Chapter 10 THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE Frodo was lying face upward on the ground and the monster was bending over him, so intent upon her victim that she took no heed of Sam and his cries, until he was close at hand. As he rushed up he saw that Frodo was already bound in cords, wound about him from ankle to shoulder, and the monster with her great forelegs was beginning half to lift, half to drag his body away. On the near side of him lay, gleaming on the ground, his elvenblade, where it had fallen useless from his grasp. Sam did not wait to wonder what was to be done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage. He sprang forward with a yell, and seized his master’s sword in his left hand. Then he charged. No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate. Disturbed as if out of some gloating dream by his small yell she turned slowly the dreadful malice of her glance upon him. But almost before she was aware that a fury was upon her greater than any she had known in countless years, the shining sword bit upon her foot and shore away the claw. Sam sprang in, inside the arches of her legs, and with a quick upthrust of his other hand stabbed at the clustered eyes upon her lowered head. One great eye went dark. Now the miserable creature was right under her, for the moment out of the reach of her sting and of her claws. Her vast belly was above him with its putrid light, and the stench of it almost smote him down. Still his fury held for one more blow, and before she could sink upon him, smothering him and all his little impudence of courage, he slashed the bright elven-blade across her with desperate strength. But Shelob was not as dragons are, no softer spot had she save only her eyes. Knobbed and pitted with corruption was her age-old hide, but ever thickened from within with layer on layer of evil growth. The blade scored it with a dreadful gash, but those hideous folds could not be pierced by any strength of men, not though Elf or Dwarf should forge the steel or the hand of Beren or of Turin wield it. She yielded to the stroke, and then heaved up the great bag of her belly high above Sam’s head. Poison frothed and bubbled from the wound.
佛羅多仰面躺在地上，那怪物正彎身俯視著他，全神貫注於她的獵物，對山姆的喊叫聲毫不在意，直到他近在咫尺。他衝上前時，看見佛羅多已經被繩索捆住，從腳踝到肩膀都纏得緊緊的，而那怪物正用她巨大的前腿，半抬半拖地要把他的身體拉走。在他身旁不遠處，他的精靈劍躺在地上閃著光，那是從他無力的手中滑落的。山姆沒有時間去想該怎麼辦，也沒去思索自己是勇敢、是忠誠，還是滿腔怒火。他大吼一聲向前躍去，左手抓起主人的劍。然後他發動了衝鋒。在野獸的殘酷世界裡，從未見過比這更猛烈的攻擊——在那世界裡，一隻絕望的小生物，僅憑著小小的牙齒，孤身撲向一座矗立在牠倒下伴侶身旁的、由角與皮構成的巨塔。她彷彿被他小小的吼叫聲從某個幸災樂禍的美夢中驚醒，緩緩地將她那充滿惡毒的目光轉向他。但幾乎在她意識到一股前所未有的、比她無數年來所知的任何憤怒都更強大的狂怒正向她襲來之前，那把閃亮的劍已經咬上了她的腳，削掉了爪子。山姆躍進她雙腿形成的拱門下，用另一隻手迅速向上猛刺，戳向她低垂頭顱上那叢聚的眼睛。一隻大眼睛暗了下來。現在這個可憐的小生物就在她的正下方，暫時脫離了她毒刺和爪子的攻擊範圍。她巨大的腹部在他上方，散發著腐臭的光芒，那股惡臭幾乎將他擊倒。但他的怒火還足以支撐最後一擊，在他能沉下來壓住他、將他和所有他那微不足道的魯莽勇氣一併窒息之前，他用盡全力，將那把明亮的精靈劍橫掃過她的身體。但屍羅不像惡龍，除了眼睛之外，她沒有任何弱點。她那古老的皮膚上滿是因腐敗而生的疙瘩和凹坑，而且還從內部一層層地增生邪惡的組織，變得越來越厚。劍刃在上面劃出了一道可怕的傷口，但那些醜惡的褶皺卻非人力所能刺穿，即使那鋼鐵是由精靈或矮人所鍛造，或是由貝倫或圖林之手所揮舞，也無法穿透。她因這一擊而退縮，接著將她那大袋子般的腹部高高舉到山姆頭頂上方。毒液從傷口中冒泡湧出。
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 729 Now splaying her legs she drove her huge bulk down on him again. Too soon. For Sam still stood upon his feet, and dropping his own sword, with both hands he held the elven-blade point upwards, fending off that ghastly roof; and so Shelob, with the driving force of her own cruel will, with strength greater than any warrior’s hand, thrust herself upon a bitter spike. Deep, deep it pricked, as Sam was crushed slowly to the ground. No such anguish had Shelob ever known, or dreamed of knowing, in all her long world of wickedness. Not the doughtiest soldier of old Gondor, nor the most savage Orc entrapped, had ever thus endured her, or set blade to her beloved flesh. A shudder went through her. Heaving up again, wrenching away from the pain, she bent her writhing limbs beneath her and sprang backwards in a convulsive leap. Sam had fallen to his knees by Frodo’s head, his senses reeling in the foul stench, his two hands still gripping the hilt of the sword. Through the mist before his eyes he was aware dimly of Frodo’s face, and stubbornly he fought to master himself and to drag himself out of the swoon that was upon him. Slowly he raised his head and saw her, only a few paces away, eyeing him, her beak drabbling a spittle of venom, and a green ooze trickling from below her wounded eye. There she crouched, her shuddering belly splayed upon the ground, the great bows of her legs quivering, as she gathered herself for another spring — this time to crush and sting to death: no little bite of poison to still the struggling of her meat; this time to slay and then to rend. Even as Sam himself crouched, looking at her, seeing his death in her eyes, a thought came to him, as if some remote voice had spoken, and he fumbled in his breast with his left hand, and found what he sought: cold and hard and solid it seemed to his touch in a phantom world of horror, the Phial of Galadriel. ‘Galadriel!’ he said faintly, and then he heard voices far off but clear: the crying of the Elves as they walked under the stars in the beloved shadows of the Shire, and the music of the Elves as it came through his sleep in the Hall of Fire in the house of Elrond. Gilthoniel A Elbereth! And then his tongue was loosed and his voice cried in a language which he did not know: A Elbereth Gilthoniel o menel palan-diriel, le nallon si di’nguruthos! A tiro nin, Fanuilos!
她岔開腿，再次將龐大的身軀朝他壓下。但太快了。因為山姆還站著，他扔下自己的劍，雙手握住精靈短劍，劍尖朝上，擋開那駭人的屋頂；於是，屍羅在她自己殘酷意志的驅動下，用著比任何戰士之手都更強大的力量，猛地將自己刺上了一根尖銳的釘刺。劍刺得好深、好深，山姆也同時被緩緩地壓倒在地。在她漫長邪惡的一生中，屍羅從未感受過，也從未夢想過會感受到如此的劇痛。無論是古代剛鐸最英勇的士兵，還是被困住的最野蠻的半獸人，都從未這樣抵抗過她，或將刀刃刺向她珍愛的血肉。一陣戰慄貫穿了她的全身。她猛地挺身，從痛苦中掙脫，將她扭動的肢體收攏到身下，抽搐地向後一躍。山姆已跪倒在佛羅多的頭旁，在惡臭中他感官昏沉，雙手仍緊握著劍柄。透過眼前的一片迷霧，他依稀意識到佛羅多的臉，固執地奮力控制自己，試圖擺脫那正要吞噬他的昏厥。他緩緩抬起頭，看見她就在幾步之外，正虎視眈眈地盯著他，她的口器滴下帶毒的唾沫，受傷的眼睛下方流淌著綠色的黏液。她蹲伏在那裡，顫抖的腹部攤在地上，巨大的弓形腿不住發抖，正為下一次的撲擊蓄力——這一次是要將他壓扁、刺死：不再是為了麻痺掙扎的肉食而輕輕咬上一口毒液；這一次是要先殺後撕。就在山姆自己也蹲伏著，看著她，從她眼中看到了自己的死亡時，一個念頭閃過他的腦海，彷彿有某個遙遠的聲音在說話，他用左手在胸前摸索，找到了他所尋找的東西：在一個充滿恐懼的虛幻世界裡，那觸感冰冷、堅硬而實在，是凱蘭崔爾的水晶瓶。「凱蘭崔爾！」他微弱地說，接著他聽到了遠方但清晰的聲音：精靈們在夏爾親愛的暗影下、在星光中漫步時的哭喊聲，以及精靈們的音樂，那曾在他沉睡於愛隆之家「火廳」時傳入他夢中的樂音。吉爾索尼爾，喔，伊爾碧綠絲！然後他的舌頭鬆開了，他的聲音用一種他不懂的語言呼喊著：A Elbereth Gilthoniel o menel palan-diriel, le nallon si di’nguruthos! A tiro nin, Fanuilos!
