C S 刘易斯(Clive Staples Lewis,1898-1963),出生于北爱尔兰首府贝尔法斯特的一个新教家庭,但长年居住于英格兰,是威尔士裔英国知名作家及护教士。他以儿童文学经典《纳尼亚传奇》系列闻名于世,此外他还写作了其他神学著作、中世纪文学研究等诸多作品。
刘易斯小时候因讨厌学校,只接受家庭教师授课。1916 年他获奖学金进入牛津大学就读,期间曾应征入伍参与第一次世界大战。1925 年起,他在牛津大学莫德林学院担任研究员,任教期间,他参加名为“吉光片羽(The Inklings)”读书会,并结识牛津大学英国文学教授N 柯格希尔,以及著名的《魔戒》作者J R R 托尔金,这场相遇改变了他整个人生。
1954 年,他当选为剑桥大学中世纪与文艺复兴期英国文学讲座教授,所写文学批评论文已成传世之作。他是一位甚受学生爱戴的老师。而他写作的神学和具神学深度的文学作品早已脍炙人口。其重要作品有:《纳尼亚传奇系列》、《太空三部曲》、《痛苦的奥秘》、《返璞归真》、《四种爱》等。
目錄:
Chapter 1 How Shasta Set Out On His Travels 夏斯塔准备出行 001
Chapter 2 A Wayside Adventure 路边历险 019
Chapter 3 At The Gates Of Tashbaan 在塔西班城门口 037
Chapter 4 Shasta Falls In With The Narnians 夏斯塔邂逅纳尼亚人 053
Chapter 5 Prince Corin 科林王子 070
Chapter 6 Shasta Among The Tombs 夏斯塔在墓地 086
Chapter 7 Aravis In Tashbaan 阿拉维斯在塔西班 099
Chapter 8 In The House Of The Tisroc 在提斯洛克的密室 115
Chapter 9 Across The Desert 穿越沙漠 129
Chapter 10 The Hermit Of The Southern March 南马尔什的隐士 145
Chapter 11 The Unwelcome Fellow Traveller 不请自来的同路人 161
Chapter 12 Shasta In Narnia 夏斯塔在纳尼亚 177
Chapter 13 The Fight At Anvard 在安发德的战斗 193
Chapter 14 How Bree Became A Wiser Horse 布里如何成为一匹更睿智的马 208
Chapter 15 Rabadash The Ridiculous 可笑的拉巴达西 224
向和平
2013年12月
【文摘】
How Shasta Set Out On His Travels
夏斯塔准备出行
This is the story of an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between, in the Golden Age when Peter was High King in Narnia and his brother and his two sisters were King and Queens under him.
In those days, far south in Calormen on a little creek of the sea, there lived a poor fisherman called Arsheesh, and with him there lived a boy who called him Father. The boy’s name was Shasta. On most days Arsheesh went out in his boat to fish in the morning, and in the afternoon he harnessed his donkey to a cart and loaded the cart with fish and went a mile or so southward to the village to sell it. If it had sold well he would come home in a moderately good temper and say nothing to Shasta, but if it had sold badly he would find fault with him and perhaps beat him. There was always something to find fault with for Shasta had plenty of work to do, mending and washing the nets, cooking the supper, and cleaning the cottage in which they both lived.
Shasta was not at all interested in anything that lay south of his home because he had once or twice been to the village with Arsheesh and he knew that there was nothing very interesting there. In the village he only met other men who were just like his father—men with long, dirty robes, and wooden shoes turned up at the toe, and turbans on their heads, and beards, talking to one another very slowly about things that sounded dull. But he was very interested in everything that lay to the North because no one ever went that way and he was never allowed to go there himself. When he was sitting out of doors mending the nets, and all alone, he would often look eagerly to the North. One could see nothing but a grassy slope running up to a level ridge and beyond that the sky with perhaps a few birds in it.
Sometimes if Arsheesh was there Shasta would say, “O my Father, what is there beyond that hill?” And then if the fisherman was in a bad temper he would box Shasta’s ears and tell him to attend to his work. Or if he was in a peaceable mood he would say, “O my son, do not allow your mind to be distracted by idle questions. For one of the poets has said, ‘Application to business is the root of prosperity, but those who ask questions that do not concern them are steering the ship of folly towards the rock of indigence’.”
Shasta thought that beyond the hill there must be some delightful secret which his father wished to hide from him. In reality, however, the fisherman talked like this because he didn’t know what lay to the North. Neither did he care. He had a very practical mind.
One day there came from the south a stranger who was unlike any man that Shasta had seen before. He rode upon a strong dappled horse with flowing mane and tail and his stirrups and bridle were inlaid with silver. The spike of a helmet projected from the middle of his silken turban and he wore a shirt of chain mail. By his side hung a curving scimitar, a round shield studded with bosses of brass hung at his back, and his right hand grasped a lance. His face was dark, but this did not surprise Shasta because all the people of Calormen are like that; what did surprise him was the man’s beard which was dyed crimson, and curled and gleaming with scented oil. But Arsheesh knew by the gold on the stranger’s bare arm that he was a Tarkaan or great lord, and he bowed kneeling before him till his beard touched the earth and made signs to Shasta to kneel also.
