Chapter 7 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS Frodo and Sam returned to their beds and lay there in silence resting for a little, while men bestirred themselves and the business of the day began. After a while water was brought to them, and then they were led to a table where food was set for three. Faramir broke his fast with them. He had not slept since the battle on the day before, yet he did not look weary. When they had finished they stood up. ‘May no hunger trouble you on the road,’ said Faramir. ‘You have little provision, but some small store of food fit for travellers I have ordered to be stowed in your packs. You will have no lack of water as you walk in Ithilien, but do not drink of any stream that flows from Imlad Morgul, the Valley of Living Death. This also I must tell you. My scouts and watchers have all returned, even some that have crept within sight of the Morannon. They all find a strange thing. The land is empty. Nothing is on the road, and no sound of foot, or horn, or bowstring is anywhere to be heard. A waiting silence broods above the Nameless Land. I do not know what this portends. But the time draws swiftly to some great conclusion. Storm is coming. Hasten while you may! If you are ready, let us go. The Sun will soon rise above the shadow.’ The hobbits’ packs were brought to them (a little heavier than they had been), and also two stout staves of polished wood, shod with iron, and with carven heads through which ran plaited leathern thongs. ‘I have no fitting gifts to give you at our parting,’ said Faramir; ‘but take these staves. They may be of service to those who walk or climb in the wild. The men of the White Mountains use them; though these have been cut down to your height and newly shod. They are made of the fair tree /ebethron, beloved of the woodwrights of Gondor, and a virtue has been set upon them of finding and returning. May that virtue not wholly fail under the Shadow into which you go!’ The hobbits bowed low. ‘Most gracious host,’ said Frodo, ‘it was said to me by Elrond Halfelven that I should find friendship upon the way, secret and unlooked for. Certainly I looked for no such friendship as you have shown. To have found it turns evil to great good.’
第七章 前往十字路口 佛羅多和山姆回到床上，靜靜地躺著休息了一會兒，此時人們已開始活動，一天的事務也展開了。過了一會兒，有人給他們送來了水，然後他們被領到一張桌子前，上面擺著三個人的食物。法拉墨和他們一同用了早餐。他自前一天的戰鬥後就沒睡過，但看起來卻不顯疲憊。用完餐後，他們站了起來。「願你們在路上不受飢餓之苦，」法拉墨說。「你們的糧食不多，但我已吩咐人將一些適合旅人的少量食物存放在你們的背包裡。你們在伊西力安行走時不會缺水，但不要飲用任何從魔窟谷——那活死人山谷——流出的溪水。還有這件事我必須告訴你們。我的探子和守望者都回來了，甚至有些已潛入黑門的視線範圍內。他們都發現了一件怪事。那片土地空無一人。路上什麼都沒有，也聽不到任何腳步聲、號角聲或弓弦聲。一片等待的寂靜籠罩著那無名之地。我不知道這預示著什麼。但時間正迅速走向某個重大的結局。風暴將至。盡快趕路吧！如果你們準備好了，我們就走吧。太陽很快就會升到陰影之上了。」哈比人的背包被拿了過來（比之前重了一點），還有兩根結實的木杖，杖身打磨過，杖頭包鐵，雕刻的杖首上穿著編織的皮繩。「在我們分別之際，我沒有合適的禮物送給你們，」法拉墨說；「但請收下這兩根手杖。對於在野外行走或攀爬的人來說，它們或許能派上用場。白山山脈的人們會用這種手杖；不過這兩根已根據你們的身高截短並重新包了鐵頭。它們是用剛鐸木匠所鍾愛的珍貴樹木勒貝斯隆製成的，並被賦予了『尋回與歸來』的美德。願這份美德在你們將要走入的陰影下不致完全失效！」哈比人們深深鞠躬。「最仁慈的主人，」佛羅多說，「半精靈愛隆曾對我說，我會在路上找到友誼，是秘密且意想不到的。我當然沒想到會得到您所展現的這種友誼。能找到它，便將邪惡轉化為巨大的良善。」
JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS 695 Now they made ready to depart. Gollum was brought out of some corner or hiding-hole, and he seemed better pleased with himself than he had been, though he kept close to Frodo and avoided the glance of Faramir. “Your guide must be blindfolded,’ said Faramir, ‘but you and your servant Samwise I release from this, if you wish.’ Gollum squealed, and squirmed, and clutched at Frodo, when they came to bind his eyes; and Frodo said: ‘Blindfold us all three, and cover up my eyes first, and then perhaps he will see that no harm is meant.’ This was done, and they were led from the cave of Henneth Anntn. After they had passed the passages and stairs they felt the cool morning air, fresh and sweet, about them. Still blind they went on for some little time, up and then gently down. At last the voice of Faramir ordered them to be uncovered. They stood under the boughs of the woods again. No noise of the falls could be heard, for a long southward slope lay now between them and the ravine in which the stream flowed. To the west they could see light through the trees, as if the world came there to a sudden end, at a brink looking out only on to sky. ‘Here is the last parting of our ways,’ said Faramir. ‘If you take my counsel, you will not turn eastward yet. Go straight on, for thus you will have the cover of the woodland for many miles. On your west is an edge where the land falls into the great vales, sometimes suddenly and sheer, sometimes in long hillsides. Keep near to this edge and the skirts of the forest. In the beginning of your journey you may walk under daylight, I think. The land dreams in a false peace, and for a while all evil is withdrawn. Fare you well, while you may!’ He embraced the hobbits then, after the manner of his people, stooping, and placing his hands upon their shoulders, and kissing their foreheads. ‘Go with the good will of all good men!’ he said. They bowed to the ground. Then he turned and without looking back he left them and went to his two guards that stood at a little distance away. They marvelled to see with what speed these greenclad men now moved, vanishing almost in the twinkling of an eye. The forest where Faramir had stood seemed empty and drear, as if a dream had passed. Frodo sighed and turned back southward. As if to mark his disregard of all such courtesy, Gollum was scrabbling in the mould at the foot of a tree. ‘Hungry again already?’ thought Sam. ‘Well, now for it again!’ ‘Have they gone at last?’ said Gollum. ‘Nassty wicked Men! Sméagol’s neck still hurts him, yes it does. Let’s go!’
