Chapter 2 THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES Gollum moved quickly, with his head and neck thrust forward, often using his hands as well as his feet. Frodo and Sam were hard put to it to keep up with him; but he seemed no longer to have any thought of escaping, and if they fell behind, he would turn and wait for them. After a time he brought them to the brink of the narrow gully that they had struck before; but they were now further from the hills. ‘Here it is!’ he cried. “There is a way down inside, yes. Now we follows it — out, out away over there.’ He pointed south and east towards the marshes. The reek of them came to their nostrils, heavy and foul even in the cool night air. Gollum cast up and down along the brink, and at length he called to them. ‘Here! We can get down here. Sméagol went this way once: I went this way, hiding from Orcs.’ He led the way, and following him the hobbits climbed down into the gloom. It was not difficult, for the rift was at this point only some fifteen feet deep and about a dozen across. There was running water at the bottom: it was in fact the bed of one of the many small rivers that trickled down from the hills to feed the stagnant pools and mires beyond. Gollum turned to the right, southward more or less, and splashed along with his feet in the shallow stony stream. He seemed greatly delighted to feel the water, and chuckled to himself, sometimes even croaking in a sort of song. The cold hard lands they bites our hands, they gnaws our feet. The rocks and stones are like old bones all bare of meat. But stream and pool is wet and cool: so nice for feet! And now we wish ‘Ha! ha! What does we wish?’ he said, looking sidelong at the hobbits. ‘We'll tell you,’ he croaked. ‘He guessed it long ago, Baggins
第二章 沼澤的通道 咕嚕移動得很快，頭頸前伸，時常用手輔助雙腳。佛羅多和山姆很難跟上他；但他似乎不再有逃跑的念頭，如果他們落後了，他會轉身等他們。過了一會兒，他把他們帶到先前遇到過的狹窄溝壑邊緣；但他們現在離山丘更遠了。「就是這裡！」他喊道。「裡面有路可以下去，是的。現在我們跟著它走——出去，出去，到那邊去。」他指向東南方，朝著沼澤的方向。即使在涼爽的夜空中，沼澤的惡臭也撲鼻而來，濃重而污濁。咕嚕沿著溝壑邊緣來回尋找，最後終於向他們喊道。「這裡！我們可以從這裡下去。史麥戈走過這條路一次：我走過這條路，為了躲避半獸人。」他領著路，哈比人跟著他爬進了幽暗之中。這並不困難，因為裂縫在這裡只有大約十五英尺深，十二英尺寬。底部有流水：事實上，這是眾多從山丘潺潺流下、匯入遠方死水潭和泥沼的小河之一的河床。咕嚕向右轉，大致朝南，在淺淺的石溪中涉水前行。他似乎對能感覺到水感到非常高興，自顧自地咯咯笑，有時甚至用一種歌聲般的沙啞嗓音哼唱起來。「冰冷堅硬的土地咬我們的手，啃我們的腳。岩石和石頭像沒肉的老骨頭。但溪流和水池又濕又涼：對腳真好！現在我們希望……『哈！哈！我們希望什麼？』」他斜眼看著哈比人說。「我們會告訴你，」他沙啞地說。「他早就猜到了，巴金斯。」
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 621 guessed it.’ A glint came into his eyes, and Sam catching the gleam in the darkness thought it far from pleasant. Alive without breath; as cold as death; never thirsting, ever drinking; clad in mail, never clinking. Drowns on dry land, thinks an island is @ mountain; thinks a fountain is a puff of air. So sleek, so fair! What a joy to meet! We only wish to catch a fish, so juicy-sweet! These words only made more pressing to Sam’s mind a problem that had been troubling him from the moment when he understood that his master was going to adopt Gollum as a guide: the problem of food. It did not occur to him that his master might also have thought of it, but he supposed Gollum had. Indeed how had Gollum kept himself in all his lonely wandering? ‘Not too well,’ thought Sam. ‘He looks fair famished. Not too dainty to try what hobbit tastes like, if there ain’t no fish, I'll wager — supposing as he could catch us napping. Well, he won’t: not Sam Gamgee for one.’ They stumbled along in the dark winding gully for a long time, or so it seemed to the tired feet of Frodo and Sam. The gully turned eastward, and as they went on it broadened and got gradually shallower. At last the sky above grew faint with the first grey of morning. Gollum had shown no signs of tiring, but now he looked up and halted. “Day is near,’ he whispered, as if Day was something that might overhear him and spring on him. ‘Sméagol will stay here: I will stay here, and the Yellow Face won’t see me.’ ‘We should be glad to see the Sun,’ said Frodo, “but we will stay here: we are too tired to go any further at present.’ “You are not wise to be glad of the Yellow Face,’ said Gollum. ‘It shows you up. Nice sensible hobbits stay with Sméagol. Orcs and nasty things are about. They can see a long way. Stay and hide with me!’ The three of them settled down to rest at the foot of the rocky
他眼中閃過一道光，山姆在黑暗中捕捉到那道光芒，覺得那一點也不友善。「無氣息而活；如死亡般冷；從不口渴，卻總在飲；身披鎖甲，從不作響。在乾地溺斃，視島嶼為高山；視噴泉為氣息。如此光滑，如此美麗！相見何歡！吾等只願捕一魚，如此多汁甜美！」這些話只讓山姆心中一個問題變得更加緊迫，這個問題從他明白主人要用咕嚕當嚮導那一刻起就一直困擾著他：食物的問題。他沒想到主人可能也想到了這個問題，但他猜想咕嚕肯定想過。的確，咕嚕在所有孤獨的流浪中是怎麼養活自己的？「看來不怎麼樣，」山姆想。「他看起來餓壞了。我敢打賭，要是沒有魚，他可不會太挑剔，說不定會嚐嚐哈比人的味道——假如他能趁我們睡著時下手的話。哼，他休想：至少山姆·詹吉不會讓他得逞。」他們在黑暗蜿蜒的溝壑中跌跌撞撞地走了很長一段時間，至少對佛羅多和山姆疲憊的雙腳來說是如此。溝壑轉向東方，他們繼續前行，溝壑變得越來越寬，也越來越淺。最後，上方的天空因清晨的第一縷灰光而變得微亮。咕嚕沒有顯露任何疲態，但此刻他抬起頭，停了下來。「白天近了，」他低語道，彷彿「白天」是個會偷聽他然後撲上來的東西。「史麥戈要待在這裡：我要待在這裡，黃臉不會看到我。」「我們應該很高興看到太陽，」佛羅多說，「但我們會待在這裡：我們現在太累了，走不動了。」「你們高興看到黃臉是不明智的，」咕嚕說。「它會暴露你們。聰明懂事的哈比人會跟史麥戈待在一起。半獸人和討厭的東西就在附近。他們能看很遠。跟我一起躲起來！」他們三人在岩石腳下安頓下來休息。
622 THE LORD OF THE RINGS wall of the gully. It was not much more than a tall man’s height now, and at its base there were wide flat shelves of dry stone; the water ran in a channel on the other side. Frodo and Sam sat on one of the flats, resting their backs. Gollum paddled and scrabbled in the stream. ‘We must take a little food,’ said Frodo. ‘Are you hungry, Sméagol? We have very little to share, but we will spare you what we can.’ At the word hungry a greenish light was kindled in Gollum’s pale eyes, and they seemed to protrude further than ever from his thin sickly face. For a moment he relapsed into his old Gollum-manner. ‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious,’ he said. ‘What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?’ His tongue lolled out between his sharp yellow teeth, licking his colourless lips. ‘No, we have got no fish,’ said Frodo. ‘We have only got this’ — he held up a wafer of lembas — ‘and water, if the water here is fit to drink.’ “Yess, yess, nice water,’ said Gollum. ‘Drink it, drink it, while we can! But what is it they’ve got, precious? Is it crunchable? Is it tasty?’ Frodo broke off a portion of a wafer and handed it to him on its leaf-wrapping. Gollum sniffed at the leaf and his face changed: a spasm of disgust came over it, and a hint of his old malice. ‘Sméagol smells it!’ he said. ‘Leaves out of the Elf-country, gah! They stinks. He climbed in those trees, and he couldn’t wash the smell off his hands, my nice hands.’ Dropping the leaf, he took a corner of the lembas and nibbled it. He spat, and a fit of coughing shook him. ‘Ach! No!’ he spluttered. ‘You try to choke poor Sméagol. Dust and ashes, he can’t eat that. He must starve. But Sméagol doesn’t mind. Nice hobbits! Sméagol has promised. He will starve. He can’t eat hobbits’ food. He will starve. Poor thin Sméagol!’ ‘I’m sorry,’ said Frodo; ‘but I can’t help you, I’m afraid. I think this food would do you good, if you would try. But perhaps you can’t even try, not yet anyway.’ The hobbits munched their /embas in silence. Sam thought that it tasted far better, somehow, than it had for a good while: Gollum’s behaviour had made him attend to its flavour again. But he did not feel comfortable. Gollum watched every morsel from hand to mouth, like an expectant dog by a diner’s chair. Only when they had finished and were preparing to rest, was he apparently convinced that they had no hidden dainties that he could share in. Then he went and sat by himself a few paces away and whimpered a little. ‘Look here!’ Sam whispered to Frodo, not too softly: he did not really care whether Gollum heard him or not. ‘We’ve got to get some sleep; but not both together with that hungry villain nigh, promise or no promise. Sméagol or Gollum, he won’t change his habits in a
622《魔戒》 溝壑的石壁。它現在的高度不過比一個高個子男人高一些，底部有幾處寬闊平坦的乾石架；水流在另一側的水道中奔騰。佛羅多和山姆坐在其中一個石架上，背靠著休息。咕嚕在溪流中划水、摸索。 「我們得吃點東西了，」佛羅多說。「你餓嗎，史麥戈？我們能分享的不多，但會盡量分一些給你。」 聽到「餓」這個字，咕嚕蒼白的眼中燃起一道綠光，眼珠似乎比以往任何時候都更從他那瘦弱病態的臉上凸出。有那麼一瞬間，他又故態復萌，變回了老咕嚕的樣子。 「我們餓死了，是的，我們餓死了，寶貝，」他說。「他們吃什麼？他們有美味的魚魚嗎？」他的舌頭從尖銳的黃牙間伸出來，舔著他那毫無血色的嘴唇。 「不，我們沒有魚，」佛羅多說。「我們只有這個——」他舉起一片蘭巴斯薄餅——「還有水，如果這裡的水能喝的話。」 「是的，是的，好喝的水，」咕嚕說。「喝吧，喝吧，趁我們還能喝！但他們有什麼，寶貝？脆不脆？好吃嗎？」 佛羅多掰下一小塊薄餅，連著葉子包裝一起遞給他。咕嚕聞了聞葉子，臉色一變：一陣厭惡的痙攣掠過他的臉，還帶有一絲舊日的惡意。「史麥戈聞到了！」他說。「精靈國度的葉子，呸！臭死了。他爬過那些樹，他洗不掉手上的味道，我那雙漂亮的手。」他扔掉葉子，拿起一角蘭巴斯啃了一下。他立刻吐了出來，一陣劇烈的咳嗽讓他渾身顫抖。 「噁！不！」他口沫橫飛地說。「你想噎死可憐的史麥戈。灰塵和燼土，他不能吃那個。他要餓死了。但史麥戈不介意。好心的哈比人！史麥戈答應過了。他會餓死的。他不能吃哈比人的食物。他會餓死的。可憐瘦弱的史麥戈！」 「我很抱歉，」佛羅多說。「但我恐怕幫不了你。我想這食物對你有好處，如果你願意試試。但也許你連試都沒辦法，至少現在還不行。」 哈比人默默地啃著他們的蘭巴斯。山姆覺得，不知怎地，這餅嚐起來比過去好一陣子都美味許多：咕嚕的行為讓他重新注意到了它的風味。但他感覺很不自在。咕嚕盯著他們從手到嘴的每一口食物，就像餐桌旁一隻滿懷期待的狗。直到他們吃完，準備休息時，他才似乎相信他們沒有藏著什麼他可以分享的珍饈。然後他走到幾步遠的地方獨自坐下，嗚咽了幾聲。 「你聽我說！」山姆對佛羅多低聲說，聲音不算太小：他其實不在乎咕嚕是否聽見。「我們得睡一會兒；但不能兩個人都睡，有那個飢餓的惡棍在附近，不管有沒有承諾。不管是史麥戈還是咕嚕，他的習性是不會改的。」
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 623 hurry, Pll warrant. You go to sleep, Mr. Frodo, and I’ll call you when I can’t keep my eyelids propped up. Turn and about, same as before, while he’s loose.’ ‘Perhaps you’re right, Sam,’ said Frodo speaking openly. “There is a change in him, but just what kind of a change and how deep, I’m not sure yet. Seriously though, I don’t think there is any need for fear — at present. Still watch if you wish. Give me about two hours, not more, and then call me.’ So tired was Frodo that his head fell forward on his breast and he slept, almost as soon as he had spoken the words. Gollum seemed no longer to have any fears. He curled up and went quickly to sleep, quite unconcerned. Presently his breath was hissing softly through his clenched teeth, but he lay still as stone. After a while, fearing that he would drop off himself, if he sat listening to his two companions breathing, Sam got up and gently prodded Gollum. His hands uncurled and twitched, but he made no other movement. Sam bent down and said fissh close to his ear, but there was no response, not even a catch in Gollum’s breathing. Sam scratched his head. ‘Must really be asleep,’ he muttered. ‘And if I was like Gollum, he wouldn’t wake up never again.’ He restrained the thoughts of his sword and the rope that sprang to his mind, and went and sat down by his master. When he woke up the sky above was dim, not lighter but darker than when they had breakfasted. Sam leapt to his feet. Not least from his own feeling of vigour and hunger, he suddenly understood that he had slept the daylight away, nine hours at least. Frodo was still fast asleep, lying now stretched on his side. Gollum was not to be seen. Various reproachful names for himself came to Sam’s mind, drawn from the Gaffer’s large paternal word-hoard; then it also occurred to him that his master had been right: there had for the present been nothing to guard against. They were at any rate both alive and unthrottled. ‘Poor wretch!’ he said half remorsefully. ‘Now I wonder where he’s got to?’ ‘Not far, not far!’ said a voice above him. He looked up and saw the shape of Gollum’s large head and ears against the evening sky. ‘Here, what are you doing?’ cried Sam, his suspicions coming back as soon as he saw that shape. ‘Sméagol is hungry,’ said Gollum. ‘Be back soon.’ ‘Come back now!’ shouted Sam. ‘Hi! Come back!’ But Gollum had vanished. Frodo woke at the sound of Sam’s shout and sat up, rubbing his eyes. ‘Hullo!’ he said. ‘Anything wrong? What’s the time?’
「我敢說，快點。您去睡吧，佛羅多先生，等我眼皮撐不住時再叫您。輪流來，跟之前一樣，趁他還沒被綁著。」「山姆，或許你說得對，」佛羅多坦率地說。「他身上是有些變化，但究竟是哪種變化、有多深，我還不確定。不過說真的，我認為目前沒什麼好怕的。如果你想，就繼續看著吧。給我大約兩小時，別超過，然後叫我。」佛羅多疲憊不堪，話才說完，頭就垂到胸前睡著了。咕嚕似乎也不再害怕。他蜷縮起身子，很快就睡著了，一副毫不在意的樣子。不一會兒，他的呼吸聲便從緊咬的牙縫間輕輕地嘶嘶作響，但他像石頭一樣靜止不動。過了一會兒，山姆擔心自己聽著兩個同伴的呼吸聲也會睡著，便站起來輕輕推了推咕嚕。他的手鬆開抽動了一下，但沒有其他動作。山姆彎下腰，在他耳邊輕聲說了「fissh」，但沒有任何反應，連咕嚕的呼吸都沒有一絲停頓。山姆搔了搔頭。「他一定是真的睡著了，」他喃喃自語。「如果我是咕嚕那樣的人，他可就再也醒不過來了。」他克制住腦中閃現的關於劍和繩子的念頭，走過去坐在主人身邊。當他醒來時，上面的天空一片昏暗，不是更亮，而是比他們吃早餐時更暗了。山姆一躍而起。不僅是從他自己精力充沛和飢餓的感覺，他突然明白自己把整個白天都睡掉了，至少九個小時。佛羅多還在熟睡，現在側身伸展著躺著。咕嚕則不見蹤影。山姆腦中浮現出各種責備自己的詞語，都來自老爹那豐富的、父親般的詞彙庫；然後他又想到，主人說得對：目前為止並沒有什麼需要提防的。至少他們倆都還活著，沒被掐死。「可憐的傢伙！」他半帶懊悔地說。「現在我倒想知道他跑到哪兒去了？」「不遠，不遠！」他上方傳來一個聲音。他抬頭一看，只見咕嚕的大腦袋和耳朵的輪廓映在傍晚的天空下。「喂，你在做什麼？」山姆一看到那個輪廓，疑心立刻又回來了，大叫道。「史麥戈肚子餓，」咕嚕說。「很快就回來。」「現在就回來！」山姆大喊。「喂！回來！」但咕嚕已經消失了。佛羅多被山姆的喊聲驚醒，坐了起來，揉著眼睛。「哈囉！」他說。「怎麼了？現在什麼時候了？」