730 THE LORD OF THE RINGS And with that he staggered to his feet and was Samwise the hobbit, Hamfast’s son, again. ‘Now come, you filth!’ he cried. ‘You’ve hurt my master, you brute, and you’ll pay for it. We’re going on; but we'll settle with you first. Come on, and taste it again!’ As if his indomitable spirit had set its potency in motion, the glass blazed suddenly like a white torch in his hand. It flamed like a star that leaping from the firmament sears the dark air with intolerable light. No such terror out of heaven had ever burned in Shelob’s face before. The beams of it entered into her wounded head and scored it with unbearable pain, and the dreadful infection of light spread from eye to eye. She fell back beating the air with her forelegs, her sight blasted by inner lightnings, her mind in agony. Then turning her maimed head away, she rolled aside and began to crawl, claw by claw, towards the opening in the dark cliff behind. Sam came on. He was reeling like a drunken man, but he came on. And Shelob cowed at last, shrunken in defeat, jerked and quivered as she tried to hasten from him. She reached the hole, and squeezing down, leaving a trail of green-yellow slime, she slipped in, even as Sam hewed a last stroke at her dragging legs. Then he fell to the ground. Shelob was gone; and whether she lay long in her lair, nursing her malice and her misery, and in slow years of darkness healed herself from within, rebuilding her clustered eyes, until with hunger like death she spun once more her dreadful snares in the glens of the Mountains of Shadow, this tale does not tell. Sam was left alone. Wearily, as the evening of the Nameless Land fell upon the place of battle, he crawled back to his master. ‘Master, dear master,’ he said, but Frodo did not speak. As he had run forward, eager, rejoicing to be free, Shelob with hideous speed had come behind and with one swift stroke had stung him in the neck. He lay now pale, and heard no voice, and did not move. ‘Master, dear master!’ said Sam, and through a long silence waited, listening in vain. Then as quickly as he could he cut away the binding cords and laid his head upon Frodo’s breast and to his mouth, but no stir of life could he find, nor feel the faintest flutter of the heart. Often he chafed his master’s hands and feet, and touched his brow, but all were cold. ‘Frodo, Mr. Frodo!’ he called. ‘Don’t leave me here alone! It’s your Sam calling. Don’t go where I can’t follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!’ K BS
語畢，他踉蹌地站起身，再次變回了那個哈比人山姆衛斯，蛤蟆吉之子。「來啊，你這骯髒東西！」他喊道。「你傷了我的主人，你這畜生，你會為此付出代價。我們要繼續前進，但得先跟你算帳。來啊，再嚐嚐這個的滋味！」彷彿是他不屈不撓的精神啟動了它的力量，那水晶瓶在他手中突然像白色火炬般熾烈燃燒。它像一顆從蒼穹躍下的星辰，以令人無法忍受的光芒灼燒著黑暗的空氣。從未有如此來自天外的恐懼在屍羅的臉上燃燒。光束射入她受傷的頭顱，刻下難以忍受的痛苦，那可怕的光之感染在她的複眼之間蔓延。她向後倒下，前腿在空中亂舞，視線被內在的閃電炸毀，心智陷入極度痛苦。然後她轉開殘缺的頭，滾到一旁，開始一爪一爪地朝後方黑暗懸崖的洞口爬去。山姆繼續逼近。他像個醉漢般搖搖晃晃，但他仍舊逼近。屍羅終於畏縮了，在敗退中縮成一團，試圖加快速度逃離他時不住地抽搐顫抖。她到達了洞口，擠了進去，留下一道黃綠色的黏液，滑了進去，就在山姆對著她拖曳的雙腿劈下最後一擊時。然後他倒在地上。屍羅不見了；至於她是否在巢穴中躺了很久，滋養著她的惡意與痛苦，在緩慢的黑暗歲月中從內部治癒自己，重建她的複眼，直到帶著如死亡般的飢餓，再次於黯影山脈的山谷中織起她那可怕的羅網，這故事便不再多述。山姆被獨自留下。當無名之地的黃昏降臨戰場，他疲憊地爬回主人身邊。「主人，親愛的主人。」他說，但佛羅多沒有回應。當他先前急切地、為重獲自由而欣喜地向前跑時，屍羅以駭人的速度從後方趕上，用迅雷不及掩耳的一刺蟄了他的脖子。他如今躺在那裡，臉色蒼白，聽不見任何聲音，也一動不動。「主人，親愛的主人！」山姆說，然後在漫長的寂靜中等待，徒勞地傾聽著。然後他盡快割斷束縛的繩索，把頭貼在佛羅多的胸口和嘴邊，但他找不到一絲生命的跡象，也感覺不到心臟最微弱的顫動。他頻頻摩擦主人的手腳，觸摸他的額頭，但全都冰冷。「佛羅多，佛羅多先生！」他呼喊著。「不要把我一個人丟在這裡！是你的山姆在叫你。不要去我跟不到的地方！醒醒啊，佛羅多先生！喔，醒醒啊，佛羅多，我的寶貝，我的寶貝。醒醒啊！
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 731 Then anger surged over him, and he ran about his master’s body in a rage, stabbing the air, and smiting the stones, and shouting challenges. Presently he came back, and bending looked at Frodo’s face, pale beneath him in the dusk. And suddenly he saw that he was in the picture that was revealed to him in the mirror of Galadriel in Lorien: Frodo with a pale face lying fast asleep under a great dark cliff. Or fast asleep he had thought then. ‘He’s dead!’ he said. ‘Not asleep, dead!’ And as he said it, as if the words had set the venom to its work again, it seemed to him that the hue of the face grew livid green. And then black despair came down on him, and Sam bowed to the ground, and drew his grey hood over his head, and night came into his heart, and he knew no more. When at last the blackness passed, Sam looked up and shadows were about him; but for how many minutes or hours the world had gone dragging on he could not tell. He was still in the same place, and still his master lay beside him dead. The mountains had not crumbled nor the earth fallen into ruin. ‘What shall I do, what shall I do?’ he said. ‘Did I come all this way with him for nothing?’ And then he remembered his own voice speaking words that at the time he did not understand himself, at the beginning of their journey: I have something to do before the end. I must see it through, sir, if you understand. ‘But what can I do? Not leave Mr. Frodo dead, unburied on the top of the mountains, and go home? Or go on? Go on?’ he repeated, and for a moment doubt and fear shook him. ‘Go on? Is that what T’ve got to do? And leave him?’ Then at last he began to weep; and going to Frodo he composed his body, and folded his cold hands upon his breast, and wrapped his cloak about him; and he laid his own sword at one side, and the staff that Faramir had given at the other. ‘If ’'m to go on,’ he said, ‘then I must take your sword, by your leave, Mr. Frodo, but I’ll put this one to lie by you, as it lay by the old king in the barrow; and you’ve got your beautiful mithril coat from old Mr. Bilbo. And your star-glass, Mr. Frodo, you did lend it to me and Ill need it, for Pll be always in the dark now. It’s too good for me, and the Lady gave it to you, but maybe she’d understand. Do you understand, Mr. Frodo? I’ve got to go on.’ But he could not go, not yet. He knelt and held Frodo’s hand and could not release it. And time went by and still he knelt, holding his master’s hand, and in his heart keeping a debate. Now he tried to find strength to tear himself away and go on a
山姆懷斯大師的抉擇 731 接著，一股怒火在他心中洶湧而上，他在主人的身體旁狂怒地跑來跑去，對著空氣猛刺，敲打著石頭，並大聲叫囂挑戰。不久，他回來了，彎下腰看著佛羅多的臉，在暮色中，那張臉在他下方顯得蒼白。他突然意識到，自己正身處於羅瑞安的凱蘭崔爾之鏡中向他揭示的景象裡：佛羅多臉色蒼白，躺在一座巨大的黑暗懸崖下沉睡。至少當時他是這麼想的，以為是沉睡。「他死了！」他說。「不是睡著，是死了！」他說出這話時，彷彿這幾個字再次催動了毒液的效力，他覺得那張臉的色調變得死灰泛綠。接著，黑色的絕望籠罩了他，山姆俯身至地，將他灰色的兜帽拉過頭頂，黑夜降臨到他的心中，他便再也沒有知覺了。當黑暗終於過去，山姆抬起頭，四周盡是陰影；但他不知道世界已拖著沉重的步伐走過了多少分鐘或多少小時。他仍在同一個地方，他的主人也仍躺在他身邊，已經死去。山脈沒有崩塌，大地也未陷入毀滅。「我該怎麼辦，我該怎麼辦？」他說。「難道我跟他一路來到這裡，結果卻是一場空？」然後他想起了自己旅程之初所說的話，當時連他自己也不明白那些話的意義：在結束之前，我有些事必須要做。我必須堅持到底，先生，如果您明白的話。「但我能做什麼？難道要丟下佛羅多先生的屍體，讓他未被埋葬地留在山頂，然後自己回家？還是繼續前進？繼續前進？」他重複道，一時間，懷疑與恐懼動搖了他。「繼續前進？這就是我該做的嗎？然後拋下他？」最後，他終於開始哭泣；他走到佛羅多身邊，為他整理好身體，將他冰冷的雙手交疊在胸前，用斗篷將他裹好；他將自己的劍放在一側，另一側放著法拉墨送的法杖。「如果我得繼續前進，」他說，「那麼，請您准許，佛羅多先生，我必須帶走您的劍，但我會把這把劍留在您身邊，就像它曾躺在古塚裡老國王身邊一樣；您還有比爾博老先生送給您的那件漂亮的秘銀甲。還有您的星光寶瓶，佛羅多先生，您曾借給我，我會需要它的，因為我現在將永遠身處黑暗之中。這對我來說太好了，而且是女主人送給您的，但或許她會理解。您明白嗎，佛羅多先生？我必須繼續前進。」但他走不了，還不行。他跪下來，握著佛羅多的手，無法放開。時間流逝，他仍跪在那裡，握著主人的手，心中進行著一場辯論。此刻，他試圖尋找力量，強迫自己離開，繼續前行。