現在他們準備出發了。咕嚕從某個角落或藏身洞裡被帶了出來，他似乎比之前更自得了些，雖然他還是緊緊跟著佛羅多，並躲避著法拉墨的目光。「你的嚮導必須蒙上眼睛，」法拉墨說，「但你和你的僕人山姆懷斯，如果願意的話，我可以免除你們這道程序。」當他們要來綁咕嚕的眼睛時，他尖叫、扭動，還緊緊抓住佛羅多；佛羅多便說：「把我們三個都蒙上眼吧，先蒙我的，這樣他或許就會明白我們沒有惡意。」就這樣，他們被領出了漢納斯安努的洞穴。穿過通道和階梯後，他們感覺到早晨涼爽的空氣，清新而甜美，環繞著他們。他們依舊被蒙著眼走了一小段路，先是上坡，然後緩緩下坡。最後，法拉墨的聲音命令他們解開蒙眼布。他們再次站立在森林的枝枒下。瀑布的聲響已聽不見，因為一道長長的南向斜坡此刻橫在他們與那條溪流所在的峽谷之間。向西望去，他們可以透過樹木看到光亮，彷彿世界就在那裡戛然而止，來到一個只望得見天空的懸崖邊。「這裡是我們最後的岔路了，」法拉墨說。「如果你們聽我的勸告，就先別轉向東。直直往前走，這樣林地可以為你們提供好幾英里的掩護。你們的西邊是一道邊緣，那裡的土地時而陡峭地直落入大河谷，時而以長長的丘陵斜坡延伸下去。你們要靠近這道邊緣和森林的邊際走。我想，在旅程的開頭，你們可以在白天行走。這片土地沉浸在虛假的和平中，暫時之間，所有的邪惡都已退去。趁還能安好，願你們一路平安！」然後，他以他們族人的方式擁抱了哈比人，彎下身，將手放在他們的肩上，親吻他們的額頭。「願所有善良之人的善意與你們同在！」他說。他們深深鞠躬。然後他轉身，沒有回頭地離開了他們，走向他那兩個站在不遠處的衛兵。他們驚奇地看著這些綠衣人移動得如此迅速，幾乎一眨眼就消失了。法拉墨剛才站著的森林顯得空蕩而淒涼，彷彿一場夢已逝。佛羅多嘆了口氣，轉身向南走去。咕嚕彷彿要表示他對這一切禮節的全然不屑，正在一棵樹腳下用爪子扒著泥土。「又餓了嗎？」山姆心想。「唉，又要來了！」「他們總算走了嗎？」咕嚕說。「可惡的壞人！史麥戈的脖子還疼呢，是的，還疼。我們走吧！
696 THE LORD OF THE RINGS “Yes, let us go,’ said Frodo. ‘But if you can only speak ill of those who showed you mercy, keep silent!’ ‘Nice Master!’ said Gollum. ‘Sméagol was only joking. Always forgives, he does, yes, yes, even nice Master’s little trickses. Oh yes, nice Master, nice Sméagol!’ Frodo and Sam did not answer. Hoisting their packs and taking their staves in hand, they passed on into the woods of Ithilien. Twice that day they rested and took a little of the food provided by Faramir: dried fruits and salted meat, enough for many days; and bread enough to last while it was still fresh. Gollum ate nothing. The sun rose and passed overhead unseen, and began to sink, and the light through the trees to the west grew golden; and always they walked in cool green shadow, and all about them was silence. The birds seemed all to have flown away or to have fallen dumb. Darkness came early to the silent woods, and before the fall of night they halted, weary, for they had walked seven leagues or more from Henneth Anntn. Frodo lay and slept away the night on the deep mould beneath an ancient tree. Sam beside him was more uneasy: he woke many times, but there was never a sign of Gollum, who had slipped off as soon as the others had settled to rest. Whether he had slept by himself in some hole nearby, or had wandered restlessly prowling through the night, he did not say; but he returned with the first glimmer of light, and roused his companions. ‘Must get up, yes they must!’ he said. ‘Long ways to go still, south and east. Hobbits must make haste!’ That day passed much as the day before had gone, except that the silence seemed deeper; the air grew heavy, and it began to be stifling under the trees. It felt as if thunder was brewing. Gollum often paused, sniffing the air, and then he would mutter to himself and urge them to greater speed. As the third stage of their day’s march drew on and afternoon waned, the forest opened out, and the trees became larger and more scattered. Great ilexes of huge girth stood dark and solemn in wide glades with here and there among them hoary ash-trees, and giant oaks just putting out their brown-green buds. About them lay long launds of green grass dappled with celandine and anemones, white and blue, now folded for sleep; and there were acres populous with the leaves of woodland hyacinths: already their sleek bell-stems were thrusting through the mould. No living creature, beast or bird, was to be seen, but in these open places Gollum grew afraid, and they walked now with caution, flitting from one long shadow to another. Light was fading fast when they came to the forest-end. There they sat under an old gnarled oak that sent its roots twisting like