624 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘I dunno,’ said Sam. ‘After sundown, I reckon. And he’s gone off. Says he’s hungry.’ ‘Don’t worry!’ said Frodo. “There’s no help for it. But he’ll come back, you'll see. The promise will hold yet a while. And he won’t leave his Precious, anyway.’ Frodo made light of it when he learned that they had slept soundly for hours with Gollum, and a very hungry Gollum too, loose beside them. ‘Don’t think of any of your gaffer’s hard names,’ he said. “You were worn out, and it has turned out well: we are now both rested. And we have a hard road ahead, the worst road of all.’ ‘About the food,’ said Sam. ‘How long’s it going to take us to do this job? And when it’s done, what are we going to do then? This waybread keeps you on your legs in a wonderful way, though it doesn’t satisfy the innards proper, as you might say: not to my feeling anyhow, meaning no disrespect to them as made it. But you have to eat some of it every day, and it doesn’t grow. I reckon we’ve got enough to last, say, three weeks or so, and that with a tight belt and a light tooth, mind you. We’ve been a bit free with it so far.’ ‘I don’t know how long we shall take to — to finish,’ said Frodo. ‘We were miserably delayed in the hills. But Samwise Gamgee, my dear hobbit — indeed, Sam my dearest hobbit, friend of friends — I do not think we need give thought to what comes after that. To do the job as you put it — what hope is there that we ever shall? And if we do, who knows what will come of that? If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you, Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not. If we can nurse our limbs to bring us to Mount Doom, that is all we can do. More than I can, I begin to feel.’ Sam nodded silently. He took his master’s hand and bent over it. He did not kiss it, though his tears fell on it. Then he turned away, drew his sleeve over his nose, and got up, and stamped about, trying to whistle, and saying between the efforts: ‘Where’s that dratted creature?’ It was actually not long before Gollum returned; but he came so quietly that they did not hear him till he stood before them. His fingers and face were soiled with black mud. He was still chewing and slavering. What he was chewing, they did not ask or like to think. ‘Worms or beetles or something slimy out of holes,’ thought Sam. ‘Brr! The nasty creature; the poor wretch!’ Gollum said nothing to them, until he had drunk deeply and washed himself in the stream. Then he came up to them, licking his lips. ‘Better now,’ he said. ‘Are we rested? Ready to go on? Nice hobbits, they sleep beautifully. Trust Sméagol now? Very, very good.’ The next stage of their journey was much the same as the last. As they went on the gully became ever shallower and the slope of its
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 625 floor more gradual. Its bottom was less stony and more earthy, and slowly its sides dwindled to mere banks. It began to wind and wander. That night drew to its end, but clouds were now over moon and star, and they knew of the coming of day only by the slow spreading of the thin grey light. In a chill hour they came to the end of the water-course. The banks became moss-grown mounds. Over the last shelf of rotting stone the stream gurgled and fell down into a brown bog and was lost. Dry reeds hissed and rattled though they could feel no wind. On either side and in front wide fens and mires now lay, stretching away southward and eastward into the dim half-light. Mists curled and smoked from dark and noisome pools. The reek of them hung stifling in the still air. Far away, now almost due south, the mountainwalls of Mordor loomed, like a black bar of rugged clouds floating above a dangerous fog-bound sea. The hobbits were now wholly in the hands of Gollum. They did not know, and could not guess in that misty light, that they were in fact only just within the northern borders of the marshes, the main expanse of which lay south of them. They could, if they had known the lands, with some delay have retraced their steps a little, and then turning east have come round over hard roads to the bare plain of Dagorlad: the field of the ancient battle before the gates of Mordor. Not that there was great hope in such a course. On that stony plain there was no cover, and across it ran the highways of the Orcs and the soldiers of the Enemy. Not even the cloaks of Lorien would have concealed them there. ‘How do we shape our course now, Sméagol?’ asked Frodo. ‘Must we cross these evil-smelling fens?’ ‘No need, no need at all,’ said Gollum. ‘Not if hobbits want to reach the dark mountains and go to see Him very quick. Back a little, and round a little’ — his skinny arm waved north and east — ‘and you can come on hard cold roads to the very gates of His country. Lots of His people will be there looking out for guests, very pleased to take them straight to Him, O yes. His Eye watches that way all the time. It caught Sméagol there, long ago.’ Gollum shuddered. ‘But Sméagol has used his eyes since then, yes, yes: ’ve used eyes and feet and nose since then. I know other ways. More difficult, not so quick; but better, if we don’t want Him to see. Follow Sméagol! He can take you through the marshes, through the mists, nice thick mists. Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you, yes perhaps.’
沼澤通道 625 層的地板變得更平緩。它的底部石頭變少，泥土變多，兩側也慢慢縮小成僅僅的河岸。它開始蜿蜒曲折。那一夜即將結束，但雲層遮蔽了月亮和星辰，他們只能藉由稀薄灰光的緩慢擴散，才知曉白日的來臨。在一個寒冷的時刻，他們走到了水道的盡頭。河岸變成了長滿苔蘚的土丘。溪流在最後一塊腐爛的岩架上咕嚕作響，落入一個棕色的泥塘後消失無蹤。儘管感覺不到風，乾燥的蘆葦卻發出嘶嘶和嘎嘎的聲響。在他們兩側和前方，現在是大片的沼澤和泥潭，向南和向東延伸至昏暗的微光中。霧氣從黑暗而惡臭的水池中捲曲、蒸騰。它們的臭氣令人窒息地懸浮在靜止的空氣中。遠方，現在幾乎在正南方，魔多的山脈牆壁若隱若現，像一條崎嶇的黑雲，漂浮在危險的、被濃霧籠罩的海面上。哈比人現在完全掌握在咕嚕手中。他們不知道，也無法在那片迷霧籠罩的光線中猜到，他們實際上才剛進入沼澤的北部邊界，其主要廣闊地帶在他們南方。如果他們熟悉這片土地，本可以稍作耽擱，稍微折返幾步，然後轉向東方，繞行硬路來到達哥拉的裸露平原：魔多門前的古戰場。不過這條路也沒什麼希望。在那片石頭平原上沒有任何掩護，而且敵人的半獸人和士兵的高速公路橫貫其上。即使是羅瑞安的斗篷也無法在那裡隱藏他們。「我們現在該怎麼走，史麥戈？」佛羅多問道。「我們必須穿過這些惡臭的沼澤嗎？」「不必，完全不必，」咕嚕說。「如果哈比人不想快點到達黑暗山脈去見『他』的話。退後一點，繞一點路」——他瘦骨嶙峋的手臂朝北和東方揮舞——「你們就可以走上又硬又冷的道路，直達他國度的大門。他有很多人會在那裡等著客人，非常樂意直接帶他們去見他，哦，是的。他的眼睛一直盯著那邊。很久以前，它就在那裡抓住了史麥戈。」咕嚕打了個寒顫。「但從那以後，史麥戈就用上了自己的眼睛，是的，是的：從那以後就用上了眼睛、腳和鼻子。我知道別的路。更難走，沒那麼快；但更好，如果我們不想讓他看見。跟著史麥戈！他能帶你們穿過沼澤，穿過迷霧，又好又濃的迷霧。非常小心地跟著史麥戈，你們也許可以走很遠，很遠很遠，在他抓住你們之前，是的，也許。」
626 THE LORD OF THE RINGS It was already day, a windless and sullen morning, and the marshreeks lay in heavy banks. No sun pierced the low clouded sky, and Gollum seemed anxious to continue the journey at once. So after a brief rest they set out again and were soon lost in a shadowy silent world, cut off from all view of the lands about, either the hills that they had left or the mountains that they sought. They went slowly in single file: Gollum, Sam, Frodo. Frodo seemed the most weary of the three, and slow though they went, he often lagged. The hobbits soon found that what had looked like one vast fen was really an endless network of pools, and soft mires, and winding half-strangled water-courses. Among these a cunning eye and foot could thread a wandering path. Gollum certainly had that cunning, and needed all of it. His head on its long neck was ever turning this way and that, while he sniffed and muttered all the time to himself. Sometimes he would hold up his hand and halt them, while he went forward