732 THE LORD OF THE RINGS lonely journey — for vengeance. If once he could go, his anger would bear him down all the roads of the world, pursuing, until he had him at last: Gollum. Then Gollum would die in a corner. But that was not what he had set out to do. It would not be worth while to leave his master for that. It would not bring him back. Nothing would. They had better both be dead together. And that too would be a lonely journey. He looked on the bright point of the sword. He thought of the places behind where there was a black brink and an empty fall into nothingness. There was no escape that way. That was to do nothing, not even to grieve. That was not what he had set out to do. ‘What am I to do then?’ he cried again, and now he seemed plainly to know the hard answer: see it through. Another lonely journey, and the worst. ‘What? Me, alone, go to the Crack of Doom and all?’ He quailed still, but the resolve grew. ‘What? Me take the Ring from him? The Council gave it to him.’ But the answer came at once: ‘And the Council gave him companions, so that the errand should not fail. And you are the last of all the Company. The errand must not fail.’ ‘I wish I wasn’t the last,’ he groaned. ‘I wish old Gandalf was here, or somebody. Why am I left all alone to make up my mind? I’m sure to go wrong. And it’s not for me to go taking the Ring, putting myself forward.’ ‘But you haven’t put yourself forward; you’ve been put forward. And as for not being the right and proper person, why, Mr. Frodo wasn’t, as you might say, nor Mr. Bilbo. They didn’t choose themselves.’ ‘Ah well, I must make up my own mind. I will make it up. But I'll be sure to go wrong: that’d be Sam Gamgee all over. ‘Let me see now: if we’re found here, or Mr. Frodo’s found, and that Thing’s on him, well, the Enemy will get it. And that’s the end of all of us, of Lorien, and Rivendell, and the Shire and all. And there’s no time to lose, or itll be the end anyway. The war’s begun, and more than likely things are all going the Enemy’s way already. No chance to go back with It and get advice or permission. No, it’s sit here till they come and kill me over master’s body, and gets It; or take It and go.’ He drew a deep breath. “Then take It, it is!’ He stooped. Very gently he undid the clasp at the neck and slipped his hand inside Frodo’s tunic; then with his other hand raising the head, he kissed the cold forehead, and softly drew the chain over it. And then the head lay quietly back again in rest. No change came over the still face, and by that more than by all other tokens Sam was convinced at last that Frodo had died and laid aside the Quest.
732 魔戒 孤獨的旅程——為了復仇。一旦他踏上這條路，他的憤怒將會驅使他走遍世上所有的道路，不斷追尋，直到最終抓到他：咕嚕。然後咕嚕會死在一個角落裡。但這並不是他當初出發時要做的事。為了這個而離開他的主人是不值得的。那樣做也無法讓他回來。沒有任何事可以。他們最好還是一起死了。而那也會是一趟孤獨的旅程。他看著劍上那明亮的尖端。他想到身後那些地方，那裡有黑色的懸崖，以及墜入虛無的空洞。那條路沒有出路。那樣做等於什麼也沒做，甚至連悲傷都談不上。那不是他當初出發時要做的事。『那我該怎麼辦？』他又一次哭喊道，而現在他似乎清楚地知道了那個艱難的答案：堅持到底。另一趟孤獨的旅程，而且是最糟的一趟。『什麼？我，一個人，去末日火山的裂縫，還有這一切？』他仍然感到畏懼，但決心卻愈發堅定。『什麼？我從他身上拿走魔戒？是會議把它交給他的。』但答案立刻浮現：『而會議也給了他同伴，好讓任務不致失敗。而你是所有遠征隊員中最後一個了。任務絕不能失敗。』『我真希望我不是最後一個，』他呻吟道。『我希望老甘道夫在這裡，或是有其他人在。為什麼只留下我一個人來做決定？我肯定會搞砸的。而且也不該由我來拿走魔戒，強出頭。』『但你沒有強出頭；你是被推向前線的。至於說你不是那個合適的人選，唉，佛羅多先生當初也不是，你可以這麼說，比爾博先生也不是。他們都不是自己選擇的。』『啊，好吧，我必須自己下定決心。我會下定決心的。但我肯定會搞砸的：那完全就是山姆·詹吉的作風。『讓我想想：如果我們在這裡被發現，或者佛羅多先生被發現，而那個東西還在他身上，那麼，敵人就會得到它。那樣我們所有人都完了，羅瑞安、瑞文戴爾、夏爾，全都完了。而且沒有時間可以浪費了，否則無論如何都完了。戰爭已經開始了，而且很可能情勢已經完全倒向敵人那邊了。沒有機會帶著它回去尋求建議或許可。不，要嘛就坐著等他們來，在我主人屍體旁殺了我，然後拿走它；要嘛就拿著它走。』他深吸一口氣。『那就拿著它走！』他彎下腰。他非常輕柔地解開佛羅多脖子上的扣環，把手伸進他的束腰外衣裡；然後用另一隻手抬起他的頭，親吻他冰冷的額頭，輕輕地將鍊子從他頭上取下。然後那顆頭顱又靜靜地躺回去安息了。那張靜止的臉上沒有任何變化，比起所有其他的跡象，這一點更讓山姆最終確信，佛羅多已經死了，並且放下了他的遠征任務。
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 733 ‘Good-bye, master, my dear!’ he murmured. ‘Forgive your Sam. He’ll come back to this spot when the job’s done — if he manages it. And then he’ll not leave you again. Rest you quiet till I come; and may no foul creature come anigh you! And if the Lady could hear me and give me one wish, I would wish to come back and find you again. Good-bye!’ And then he bent his own neck and put the chain upon it, and at once his head was bowed to the ground with the weight of the Ring, as if a great stone had been strung on him. But slowly, as if the weight became less, or new strength grew in him, he raised his head, and then with a great effort got to his feet and found that he could walk and bear his burden. And for a moment he lifted up the Phial and looked down at his master, and the light burned gently now with the soft radiance of the evening-star in summer, and in that light Frodo’s face was fair of hue again, pale but beautiful with an Elvish beauty, as of one who has long passed the shadows. And with the bitter comfort of that last sight Sam turned and hid the light and stumbled on into the growing dark. He had not far to go. The tunnel was some way behind; the Cleft a couple of hundred yards ahead, or less. The path was visible in the dusk, a deep rut worn in ages of passage, running now gently up in a long trough with cliffs on either side. The trough narrowed rapidly. Soon Sam came to a long flight of broad shallow steps. Now the orc-tower was right above him, frowning black, and in it the red eye glowed. Now he was hidden in the dark shadow under it. He was coming to the top of the steps and was in the Cleft at last. ‘I’ve made up my mind,’ he kept saying to himself. But he had not. Though he had done his best to think it out, what he was doing was altogether against the grain of his nature. ‘Have I got it wrong?’ he muttered. ‘What ought I to have done?’ As the sheer sides of the Cleft closed about him, before he reached the actual summit, before he looked at last on the path descending into the Nameless Land, he turned. For a moment, motionless in intolerable doubt, he looked back. He could still see, like a small blot in the gathering gloom, the mouth of the tunnel; and he thought he could see or guess where Frodo lay. He fancied there was a glimmer on the ground down there, or perhaps it was some trick of his tears, as he peered out at that high stony place where all his life had fallen in ruin. ‘If only I could have my wish, my one wish,’ he sighed, ‘to go back and find him!’ Then at last he turned to the road in front and took a few steps: the heaviest and the most reluctant he had ever taken. BS BS