「是的，我們走吧，」佛羅多說。「但如果你只會說那些對你發慈悲的人的壞話，那就請閉嘴！」「好心的主人！」咕嚕說。「史麥戈只是在開玩笑。他總是會原諒的，是的，是的，就連好心主人耍的小小詭計也會原諒。喔，是的，好心的主人，好心的史麥戈！」佛羅多和山姆沒有回答。他們扛起背包，手裡握著木杖，走進了伊西力安的森林。那天他們休息了兩次，吃了些法拉墨提供的食物：夠吃很多天的果乾和鹹肉，還有趁新鮮時能吃上幾天的麵包。咕嚕什麼也沒吃。太陽升起，在頭頂經過，卻看不見，然後開始西沉，穿過西邊樹林的陽光變得金黃；他們始終走在涼爽的綠蔭裡，四周一片寂靜。鳥兒似乎全都飛走了，或變得啞然無聲。黑暗提早降臨在這片寂靜的森林，夜幕垂降前他們便停下腳步，疲憊不堪，因為他們從漢那斯安南出發，已經走了七里格或更遠。佛羅多躺在一棵古樹下厚厚的腐殖土上，沉睡了一夜。他身旁的山姆則更不安：他醒來好幾次，但始終不見咕嚕的蹤影，那傢伙在其他人安頓下來後就溜走了。他是在附近某個洞裡獨自睡覺，還是在夜裡焦躁不安地四處潛行，他沒說；但他在第一道晨光出現時就回來了，並叫醒了他的同伴。「該起床了，是的，他們該起床了！」他說。「還有很長的路要走，往南再往東。哈比人得趕快！」那天的情況和前一天差不多，只是寂靜似乎更深了；空氣變得沉重，樹下開始令人窒息。感覺像是在醞釀一場雷雨。咕嚕常常停下來，嗅著空氣，然後對自己喃喃自語，催促他們加快速度。當他們當天第三段行軍接近尾聲，午後時光漸逝，森林變得開闊起來，樹木也變得更大、更稀疏。 girth 巨大的冬青橡樹在寬闊的林間空地上顯得黝黑而莊嚴，其間點綴著幾棵灰白的梣樹，以及剛冒出棕綠色嫩芽的巨大橡樹。樹木周圍是大片的綠草地，點綴著現已閉合待眠的白色與藍色的毛茛和銀蓮花；還有好幾畝地長滿了茂密的林地風信子葉子：它們光滑的花莖已經破土而出。看不見任何活物，無論是野獸還是飛鳥，但在這些開闊地帶，咕嚕變得害怕起來，他們現在小心翼翼地行走，從一個長長的影子快速移動到另一個。當他們來到森林盡頭時，光線正迅速消逝。他們坐在一棵老邁而多瘤的橡樹下，它的樹根扭曲地伸展，彷彿……
JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS 697 snakes down a steep crumbling bank. A deep dim valley lay before them. On its further side the woods gathered again, blue and grey under the sullen evening, and marched on southwards. To the right the Mountains of Gondor glowed, remote in the West, under a fireflecked sky. To the left lay darkness: the towering walls of Mordor; and out of that darkness the long valley came, falling steeply in an ever-widening trough towards the Anduin. At its bottom ran a hurrying stream: Frodo could hear its stony voice coming up through the silence; and beside it on the hither side a road went winding down like a pale ribbon, down into chill grey mists that no gleam of sunset touched. There it seemed to Frodo that he descried far off, floating as it were on a shadowy sea, the high dim tops and broken pinnacles of old towers forlorn and dark. He turned to Gollum. ‘Do you know where we are?’ he said. “Yes, Master. Dangerous places. This is the road from the Tower of the Moon, Master, down to the ruined city by the shores of the River. The ruined city, yes, very nasty place, full of enemies. We shouldn’t have taken Men’s advice. Hobbits have come a long way out of the path. Must go east now, away up there.’ He waved his skinny arm towards the darkling mountains. ‘And we can’t use this road. Oh no! Cruel peoples come this way, down from the Tower.’ Frodo looked down on to the road. At any rate nothing was moving on it now. It appeared lonely and forsaken, running down to empty ruins in the mist. But there was an evil feeling in the air, as if things might indeed be passing up and down that eyes could not see. Frodo shuddered as he looked again at the distant pinnacles now dwindling into night, and the sound of the water seemed cold and cruel: the voice of Morgulduin, the polluted stream that flowed from the Valley of the Wraiths. ‘What shall we do?’ he said. ‘We have walked long and far. Shall we look for some place in the woods behind where we can lie hidden?’ ‘No good hiding in the dark,’ said Gollum. ‘It’s in day that hobbits must hide now, yes in day.’ ‘Oh come!’ said Sam. ‘We must rest for a bit, even if we get up again in the middle of the night. There’ll still be hours of dark then, time enough for you to take us a long march, if you know the way.’ Gollum reluctantly agreed to this, and he turned back towards the trees, working eastward for a while along the straggling edges of the wood. He would not rest on the ground so near the evil road, and after some debate they all climbed up into the crotch of a large holm-oak, whose thick branches springing together from the trunk made a good hiding-place and a fairly comfortable refuge. Night fell and it grew altogether dark under the canopy of the tree. Frodo and Sam drank a little water and ate some bread and dried fruit, but