The stranger demanded hospitality for the night which of course the fisherman dared not refuse. All the best they had was set before the Tarkaan for supper and he didn’t think much of it and Shasta, as always happened when the fisherman had company, was given a hunk of bread and turned out of the cottage. On these occasions he usually slept with the donkey in its little thatched stable. But it was much too early to go to sleep yet, and Shasta, who had never learned that it is wrong to listen behind doors, sat down with his ear to a crack in the wooden wall of the cottage to hear what the grown-ups were talking about. And this is what he heard:
“And now, O my host,” said the Tarkaan, “I have a mind to buy that boy of yours.”
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这个历险故事发生在纳尼亚和卡罗门以及位于两国之间的土地上,那时正值彼得大帝统治纳尼亚的黄金时代,他的弟弟和两个妹妹也在他手底下做王。
在那些日子里,一个名叫阿西实的穷渔夫,住在卡罗门最南端的一个小海湾边。有个男孩儿同阿西实住在一起,管他叫父亲。男孩子的名字叫夏斯塔。一年四季,阿西实几乎每天早上都划着小船出海捕鱼,到了下午,他就把一头毛驴套在车上,再把捕到的鱼装上车,赶到南边三里多地的一个村庄去卖掉。如果鱼卖了个好价钱,他的心情就比较愉快,回家后就会不理睬夏斯塔;如果鱼的行情不好,他便会找男孩子的茬儿,没准儿会揍他一顿。阿西实总能找到男孩子的过错,因为夏斯塔要干许多活儿,比如缝补洗晒渔网,做晚饭,打扫他们的小茅屋等等。
夏斯塔对他们家南边的事儿一点也不感兴趣。他曾经跟阿西实到那个村庄去过一两回,知道那个地方实在没有意思。在那里,他只见到跟他父亲相似的其他男人——身穿肮脏的长袍,脚上穿的木头鞋尖向上翘起,头上裹着头巾,长着大胡子的男人们,彼此慢悠悠地聊着一些索然寡味的事情。然而,他对北边的一切却怀有极大的兴趣,因为从来没有人到那边去过,父亲不允许他朝那个方向迈出一步。每当夏斯塔独自坐在门外补渔网时,他时常满怀渴望地向北方望去。他只能看见绿茵茵的山坡上有一个平坦的山脊,山后面的天空中,不时地会有几只鸟儿在飞翔。
有时阿西实在旁边,夏斯塔就会问道:“哦父亲,那个山后边有些什么呢?”如果渔夫的心情不佳,就会给他几个耳光,告诉他要专心干活。如果渔夫的心境比较平和,就会说:“噢儿子,不要让这些无聊的问题扰乱你的心。记得一个诗人说过,‘专心干好你的本行是兴旺发达的根本;那些询问与己无关问题的人,则是驾驶愚昧的航船,驶向贫困的礁石。’”
夏斯塔心想,在那座山的背后一定有某种令人愉快的秘密,而他父亲却试图向他隐瞒。其实,渔夫这样讲,是由于他并不知道北方有些什么,他对此也漠不关心。他是一个非常实际的人。
一天,从南边来了一个陌生人,他与夏斯塔所见过的人们截然不同。他骑着一匹长着斑点的高头大马,马鬃与马尾巴随风飘舞,马镫和马勒还镶着银边。他的丝绸头巾上面戴了一顶头盔,头盔的顶端有一根尖利的钉状物。他穿着锁子甲上衣,身边佩戴着一把短弯刀,背上背着一个圆圆的盾牌,上边镶嵌着凸出的铜饰钉。他的右手握着一杆长矛。他的脸黑不溜秋的,夏斯塔对此并不感到惊讶,因为卡罗门人都是这样的肤色。使他好奇的是这人的胡子染成了猩红色,有点卷曲,由于涂抹了芳香油而亮闪闪的。阿西实看到陌生人赤裸膀臂上的金环,认出来者是一位塔坎,即地位很高的贵族,就在他面前跪下来,俯伏在地,胡子几乎挨到了地面,同时他做了个手势,让夏斯塔也跪下。陌生人要求在他们家过夜,渔夫当然不敢拒绝。他们把家里最好的食物都拿了出来,摆在塔坎面前作为晚餐(他对这些根本看不上眼)。就像往常有客人来时一样,渔夫塞给夏斯塔一大块面包,就把他赶了出去。遇到这样的情形,男孩子总是待在有着茅草屋顶的小牲口棚里,跟驴子睡在一起。这会儿睡觉实在有点太早,夏斯塔就在门外坐下来,把耳朵贴在木墙的缝隙上,听大人在屋里讲些什么。他从来不知道偷听别人谈话是不对的。下面就是他听到的内容。
“喂,哦房东,”塔坎说,“我想买下你那个男孩。”
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