a little, crouching, testing the ground with fingers or toes, or merely listening with one ear pressed to the earth. It was dreary and wearisome. Cold clammy winter still held sway in this forsaken country. The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark greasy surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed up in the mists like ragged shadows of longforgotten summers. As the day wore on the light increased a little, and the mists lifted, growing thinner and more transparent. Far above the rot and vapours of the world the Sun was riding high and golden now in a serene country with floors of dazzling foam, but only a passing ghost of her could they see below, bleared, pale, giving no colour and no warmth. But even at this faint reminder of her presence Gollum scowled and flinched. He halted their journey, and they rested, squatting like little hunted animals, in the borders of a great brown reed-thicket. There was a deep silence, only scraped on its surfaces by the faint quiver of empty seed-plumes, and broken grass-blades trembling in small air-movements that they could not feel. ‘Not a bird!’ said Sam mournfully. ‘No, no birds,’ said Gollum. ‘Nice birds!’ He licked his teeth. ‘No birds here. There are snakeses, wormses, things in the pools. Lots of things, lots of nasty things. No birds,’ he ended sadly. Sam looked at him with distaste. So passed the third day of their journey with Gollum. Before the shadows of evening were long in happier lands, they went on again, always on and on with only brief halts. These they made not so much for rest as to help Gollum; for now even he had to go forward with
天已經亮了，是個無風而陰沉的早晨，沼澤的瘴氣凝結成厚重的霧堤。陽光穿不透低垂的雲層，咕嚕似乎急著想立刻繼續旅程。因此，他們稍作休息後便再次出發，很快就迷失在一個幽暗寂靜的世界裡，與周遭的景物完全隔絕，無論是他們剛離開的丘陵，還是他們正尋找的山脈，都看不見了。他們緩慢地排成一列前行：咕嚕、山姆、佛羅多。佛羅多似乎是三人中最疲憊的，儘管他們走得很慢，他還是經常掉隊。哈比人很快發現，那片看似一望無際的廣大沼澤，實際上是由無數水塘、軟泥潭和蜿蜒曲折、幾近堵塞的水道交織而成的無盡網絡。在其中，唯有敏銳的眼力和矯健的腳步才能穿行出一條迂迴的路徑。咕嚕無疑具備這種狡黠的本事，而且必須使出全力。他那長脖子上的腦袋不停地轉來轉去，同時一直對自己嗅聞著、咕噥著。有時他會舉起手讓他們停下，自己則蹲伏著向前一小段，用手指或腳趾試探地面，或者僅僅是將一隻耳朵貼在地上傾聽。這一切既沉悶又令人疲憊。在這片被遺棄的土地上，濕冷的冬天依然佔據著主宰。唯一的綠色是陰沉水面那油膩膩的深色表層上，一層青灰色的水藻浮渣。枯草和腐爛的蘆葦在薄霧中若隱若現，像是早已被遺忘的夏日留下的襤褸陰影。隨著白日推移，光線稍稍增強，霧氣也隨之升騰，變得更薄、更透明。在高遠之處，遠離世間的腐朽與瘴氣，太陽正高掛金黃，行於一片有著耀眼泡沫為底的寧靜國度，但他們在下方所能見到的，僅僅是她一閃即逝的幽魂，模糊而蒼白，不帶一絲色彩，也無半分溫暖。但即便只是這樣微弱地感受到她的存在，咕嚕也皺起眉頭、畏縮了一下。他中止了他們的旅程，他們便在一大片褐色蘆葦叢的邊緣，像被追獵的小動物般蹲下歇息。四周一片死寂，只有空洞的種子冠毛微弱的顫動，以及他們感覺不到的微小氣流中顫抖的斷裂草葉，才偶爾刮過這片寂靜的表面。「一隻鳥都沒有！」山姆悲傷地說。「對，沒有鳥，」咕嚕說。「好吃的鳥兒！」他舔了舔牙齒。「這裡沒有鳥。有蛇蛇、蟲蟲、水池裡的東西。好多東西，好多噁心的東西。沒有鳥，」他悲傷地作結。山姆厭惡地看著他。他們與咕嚕同行的第三天就這樣過去了。在那些更幸福的土地上，夜幕的陰影還未拉長，他們就又上路了，不停地走，不停地走，只有短暫的停歇。他們之所以停下，與其說是為了休息，不如說是為了幫助咕嚕；因為此刻連他也必須繼續前進
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 627 great care, and he was sometimes at a loss for a while. They had come to the very midst of the Dead Marshes, and it was dark. They walked slowly, stooping, keeping close in line, following attentively every move that Gollum made. The fens grew more wet, opening into wide stagnant meres, among which it grew more and more difficult to find the firmer places where feet could tread without sinking into gurgling mud. The travellers were light, or maybe none of them would ever have found a way through. Presently it grew altogether dark: the air itself seemed black and heavy to breathe. When lights appeared Sam rubbed his eyes: he thought his head was going queer. He first saw one with the corner of his left eye, a wisp of pale sheen that faded away; but others appeared soon after: some like dimly shining smoke, some like misty flames flickering slowly above unseen candles; here and there they twisted like ghostly sheets unfurled by hidden hands. But neither of his companions spoke a word. At last Sam could bear it no longer. ‘What’s all this, Gollum?’ he said in a whisper. “These lights? They’re all round us now. Are we trapped? Who are they?’ Gollum looked up. A dark water was before him, and he was crawling on the ground, this way and that, doubtful of the way. ‘Yes, they are all round us,’ he whispered. “The tricksy lights. Candles of corpses, yes, yes. Don’t you heed them! Don’t look! Don’t follow them! Where’s the master?’ Sam looked back and found that Frodo had lagged again. He could not see him. He went some paces back into the darkness, not daring to move far, or to call in more than a hoarse whisper. Suddenly he stumbled against Frodo, who was standing lost in thought, looking at the pale lights. His hands hung stiff at his sides; water and slime were dripping from them. ‘Come, Mr. Frodo!’ said Sam. ‘Don’t look at them! Gollum says we mustn’t. Let’s keep up with him and get out of this cursed place as quick as we can — if we can!’ ‘All right,’ said Frodo, as if returning out of a dream. ‘I’m coming. Go on!’ Hurrying forward again, Sam tripped, catching his foot in some old root or tussock. He fell and came heavily on his hands, which sank deep into sticky ooze, so that his face was brought close to the surface of the dark mere. There was a faint hiss, a noisome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled. For a moment the water below him looked like some window, glazed with grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hands out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. “There are dead things, dead faces in the water,’ he said with horror. ‘Dead faces!’
沼澤的通道 627 他非常小心，有時會一時不知所措。他們已經來到死亡沼澤的正中央，天色一片漆黑。他們彎著腰，排成緊密的一列，緩慢地行走，專注地跟隨著咕嚕的每一個動作。沼澤地越來越濕，擴展成一片片停滯的死水潭，要在其中找到能立足而不會陷入咕嚕作響的泥漿裡的堅實地面，變得越來越困難。幸好旅人們體重很輕，否則他們可能永遠也找不到出路。不久，天色完全暗了下來：連空氣本身似乎都變得又黑又重，難以呼吸。當光點出現時，山姆揉了揉眼睛：他覺得自己的腦袋有點不對勁。他先是用左眼餘光看到一縷淡淡的光澤，隨即消失；但很快又有其他光點出現：有些像微弱發光的煙霧，有些像在看不見的蠟燭上緩慢閃爍的迷濛火焰；它們在這裡那裡扭動著，就像隱形的手展開的鬼魅床單。但他的兩個同伴都一語不發。山姆終於再也忍不住了。「這都是些什麼，咕嚕？」他低聲問道。「這些光？它們現在把我們團團圍住了。我們被困住了嗎？它們是誰？」咕嚕抬起頭。他面前是一片黑水，他正匍匐在地，這邊探探，那邊探探，對前路感到猶豫。「是的，它們在我們四周，」他悄聲說。「那些狡猾的光。屍體的蠟燭，是的，是的。別理它們！別看！別跟著它們！主人在哪裡？」山姆回頭看，發現佛羅多又落後了。他看不見他。他往黑暗中退了幾步，不敢走遠，也不敢用比沙啞的耳語更大的聲音呼喊。突然，他撞上了佛羅多，佛羅多正失神地站著，凝視著那些蒼白的光。他的雙手僵硬地垂在身體兩側；水和黏液正從手上滴落。「來吧，佛羅多先生！」山姆說。「別看它們！咕嚕說我們不能看。我們跟緊他，盡快離開這個該死的地方——如果我們能離開的話！」「好的，」佛羅多說，彷彿從夢中醒來。「我來了。你先走！」山姆再次匆匆前行，卻絆了一跤，腳被某個老樹根或草叢纏住。他摔倒了，雙手重重地撐在地上，深深陷入黏稠的軟泥中，臉也因此貼近了那片黑色死水潭的表面。一陣微弱的嘶嘶聲響起，一股惡臭撲鼻而來，那些光點閃爍、跳躍、旋轉。有那麼一瞬間，他下方的水面看起來像一扇窗戶，蒙著骯髒的玻璃，他正透過它窺視。他猛地將手從泥沼中拔出，驚叫著向後跳開。「水裡有死東西，死人的臉，」他驚恐地說。「死人的臉！」