一條小徑沿著陡峭易塌的堤岸蜿蜒而下。他們眼前是一個深邃昏暗的山谷。在山谷的另一邊，樹林再次聚集，在陰沉的暮色下呈現出藍灰色，並向南延伸。右邊是剛鐸山脈，在火色斑斕的天空下，於遙遠的西方發出微光。左邊則是一片黑暗：魔多高聳的壁壘；那條長長的山谷便是從那片黑暗中延伸出來，在一個不斷擴大的谷地中陡然下降，朝安都因河而去。谷底有一條湍急的溪流：佛羅多能聽見它那石子碰撞般的聲音穿透寂靜傳上來；溪流的此岸邊，一條道路像一條蒼白的緞帶蜿蜒而下，沒入夕陽光輝未曾觸及的冰冷灰霧之中。在那裡，佛羅多似乎遠遠地瞥見了，彷彿漂浮在幽暗的海上，一些古老塔樓高聳而模糊的頂部和殘破的尖頂，孤寂而黑暗。他轉向咕嚕。『你知道我們在哪裡嗎？』他說。『是的，主人。危險的地方。這是從月之塔下來的路，主人，通往河岸邊那座廢棄的城市。廢棄的城市，是的，非常糟糕的地方，充滿了敵人。我們不該聽從人類的建議。哈比人已經偏離正道太遠了。現在必須往東走，往那上面去。』他揮舞著瘦骨嶙峋的手臂，指向那片漸暗的山脈。『而且我們不能走這條路。喔，不！殘酷的人們會走這條路，從那座塔上下來。』佛羅多低頭看著那條路。至少現在上面沒有任何東西在移動。它看起來孤獨而被遺棄，通往霧中空無一物的廢墟。但空氣中瀰漫著一股邪惡的感覺，彷彿真有眼睛看不見的東西在上下穿梭。當佛羅多再次望向那如今漸漸消失在夜色中的遙遠尖頂時，他不禁打了個寒顫，水聲聽起來也變得冰冷而殘酷：那是魔窟都因的聲音，那條從亡靈之谷流出的污穢溪流。『我們該怎麼辦？』他說。『我們已經走了很長很遠的路了。要不要在後面的樹林裡找個地方躲起來？』『天黑躲藏沒用的，』咕嚕說。『現在哈比人必須在白天躲藏，是的，在白天。』『喔，拜託！』山姆說。『我們總得休息一下，就算我們半夜再起來也行。到時候天還是黑的，還有好幾個小時，如果你認路，也夠你帶我們走一大段路了。』咕嚕不情願地同意了，他轉身朝樹林走去，沿著稀疏的林緣向東走了一會兒。他不想在離那條邪惡道路這麼近的地上休息，經過一番爭論，他們都爬上了一棵大冬青櫟的枝枒分岔處，它那從樹幹上一起伸出的粗壯樹枝，成了一個很好的藏身之處和相當舒適的避難所。夜幕降臨，樹冠下變得一片漆黑。佛羅多和山姆喝了點水，吃了一些麵包和果乾，但是
698 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Gollum at once curled up and went to sleep. The hobbits did not shut their eyes. It must have been a little after midnight when Gollum woke up: suddenly they were aware of his pale eyes unlidded gleaming at them. He listened and sniffed, which seemed, as they had noticed before, his usual method of discovering the time of night. ‘Are we rested? Have we had beautiful sleep?’ he said. ‘Let’s go!’ ‘We aren’t, and we haven’t,’ growled Sam. ‘But we’ll go if we must.’ Gollum dropped at once from the branches of the tree on to all fours, and the hobbits followed more slowly. As soon as they were down they went on again with Gollum leading, eastwards, up the dark sloping land. They could see little, for the night was now so deep that they were hardly aware of the stems of trees before they stumbled against them. The ground became more broken and walking was more difficult, but Gollum seemed in no way troubled. He led them through thickets and wastes of brambles; sometimes round the lip of a deep cleft or dark pit, sometimes down into black bush-shrouded hollows and out again; but if ever they went a little downward, always the further slope was longer and steeper. They were climbing steadily. At their first halt they looked back, and they could dimly perceive the roofs of the forest they had left behind, lying like a vast dense shadow, a darker night under the dark blank sky. There seemed to be a great blackness looming slowly out of the East, eating up the faint blurred stars. Later the sinking moon escaped from the pursuing cloud, but it was ringed all about with a sickly yellow glare. At last Gollum turned to the hobbits. ‘Day soon,’ he said. ‘Hobbits must hurry. Not safe to stay in the open in these places. Make haste!’ He quickened his pace, and they followed him wearily. Soon they began to climb up on to a great hog-back of land. For the most part it was covered with a thick growth of gorse and whortleberry, and low tough thorns, though here and there clearings opened, the scars of recent fires. The gorse-bushes became more frequent as they got nearer the top; very old and tall they were, gaunt and leggy below but thick above, and already putting out yellow flowers that glimmered in the gloom and gave a faint sweet scent. So tall were the spiny thickets that the hobbits could walk upright under them, passing through long dry aisles carpeted with a deep prickly mould. On the further edge of this broad hill-back they stayed their march and crawled for hiding underneath a tangled knot of thorns. Their twisted boughs, stooping to the ground, were overridden by a clambering maze of old briars. Deep inside there was a hollow hall, raftered