「再見了，主人，我親愛的主人！」他喃喃道。「請原諒你的山姆。等任務完成後——如果他辦得到的話——他會回到這個地方。到時候他再也不會離開您了。在我回來之前，您就靜靜地安息吧；願沒有任何污穢的生物靠近您！如果女神能聽見我的話，並賜我一個願望，我會希望能回來再次找到您。再見了！」然後他低下自己的脖子，將鎖鏈套上，魔戒的重量立刻將他的頭壓向地面，彷彿一顆巨石掛在他身上。但慢慢地，似乎是重量減輕了，或是他體內生出了新的力量，他抬起了頭，然後費了九牛二虎之力站了起來，發現自己能夠行走並承受他的重擔。他一度舉起水晶瓶，低頭看著他的主人，那光芒此刻溫柔地燃燒著，帶著夏日晚星的柔和光輝，在那光芒中，佛羅多蒼白的臉龐恢復了美麗的色澤，帶著精靈般的美，彷彿一個早已穿越陰影的人。帶著那最後一瞥的苦澀安慰，山姆轉過身，藏起光芒，跌跌撞撞地走入漸深的黑暗中。他不必走多遠。隧道在後方不遠處；裂罅在前方兩百碼左右，或許更近。小徑在暮色中依稀可見，是一條歲月侵蝕出的深轍，此刻在一道長長的谷地中緩緩上行，兩側是懸崖。谷地迅速變窄。不久，山姆來到一長串寬闊而平緩的階梯前。現在，半獸人塔樓就在他正上方，陰森森地聳立著，塔中的紅眼閃爍著光芒。他躲進了塔樓下方的黑暗陰影中。他即將走到階梯的頂端，終於置身於裂罅之中。「我已經下定決心了。」他不斷對自己說。但他沒有。雖然他已盡力想清楚，但他所做的一切完全違背了他的天性。「我做錯了嗎？」他咕噥道。「我本來該怎麼做？」當裂罅陡峭的兩壁在他身邊合攏時，在他到達真正的頂峰之前，在他最後望向那條通往無名之地的下坡路之前，他轉過身。一時間，他在難以忍受的懷疑中動也不動地向後望去。他仍能看見隧道口，像是在漸濃的暮色中的一個小污點；他想他能看見或猜到佛羅多躺在哪裡。他彷彿看到那下方的地面上有一絲微光，或者也許是他淚眼的錯覺，當他凝視著那片高聳的石地，他的一生在此毀於一旦。「要是我能實現我的願望，我唯一的願望，」他嘆息道，「就是回去找到他！」最後，他終於轉向面前的道路，邁出了幾步：那是他一生中走過最沉重、也最不情願的幾步。
734 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Only a few steps; and now only a few more and he would be going down and would never see that high place again. And then suddenly he heard cries and voices. He stood still as stone. Orc-voices. They were behind him and before him. A noise of tramping feet and harsh shouts: Orcs were coming up to the Cleft from the far side, from some entry to the tower, perhaps. Tramping feet and shouts behind. He wheeled round. He saw small red lights, torches, winking away below there as they issued from the tunnel. At last the hunt was up. The red eye of the tower had not been blind. He was caught. Now the flicker of approaching torches and the clink of steel ahead was very near. In a minute they would reach the top and be on him. He had taken too long in making up his mind, and now it was no good. How could he escape, or save himself, or save the Ring? The Ring. He was not aware of any thought or decision. He simply found himself drawing out the chain and taking the Ring in his hand. The head of the orc-company appeared in the Cleft right before him. Then he put it on. The world changed, and a single moment of time was filled with an hour of thought. At once he was aware that hearing was sharpened while sight was dimmed, but otherwise than in Shelob’s lair. All things about him now were not dark but vague; while he himself was there in a grey hazy world, alone, like a small black solid rock, and the Ring, weighing down his left hand, was like an orb of hot gold. He did not feel invisible at all, but horribly and uniquely visible; and he knew that somewhere an Eye was searching for him. He heard the crack of stone, and the murmur of water far off in Morgul Vale; and down away under the rock the bubbling misery of Shelob, groping, lost in some blind passage; and voices in the dungeons of the tower; and the cries of the Orcs as they came out of the tunnel; and deafening, roaring in his ears, the crash of the feet and the rending clamour of the Orcs before him. He shrank against the cliff. But they marched up like a phantom company, grey distorted figures in a mist, only dreams of fear with pale flames in their hands. And they passed him by. He cowered, trying to creep away into some cranny and to hide. He listened. The Orcs from the tunnel and the others marching down had sighted one another, and both parties were now hurrying and shouting. He heard them both clearly, and he understood what they said. Perhaps the Ring gave understanding of tongues, or simply understanding, especially of the servants of Sauron its maker, so that if he gave heed, he understood and translated the thought to himself. Certainly the Ring had grown greatly in power as it approached the places of its forging; but one thing it did not confer, and that was
只差幾步了；現在再走幾步，他就會往下走，再也見不到這個高處了。然後他突然聽到了哭喊和人聲。他像石頭一樣靜止不動。是半獸人的聲音。他們在他前面，也在他後面。一陣沉重的腳步聲和刺耳的叫喊聲：半獸人正從另一邊，也許是從塔的某個入口，向裂口上來。後面傳來沉重的腳步聲和叫喊聲。他猛然轉身。他看到下方閃爍著微小的紅光，是火把，從隧道裡冒出來。追捕終於開始了。高塔的紅眼並非視而不見。他被抓住了。此刻，前方逼近的火把閃爍和鋼鐵碰撞聲已非常近了。再過一分鐘，他們就會到達頂部，撲向他。他花了太長時間下決心，現在一切都沒用了。他如何能逃脫，或自救，或保住魔戒？魔戒。他沒有意識到任何思緒或決定。他只發現自己抽出了鎖鏈，將魔戒握在手中。半獸人隊伍的頭頭正好出現在他面前的裂口處。然後他戴上了它。世界變了，一瞬間的時間被一小時的思緒所填滿。他立刻意識到聽覺變得敏銳，而視覺卻變得昏暗，但與在屍羅巢穴中的情況不同。現在他周遭的一切不是黑暗，而是模糊不清；而他自己則身處一個灰色朦朧的世界裡，孤身一人，像一塊小小的黑色堅石，而魔戒壓在他的左手上，像一顆熾熱的金球。他一點也不覺得自己隱形了，反而感到一種可怕而獨特的顯眼；他知道某處有一隻眼睛正在尋找他。他聽到石頭的裂開聲，以及遠方魔窟谷中潺潺的水聲；岩石下方傳來屍羅摸索著、迷失在某個盲道中的冒泡般的痛苦；塔中地牢裡的聲音；半獸人從隧道中出來時的哭喊聲；以及震耳欲聾、在他耳邊轟鳴的，是他面前半獸人腳步的撞擊聲和撕裂般的喧囂。他緊貼著懸崖。但他們像一支幽靈隊伍般走上來，在薄霧中是灰色扭曲的身影，只是手中握著蒼白火焰的恐懼之夢。他們從他身邊經過了。他畏縮著，試圖爬進某個縫隙躲藏起來。他聽著。從隧道出來的半獸人與往下走的另一批半獸人看到了彼此，現在雙方都在匆忙地喊叫。他清楚地聽到了他們雙方的聲音，也明白他們在說什麼。也許是魔戒賦予了他理解各種語言的能力，或者僅僅是理解力，特別是對於其製造者索倫的僕人，所以只要他留心聽，就能理解並將其思想轉化為自己的語言。當然，隨著魔戒越來越接近其鍛造之地，它的力量確實大大增強了；但有一樣東西它並未賦予，那就是
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 735 courage. At present Sam still thought only of hiding, of lying low till all was quiet again; and he listened anxiously. He could not tell how near the voices were, the words seemed almost in his ears. ‘Hola! Gorbag! What are you doing up here? Had enough of war already?’ ‘Orders, you lubber. And what are you doing, Shagrat? Tired of lurking up there? Thinking of coming down to fight?’ ‘Orders to you. I’m in command of this pass. So speak civil. What’s your report?’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘Hai! hai! yoi!’ A yell broke into the exchanges of the leaders. The Orcs lower down had suddenly seen something. They began to run. So did the others. ‘Hai! Hola! Here’s something! Lying right in the road. A spy, a spy!’ There was a hoot of snarling horns and a babel of baying voices. With a dreadful stroke Sam was wakened from his cowering mood. They had seen his master. What would they do? He had heard tales of the Orcs to make the blood run cold. It could not be borne. He sprang up. He flung the Quest and all his decisions away, and fear and doubt with them. He knew now where his place was and had been: at his master’s side, though what he could do there was not clear. Back he ran down the steps, down the path towards Frodo. ‘How many are there?’ he thought. “Thirty or forty from the tower at least, and a lot more than that from down below, I guess. How many can I kill before they get me? They’ll see the flame of the sword, as soon as I draw it, and they’ll get me sooner or later. I wonder if any song will ever mention it: How Samwise fell in the High Pass and made a wall of bodies round his master. No, no song. Of course not, for the Ring’ll be found, and there’ll be no more songs. I can’t help it. My place is by Mr. Frodo. They must understand that — Elrond and the Council, and the great Lords and Ladies with all their wisdom. Their plans have gone wrong. I can’t be their Ringbearer. Not without Mr. Frodo.’ But the Orcs were out of his dim sight now. He had had no time to consider himself, but now he realized that he was weary, weary almost to exhaustion: his legs would not carry him as he wished. He was too slow. The path seemed miles long. Where had they all got to in the mist? There they were again! A good way ahead still. A cluster of figures round something lying on the ground; a few seemed to be darting this way and that, bent like dogs on a trail. He tried to make a spurt.
