了我們，殺了我們，」咕嚕嗚咽道。「殘忍的小哈比人。把我們綁在這又冷又硬的地上，然後丟下我們，咕嚕，咕嚕。」哽咽的啜泣聲從他咯咯作響的喉嚨裡湧出。「不，」佛羅多說。「如果我們要殺他，就必須乾脆地殺掉。但我們不能這麼做，至少現在情況不允許。可憐的傢伙！他沒對我們造成任何傷害。」「喔，他沒有嗎！」山姆揉著肩膀說。「反正他本來想，現在也想，我敢保證。趁我們睡覺時勒死我們，這就是他的計畫。」「我想也是，」佛羅多說。「但他想做什麼是另一回事。」他停下來思索了一會兒。咕嚕靜靜地躺著，但停止了嗚咽。山姆怒視著他。那時佛羅多似乎清楚地聽見，從遙遠的過去傳來一些聲音：比爾博有機會時沒刺死那卑鄙的生物，真是可惜！可惜？是「憐憫」阻止了他的手。憐憫，還有慈悲：不在非必要時出手。我對咕嚕一點都不同情。他罪該致死。罪該致死！我想他確實是。許多活著的人都罪該致死。而有些死去的人卻值得活著。你能把生命還給他們嗎？那麼，就別因為擔心自身安危，而太急於以正義之名來執行死刑。即使是智者也無法看透所有結局。「好吧，」他大聲回答，放下了他的劍。「但我還是害怕。然而，如你所見，我不會碰這個生物。因為現在我看著他，我確實同情他。」山姆凝視著他的主人，他似乎在對某個不在場的人說話。咕嚕抬起頭。「是的，我們好可憐，寶貝，」他哀鳴道。「好慘好慘！哈比人不會殺我們，好心的哈比人。」「不，我們不會，」佛羅多說。「但我們也不會放你走。你充滿了邪惡與詭計，咕嚕。你必須跟我們一起走，就這樣，我們會盯著你。但如果可以，你必須幫助我們。善有善報。」「是的，是的，沒錯，」咕嚕坐起來說。「好心的哈比人！我們會跟他們走。在黑暗中為他們找安全的路，是的，我們會。我們好奇，他們要去這些又冷又硬的地方的哪裡呢，是的，我們好奇？」他抬頭看著他們，一絲狡猾和熱切的微光在他蒼白閃爍的眼中一閃而過。山姆對他皺眉，還嘖嘖作響；但他似乎感覺到主人的情緒有些古怪，而且這件事已不容爭辯。儘管如此，他還是對佛羅多的回答感到驚訝。佛羅多直視咕嚕的雙眼，那雙眼退縮了，然後
616 THE LORD OF THE RINGS twisted away. ‘You know that, or you guess well enough, Sméagol,’ he said, quietly and sternly. ‘We are going to Mordor, of course. And you know the way there, I believe.’ ‘Ach! sss!’ said Gollum, covering his ears with his hands, as if such frankness, and the open speaking of the names, hurt him. ‘We guessed, yes we guessed,’ he whispered; ‘and we didn’t want them to go, did we? No, precious, not the nice hobbits. Ashes, ashes, and dust, and thirst there is; and pits, pits, pits, and Orcs, thousands of Orcses. Nice hobbits mustn’t go to — sss — those places.’ ‘So you have been there?’ Frodo insisted. ‘And you’re being drawn back there, aren’t you?’ “Yess. Yess. No!’ shrieked Gollum. ‘Once, by accident it was, wasn’t it, precious? Yes, by accident. But we won’t go back, no, no!’ Then suddenly his voice and language changed, and he sobbed in his throat, and spoke but not to them. ‘Leave me alone, gollum! You hurt me. O my poor hands, gollum! I, we, I don’t want to come back. I can’t find it. I am tired. I, we can’t find it, gollum, gollum, no, nowhere. They’re always awake. Dwarves, Men, and Elves, terrible Elves with bright eyes. I can’t find it. Ach!’ He got up and clenched his long hand into a bony fleshless knot, shaking it towards the East. ‘We won't!’ he cried. ‘Not for you.’ Then he collapsed again. ‘Gollum, gollum,’ he whimpered with his face to the ground. ‘Don’t look at us! Go away! Go to sleep!’ ‘He will not go away or go to sleep at your command, Sméagol,’ said Frodo. ‘But if you really wish to be free of him again, then you must help me. And that I fear means finding us a path towards him. But you need not go all the way, not beyond the gates of his land.’ Gollum sat up again and looked at him under his eyelids. ‘He’s over there,’ he cackled. ‘Always there. Orcs will take you all the way. Easy to find Orcs east of the River. Don’t ask Sméagol. Poor, poor Sméagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he’s lost now.’ ‘Perhaps we’ll find him again, if you come with us,’ said Frodo. ‘No, no, never! He’s lost his Precious,’ said Gollum. ‘Get up!’ said Frodo. Gollum stood up and backed away against the cliff. ‘Now!’ said Frodo. ‘Can you find a path easier by day or by night? We’re tired; but if you choose the night, we’ll start tonight.’ “The big lights hurt our eyes, they do,’ Gollum whined. ‘Not under the White Face, not yet. It will go behind the hills soon, yess. Rest a bit first, nice hobbits!” “Then sit down,’ said Frodo, ‘and don’t move!’ BS ok
他扭過身去。「你知道的，或者你猜得很準，史麥戈，」他輕聲而嚴厲地說。「我們當然是要去魔多。而且我相信你知道去那裡的路。」「啊！嘶！」咕嚕說，用手摀住耳朵，彷彿這樣的坦率和公開說出名字會傷害到他。「我們猜到了，是的，我們猜到了，」他低語道；「我們不希望他們去，對嗎？不，寶貝，不是好心的哈比人。那裡有灰燼，灰燼，塵土，還有乾渴；還有坑，坑，坑，還有半獸人，成千上萬的半獸人。好心的哈比人不能去—嘶—那些地方。」「所以你去過那裡？」佛羅多堅持問道。「而且你正被吸引回那裡，不是嗎？」「是的。是的。不！」咕嚕尖叫道。「只有一次，是意外，不是嗎，寶貝？是的，是意外。但我們不會回去，不，不！」然後突然間，他的聲音和語言都變了，他在喉嚨裡抽噎著，說著話，但不是對他們說。「離我遠點，咕嚕！你弄痛我了。喔，我可憐的手，咕嚕！我，我們，我不想回去。我找不到它。我累了。我，我們找不到它，咕嚕，咕嚕，不，哪裡都找不到。他們總是醒著。矮人、人類和精靈，有著明亮眼睛的可怕精靈。我找不到它。啊！」他站起來，把他長長的手握成一個瘦骨嶙峋的結，朝著東方搖晃。「我們不會！」他喊道。「不是為了你。」然後他又癱倒了。「咕嚕，咕嚕，」他臉朝著地嗚咽道。「別看我們！走開！去睡覺！」「史麥戈，他不會聽你的命令走開或去睡覺的，」佛羅多說。「但如果你真的希望再次擺脫他，那你就必須幫助我。而我擔心那意味著要為我們找到一條通往他的路。但你不必走完全程，不必越過他領土的大門。」咕嚕又坐起來，從眼皮底下看著他。「他在那邊，」他咯咯笑道。「一直在那裡。半獸人會帶你們走完全程。在河東邊很容易找到半獸人。別問史麥戈。可憐，可憐的史麥戈，他很久以前就走了。他們拿走了他的寶貝，他現在迷失了。」「如果你跟我們一起來，也許我們能再找到他，」佛羅多說。「不，不，永遠不！他失去了他的寶貝，」咕嚕說。「起來！」佛羅多說。咕嚕站起來，靠著懸崖後退。「現在！」佛羅多說。「你白天或晚上找路比較容易？我們累了；但如果你選擇晚上，我們今晚就出發。」「大光刺我們的眼睛，是的，」咕嚕哀鳴道。「還不能在白臉底下走。它很快就會到山後去了，是的。先休息一下，好心的哈比人！」「那就坐下，」佛羅多說，「不准動！」
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 617 The hobbits seated themselves beside him, one on either side, with their backs to the stony wall, resting their legs. There was no need for any arrangement by word: they knew that they must not sleep for a moment. Slowly the moon went by. Shadows fell down from the hills, and all grew dark before them. The stars grew thick and bright in the sky above. No one stirred. Gollum sat with his legs drawn up, knees under chin, flat hands and feet splayed on the ground, his eyes closed; but he seemed tense, as if thinking or listening. Frodo looked across at Sam. Their eyes met and they understood. They relaxed, leaning their heads back, and shutting their eyes or seeming to. Soon the sound of their soft breathing could be heard. Gollum’s hands twitched a little. Hardly perceptibly his head moved to the left and the right, and first one eye and then the other opened a slit. The hobbits made no sign. Suddenly, with startling agility and speed, straight off the ground with a jump like a grasshopper or a frog, Gollum bounded forward into the darkness. But that was just what Frodo and Sam had expected. Sam was on him before he had gone two paces after his spring. Frodo coming behind grabbed his leg and threw him. “Your rope might prove useful again, Sam,’ he said. Sam got out the rope. ‘And where were you off to in the cold hard lands, Mr. Gollum?’ he growled. ‘We wonders, aye, we wonders. To find some of your orc-friends, I warrant. You nasty treacherous creature. It’s round your neck this rope ought to go, and a tight noose too.’ Gollum lay quiet and tried no further tricks. He did not answer Sam, but gave him a swift venomous look. ‘All we need is something to keep a hold on him,” said Frodo. ‘We want him to walk, so it’s no good tying his legs — or his arms, he seems to use them nearly as much. Tie one end to his ankle, and keep a grip on the other end.’ He stood over Gollum, while Sam tied the knot. The result surprised them both. Gollum began to scream, a thin, tearing sound, very horrible to hear. He writhed, and tried to get his mouth to his ankle and bite the rope. He kept on screaming. At last Frodo was convinced that he really was in pain; but it could not be from the knot. He examined it and found that it was not too tight, indeed hardly tight enough. Sam was gentler than his words. ‘What’s the matter with your’ he said. ‘If you will try to run away, you must be tied; but we don’t wish to hurt you.’ ‘It hurts us, it hurts us,’ hissed Gollum. ‘It freezes, it bites! Elves twisted it, curse them! Nasty cruel hobbits! That’s why we tries to escape, of course it is, precious. We guessed they were cruel hobbits. They visits Elves, fierce Elves with bright eyes. Take it off us! It hurts us.’
馴服史麥戈 617 哈比人坐在他兩旁，背靠著石壁，伸展雙腿休息。他們無須言語溝通，便知道彼此一刻也不能睡。月亮緩緩滑過天際。山丘的陰影落下，眼前一片漆黑。天上的星星變得又密又亮。沒有人動。咕嚕坐著，雙腿蜷縮，膝蓋頂著下巴，手掌和腳掌攤在地上，雙眼緊閉；但他似乎很緊繃，像是在思考或傾聽。佛羅多望向山姆。他們四目相交，心領神會。他們放鬆下來，頭往後靠，閉上眼睛，或假裝閉上。很快地，便能聽見他們輕柔的呼吸聲。咕嚕的手抽動了一下。他的頭幾乎難以察覺地左右移動，先是一隻眼睛，然後是另一隻，睜開了一條縫。哈比人們沒有任何表示。突然，咕嚕以驚人的敏捷和速度，像蚱蜢或青蛙一樣從地上一躍而起，向前跳入黑暗中。但這正是佛羅多和山姆所預料的。他跳起來還沒走兩步，山姆就撲到他身上了。佛羅多從後面跟上，抓住他的腿，把他摔倒。「你的繩子可能又派上用場了，山姆。」他說。山姆拿出繩子。「在這又冷又硬的鬼地方，你打算去哪兒啊，咕嚕先生？」他咆哮道。「我們好奇，是啊，我們好奇。我敢說是去找你那些半獸人朋友吧。你這卑鄙奸詐的傢伙。這繩子該套在你脖子上，而且要打個死結。」咕嚕安靜地躺著，不再耍花招。他沒有回答山姆，只是迅速地投給他一個惡毒的眼神。「我們只需要有東西能牽制住他就好。」佛羅多說。「我們要他走路，所以綁住他的腿沒用——綁手也一樣，他用手的頻率幾乎跟用腳一樣高。把繩子一端綁在他腳踝上，另一端我們抓著。」山姆打結時，他站在咕嚕身旁。結果讓他們倆都大吃一驚。咕嚕開始尖叫，那聲音尖銳刺耳，聽起來非常恐怖。他扭動著身體，試圖用嘴去咬腳踝上的繩子。他不停地尖叫。最後佛羅多終於相信他真的很痛；但那不可能是繩結造成的。他檢查了一下，發現繩結並不緊，甚至可以說不夠緊。山姆的動作比他說的話溫柔多了。「你怎麼了？」他說。「如果你想逃跑，就必須被綁起來；但我們不想傷害你。」「它傷了我們，它傷了我們。」咕嚕嘶嘶地說。「它好冰，它會咬人！是精靈編的，詛咒他們！壞心腸的哈比人！我們當然要逃跑，當然了，寶貝。我們猜到他們是殘酷的哈比人。他們去見精靈，那些有著明亮眼睛的可怕精靈。把它從我們身上拿開！它傷了我們。」