咕嚕立刻蜷縮起來睡著了。但哈比人們沒有闔眼。大概午夜過後不久，咕嚕醒了過來：他們突然意識到他那雙沒有眼皮的蒼白眼睛正睜著，對他們閃閃發光。他傾聽、嗅聞，這似乎是他一貫用來判斷夜裡時辰的方法，他們先前就注意到了。「我們休息好了嗎？我們睡得香甜嗎？」他說。「我們走吧！」「我們沒有，一點也沒，」山姆咆哮道。「但如果非走不可，我們就走。」咕嚕立刻從樹枝上四肢著地跳下來，哈比人則比較緩慢地跟上。他們一落地，便在咕嚕的帶領下繼續前行，朝著東方，往黑暗的斜坡上走去。他們幾乎什麼也看不見，因為夜色已深，他們幾乎要撞上樹幹時才意識到它們的存在。地面變得更加崎嶇，行走也更加困難，但咕嚕似乎絲毫不受影響。他領著他們穿過灌木叢和荊棘荒地；時而繞過深邃裂縫或黑暗坑洞的邊緣，時而下到被黑色灌木籠罩的窪地再出來；但每當他們稍微往下走一點，接下來的上坡總是更長、更陡。他們一直在穩定地攀爬。第一次停歇時，他們回頭望去，可以依稀看到他們拋在身後的森林頂端，像一片巨大而濃密的陰影，是漆黑夜空下更深沉的黑夜。似乎有一大片黑暗正從東方緩緩逼近，吞噬著微弱模糊的星辰。後來，下沉的月亮躲開了追逐的雲層，但它的周圍環繞著一圈病態的黃色光暈。最後，咕嚕轉向哈比人。「天快亮了，」他說。「哈比人必須快點。在這些地方的開闊地待著不安全。趕快！」他加快了腳步，他們疲憊地跟著。不久，他們開始爬上一座巨大的豬背嶺。這片地大部分覆蓋著濃密的金雀花、越橘和低矮堅韌的荊棘，不過這裡那裡也有些空地，是近期火災留下的疤痕。越靠近山頂，金雀花叢就越密集；它們非常古老高大，底部瘦削多莖，頂部卻很茂密，並且已經開出了在昏暗中閃爍、散發著淡淡甜香的黃色花朵。這些帶刺的灌木叢如此之高，哈比人可以在其下直立行走，穿過一條條鋪著厚厚刺人腐葉的乾燥長廊。在這片寬闊山脊的遠側邊緣，他們停下腳步，爬進一團糾結的荊棘叢下躲藏。它們扭曲的樹枝垂向地面，上面又覆蓋著一片攀爬交錯的古老野薔薇。在深處，有一個中空的廳堂，由交錯的枝條構成屋頂。
JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS 699 with dead branch and bramble, and roofed with the first leaves and shoots of spring. There they lay for a while, too tired yet to eat; and peering out through the holes in the covert they watched for the slow growth of day. But no day came, only a dead brown twilight. In the East there was a dull red glare under the lowering cloud: it was not the red of dawn. Across the tumbled lands between, the mountains of the Ephel Duath frowned at them, black and shapeless below where night lay thick and did not pass away, above with jagged tops and edges outlined hard and menacing against the fiery glow. Away to their right a great shoulder of the mountains stood out, dark and black amid the shadows, thrusting westward. ‘Which way do we go from here?’ asked Frodo. ‘Is that the opening of — of the Morgul Valley, away over there beyond that black mass?’ ‘Need we think about it yet?’ said Sam. ‘Surely we’re not going to move any more today, if day it is?’ ‘Perhaps not, perhaps not,’ said Gollum. ‘But we must go soon, to the Cross-roads. Yes, to the Cross-roads. That’s the way over there, yes, Master.’ The red glare over Mordor died away. The twilight deepened as great vapours rose in the East and crawled above them. Frodo and Sam took a little food and then lay down, but Gollum was restless. He would not eat any of their food, but he drank a little water and then crawled about under the bushes, sniffing and muttering. Then suddenly he disappeared. ‘Off hunting, I suppose,’ said Sam and yawned. It was his turn to sleep first, and he was soon deep in a dream. He thought he was back in the Bag End garden looking for something; but he had a heavy pack on his back, which made him stoop. It all seemed very weedy and rank somehow, and thorns and bracken were invading the beds down near the bottom hedge. ‘A job of work for me, I can see; but I’m so tired,’ he kept on saying. Presently he remembered what he was looking for. ‘My pipe!’ he said, and with that he woke up. ‘Silly!’ he said to himself, as he opened his eyes and wondered why he was lying down under the hedge. ‘It’s in your pack all the time!’ Then he realized, first that the pipe might be in his pack but he had no leaf, and next that he was hundreds of miles from Bag End. He sat up. It seemed to be almost dark. Why had his master let him sleep on out of turn, right on till evening? ‘Haven’t you had no sleep, Mr. Frodo?’ he said. ‘What’s the time? Seems to be getting late!’ ‘No it isn’t,’ said Frodo. ‘But the day is getting darker instead of