628 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Gollum laughed. “The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their name,’ he cackled. ‘You should not look in when the candles are lit.’ ‘Who are they? What are they?’ asked Sam shuddering, turning to Frodo, who was now behind him. ‘I don’t know,’ said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. ‘But I have seen them too. In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them.’ Frodo hid his eyes in his hands. ‘I know not who they are; but I thought I saw there Men and Elves, and Orcs beside them.’ “Yes, yes,’ said Gollum. ‘All dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes. There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméagol was young, when I was young before the Precious came. It was a great battle. Tall Men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves; always creeping, creeping.’ ‘But that is an age and more ago,’ said Sam. “The Dead can’t be really there! Is it some devilry hatched in the Dark Land?’ ‘Who knows? Sméagol doesn’t know,’ answered Gollum. ‘You cannot reach them, you cannot touch them. We tried once, yes, precious. I tried once; but you cannot reach them. Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch. No precious! All dead.’ Sam looked darkly at him and shuddered again, thinking that he guessed why Sméagol had tried to touch them. ‘Well, I don’t want to see them,’ he said. ‘Never again! Can’t we get on and get away?’ “Yes, yes,’ said Gollum. ‘But slowly, very slowly. Very carefully! Or hobbits go down to join the Dead ones and light little candles. Follow Sméagol! Don’t look at lights!’ He crawled away to the right, seeking for a path round the mere. They came close behind, stooping, often using their hands even as he did. “Three precious little Gollums in a row we shall be, if this goes on much longer,’ thought Sam. At last they came to the end of the black mere, and they crossed it, perilously, crawling or hopping from one treacherous island tussock to another. Often they floundered, stepping or falling hands-first into waters as noisome as a cesspool, till they were slimed and fouled almost up to their necks and stank in one another’s nostrils. It was late in the night when at length they reached firmer ground again. Gollum hissed and whispered to himself, but it appeared that he was pleased: in some mysterious way, by some blended sense of
咕嚕笑了。「死亡沼澤，是的，是的：那就是它們的名字。」他咯咯地笑著說。「蠟燭點燃的時候，你們不該往裡看。」 「他們是誰？他們是什麼？」山姆打著哆嗦問，轉向現在在他身後的佛羅多。 「我不知道。」佛羅多用夢囈般的聲音說。「但我也看見他們了。在蠟燭點燃時的水潭裡。他們躺在所有的水潭裡，蒼白的臉孔，深深地、深深地在黑水之下。我看見他們了：猙獰邪惡的臉，高貴悲傷的臉。許多驕傲俊美的臉，銀髮間纏繞著水草。但全都污穢，全都腐爛，全都死了。他們身上有一種邪惡的光。」佛羅多用手蒙住眼睛。「我不知道他們是誰；但我想我看到了人類、精靈，還有他們身旁的半獸人。」 「是的，是的。」咕嚕說。「全都死了，全都爛了。精靈、人類和半獸人。死亡沼澤。很久以前有過一場大戰，是的，他們是這麼告訴他的，在史麥戈還年輕的時候，在我得到『寶貝』之前我還年輕的時候。那是一場大戰。高大的人類拿著長劍，還有可怕的精靈，以及尖叫的半獸人。他們在黑門前的平原上打了好幾天、好幾個月。但從那以後，沼澤擴大了，吞噬了墳墓；總是不停地、不停地蔓延。」 「但那已經是一個世代甚至更久以前的事了。」山姆說。「那些死人不可能真的在那裡！是不是黑暗之地搞出來的什麼鬼玩意？」 「誰知道呢？史麥戈不知道。」咕嚕回答。「你碰不到他們，你摸不到他們。我們試過一次，是的，寶貝。我試過一次；但你碰不到他們。只能看見形體，或許，不能觸摸。不，寶貝！全都死了。」 山姆陰沉地看著他，又打了一個哆嗦，心想他猜到史麥戈為什麼想去碰他們了。「好吧，我不想看見他們。」他說。「再也不想了！我們能繼續前進離開這裡嗎？」 「是的，是的。」咕嚕說。「但要慢慢地，非常慢。非常小心！否則哈比人就會下去跟死人作伴，點起小蠟燭。跟著史麥戈！別看那些光！」 他向右邊爬去，尋找繞過這片湖澤的路。他們緊跟在後，彎著腰，也常常像他一樣用手輔助。 「如果再這樣下去，我們就要變成三個排成一列的寶貝小咕嚕了。」山姆心想。 他們終於來到這片黑色湖澤的盡頭，然後危險地穿了過去，從一個不穩的草叢小島爬或跳到另一個。他們常常踉蹌地一腳踩空，或雙手先掉進像糞坑一樣惡臭的水裡，直到他們從頭到腳幾乎都沾滿了黏液和污穢，彼此都聞到對方身上的惡臭。 直到深夜，他們才終於再次踏上較為堅實的地面。咕嚕對自己發出嘶嘶聲和低語，但他似乎很高興：以某種神秘的方式，透過某種混合的感覺……
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 629 feel, and smell, and uncanny memory for shapes in the dark, he seemed to know just where he was again, and to be sure of his road ahead. ‘Now on we go!’ he said. ‘Nice hobbits! Brave hobbits! Very very weary, of course; so we are, my precious, all of us. But we must take master away from the wicked lights, yes, yes, we must.’ With these words he started off again, almost at a trot, down what appeared to be a long lane between high reeds, and they stumbled after him as quickly as they could. But in a little while he stopped suddenly and sniffed the air doubtfully, hissing as if he was troubled or displeased again. ‘What is it?’ growled Sam, misinterpreting the signs. ‘What’s the need to sniff? The stink nearly knocks me down with my nose held. You stink, and master stinks; the whole place stinks.’ “Yes, yes, and Sam stinks!’ answered Gollum. ‘Poor Sméagol smells it, but good Sméagol bears it. Helps nice master. But that’s no matter. The air’s moving, change is coming. Sméagol wonders; he’s not happy.’ He went on again, but his uneasiness grew, and every now and again he stood up to his full height, craning his neck eastward and southward. For some time the hobbits could not hear or feel what was troubling him. Then suddenly all three halted, stiffening and listening. To Frodo and Sam it seemed that they heard, far away, a long wailing cry, high and thin and cruel. They shivered. At the same moment the stirring of the air became perceptible to them; and it grew very cold. As they stood straining their ears, they heard a noise like a wind coming in the distance. The misty lights wavered, dimmed, and went out. Gollum would not move. He stood shaking and gibbering to himself, until with a rush the wind came upon them, hissing and snarling over the marshes. The night became less dark, light enough for them to see, or half see, shapeless drifts of fog, curling and twisting as it rolled over them and passed them. Looking up they saw the clouds breaking and shredding; and then high in the south the moon glimmered out, riding in the flying wrack. For a moment the sight of it gladdened the hearts of the hobbits; but Gollum cowered down, muttering curses on the White Face. Then Frodo and Sam staring at the sky, breathing deeply of the fresher air, saw it come: a small cloud flying from the accursed hills; a black shadow loosed from Mordor; a vast shape winged and ominous. It scudded across the moon, and with a deadly cry went away westward, outrunning the wind in its fell speed. They fell forward, grovelling heedlessly on the cold earth. But the
死亡沼澤之路 629 他的觸覺、嗅覺，以及在黑暗中對形狀那不可思議的記憶力，他似乎又知道自己身在何處，並對前方的路途充滿自信。「現在我們走吧！」他說。「好哈比人！勇敢的哈比人！當然，非常非常疲憊；我們都是，我的寶貝，我們大家都是。但我們必須帶主人離開那些邪惡的燈火，是的，是的，我們必須。」說完這些話，他又出發了，幾乎是小跑步地，沿著一條看似在高高的蘆葦叢間的長巷走去，他們盡可能快地跟在他身後跌跌撞撞地走。但沒過多久，他突然停下，懷疑地聞了聞空氣，發出嘶嘶聲，彷彿再次感到困擾或不悅。「怎麼了？」山姆咆哮道，誤解了那些跡象。「有什麼好聞的？就算我捏著鼻子，那臭味都快把我燻倒了。你臭，主人也臭；整個地方都臭。」「是的，是的，山姆也臭！」咕嚕回答。「可憐的史麥戈聞到了，但善良的史麥戈忍著。幫助好心的主人。但那不重要。空氣在流動，變化要來了。史麥戈在想；他不高興。」他又繼續前進，但他的不安感越來越強，他不時地站直身體，伸長脖子向東和向南望去。有好一陣子，哈比人聽不到也感覺不到是什麼在困擾他。然後突然間，他們三人都停了下來，身體僵硬，側耳傾聽。對佛羅多和山姆來說，他們似乎聽到了遠方傳來一陣悠長、尖銳而殘酷的哀嚎。他們不寒而慄。與此同時，他們也感覺到了空氣的騷動；天氣變得非常寒冷。當他們豎起耳朵使勁聽時，他們聽到遠處傳來一陣像風一樣的聲音。迷濛的燈火搖曳、變暗，然後熄滅了。咕嚕一動也不動。他站在那裡，渾身發抖，對自己胡言亂語，直到一陣狂風猛撲過來，在沼澤上發出嘶嘶和咆哮聲。夜晚變得不那麼黑暗，光線足以讓他們看見，或半看見，一團團無形的霧氣，在他們身上翻滾扭曲而過。他們抬頭看，只見雲層破裂、碎散；然後在高高的南方，月亮閃現出來，在飛馳的雲堆中穿行。一時間，這景象讓哈比人心中一喜；但咕嚕卻畏縮下去，低聲咒罵著那張白臉。然後，佛羅多和山姆凝視著天空，深深地呼吸著更新鮮的空氣，看見它來了：一朵從那受詛咒的山脈飛來的小雲；一個從魔多釋放出來的黑色陰影；一個巨大、有翼且不祥的形體。它飛快地掠過月亮，發出一聲致命的尖嘯，朝西方遠去，以其致命的速度超越了風。他們向前倒下，不顧一切地匍匐在冰冷的土地上。但是那