618 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘No, I will not take it off you,’ said Frodo, ‘not unless’ — he paused a moment in thought — ‘not unless there is any promise you can make that I can trust.’ ‘We will swear to do what he wants, yes, yess,’ said Gollum, still twisting and grabbling at his ankle. ‘It hurts us.’ ‘Swear?’ said Frodo. ‘Sméagol,’ said Gollum suddenly and clearly, opening his eyes wide and staring at Frodo with a strange light. ‘Sméagol will swear on the Precious.’ Frodo drew himself up, and again Sam was startled by his words and his stern voice. ‘On the Precious? How dare you?” he said. “Think! One Ring to rule them all and in the Darkness bind them. Would you commit your promise to that, Sméagol? It will hold you. But it is more treacherous than you are. It may twist your words. Beware!’ Gollum cowered. ‘On the Precious, on the Precious!’ he repeated. ‘And what would you swear?’ asked Frodo. “To be very very good,’ said Gollum. Then crawling to Frodo’s feet he grovelled before him, whispering hoarsely: a shudder ran over him, as if the words shook his very bones with fear. ‘Sméagol will swear never, never, to let Him have it. Never! Sméagol will save it. But he must swear on the Precious.’ ‘No! not on it,’ said Frodo, looking down at him with stern pity. ‘All you wish is to see it and touch it, if you can, though you know it would drive you mad. Not on it. Swear by it, if you will. For you know where it is. Yes, you know, Sméagol. It is before you.’ For a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum had shrunk: a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud, and at his feet a little whining dog. Yet the two were in some way akin and not alien: they could reach one another’s minds. Gollum raised himself and began pawing at Frodo, fawning at his knees. ‘Down! down!’ said Frodo. ‘Now speak your promise!’ ‘We promises, yes I promise!’ said Gollum. ‘I will serve the master of the Precious. Good master, good Sméagol, gollum, gollum!’ Suddenly he began to weep and bite at his ankle again. “Take the rope off, Sam!’ said Frodo. Reluctantly Sam obeyed. At once Gollum got up and began prancing about, like a whipped cur whose master has patted it. From that moment a change, which lasted for some time, came over him. He spoke with less hissing and whining, and he spoke to his companions direct, not to his precious self. He would cringe and flinch, if they