……用枯枝與荊棘搭成，並以春天初生的嫩葉與新芽為頂。他們在那裡躺了一會兒，累得還吃不下東西；他們從藏身處的縫隙中窺視，看著白日緩緩降臨。但白天並未來到，只有一片死寂的棕色暮光。東方的低垂雲層下，有一片暗淡的紅光：那不是黎明的紅色。越過中間崎嶇的土地，伊菲爾杜斯山脈對他們皺起了眉頭，山脈下方黑漆漆地一團，夜色深重不散，上方鋸齒狀的山頂和邊緣在火光的映襯下，輪廓顯得堅硬而險惡。在他們右方遠處，山脈一個巨大的山肩在陰影中突出，黝黑深邃，向西延伸。「我們從這裡該走哪條路？」佛羅多問。「那邊那團黑影過去，是……是魔窟谷的入口嗎？」「我們現在需要想這個嗎？」山姆說。「今天我們肯定不會再移動了吧，如果這還算『今天』的話？」「也許不，也許不，」咕嚕說。「但我們很快就得走，到十字路口去。是的，到十字路口。路在那邊，是的，主人。」魔多上空的紅光消逝了。東方升起大片霧氣，在他們頭頂上爬行，暮色因而更深了。佛羅多和山姆吃了點東西後便躺下，但咕嚕卻焦躁不安。他不吃他們的任何食物，只喝了點水，然後在灌木叢下爬來爬去，又嗅又咕噥。接著他突然消失了。「大概是去打獵了吧，」山姆打著呵欠說。輪到他先睡，他很快就沉入了夢鄉。他夢見自己回到了袋底洞的花園裡找東西；但他背上背著一個沉重的行囊，壓得他彎下了腰。不知怎地，花園似乎雜草叢生，一片荒蕪，荊棘和蕨類正侵入靠近底下樹籬的花壇。「看來有活兒給我幹了；但我好累啊，」他不停地說。不一會兒，他想起了自己在找什麼。「我的菸斗！」他說，隨即醒了過來。「真傻！」他睜開眼睛，納悶自己為何躺在樹籬下，對自己說。「菸斗一直都在你的背包裡啊！」然後他意識到，首先，菸斗或許在背包裡，但他沒有菸葉，其次，他離袋底洞有好幾百英里遠。他坐了起來。天色似乎已近全黑。為什麼他的主人讓他睡過了頭，一直睡到傍晚？「您都沒睡嗎，佛羅多先生？」他說。「現在什麼時候了？天好像晚了！」「不，還沒，」佛羅多說。「但天色是越來越暗，而不是……
7OO THE LORD OF THE RINGS lighter: darker and darker. As far as I can tell, it isn’t midday yet, and you’ve only slept for about three hours.’ ‘I wonder what’s up,’ said Sam. ‘Is there a storm coming? If so it’s going to be the worst there ever was. We shall wish we were down a deep hole, not just stuck under a hedge.’ He listened. ‘What’s that? Thunder, or drums, or what is it?’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Frodo. ‘It’s been going on for a good while now. Sometimes the ground seems to tremble, sometimes it seems to be the heavy air throbbing in your ears.’ Sam looked round. ‘Where’s Gollum?’ he said. ‘Hasn’t he come back yet?’ ‘No,’ said Frodo. “There’s not been a sign or sound of him.’ ‘Well, I can’t abide him,’ said Sam. ‘In fact, P’ve never taken anything on a journey that I’d have been less sorry to lose on the way. But it would be just like him, after coming all these miles, to go and get lost now, just when we shall need him most — that is, if he’s ever going to be any use, which I doubt.’ “You forget the Marshes,’ said Frodo. ‘I hope nothing has happened to him.’ ‘And I hope he’s up to no tricks. And anyway I hope he doesn’t fall into other hands, as you might say. Because if he does, we shall soon be in for trouble.’ At that moment a rolling and rumbling noise was heard again, louder now and deeper. The ground seemed to quiver under their feet. ‘I think we are in for trouble anyhow,’ said Frodo. ‘I’m afraid our journey is drawing to an end.’ ‘Maybe,’ said Sam; ‘but where there’s life there’s hope, as my gaffer used to say; and need of vittles, as he mostways used to add. You have a bite, Mr. Frodo, and then a bit of sleep.’ The afternoon, as Sam supposed it must be called, wore on. Looking out from the covert he could see only a dun, shadowless world, fading slowly into a featureless, colourless gloom. It felt stifling but not warm. Frodo slept unquietly, turning and tossing, and sometimes murmuring. Twice Sam thought he heard him speaking Gandalf’s name. The time seemed to drag interminably. Suddenly Sam heard a hiss behind him, and there was Gollum on all fours, peering at them with gleaming eyes. “Wake up, wake up! Wake up, sleepies!’ he whispered. ‘Wake up! No time to lose. We must go, yes, we must go at once. No time to lose!’ Sam stared at him suspiciously: he seemed frightened or excited. ‘Go now? What’s your little game? It isn’t time yet. It can’t be tea-time even, leastways not in decent places where there is tea-time.’