目前，山姆只想著躲藏，想著潛伏不動直到一切再次平靜；他焦急地聽著。他無法判斷那些聲音有多近，話語彷彿就在他耳邊。「喂！哥巴葛！你在這上面做什麼？已經受夠戰爭了？」「是命令，你這笨蛋。那你呢，夏格拉特？厭倦了躲在上面嗎？想下來打一架？」「命令是給你的。我負責這個關口。所以說話客氣點。你有什麼報告？」「沒有。」「嗨！嗨！唷！」一聲尖叫打斷了頭目們的對話。下方的半獸人突然看到了什麼。他們開始跑起來。其他的也跟著跑。「嗨！喂！這裡有東西！就躺在路中央。一個間諜，一個間諜！」接著響起一陣咆哮的號角聲和雜亂的吼叫聲。一記可怕的打擊將山姆從他畏縮的情緒中驚醒。他們看到了他的主人。他們會做什麼？他聽過那些關於半獸人的故事，足以讓人毛骨悚然。這無法忍受。他跳了起來。他將遠征任務和所有決定都拋諸腦後，連同恐懼和懷疑一起。他現在知道他的位置在哪裡，也一直都在那裡：在他主人的身邊，儘管他在那裡能做什麼還不清楚。他轉身跑下台階，沿著小路朝佛羅多跑去。「有多少人？」他想。「至少有三四十個從塔裡來的，我猜下面來的更多。在我被他們抓住之前，我能殺掉幾個？我一拔劍，他們就會看到劍的火焰，遲早會抓到我。不知道會不會有任何歌曲提到這件事：山姆衛斯如何在高峰隘口倒下，並用屍體圍繞著他的主人築起一道牆。不，不會有歌。當然不會，因為魔戒會被找到，然後就不再有任何歌曲了。我沒辦法。我的位置就在佛羅多先生身邊。他們必須明白——愛隆和會議，以及那些擁有無上智慧的大君王和女士們。他們的計畫出錯了。我不能成為他們的持戒人。沒有佛羅多先生就不行。」但半獸人現在已在他的模糊視線之外。他之前沒有時間考慮自己，但現在他意識到自己疲憊不堪，幾乎筋疲力盡：他的腿無法如他所願地帶著他前進。他太慢了。小路似乎有幾英里長。他們在霧裡都到哪兒去了？他們又出現了！還在前面一段不遠的距離。一叢身影圍著地上躺著的某個東西；有幾個似乎來回飛奔，像獵犬追蹤一樣彎著腰。他試圖做最後的衝刺。
736 THE LORD OF THE RINGS ‘Come on, Sam!’ he said, ‘or you’ll be too late again.’ He loosened the sword in its sheath. In a minute he would draw it, and then There was a wild clamour, hooting and laughing, as something was lifted from the ground. ‘Ya hoi! Ya harri hoi! Up! Up!’ Then a voice shouted: ‘Now off! The quick way. Back to the Undergate! She’ll not trouble us tonight by all the signs.’ The whole band of orc-figures began to move. Four in the middle were carrying a body high on their shoulders. ‘Ya hoi!’ They had taken Frodo’s body. They were off. He could not catch them up. Still he laboured on. The Orcs reached the tunnel and were passing in. Those with the burden went first, and behind them there was a good deal of struggling and jostling. Sam came on. He drew the sword, a flicker of blue in his wavering hand, but they did not see it. Even as he came panting up, the last of them vanished into the black hole. For a moment he stood, gasping, clutching his breast. Then he drew his sleeve across his face, wiping away the grime, and sweat, and tears. ‘Curse the filth!’ he said, and sprang after them into the darkness. It no longer seemed very dark to him in the tunnel, rather it was as if he had stepped out of a thin mist into a heavier fog. His weariness was growing but his will hardened all the more. He thought he could see the light of torches a little way ahead, but try as he would, he could not catch them up. Orcs go fast in tunnels, and this tunnel they knew well; for in spite of Shelob they were forced to use it often as the swiftest way from the Dead City over the mountains. In what far-off time the main tunnel and the great round pit had been made, where Shelob had taken up her abode in ages past, they did not know; but many byways they had themselves delved about it on either side, so as to escape the lair in their goings to and fro on the business of their masters. Tonight they did not intend to go far down, but were hastening to find a side-passage that led back to their watch-tower on the cliff. Most of them were gleeful, delighted with what they had found and seen, and as they ran they gabbled and yammered after the fashion of their kind. Sam heard the noise of their harsh voices, flat and hard in the dead air, and he could distinguish two voices from among all the rest: they were louder, and nearer to him. The captains of the two parties seemed to be bringing up the rear, debating as they went. ‘Can’t you stop your rabble making such a racket, Shagrat?’ grunted the one. ‘We don’t want Shelob on us.’ ‘Go on, Gorbag! Yours are making more than half the noise,’ said
「山姆，快跟上！」他說，「不然你又要太遲了。」他鬆開了劍鞘裡的劍。再一分鐘他就要拔劍了，然後——一陣狂野的喧囂、尖叫和笑聲響起，像是有什麼東西被從地上抬了起來。「呀嘿！呀哈嘿！起來！起來！」接著一個聲音大喊：「現在快走！走捷徑。回地下門！看這跡象，她今晚不會來找我們麻煩了。」整隊半獸人開始移動。中間四個高高地將一具身體扛在肩上。「呀嘿！」他們帶走了佛羅多的身體。他們走了。他追不上他們。但他仍奮力前進。半獸人到達隧道，正陸續進入。扛著重擔的走在最前面，他們身後則是一片推擠與爭搶。山姆趕了上來。他拔出劍，在他顫抖的手中閃爍著藍光，但他們沒有看見。就在他氣喘吁吁地趕到時，最後一個半獸人也消失在漆黑的洞口。他站了一會兒，喘著氣，緊抓著胸口。然後他用袖子擦過臉，抹去污垢、汗水和淚水。「該死的髒東西！」他說，然後跟著他們躍入黑暗中。隧道對他來說似乎不再那麼黑暗，倒像他剛從一層薄霧走進更濃的霧裡。他的疲憊感越來越重，但意志卻愈發堅定。他覺得自己能看見前方不遠處的火炬光芒，但儘管他努力嘗試，卻怎麼也追不上他們。半獸人在隧道裡走得飛快，而且他們對這條隧道瞭若指掌；因為儘管有屍羅在，他們還是得經常利用這條路，作為從亡者之城越過山脈最快的捷徑。他們不知道這條主隧道和那個巨大的圓坑是在哪個遙遠的年代建造的，也不知道屍羅是在多久以前的過去以此為巢穴；但他們自己已在兩旁挖掘了許多岔路，以便在為主人辦事來來去去時能避開那個巢穴。今晚他們不打算深入，而是急著找到一條能回到懸崖上他們瞭望塔的側道。他們大多數都興高采烈，對自己的所見所獲感到欣喜，一邊跑一邊用他們那種特有的方式喋喋不休、大聲抱怨。山姆聽到他們刺耳的聲音在死寂的空氣中顯得平板而僵硬，他能從中分辨出兩個聲音：它們更大聲，也離他更近。兩隊的隊長似乎正在殿後，邊走邊爭論。「夏格拉，你能不能讓你的那群烏合之眾別吵得這麼厲害？」其中一個咕噥道。「我們可不想把屍羅引來。」「得了吧，哥巴葛！你的人製造的噪音超過一半。」另一個說。
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 737 the other. ‘But let the lads play! No need to worry about Shelob for a bit, I reckon. She’s sat on a nail, it seems, and we shan’t cry about that. Didn’t you see: a nasty mess all the way back to that cursed crack of hers? If we’ve stopped it once, we’ve stopped it a hundred times. So let ’em laugh. And we’ve struck a bit of luck at last: got something that Lugburz wants.’ ‘Lugburz wants it, eh? What is it, d’you think? Elvish it looked to me, but undersized. What’s the danger in a thing like that?’ ‘Don’t know till we’ve had a look.’ ‘Oho! So they haven’t told you what to expect? They don’t tell us all they know, do they? Not by half. But they can make mistakes, even the Top Ones can.’ ‘Sh, Gorbag!’ Shagrat’s voice was lowered, so that even with his strangely sharpened hearing Sam could only just catch what was said. “They may, but they’ve got eyes and ears everywhere; some among my lot, as like as not. But there’s no doubt about it, they’re troubled about something. The Nazgil down below are, by your account; and Lugburz is too. Something nearly slipped.’ ‘Nearly, you say!’ said Gorbag. ‘All right,’ said Shagrat, ‘but we’ll talk of that later. Wait till we get to the Under-way. There’s a place there where we can talk a bit, while the lads go on.’ Shortly afterwards Sam saw the torches disappear. Then there was a rumbling noise, and just as he hurried up, a bump. As far as he could guess the Orcs had turned and gone into the very opening which Frodo and he had tried and found blocked. It was still blocked. There seemed to be a great stone in the way, but the Orcs had got through somehow, for he could hear their voices on the other side. They were still running along, deeper and deeper into the mountain, back towards the tower. Sam felt desperate. They were carrying off his master’s body for some foul purpose and he could not follow. He thrust and pushed at the block, and he threw himself against it, but it did not yield. Then not far inside, or so he thought, he heard the two captains’ voices talking again. He stood still listening for a little, hoping perhaps to learn something useful. Perhaps Gorbag, who seemed to belong to Minas Morgul, would come out, and he could then slip in. ‘No, I don’t know,’ said Gorbag’s voice. “The messages go through quicker than anything could fly, as a rule. But I don’t enquire how it’s done. Safest not to. Grr! Those Nazgtl give me the creeps. And they skin the body off you as soon as look at you, and leave you all cold in the dark on the other side. But He likes ’em; they’re His favourites nowadays, so it’s no use grumbling. I tell you, it’s no game serving down in the city.’
「讓那幫小子玩吧！我看暫時不用擔心屍羅了。她好像坐到釘子上了，我們可不會為此哭泣。你沒看到嗎：一路回到她那該死的裂縫裡，都是一團糟？要是我們能阻止她一次，就能阻止她一百次。所以讓他們笑吧。而且我們總算交了點好運：弄到了路格柏茲想要的東西。」「路格柏茲想要？哦？你覺得是什麼？我看著像精靈，但個頭太小了。那樣的東西有什麼危險？」「沒看過之前誰知道。」「哦嗬！所以他們沒告訴你該期待什麼？他們知道的才不會全告訴我們，對吧？一半都不到。但他們也會犯錯，就算是『高層』也會。」「噓，葛巴！」夏格拉壓低了聲音，即使山姆的聽力變得異常敏銳，也只能勉強聽清他說了什麼。「他們或許會犯錯，但他們的眼線無處不在；我的手下裡很可能就有。但毫無疑問，他們正為某件事煩惱。照你說的，下面的戒靈是這樣；路格柏茲也是。有東西差點溜了。」「你說差點！」葛巴說。「好吧，」夏格拉說，「但這事我們晚點再談。等我們到了『地下通道』再說。那裡有個地方我們可以聊聊，讓小子們繼續走。」不久後，山姆看到火把消失了。接著傳來一陣隆隆聲，就在他趕上去時，聽到一聲碰撞。據他猜測，半獸人轉身進了佛羅多和他之前試過但發現被堵住的那個洞口。洞口仍然堵著。似乎有塊大石頭擋住了路，但半獸人不知怎麼地穿過去了，因為他能聽到他們的聲音在另一邊。他們還在繼續跑，越跑越深，回到山裡，朝著高塔的方向。山姆感到絕望。他們正為了某種邪惡的目的帶走他主人的身體，而他卻無法跟隨。他用力推擠那塊石頭，用身體去撞，但它紋絲不動。然後，他聽到那兩個隊長的聲音又在不遠處交談，他想應該是在洞裡。他靜靜地站著聽了一會兒，希望能聽到些有用的資訊。或許葛巴——他似乎隸屬於米那斯魔窟——會出來，這樣他就能溜進去。「不，我不知道，」葛巴的聲音說。「訊息傳遞通常比任何會飛的東西都快。但我不過問是怎麼辦到的。最好別問。唔！那些戒靈讓我毛骨悚然。他們一看你，就能把你的皮剝下來，把你冷冰冰地丟在另一邊的黑暗裡。但『祂』喜歡他們；他們是祂現在的寵兒，所以抱怨也沒用。我告訴你，在城裡服侍可不是鬧著玩的。」
738 THE LORD OF THE RINGS “You should try being up here with Shelob for company,’ said Shagrat. ‘T’d like to try somewhere where there’s none of ’em. But the war’s on now, and when that’s over things may be easier.’ ‘It’s going well, they say.’ “They would,’ grunted Gorbag. ‘We’ll see. But anyway, if it does go well, there should be a lot more room. What d’you say? — if we get a chance, you and me’ll slip off and set up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads, somewhere where there’s good loot nice and handy, and no big bosses.’ ‘Ah!’ said Shagrat. ‘Like old times.’ ‘Yes,’ said Gorbag. ‘But don’t count on it. I’m not easy in my mind. As I said, the Big Bosses, ay,’ his voice sank almost to a whisper, ‘ay, even the Biggest, can make mistakes. Something nearly slipped, you say. I say, something has slipped. And we’ve got to look out. Always the poor Uruks to put slips right, and small thanks. But don’t forget: the enemies don’t love us any more than they love Him, and if they get topsides on Him, we’re done too. But see here: when were you ordered out?’ ‘About an hour ago, just before you saw us. A message came: Nazgiil uneasy. Spies feared on Stairs. Double vigilance. Patrol to head of Stairs. I came at once.’ ‘Bad business,’ said Gorbag. ‘See here — our Silent Watchers were uneasy more than two days ago, that I know. But my patrol wasn’t ordered out for another day, nor any message sent to Lugburz either: owing to the Great Signal going up, and the High Nazgitl going off to the war, and all that. And then they couldn’t get Lugburz to pay attention for a good while, I’m told.’ “The Eye was busy elsewhere, I suppose,’ said Shagrat. ‘Big things going on away west, they say.’ ‘I daresay,’ growled Gorbag. ‘But in the meantime enemies have got up the Stairs. And what were you up to? You’re supposed to keep watch, aren’t you, special orders or no? What are you for?’ “That’s enough! Don’t try and teach me my job. We were awake all right. We knew there were funny things going on.’ ‘Very funny!’ “Yes, very funny: lights and shouting and all. But Shelob was on the go. My lads saw her and her Sneak.’ ‘Her Sneak? What’s that?’ “You must have seen him: little thin black fellow; like a spider himself, or perhaps more like a starved frog. He’s been here before. Came out of Lugburz the first time, years ago, and we had word from High Up to let him pass. He’s been up the Stairs once or twice since then, but we’ve left him alone: seems to have some understanding
「你該試試上來這裡跟屍羅作伴。」夏格拉特說。「我倒想試試去一個完全沒有牠們的地方。不過現在戰爭正酣，等打完了，日子或許會好過些。」 「他們說戰況很順利。」 「他們當然會這麼說。」戈巴格咕噥道。「等著瞧吧。但無論如何，如果戰事順利，地方應該會多出不少。你覺得呢？——如果我們有機會，你我倆就溜走，帶上幾個可靠的弟兄，找個有肥美戰利品、又方便下手、還沒有大老闆管的地方自立門戶。」 「啊！」夏格拉特說。「像舊日時光一樣。」 「是啊。」戈巴格說。「但別指望了。我心裡不踏實。就像我說的，那些大老闆們，唉，」他的聲音幾乎低到耳語，「唉，就算是最大的那位，也可能犯錯。你說有東西差點溜了。我說，是已經有東西溜了。我們得小心點。糾正錯誤的總得是我們這些可憐的強獸人，還沒人感謝。但別忘了：敵人恨我們，跟恨祂沒兩樣，要是他們佔了祂的上風，我們也完蛋。不過你聽著：你什麼時候接到命令出來的？」 「大概一小時前，就在你看到我們之前。來了個訊息：納茲古感到不安。階梯上疑有間諜。加倍警戒。巡邏隊前往階梯頂端。我立刻就來了。」 「事情不妙。」戈巴格說。「聽著——我知道，我們那些沉默的看守者兩天多前就不安寧了。但我的巡邏隊卻隔了一天才被派出來，也沒有任何訊息送到路格柏茲：因為升起了大信號，高級納茲古也上了戰場，諸如此類的事。然後我聽說，他們好一陣子都沒能讓路格柏茲注意到這件事。」 「我想，魔眼正忙於他處吧。」夏格拉特說。「他們說西邊有大事發生。」 「我敢說。」戈巴格咆哮道。「但與此同時，敵人已經爬上了階梯。那你當時在幹嘛？你本該守望的，不是嗎，不管有沒有特別命令？要你何用？」 「夠了！別想教我怎麼做事。我們都醒著呢。我們知道有古怪的事情在發生。」 「非常古怪！」 「是啊，非常古怪：有亮光還有喊叫聲。但屍羅出動了。我的弟兄們看見了她和她那個鬼鬼祟祟的傢伙。」 「她那個鬼鬼祟祟的傢伙？那是啥？」 「你一定見過他：一個瘦小黝黑的傢伙；自己就像隻蜘蛛，或者更像隻餓壞的青蛙。他以前來過。好多年前第一次從路格柏茲出來，我們接到高層的指示讓他通過。那之後他又上來過一兩次階梯，但我們沒管他：似乎跟她有某種默契。」