「不，我不會幫你解開，」佛羅多說，「除非——」他停頓了一下，思索著——「除非你能做出一個我能信賴的承諾。」「我們會發誓照他想要的做，是的，是的，」咕嚕說，一面扭動著身體，一面抓著自己的腳踝。「它弄痛我們了。」「發誓？」佛羅多說。「史麥戈，」咕嚕突然清晰地說，他睜大雙眼，眼中閃著奇異的光芒，凝視著佛羅多。「史麥戈會對著『寶貝』發誓。」佛羅多挺直了身子，山姆再次被他的話語和嚴厲的聲音嚇了一跳。「對著『寶貝』？你好大的膽子？」他說。「想清楚！至尊戒馭眾戒，黑暗中歸一統。你要把你的承諾託付給它嗎，史麥戈？它會束縛你。但它比你更奸詐。它可能會扭曲你的話。當心！」咕嚕畏縮了。「對著『寶貝』，對著『寶貝』！」他重複道。「那你要發什麼誓？」佛羅多問。「要非常非常乖，」咕嚕說。接著他爬到佛羅多腳邊，在他面前卑躬屈膝，沙啞地低語著：一陣顫抖掠過他全身，彷彿那些話語的恐懼撼動了他的骨髓。「史麥戈發誓絕不、絕不讓『祂』拿到它。絕不！史麥戈會保護它。但他必須對著『寶貝』發誓。」「不！不是對著它，」佛羅多低頭看著他，帶著嚴厲的憐憫說。「你想要的只是能看到它、摸到它，如果你可以的話，即使你知道那會讓你發瘋。不是對著它。如果你願意，就指著它發誓。因為你知道它在哪裡。是的，你知道，史麥戈。它就在你面前。」有那麼一瞬間，山姆覺得他的主人變高大了，而咕嚕則縮小了：一個高大嚴厲的影子，一位將光芒藏於灰雲中的偉大領主，而在他腳邊是一隻嗚咽的小狗。然而，這兩者在某方面卻是同類而非異類：他們能觸及彼此的心靈。咕嚕抬起自己，開始用手抓著佛羅多，在他膝邊搖尾乞憐。「下去！下去！」佛羅多說。「現在說出你的承諾！」「我們承諾，是的，我承諾！」咕嚕說。「我會服侍『寶貝』的主人。好主人，好史麥戈，咕嚕，咕嚕！」突然間，他又開始哭泣，並再次咬著自己的腳踝。「山姆，把繩子解開！」佛羅多說。山姆不情願地照辦了。咕嚕立刻站起來，開始四處跳躍，像一隻被主人拍了拍的受鞭打的小狗。從那一刻起，他身上發生了一種持續了一段時間的變化。他說話時的嘶嘶聲和嗚咽聲減少了，而且他會直接對著同伴說話，而不是對著他那寶貝的自我。如果他們……他會畏縮和退縮。
THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL 619 stepped near him or made any sudden movement, and he avoided the touch of their elven-cloaks; but he was friendly, and indeed pitifully anxious to please. He would cackle with laughter and caper, if any jest was made, or even if Frodo spoke kindly to him, and weep if Frodo rebuked him. Sam said little to him of any sort. He suspected him more deeply than ever, and if possible liked the new Gollum, the Sméagol, less than the old. ‘Well, Gollum, or whatever it is we’re to call you,’ he said, ‘now for it! The Moon’s gone, and the night’s going. We’d better start.’ “Yes, yes,’ agreed Gollum, skipping about. ‘Off we go! There’s only one way across between the North-end and the South-end. I found it, I did. Orcs don’t use it, Orcs don’t know it. Orcs don’t cross the Marshes, they go round for miles and miles. Very lucky you came this way. Very lucky you found Sméagol, yes. Follow Sméagol!’ He took a few steps away and looked back inquiringly, like a dog inviting them for a walk. ‘Wait a bit, Gollum!’ cried Sam. ‘Not too far ahead now! I’m going to be at your tail, and I’ve got the rope handy.’ ‘No, no!’ said Gollum. ‘Sméagol promised.’ In the deep of night under hard clear stars they set off. Gollum led them back northward for a while along the way they had come; then he slanted to the right away from the steep edge of the Emyn Muil, down the broken stony slopes towards the vast fens below. They faded swiftly and softly into the darkness. Over all the leagues of waste before the gates of Mordor there was a black silence.
《馴服史麥戈》619 他們走近或有任何突然的動作，他都會避開，也會躲避他們精靈斗篷的碰觸；但他表現得很友善，甚至可以說是可憐兮兮地急於取悅他們。只要有人說了個笑話，或甚至佛羅多只是溫和地對他說話，他就會咯咯地笑著跳來跳去；如果佛羅多責備他，他就會哭。山姆幾乎不對他說任何話。他比以往任何時候都更深地懷疑他，如果可能的話，他比討厭舊的咕嚕更討厭這個新的咕嚕，也就是史麥戈。「好了，咕嚕，或者不管我們該怎麼叫你，」他說，「該行動了！月亮沒了，夜晚也快過去了。我們最好出發。」「是，是，」咕嚕邊跳邊同意。「我們走吧！從北端到南端只有一條路可以過。我找到的，是我。半獸人不用那條路，半獸人不知道。半獸人不過沼澤，他們都繞好幾哩遠的路。你們走這邊真是非常幸運。你們找到史麥戈非常幸運，是的。跟著史麥戈！」他走了幾步，然後探詢地回頭看，像一隻邀請他們去散步的狗。「等一下，咕嚕！」山姆喊道。「現在別走太前面！我會跟在你後面，而且我繩子隨時拿得到。」「不，不！」咕嚕說。「史麥戈答應過了。」在深夜裡，在清冷堅硬的星光下，他們出發了。咕嚕帶著他們沿著來時路往北走了一會兒；然後他向右轉，離開伊敏穆爾陡峭的邊緣，沿著破碎的石坡朝下方廣闊的沼澤地走去。他們迅速而輕柔地消失在黑暗中。在魔多大門前那片綿延數里格的荒地上，一片死寂。.