《魔戒》第700頁，更亮：越來越暗。據我所知，現在還沒到中午，而你只睡了大約三個小時。」「不知道是怎麼回事，」山姆說。「是不是有暴風雨要來了？如果有的話，那肯定是有史以來最糟的一場。到時候我們只會希望自己躲在深洞裡，而不只是卡在樹籬下。」他側耳傾聽。「那是什麼聲音？雷聲、鼓聲，還是什麼？」「我不知道，」佛羅多說。「那聲音已經持續好一陣子了。有時感覺地面在顫抖，有時又像是沉重的空氣在你耳邊悸動。」山姆環顧四周。「咕嚕在哪？」他說。「他還沒回來嗎？」「沒有，」佛羅多說。「一點他的蹤影或聲音都沒有。」「唉，我可受不了他，」山姆說。「說真的，我從來沒在旅途上帶過任何東西，是像他這樣就算半路丟了也一點都不可惜的。但他就是這副德性，走了這麼多哩路，偏偏在我們最需要他的時候跑去搞丟自己——前提是他真有任何用處的話，這點我很懷疑。」「你忘了死亡沼澤了，」佛羅多說。「我希望他沒出什麼事。」「我倒希望他別又在耍什麼花招。而且無論如何，我希望他別落入『其他人』手裡，你懂我的意思。因為如果他真的被抓了，我們很快就要有大麻煩了。」就在那時，一陣滾動的隆隆聲再次響起，這次更大聲、更低沉。他們腳下的地面似乎在顫動。「我看我們不管怎樣都有麻煩了，」佛羅多說。「恐怕我們的旅程快要走到盡頭了。」「也許吧，」山姆說；「不過留得青山在，不怕沒柴燒，就像我老爹常說的；而且還得有吃的才行，他總會這麼補充。您吃點東西吧，佛羅多先生，然後再睡一會兒。」下午，如果還能這麼稱呼的話，就這樣緩慢地流逝。山姆從藏身處望出去，只能看到一個灰褐色、沒有影子的世界，慢慢地褪入一片單調無色、難以名狀的昏暗之中。空氣令人窒息，卻不溫暖。佛羅多睡得不安穩，翻來覆去，有時還喃喃自語。山姆有兩次彷彿聽見他在呼喊甘道夫的名字。時間似乎無窮無盡地拖延著。突然，山姆聽到身後傳來一陣嘶嘶聲，原來是咕嚕四肢著地，用閃閃發亮的眼睛窺視著他們。「醒醒，醒醒！快醒醒，愛睡鬼！」他低語道。「醒來！沒時間了。我們得走了，對，我們必須馬上走。沒時間可以浪費了！」山姆懷疑地瞪著他：他看起來不是嚇壞了，就是太興奮。「現在就走？你在打什麼鬼主意？時間還沒到。連下午茶時間都還沒到呢，至少在有下午茶時間的體面地方是這樣。
JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS 7OI ‘Silly!’ hissed Gollum. ‘We’re not in decent places. Time’s running short, yes, running fast. No time to lose. We must go. Wake up, Master, wake up!’ He clawed at Frodo; and Frodo, startled out of sleep, sat up suddenly and seized him by the arm. Gollum tore himself loose and backed away. “They mustn’t be silly,’ he hissed. ‘We must go. No time to lose!’ And nothing more could they get out of him. Where he had been, and what he thought was brewing to make him in such a hurry, he would not say. Sam was filled with deep suspicion, and showed it; but Frodo gave no sign of what was passing in his mind. He sighed, hoisted his pack, and prepared to go out into the ever-gathering darkness. Very stealthily Gollum led them down the hillside, keeping under cover wherever it was possible, and running, almost bent to the ground, across any open space; but the light was now so dim that even a keen-eyed beast of the wild could scarcely have seen the hobbits, hooded, in their grey cloaks, nor heard them, walking as warily as the little people can. Without the crack of a twig or the rustle of a leaf they passed and vanished. For about an hour they went on, silently, in single file, oppressed by the gloom and by the absolute stillness of the land, broken only now and again by the faint rumbling as of thunder far away or drumbeats in some hollow of the hills. Down from their hiding-place they went, and then turning south they steered as straight a course as Gollum could find across a long broken slope that leaned up towards the mountains. Presently, not far ahead, looming up like a black wall, they saw a belt of trees. As they drew nearer they became aware that these were of vast size, very ancient it seemed, and still towering high, though their tops were gaunt and broken, as if tempest and lightning-blast had swept across them, but had failed to kill them or to shake their fathomless roots. ‘The Cross-roads, yes,’ whispered Gollum, the first words that had been spoken since they left their hiding-place. ‘We must go that way.’ Turning eastward now, he led them up the slope; and then suddenly there it was before them: the Southward Road, winding its way about the outer feet of the mountains, until presently it plunged into the great ring of trees. “This is the only way,’ whispered Gollum. ‘No paths beyond the road. No paths. We must go to the Cross-roads. But make haste! Be silent!’ As furtively as scouts within the campment of their enemies, they crept down on to the road, and stole along its westward edge under the stony bank, grey as the stones themselves, and soft-footed as