630 THE LORD OF THE RINGS shadow of horror wheeled and returned, passing lower now, right above them, sweeping the fen-reek with its ghastly wings. And then it was gone, flying back to Mordor with the speed of the wrath of Sauron; and behind it the wind roared away, leaving the Dead Marshes bare and bleak. The naked waste, as far as the eye could pierce, even to the distant menace of the mountains, was dappled with the fitful moonlight. Frodo and Sam got up, rubbing their eyes, like children wakened from an evil dream to find the familiar night still over the world. But Gollum lay on the ground as if he had been stunned. They roused him with difficulty, and for some time he would not lift his face, but knelt forward on his elbows, covering the back of his head with his large flat hands. ‘Wraiths!’ he wailed. ‘Wraiths on wings! The Precious is their master. They see everything, everything. Nothing can hide from them. Curse the White Face! And they tell Him everything. He sees, He knows. Ach, gollum, gollum, gollum!’ It was not until the moon had sunk, westering far away beyond Tol Brandir, that he would get up or make a move. From that time on Sam thought that he sensed a change in Gollum again. He was more fawning and would-be friendly; but Sam surprised some strange looks in his eyes at times, especially towards Frodo; and he went back more and more into his old manner of speaking. And Sam had another growing anxiety. Frodo seemed to be weary, weary to the point of exhaustion. He said nothing, indeed he hardly spoke at all; and he did not complain, but he walked like one who carries a load, the weight of which is ever increasing; and he dragged along, slower and slower, so that Sam had often to beg Gollum to wait and not to leave their master behind. In fact with every step towards the gates of Mordor Frodo felt the Ring on its chain about his neck grow more burdensome. He was now beginning to feel it as an actual weight dragging him earthwards. But far more he was troubled by the Eye: so he called it to himself. It was that more than the drag of the Ring that made him cower and stoop as he walked. The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable. So thin, so frail and thin, the veils were become that still warded it off. Frodo knew just where the present habitation and heart of that will now was: as certainly as a man can tell the direction of the sun with his eyes shut. He was facing it, and its potency beat upon his brow. Gollum probably felt something of the same sort. But what went
恐怖的陰影盤旋後折返，這次飛得更低，就在他們正上方，用它可怕的翅膀掃過沼澤的惡臭。然後它便消失了，以索倫之怒的速度飛回魔多；在它身後，狂風呼嘯而去，留下死亡沼澤一片光禿荒涼。這片赤裸的荒地，目光所及之處，甚至遠至那帶有威脅的山脈，都灑滿了斷斷續續的月光。佛羅多和山姆站起身，揉著眼睛，像從惡夢中驚醒的孩子，發現熟悉的夜晚依然籠罩著世界。但咕嚕躺在地上，彷彿被擊昏了。他們費了好大的勁才把他叫醒，有好一會兒他都不肯抬起臉，只是用手肘撐著跪在地上，用他那雙又大又扁的手抱住後腦勺。「戒靈！」他哀嚎道。「長翅膀的戒靈！寶貝是他們的主人。他們什麼都看得到，什麼都看得到。沒有東西能躲過他們。詛咒那張白臉！他們什麼都告訴祂。祂看見了，祂知道了。啊，咕嚕，咕嚕，咕嚕！」直到月亮在托爾布蘭達遠方的西邊沉落，他才肯起身或移動。從那時起，山姆覺得他又感覺到咕嚕有了變化。他變得更加諂媚，裝出友善的樣子；但山姆有時會在他眼中捕捉到一些奇怪的神情，尤其是當他望向佛羅多時；而且他越來越常用回他舊時的說話方式。山姆還有另一個日益增長的憂慮。佛羅多似乎很疲憊，疲憊到筋疲力盡的程度。他什麼也沒說，事實上他幾乎不說話；他也沒有抱怨，但他走路的樣子像個背負著重擔的人，而那重擔還在不斷加重；他拖著腳步走，越來越慢，以至於山姆常常得求咕嚕等等，別把他們的主人拋在後頭。事實上，每向魔多大門邁出一步，佛羅多就感覺到掛在脖子上的魔戒變得更加沉重。他現在開始感覺到它是一個實實在在的重量，將他往地上拖。但更讓他困擾的是那隻眼睛：他在心裡這麼稱呼它。與其說是魔戒的拖累，不如說是那隻眼睛讓他走路時畏縮彎腰。那隻眼：那種可怕的、不斷增長的感覺，一個充滿敵意的意志，用強大的力量奮力刺穿雲、土、肉體的一切陰影，為了看見你：為了用它致命的凝視將你釘住，讓你赤裸、無法動彈。那些仍然抵擋著它的面紗，變得如此稀薄、如此脆弱而稀薄。佛羅多確切地知道那個意志目前的居所和核心在哪裡：就像一個人閉著眼睛也能肯定地說出太陽的方向一樣。他正對著它，它的力量衝擊著他的額頭。咕嚕大概也感覺到類似的東西。但發生了什麼
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 631 on in his wretched heart between the pressure of the Eye, and the lust of the Ring that was so near, and his grovelling promise made half in the fear of cold iron, the hobbits did not guess. Frodo gave no thought to it. Sam’s mind was occupied mostly with his master, hardly noticing the dark cloud that had fallen on his own heart. He put Frodo in front of him now, and kept a watchful eye on every movement of his, supporting him if he stumbled, and trying to encourage him with clumsy words. When day came at last the hobbits were surprised to see how much closer the ominous mountains had already drawn. The air was now clearer and colder, and though still far off, the walls of Mordor were no longer a cloudy menace on the edge of sight, but as grim black towers they frowned across a dismal waste. The marshes were at an end, dying away into dead peats and wide flats of dry cracked mud. The land ahead rose in long shallow slopes, barren and pitiless, towards the desert that lay at Sauron’s gate. While the grey light lasted, they cowered under a black stone like worms, shrinking, lest the winged terror should pass and spy them with its cruel eyes. The remainder of that journey was a shadow of growing fear in which memory could find nothing to rest upon. For two more nights they struggled on through the weary pathless land. The air, as it seemed to them, grew harsh, and filled with a bitter reek that caught their breath and parched their mouths. At last, on the fifth morning since they took the road with Gollum, they halted once more. Before them dark in the dawn the great mountains reached up to roofs of smoke and cloud. Out from their feet were flung huge buttresses and broken hills that were now at the nearest scarce a dozen miles away. Frodo looked round in horror. Dreadful as the Dead Marshes had been, and the arid moors of the Noman-lands, more loathsome far was the country that the crawling day now slowly unveiled to his shrinking eyes. Even to the Mere of Dead Faces some haggard phantom of green spring would come; but here neither spring nor summer would ever come again. Here nothing lived, not even the leprous growths that feed on rottenness. The gasping pools were choked with ash and crawling muds, sickly white and grey, as if the mountains had vomited the filth of their entrails upon the lands about. High mounds of crushed and powdered rock, great cones of earth fire-blasted and poison-stained, stood like an obscene graveyard in endless rows, slowly revealed in the reluctant light. They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased
在他那可憐的心中，在魔眼壓力和近在咫尺的魔戒慾望之間，以及他在冰冷鐵器的恐懼中半推半就許下的卑微承諾之間，哈比人並未猜到。佛羅多沒有多想。山姆的心思主要放在他的主人身上，幾乎沒注意到籠罩在自己心頭的烏雲。他現在讓佛羅多走在前面，警惕地注視著他的一舉一動，在他絆倒時扶持他，並試圖用笨拙的話語鼓勵他。當白天終於來臨時，哈比人驚訝地發現，那些不祥的山脈已經靠近了許多。空氣現在更清晰也更寒冷，雖然還很遠，但魔多的圍牆已不再是視線邊緣模糊的威脅，而是像陰森的黑色高塔，對著一片淒涼的荒地皺起了眉頭。沼澤地到了盡頭，逐漸消失在死寂的泥炭和一大片乾裂的泥地中。前方的土地是貧瘠無情、漫長而平緩的斜坡，朝著索倫大門前的沙漠延伸。在灰色的光線持續期間，他們像蟲子一樣蜷縮在一塊黑色的石頭下，縮成一團，唯恐那帶翼的恐怖之物飛過，用它殘酷的眼睛窺探到他們。那段旅程的剩餘部分，是恐懼日益增長的陰影，記憶在其中找不到任何可以停歇之處。他們又在疲憊無路的土地上掙扎了兩個晚上。空氣，在他們看來，變得刺鼻，充滿了嗆人、讓他們口乾舌燥的苦澀惡臭。終於，在他們與咕嚕上路後的第五個早晨，他們再次停下腳步。在他們面前，黎明中，巨大的山脈在黑暗中向上延伸，直達煙霧和雲層的屋頂。從山腳下伸展出巨大的山壁和破碎的山丘，最近的距離現在已不到十二英里。佛羅多驚恐地環顧四周。儘管死亡沼澤和無人之地那乾旱的荒野已經很可怕，但此刻爬行的白晝慢慢向他畏縮的雙眼揭示的這片土地，卻要可憎得多。即使是亡者之沼，也會有某些憔悴的綠色春天的幻影降臨；但這裡，春天或夏天都再也不會來臨。這裡沒有任何生命，甚至沒有那些以腐爛為食的痲瘋病般的生長物。那些喘息的水池被灰燼和蠕動的泥漿堵塞，呈現出病態的灰白色，彷彿山脈將它們內臟的污穢嘔吐到周圍的土地上。一堆堆被壓碎和磨成粉末的岩石，一座座被火燒毀、被毒污染的巨大土錐，像一座淫穢的墓地，無盡地排列著，在不情願的光線中慢慢顯露出來。他們來到了魔多之前的荒涼之地：這是對其奴隸黑暗勞動的永恆紀念碑，即使他們所有的目的都化為烏有，這紀念碑也將永存；一片被玷污、病態的土地。
632 THE LORD OF THE RINGS beyond all healing — unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion. ‘I feel sick,’ said Sam. Frodo did not speak. For a while they stood there, like men on the edge of a sleep where nightmare lurks, holding it off, though they know that they can only come to morning through the shadows. The light broadened and hardened. The gasping pits and poisonous mounds grew hideously clear. The sun was up, walking among clouds and long flags of smoke, but even the sunlight was defiled. The hobbits had no welcome for that light; unfriendly it seemed, revealing them in their helplessness — little squeaking ghosts that wandered among the ash-heaps of the Dark Lord. Too weary to go further they sought for some place where they could rest. For a while they sat without speaking under the shadow of a mound of slag; but foul fumes leaked out of it, catching their throats and choking them. Gollum was the first to get up. Spluttering and cursing he rose, and without a word or a glance at the hobbits he crawled away on all fours. Frodo and Sam crawled after him until they came to a wide almost circular pit, high-banked upon the west. It was cold and dead, and a foul sump of oily many-coloured ooze lay at its bottom. In this evil hole they cowered, hoping in its shadow to escape the attention of the Eye. The day passed slowly. A great thirst troubled them, but they drank only a few drops from their bottles — last filled in the gully, which now as they looked back in thought seemed to them a place of peace and beauty. The hobbits took it in turn to watch. At first, tired as they were, neither of them could sleep at all; but as the sun far away was climbing down into slow moving cloud, Sam dozed. It was Frodo’s turn to be on guard. He lay back on the slope of the pit, but that did not ease the sense of burden that was on him. He looked up at the smoke-streaked sky and saw strange phantoms, dark riding shapes, and faces out of the past. He lost count of time, hovering between sleep and waking, until forgetfulness came over him. Suddenly Sam woke up thinking that he heard his master calling. It was evening. Frodo could not have called, for he had fallen asleep, and had slid down nearly to the bottom of the pit. Gollum was by him. For a moment Sam thought that he was trying to rouse Frodo; then he saw that it was not so. Gollum was talking to himself. Sméagol was holding a debate with some other thought that used the same voice but made it squeak and hiss. A pale light and a green light alternated in his eyes as he spoke. ‘Sméagol promised,’ said the first thought. “Yes, yes, my precious,’ came the answer, ‘we promised: to save
《魔戒》632頁，已然無可救藥——除非大海能湧入，將一切沖刷殆盡。「我覺得好噁心。」山姆說。佛羅多沒有說話。他們在那裡站了一會兒，就像站在一場噩夢潛伏的睡眠邊緣，竭力抗拒著，儘管他們知道唯有穿過陰影才能迎來清晨。光線變得更廣、更硬。那些喘息的坑洞和有毒的土丘變得猙獰可怖地清晰。太陽升起了，在雲層和長條狀的濃煙中穿行，但就連陽光也被玷污了。哈比人對那光線毫無歡迎之意；它似乎充滿敵意，將他們的無助暴露無遺——他們就像在黑暗魔君的灰燼堆中遊蕩、吱吱作響的小鬼魂。他們疲憊不堪，無法再走下去，便尋找可以歇息的地方。他們在一座礦渣堆的陰影下默默坐了一會兒；但惡臭的煙霧從中洩出，嗆得他們喉嚨難受，幾乎窒息。咕嚕是第一個起身的。他咕噥咒罵著站起來，一句話也沒說，也沒看哈比人一眼，就四肢著地爬走了。佛羅多和山姆跟在他後面爬行，直到來到一個寬闊的、近乎圓形的坑洞前，西側的坑壁很高。這裡又冷又死寂，坑底是一灘油膩、五顏六色的污穢泥沼。他們蜷縮在這個邪惡的洞裡，希望藉著它的陰影躲過魔眼（the Eye）的注意。白天緩慢地過去。巨大的口渴折磨著他們，但他們只從水瓶裡喝了幾滴水——那是他們最後一次在那個小峽谷裡裝滿的，如今回想起來，那地方對他們而言簡直是個和平美麗的所在。哈比人輪流守夜。起初，儘管他們疲憊不堪，卻誰也睡不著；但當遠方的太陽緩緩沉入移動的雲層時，山姆打起了瞌睡。輪到佛羅多守衛了。他躺在坑洞的斜坡上，但這並未減輕他肩上的重擔。他抬頭望著煙霧繚繞的天空，看到了奇異的幻影、騎馬的黑暗形體，以及過往的面孔。他失去了時間感，在睡與醒之間徘徊，直到遺忘降臨。突然，山姆驚醒，以為聽見主人在叫他。已是傍晚。佛羅多不可能叫他，因為他已睡著，並滑落到幾乎坑底的位置。咕嚕就在他身邊。有那麼一刻，山姆以為他想叫醒佛羅多；接著他發現並非如此。咕嚕在自言自語。史麥戈正在與另一個思想辯論，那思想用著同樣的聲音，卻使其變得尖銳而嘶啞。他說話時，眼中交替閃爍著蒼白和綠色的光芒。「史麥戈答應過的。」第一個思想說。「是的，是的，我的寶貝。」另一個聲音回答，「我們答應過：要救
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 633 our Precious, not to let Him have it — never. But it’s going to Him, yes, nearer every step. What’s the hobbit going to do with it, we wonders, yes we wonders.’ ‘I don’t know. I can’t help it. Master’s got it. Sméagol promised to help the master.’ “Yes, yes, to help the master: the master of the Precious. But if we was master, then we could help ourselfs, yes, and still keep promises.’ ‘But Sméagol said he would be very very good. Nice hobbit! He took cruel rope off Sméagol’s leg. He speaks nicely to me.’ ‘Very very good, eh, my precious? Let’s be good, good as fish, sweet one, but to ourselfs. Not hurt the nice hobbit, of course, no, no.’ ‘But the Precious holds the promise,’ the voice of Sméagol objected. “Then take it,’ said the other, ‘and let’s hold it ourselfs! Then we shall be master, gollum! Make the other hobbit, the nasty suspicious hobbit, make him crawl, yes, gollum!’ ‘But not the nice hobbit?’ ‘Oh no, not if it doesn’t please us. Still he’s a Baggins, my precious, yes, a Baggins. A Baggins stole it. He found it and he said nothing, nothing. We hates Bagginses.’ ‘No, not this Baggins.’ “Yes, every Baggins. All peoples that keep the Precious. We must have it!’ ‘But He’ll see, He’ll know. He’ll take it from us!’ ‘He sees. He knows. He heard us make silly promises — against His orders, yes. Must take it. The Wraiths are searching. Must take it.’ ‘Not for Him!’ ‘No, sweet one. See, my precious: if we has it, then we can escape, even from Him, eh? Perhaps we grows very strong, stronger than Wraiths. Lord Sméagol? Gollum the Great? The Gollum! Eat fish every day, three times a day, fresh from the sea. Most Precious Gollum! Must have it. We wants it, we wants it, we wants it!” ‘But there’s two of them. They’ll wake too quick and kill us,’ whined Sméagol in a last effort. ‘Not now. Not yet.’ ‘We wants it! But’ — and here there was a long pause, as if a new thought had wakened. ‘Not yet, eh? Perhaps not. She might help. She might, yes.’ ‘No, no! Not that way!’ wailed Sméagol. “Yes! We wants it! We wants it!’ Each time that the second thought spoke, Gollum’s long hand crept out slowly, pawing towards Frodo, and then was drawn back