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 739 with Her Ladyship. I suppose he’s no good to eat: she wouldn’t worry about words from High Up. But a fine guard you keep in the valley: he was up here a day before all this racket. Early last night we saw him. Anyway my lads reported that Her Ladyship was having some fun, and that seemed good enough for me, until the message came. I thought her Sneak had brought her a toy, or that you’d perhaps sent her a present, a prisoner of war or something. I don’t interfere when she’s playing. Nothing gets by Shelob when she’s on the hunt.’ ‘Nothing, say you! Didn’t you use your eyes back there? I tell you I’m not easy in my mind. Whatever came up the Stairs, did get by. It cut her web and got clean out of the hole. That’s something to think about!’ ‘Ah well, but she got him in the end, didn’t she?’ ‘Got him? Got who? This little fellow? But if he was the only one, then she’d have had him off to her larder long before, and there he’d be now. And if Lugburz wanted him, you’d have to go and get him. Nice for you. But there was more than one.’ At this point Sam began to listen more attentively and pressed his ear against the stone. ‘Who cut the cords she’d put round him, Shagrat? Same one as cut the web. Didn’t you see that? And who stuck a pin into Her Ladyship? Same one, I reckon. And where is he? Where is he, Shagrat?’ Shagrat made no reply. “You may well put your thinking cap on, if you’ve got one. It’s no laughing matter. No one, vo one has ever stuck a pin in Shelob before, as you should know well enough. There’s no grief in that; but think — there’s someone loose hereabouts as is more dangerous than any other damned rebel that ever walked since the bad old times, since the Great Siege. Something das slipped.’ ‘And what is it then?’ growled Shagrat. ‘By all the signs, Captain Shagrat, I’d say there’s a large warrior loose, Elf most likely, with an elf-sword anyway, and an axe as well maybe; and he’s loose in your bounds, too, and you’ve never spotted him. Very funny indeed!’ Gorbag spat. Sam smiled grimly at this description of himself. ‘Ah well, you always did take a gloomy view,’ said Shagrat. “You can read the signs how you like, but there may be other ways to explain them. Anyhow, I’ve got watchers at every point, and I’m going to deal with one thing at a time. When I’ve had a look at the fellow we have caught, then Ill begin to worry about something else.’ ‘It?s my guess you won’t find much in that little fellow,’ said Gorbag. ‘He may have had nothing to do with the real mischief. The
「跟夫人在一起。我想他不好吃：她才不會在乎『高層』的話。但你在山谷裡的守衛可真『好』啊：在這場騷動發生前一天，他就在這裡了。昨晚很早我們就看到他了。總之，我的手下回報說夫人玩得很開心，這對我來說似乎就夠了，直到訊息傳來。我還以為是她的『潛行者』給她帶了個玩具，或者也許是你送了她一份禮物，一個戰俘之類的。她在玩的時候我從不干涉。屍羅在狩獵時，沒有東西能逃得過。」 「你說沒有東西！你沒用眼睛看看後面嗎？我告訴你，我心裡很不安。不管是什麼東西爬上階梯，它的確逃掉了。它割開了她的網，乾淨俐落地逃出了洞穴。這件事值得好好想想！」 「啊，好吧，但她最後還是抓到他了，不是嗎？」 「抓到他？抓到誰？這個小傢伙？但如果只有他一個，那她早就該把他拖到她的食物儲藏室去了，他現在就會在那裡。而且如果路格柏茲要他，你就得去把他弄來。這差事可真美。但那裡不止一個人。」 此時，山姆開始更專心地聽，把耳朵貼在石頭上。 「是誰割斷她綁住他的繩索的，夏格拉特？跟割斷網的是同一個人。你沒看到嗎？又是誰用針扎了夫人一下？我猜是同一個人。那他在哪裡？他在哪裡，夏格拉特？」 夏格拉特沒有回答。 「你最好戴上你的思考帽，如果你有的話。這可不是開玩笑的事。從來沒有人，從來沒有人敢在屍羅身上扎一根針，這點你應該很清楚。這沒什麼好難過的；但想想——這附近有個傢伙逍遙法外，比自從那些糟糕的舊時代，自從那場『大圍城』以來走動的任何該死的叛徒都更危險。有什麼東西溜掉了。」 「那到底是什麼？」夏格拉特咆哮道。 「根據所有跡象，夏格拉特隊長，我會說有一個高大的戰士在逃，很可能是個精靈，至少帶著一把精靈劍，或許還有一把斧頭；而且他就在你的地盤上逍遙法外，你卻從未發現他。真是太有趣了！」高巴格吐了口口水。山姆聽到這段對自己的描述，冷酷地笑了。 「啊，好吧，你總是看事情很悲觀，」夏格拉特說。「你可以隨你喜歡的方式解讀這些跡象，但可能還有其他解釋。無論如何，我在每個點都派了監視者，而且我打算一次處理一件事。等我查看完我們抓到的那個傢伙後，我才會開始擔心別的事情。」 「我猜你在那個小傢伙身上找不到什麼東西，」高巴格說。「他可能跟真正的麻煩無關。」
740 THE LORD OF THE RINGS big fellow with the sharp sword doesn’t seem to have thought him worth much anyhow — just left him lying: regular Elvish trick.’ ‘We'll see. Come on now! We’ve talked enough. Let’s go and have a look at the prisoner!’ ‘What are you going to do with him? Don’t forget I spotted him first. If there’s any game, me and my lads must be in it.’ ‘Now, now,’ growled Shagrat, ‘I have my orders. And it’s more than my belly’s worth, or yours, to break ’em. Any trespasser found by the guard is to be held at the tower. Prisoner is to be stripped. Full description of every article, garment, weapon, letter, ring, or trinket is to be sent to Lugburz at once, and to Lugburz only. And the prisoner is to be kept safe and intact, under pain of death for every member of the guard, until He sends or comes Himself. That’s plain enough, and that’s what I’m going to do.’ ‘Stripped, eh?’ said Gorbag. ‘What, teeth, nails, hair, and all?’ ‘No, none of that. He’s for Lugburz, I tell you. He’s wanted safe and whole.’ “You'll find that difficult,’ laughed Gorbag. ‘He’s nothing but carrion now. What Lugburz will do with such stuff I can’t guess. He might as well go in the pot.’ “You fool,’ snarled Shagrat. “You’ve been talking very clever, but there’s a lot you don’t know, though most other folk do. You’ll be for the pot or for Shelob, if you don’t take care. Carrion! Is that all you know of Her Ladyship? When she binds with cords, she’s after meat. She doesn’t eat dead meat, nor suck cold blood. This fellow isn’t dead!’ Sam reeled, clutching at the stone. He felt as if the whole dark world was turning upside down. So great was the shock that he almost swooned, but even as he fought to keep a hold on his senses, deep inside him he was aware of the comment: ‘You fool, he isn’t dead, and your heart knew it. Don’t trust your head, Samwise, it is not the best part of you. The trouble with you is that you never really had any hope. Now what is to be done?’ For the moment nothing, but to prop himself against the unmoving stone and listen, listen to the vile orc-voices. ‘Garn!’ said Shagrat. ‘She’s got more than one poison. When she’s hunting, she just gives ’em a dab in the neck and they go as limp as boned fish, and then she has her way with them. D’you remember old Ufthak? We lost him for days. Then we found him in a corner; hanging up he was, but he was wide awake and glaring. How we laughed! She’d forgotten him, maybe, but we didn’t touch him — no good interfering with Her. Nar — this little filth, he’ll wake up, in a