「笨蛋！」咕嚕嘶嘶地說。「我們不在什麼好地方。時間不多了，是的，過得很快。沒時間可浪費了。我們得走了。醒醒，主人，醒醒！」他抓著佛羅多；佛羅多從睡夢中驚醒，猛地坐起，一把抓住他的手臂。咕嚕掙脫開來，往後退。「他們不能犯傻，」他嘶嘶地說。「我們得走了。沒時間可浪費了！」他們再也無法從他口中問出更多。他去了哪裡，又覺得有什麼事正在醞釀，讓他如此匆忙，他一概不說。山姆心中充滿了深深的懷疑，並且表露無遺；但佛羅多沒有顯露出任何心思。他嘆了口氣，背起他的行囊，準備走入那不斷聚攏的黑暗中。咕嚕非常鬼祟地帶領他們走下山坡，盡可能地保持在掩蔽之下，並在穿過任何開闊地時，幾乎彎著腰貼地奔跑；但現在光線已如此昏暗，即使是野外目光銳利的野獸，也幾乎看不見戴著兜帽、身穿灰色斗篷的哈比人，也聽不見他們走路的聲音，他們走得像小個子民族所能達到的最警惕的程度。他們走過並消失，沒有一根樹枝的斷裂聲，也沒有一片葉子的沙沙聲。他們繼續前行了約一個小時，默默地排成單行，被那陰鬱和土地的絕對寂靜所壓迫，這寂靜僅偶爾被遠方傳來的微弱雷鳴般的隆隆聲，或山中某個凹谷傳來的鼓聲所打破。他們從藏身處往下走，然後轉向南方，沿著一條長長的、崎嶇的斜坡，朝著山脈的方向，走出一條咕嚕所能找到的最直的路線。不久，在不遠的前方，他們看到一帶樹林，像一堵黑牆般赫然聳現。當他們走近時，他們意識到這些樹木體積龐大，似乎非常古老，而且依然高聳，儘管它們的頂端憔悴而斷裂，彷彿暴風和雷擊曾橫掃而過，卻未能殺死它們，也未能動搖它們深不可測的根。「十字路口，是的，」咕嚕低語道，這是他們離開藏身處後說的第一句話。「我們必須走那條路。」他現在轉向東，帶他們上坡；然後突然間，它就在他們面前：南方大道，蜿蜒地繞過山脈的外圍，直到不久後便一頭扎進那片巨大的環狀樹林中。「這是唯一的路，」咕嚕低語道。「路以外沒有別的小徑。沒有小徑。我們必須去十字路口。但要快！保持安靜！」他們像潛入敵方營地的偵察兵一樣鬼祟地爬下到路上，沿著其西側邊緣，在石頭堤岸下潛行，他們自己像石頭一樣灰，腳步也輕盈無聲。
7O2 THE LORD OF THE RINGS hunting cats. At length they reached the trees, and found that they stood in a great roofless ring, open in the middle to the sombre sky; and the spaces between their immense boles were like the great dark arches of some ruined hall. In the very centre four ways met. Behind them lay the road to the Morannon; before them it ran out again upon its long journey south; to their right the road from old Osgiliath came climbing up, and crossing, passed out eastward into darkness: the fourth way, the road they were to take. Standing there for a moment filled with dread Frodo became aware that a light was shining; he saw it glowing on Sam’s face beside him. Turning towards it, he saw, beyond an arch of boughs, the road to Osgiliath running almost as straight as a stretched ribbon down, down, into the West. There, far away, beyond sad Gondor now overwhelmed in shade, the Sun was sinking, finding at last the hem of the great slow-rolling pall of cloud, and falling in an ominous fire towards the yet unsullied Sea. The brief glow fell upon a huge sitting figure, still and solemn as the great stone kings of Argonath. The years had gnawed it, and violent hands had maimed it. Its head was gone, and in its place was set in mockery a round rough-hewn stone, rudely painted by savage hands in the likeness of a grinning face with one large red eye in the midst of its forehead. Upon its knees and mighty chair, and all about the pedestal, were idle scrawls mixed with the foul symbols that the maggot-folk of Mordor used. Suddenly, caught by the level beams, Frodo saw the old king’s head: it was lying rolled away by the roadside. ‘Look, Sam!’ he cried, startled into speech. ‘Look! The king has got a crown again!’ The eyes were hollow and the carven beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed. “They cannot conquer for ever!’ said Frodo. And then suddenly the brief glimpse was gone. The Sun dipped and vanished, and as if at the shuttering of a lamp, black night fell.
他們終於走到樹林前，發現樹木圍成一個巨大的無頂圓環，中央對著陰沉的天空敞開；巨大的樹幹之間，空隙宛如某座廢棄大廳的宏偉黑色拱門。正中央是四條路的交會處。他們身後是通往魔欄農的道路；眼前是向南延伸的漫長旅途；右邊，來自古都奧斯吉力亞斯的道路攀爬而上，交錯而過，向東沒入黑暗：這第四條路，正是他們要走的路。佛羅多站在那裡，心中充滿恐懼，片刻後他意識到有光芒閃耀；他看見那光輝映照在身旁山姆的臉上。他轉向光芒，看見在一個枝枒構成的拱門之外，通往奧斯吉力亞斯的道路像一條拉直的緞帶，筆直地向下、向下，延伸至西方。在那遙遠的彼方，在如今被陰影籠罩的悲傷剛鐸之外，太陽正在沉落，終於找到了緩慢翻滾的巨大雲幕的邊緣，帶著不祥的火光，朝著尚未被玷污的海洋墜去。短暫的光芒落在一個巨大的坐姿雕像上，它靜止而莊嚴，如同亞苟那斯的宏偉石王。歲月已將它啃噬，暴虐之手已將它摧殘。它的頭顱不見了，取而代之的是一顆粗鑿的圓石，被野蠻之手粗魯地畫上一張獰笑的臉，額頭中央還有一隻巨大的紅眼，充滿了嘲諷。在它的膝上、宏偉的座椅上，以及基座的四周，盡是些胡亂的塗鴉，混雜著魔多那些蛆民所用的污穢符號。突然，被那水平的光束捕捉到，佛羅多看見了老國王的頭顱：它滾落在路邊。「看，山姆！」他驚訝地脫口而出。「看！國王又戴上王冠了！」雙眼空洞，雕刻的鬍鬚也已斷裂，但在那高聳嚴峻的額頭上，卻環繞著一頂金銀色的冠冕。一株蔓生植物，開著像小白星一樣的花朵，纏繞在其眉宇之間，彷彿是對這位殞落君王的致敬；在他石頭頭髮的縫隙中，黃色的佛甲草閃閃發光。「他們無法永遠得勝！」佛羅多說。接著，那短暫的景象突然消失了。太陽沉沒不見，彷彿一盞燈被關上，黑夜降臨。