我們的寶貝，不能讓「祂」拿到——絕對不行。但它正往「祂」那裡去，是的，每一步都更近了。哈比人要拿它怎麼辦呢，我們想知道，是的，我們想知道。「我不知道。我沒辦法。主人拿著它。史麥戈答應要幫助主人的。」「是啊，是啊，幫助主人：寶貝的主人。但如果我們是主人，那我們就可以幫助我們自己，是的，而且還能遵守承諾。」「可是史麥戈說過他會非常非常乖。好好的哈比人！他把史麥戈腿上殘酷的繩子解開了。他對我說話很溫柔。」「非常非常乖，嗯，我的寶貝？讓我們乖乖的，像魚一樣乖，親愛的，但只對我們自己乖。當然不能傷害那個好好的哈比人，不，不。」「可是寶貝維繫著那個承諾，」史麥戈的聲音反對道。「那就拿過來，」另一個聲音說，「讓我們自己拿著！那樣我們就是主人了，咕嚕！讓另一個哈比人，那個討厭又多疑的哈比人，讓他爬行，是的，咕嚕！」「但不是那個好好的哈比人？」「喔不，如果那樣我們不開心的話就不。但他還是個巴金斯，我的寶貝，是的，一個巴金斯。是一個巴金斯偷了它。他找到了它，卻什麼也沒說，什麼也沒說。我們恨巴金斯家的人。」「不，不是這個巴金斯。」「是的，每一個巴金斯。所有持有寶貝的人。我們必須得到它！」「可是『祂』會看見，『祂』會知道。『祂』會從我們這裡把它拿走！」「『祂』看見了。『祂』知道了。『祂』聽見我們許下愚蠢的承諾——違背『祂』的命令，是的。必須拿走它。戒靈在搜索。必須拿走它。」「不是為了『祂』！」「不，親愛的。你看，我的寶貝：如果我們擁有它，那我們就能逃脫，甚至能逃離『祂』，嗯？也許我們會變得非常強大，比戒靈還強。史麥戈大人？偉大的咕嚕？咕嚕王！每天吃魚，一天三次，從海裡撈上來的新鮮魚。最寶貝的咕嚕！必須得到它。我們要它，我們要它，我們要它！」「可是他們有兩個人。他們會醒得太快然後殺了我們，」史麥戈哀嚎著，做最後的努力。「不是現在。還沒。」「我們要它！但是」——這裡出現了長長的停頓，彷彿一個新的念頭甦醒了。「還沒，嗯？也許還沒。她或許能幫忙。她或許可以，是的。」「不，不！不要用那種方法！」史麥戈哭喊道。「要！我們要它！我們要它！」每當第二個念頭說話時，咕嚕的長手就緩緩伸出，像爪子一樣摸向佛羅多，然後又縮了回來。
634 THE LORD OF THE RINGS with a jerk as Sméagol spoke again. Finally both arms, with long fingers flexed and twitching, clawed towards his neck. Sam had lain still, fascinated by this debate, but watching every move that Gollum made from under his half-closed eye-lids. To his simple mind ordinary hunger, the desire to eat hobbits, had seemed the chief danger in Gollum. He realized now that it was not so: Gollum was feeling the terrible call of the Ring. The Dark Lord was He, of course; but Sam wondered who She was. One of the nasty friends the little wretch had made in his wanderings, he supposed. Then he forgot the point, for things had plainly gone far enough, and were getting dangerous. A great heaviness was in all his limbs, but he roused himself with an effort and sat up. Something warned him to be careful and not to reveal that he had overheard the debate. He let out a loud sigh and gave a huge yawn. ‘What’s the time?’ he said sleepily. Gollum sent out a long hiss through his teeth. He stood up for a moment, tense and menacing; and then he collapsed, falling forward on to all fours and crawling up the bank of the pit. ‘Nice hobbits! Nice Sam!’ he said. ‘Sleepy heads, yes, sleepy heads! Leave good Sméagol to watch! But it’s evening. Dusk is creeping. Time to go.’ ‘High time!’ thought Sam. ‘And time we parted, too.’ Yet it crossed his mind to wonder if indeed Gollum was not now as dangerous turned loose as kept with them. ‘Curse him! I wish he was choked!’ he muttered. He stumbled down the bank and roused his master. Strangely enough, Frodo felt refreshed. He had been dreaming. The dark shadow had passed, and a fair vision had visited him in this land of disease. Nothing remained of it in his memory, yet because of it he felt glad and lighter of heart. His burden was less heavy on him. Gollum welcomed him with dog-like delight. He chuckled and chattered, cracking his long fingers, and pawing at Frodo’s knees. Frodo smiled at him. ‘Come!’ he said. ‘You have guided us well and faithfully. This is the last stage. Bring us to the Gate, and then I will not ask you to go further. Bring us to the Gate, and you may go where you wish — only not to our enemies.’ “To the Gate, eh?’ Gollum squeaked, seeming surprised and frightened. “To the Gate, master says! Yes, he says so. And good Sméagol does what he asks, O yes. But when we gets closer, we’ll see perhaps, we'll see then. It won’t look nice at all. O no! O no!’ ‘Go on with you!’ said Sam. ‘Let’s get it over!’ In the falling dusk they scrambled out of the pit and slowly threaded their way through the dead land. They had not gone far
史麥戈再次開口時，634《魔戒》猛地一顫。最後，兩條手臂伸出，長長的手指彎曲抽搐著，抓向他的脖子。山姆一直靜靜地躺著，對這場辯論聽得入迷，但同時也從半閉的眼皮下觀察著咕嚕的一舉一動。在他單純的想法裡，咕嚕最主要的危險似乎是普通的飢餓——想吃哈比人的慾望。他現在意識到並非如此：咕嚕正感受到魔戒那可怕的召喚。那個「他」當然是指黑暗魔君；但山姆好奇那個「她」是誰。他猜想，大概是這個小可憐蟲在流浪時交到的哪個壞朋友吧。接著他忘了這點，因為事情顯然已經鬧得夠過火了，而且越來越危險。他四肢感到一陣沉重，但他還是費力地振作起來，坐了起身。有個念頭警告他要小心，不要洩漏自己偷聽了那場辯論。他大聲嘆了口氣，打了一個大大的呵欠。「現在什麼時辰了？」他睡眼惺忪地說。咕嚕從齒縫間發出長長的嘶嘶聲。他站起來一會兒，全身緊繃，充滿威脅；然後他垮了下來，向前倒下，四肢著地，爬上了坑邊的斜坡。「好哈比人！好山姆！」他說。「愛睡的腦袋，是啊，愛睡的腦袋！讓好史麥戈來看著！不過天晚了，暮色正悄悄蔓延。該走了。」「早就該走了！」山姆想。「也該是我們分道揚鑣的時候了。」然而，他腦中閃過一個念頭，懷疑放任咕嚕自由行動，是否真的不比讓他跟著他們更危險。「詛咒他！真希望他被噎死！」他咕噥道。他跌跌撞撞地走下斜坡，叫醒他的主人。說也奇怪，佛羅多覺得精神煥發。他剛才在作夢。黑暗的陰影已經過去，一個美好的景象在這片病態的土地上探訪了他。他記憶中什麼也沒留下，但因此他感到欣喜，心情也輕鬆了許多。他身上的重擔減輕了。咕嚕像狗一樣欣喜地迎接他。他咯咯地笑著，喋喋不休，掰著他長長的手指，並用爪子輕拍佛羅多的膝蓋。佛羅多對他微笑。「來吧！」他說。「你引導我們引得很好，也很忠誠。這是最後一程了。帶我們到大門，之後我就不要求你再往前走了。帶我們到大門，你就可以去任何你想去的地方——只要不是去投靠我們的敵人。」「到大門，欸？」咕嚕尖叫道，似乎既驚訝又害怕。「到大門，主人說！是的，他這麼說。好史麥戈會照他的話做，喔，是的。不過等我們走近了，我們也許會看到，到時候就看到了。那看起來一點也不好。喔，不！喔，不！」「走你的吧！」山姆說。「我們快點了結這事！」在漸暗的暮色中，他們爬出坑洞，緩慢地穿行在這片死亡之地。他們還沒走多遠
THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES 635 before they felt once more the fear that had fallen on them when the winged shape swept over the marshes. They halted, cowering on the evil-smelling ground; but they saw nothing in the gloomy evening sky above, and soon the menace passed, high overhead, going maybe on some swift errand from Barad-dur. After a while Gollum got up and crept forward again, muttering and shaking. About an hour after midnight the fear fell on them a third time, but it now seemed more remote, as if it were passing far above the clouds, rushing with terrible speed into the West. Gollum, however, was helpless with terror, and was convinced that they were being hunted, that their approach was known. “Three times!’ he whimpered. ‘Three times is a threat. They feel us here, they feel the Precious. The Precious is their master. We cannot go any further this way, no. It’s no use, no use!’ Pleading and kind words were no longer of any avail. It was not until Frodo commanded him angrily and laid a hand on his sword-hilt that Gollum would get up again. Then at last he rose with a snarl, and went before them like a beaten dog. So they stumbled on through the weary end of the night, and until the coming of another day of fear they walked in silence with bowed heads, seeing nothing, and hearing nothing but the wind hissing in their ears.
在他們再次感受到那有翼之物橫掃沼澤時降臨的恐懼之前，他們停下腳步，蜷縮在惡臭的地面上；但他們在上方陰沉的夜空中什麼也沒看見，很快那威脅就過去了，高高地飛過頭頂，或許是從巴拉多出發去執行某項緊急任務。過了一會兒，咕嚕站起來，再次向前爬行，嘴裡咕噥著，身體不停顫抖。午夜過後約一小時，恐懼第三次降臨在他們身上，但這次感覺更遙遠，彷彿它正以驚人的速度在雲層之上飛馳，向西而去。然而，咕嚕卻被恐懼嚇得不知所措，他深信他們正被追捕，他們的行蹤已經暴露。「三次！」他嗚咽道。「三次就是威脅。他們感覺到我們在這裡，他們感覺到『寶貝』。『寶貝』是他們的主人。我們不能再走這條路了，不行。沒用的，沒用的！」懇求和好話再也起不了任何作用。直到佛羅多憤怒地命令他，並把手放在劍柄上，咕嚕才肯再次站起來。最後他終於咆哮著站起來，像一隻被打敗的狗一樣走在他們前面。就這樣，他們在疲憊的深夜裡蹣跚前行，直到另一個充滿恐懼的白晝來臨前，他們都低著頭默默地走著，什麼也看不見，只聽見風在耳邊嘶嘶作響。