THE CHOICES OF MASTER SAMWISE 741 few hours; and beyond feeling a bit sick for a bit, he’ll be all right. Or would be, if Lugburz would let him alone. And of course, beyond wondering where he is and what’s happened to him.’ ‘And what’s going to happen to him,’ laughed Gorbag. ‘We can tell him a few stories at any rate, if we can’t do anything else. I don’t suppose he’s ever been in lovely Lugburz, so he may like to know what to expect. This is going to be more funny than I thought. Let’s go!’ “There’s going to be no fun, I tell you,’ said Shagrat. ‘And he’s got to be kept safe, or we’re all as good as dead.’ ‘All right! But if I were you, I’d catch the big one that’s loose, before you send in any report to Lugburz. It won’t sound too pretty to say you’ve caught the kitten and let the cat escape.’ The voices began to move away. Sam heard the sound of feet receding. He was recovering from his shock, and now a wild fury was on him. ‘I got it all wrong!’ he cried. ‘I knew I would. Now they’ve got him, the devils! the filth! Never leave your master, never, never: that was my right rule. And I knew it in my heart. May I be forgiven! Now I’ve got to get back to him. Somehow, somehow!’ He drew his sword again and beat on the stone with the hilt, but it only gave out a dull sound. The sword, however, blazed so brightly now that he could see dimly in its light. To his surprise he noticed that the great block was shaped like a heavy door, and was less than twice his own height. Above it was a dark blank space between the top and the low arch of the opening. It was probably only meant to be a stop against the intrusion of Shelob, fastened on the inside with some latch or bolt beyond the reach of her cunning. With his remaining strength Sam leaped and caught the top, scrambled up, and dropped; and then he ran madly, sword blazing in hand, round a bend and up a winding tunnel. The news that his master was still alive roused him to a last effort beyond thought of weariness. He could not see anything ahead, for this new passage twisted and turned constantly; but he thought he was catching the two Orcs up: their voices were growing nearer again. Now they seemed quite close. “That’s what I’m going to do,’ said Shagrat in angry tones. ‘Put him right up in the top chamber.’ ‘What for?’ growled Gorbag. ‘Haven’t you any lock-ups down below?’ ‘He’s going out of harm’s way, I tell you,’ answered Shagrat. ‘See? He’s precious. I don’t trust all my lads, and none of yours; nor you neither, when you’re mad for fun. He’s going where I want him, and
……幾個小時；除了會有點不舒服之外，他會沒事的。或者說，如果路格布爾茲肯放過他，他就會沒事。當然，他還會納悶自己在什麼地方、發生了什麼事。』『還有他將要發生什麼事，』戈巴格笑道。『就算我們什麼都不能做，至少可以跟他說幾個故事。我猜他從沒來過可愛的路格布爾茲，所以他可能會想知道該期待些什麼。這會比我想的還有趣。我們走吧！』『我告訴你，不會有什麼樂子的，』夏格拉特說。『而且他必須被安全看管好，否則我們就跟死人沒兩樣。』『好吧！但如果我是你，我會在向路格布爾茲回報前，先把那個在逃的大傢伙抓住。說你抓到小貓卻讓大貓跑了，這話聽起來可不太好聽。』聲音開始遠去。山姆聽見腳步聲漸行漸遠。他從震驚中恢復過來，此刻一股狂怒湧上心頭。『我全搞砸了！』他哭喊道。『我就知道會這樣。現在他們抓到他了，那些惡魔！那些污穢！永不離開你的主人，永遠、永遠不要：那是我天經地義的準則。我心裡明白的。願我能被原諒！現在我得回到他身邊。想盡辦法，無論如何！』他又拔出劍，用劍柄敲打石塊，但只發出沉悶的聲響。然而，那把劍此刻卻發出耀眼的光芒，讓他能藉著光線隱約視物。他驚訝地發現，那塊巨石的形狀像一扇沉重的門，高度不到他身高的兩倍。門的頂部與洞口低矮的拱頂之間，有一片黑暗的空白區域。這扇門大概只是為了阻止屍羅的入侵，從內部用她巧妙的詭計也無法觸及的門閂或插銷鎖住。山姆用盡剩餘的力氣，縱身一躍抓住門頂，爬了上去，然後跳下來；接著他手持發光的劍，瘋狂地跑過一個彎道，衝上一條蜿蜒的隧道。主人還活著的消息激發了他最後的力氣，讓他忘卻了疲憊。他看不見前方的任何東西，因為這條新通道不斷地曲折蜿動；但他覺得自己正在追上那兩個半獸人：他們的聲音又變近了。現在聽起來似乎很近了。『我正打算這麼做，』夏格拉特用憤怒的語氣說。『把他直接送到最頂層的房間裡。』『為什麼？』戈巴格咆哮道。『你下面沒有牢房嗎？』『我是要讓他脫離險境，我告訴你，』夏格拉特回答。『懂嗎？他很珍貴。我信不過我手下那幫小子，也信不過你的任何手下；當你瘋起來想找樂子時，我更信不過你。他得待在我想要他待的地方，而且
742 THE LORD OF THE RINGS where you won’t come, if you don’t keep civil. Up to the top, I say. He’ll be safe there.’ ‘Will he?’ said Sam. ‘You’re forgetting the great big Elvish warrior that’s loose!’ And with that he raced round the last corner, only to find that by some trick of the tunnel, or of the hearing which the Ring gave him, he had misjudged the distance. The two orc-figures were still some way ahead. He could see them now, black and squat against a red glare. The passage ran straight at last, up an incline; and at the end, wide open, were great double doors, leading probably to deep chambers far below the high horn of the tower. Already the Orcs with their burden had passed inside. Gorbag and Shagrat were drawing near the gate. Sam heard a burst of hoarse singing, blaring of horns and banging of gongs, a hideous clamour. Gorbag and Shagrat were already on the threshold. Sam yelled and brandished Sting, but his little voice was drowned in the tumult. No one heeded him. The great doors slammed to. Boom. The bars of iron fell into place inside. Clang. The gate was shut. Sam hurled himself against the bolted brazen plates and fell senseless to the ground. He was out in the darkness. Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy.
「……如果你不守規矩，就別想進來。我說，到最頂層去。他在那裡會很安全。」「是嗎？」山姆說。「你忘了還有個逃出來的精靈大戰士呢！」話音未落，他衝過最後一個轉角，卻發現自己判斷錯了距離——也不知是通道的詭計，還是魔戒賦予他的聽力作祟。那兩個半獸人的身影還在前方一段距離。他現在能看見他們了，在紅色的強光映襯下，又黑又矮胖。通道終於變成一條直線，向上傾斜；盡頭是兩扇大開的雙開門，大概通往高塔尖角下方的深處密室。抬著重物的半獸人已經進去了。哥巴和夏格拉特正靠近大門。山姆聽到一陣沙啞的歌聲、刺耳的號角聲和噹噹的鑼聲，一片駭人的喧囂。哥巴和夏格拉特已經站上門檻。山姆大叫著揮舞刺針，但他微弱的聲音被淹沒在騷動中。沒有人理會他。沉重的大門猛然關上。砰！鐵閂在裡面落下。哐啷！大門鎖上了。山姆奮力撞向那鎖上的黃銅門板，隨即昏倒在地。他被關在黑暗中。佛羅多還活著，但被敵人抓走了。