邓萨尼勋爵作品

◎董继平 译

黑鹂之歌

当诗人经过那棵荆棘树的时候， 那只黑鹂便歌唱了起来。

“你是怎样做到的呢？” 诗人说， 因为他懂得鸟儿的语言。

“是像这样的，” 那只黑鹂说， “这确实是最为非凡的事情。我在去年春天创作了那支歌， 它突然就对我发生了。 当时有一只这个世界所见过的最美的雌黑鹂。 它的眼睛比夜间的湖泊还黑，它的羽毛比黑夜本身还黑， 什么都不如它的嘴喙那样发黄； 它飞得比闪电快得多。 它可不是普通的雌黑鹂， 根本就不曾有过任何其他雌黑鹂像它那样。 我不敢靠近它， 因为它实在是如此奇妙。去年春天的一天， 当天气渐渐重新暖和起来——此前天气很冷，我们以浆果为食， 那时的情况就大不一样， 但春天来了， 天气渐渐暖和起来了——有一天， 我在思考它多么奇妙， 仿佛认为我会看见它——那世界上唯一真正奇妙的雌黑鹂， 是多么非凡的事情，因此我张开嘴喙对它叫喊， 于是这支歌就出来了， 以前从不曾发生过这样的事情， 幸好我还记得， 我刚刚唱过的那支非常的歌。然而那个奇妙的日子如此非凡的事情， 最令人惊奇的事件， 就是我刚一唱完那支歌， 那只鸟儿——世界上那只最奇妙的雌黑鹂，就径直朝我飞来， 落到同一棵树上， 静静栖息在我的身边， 紧紧依偎着我。 而我从不记得曾经有过像如此奇妙的时光。”

“是的， 那支歌片刻间就袭来了， 正如我所说的那样……”

一个年迈的流浪者拄着拐杖走过， 那只黑鹂就飞走了， 诗人就把黑鹂的这个奇妙的故事告诉了那个老人。

“那支歌是新的？” 那个流浪者说。 “完全不是新的。 多年前上帝就创作了那支歌。 当我年轻的时候， 所有的黑鹂都曾经常常唱着那支歌， 那时是新的。”

THE SONG OF THE BLACKBIRD

As the poet passed the thorn-tree the blackbird sang.

“How ever do you do it?” the poet said， for he knew bird language.

“It was like this，” said the blackbird. “It really was the most extraordinary thing. I made that song last Spring， it came to me all of a sudden. There was the most beautiful she-blackbird that the world has ever seen. Her eyes were blacker than lakes are at night，her feathers were blacker than the night itself， and nothing was as yellow as her beak； she could fly much faster than the lightning. She was not an ordinary she-blackbird， there has never been any other like her at all. I did not dare go near her because she was so wonderful. One day last Spring when it got warm again—it had been cold， we ate berries， things were quite different then， but Spring came and it got warm—one day I was thinking how wonderful she was and it seemed so extraordinary to think that I should ever have seen her， the only really wonderful she-blackbird in the world， that I opened my beak to give a shout， and then this song came， and there had never been anything like it before， and luckily I remembered it， the very song that I sang just now. But what is so extraordinary， the most amazing occurence of that marvellous day，was that no sooner had I sung the song than that very bird， the most wonderful she-blackbird in the world， flew right up to me and sat quite close to me on the same tree. I never remember such wonderful times as those.”

“Yes， the song came in a moment， and as I was saying....”

And an old wanderer walking with a stick came by and the blackbird flew away， and the poet told the old man the blackbird's wonderful story.

“That song new?” said the wanderer. “Not a bit of it. God made it years ago. All the blackbirds used to sing it when I was young. It was new then.”

没有歌的国度

诗人来到了一个没有歌的伟大国度。 他轻声悲叹这个民族没有在傍晚时分唱给自己的傻傻的短歌。

最后他就说： “我要亲自给他们创作一些傻傻的短歌， 那样他们才能在小路上快乐， 在炉火边幸福。” 他就用了一些时日， 给他们创作了漫无目的的歌， 诸如更古老、 更幸福的国度里的少女们在山冈上唱的歌。

于是诗人走向那个国家的一些人， 他们在一天的工作之后疲倦地坐着， 他就对他们说道： “我用不合理的小小的传说为你们创作了一些漫无目的的歌， 它们有些类似于我童年时的山谷中的风； 你们在傍晚感到惆怅的时候， 也许愿意去唱。”

他们对他说： “现在如果你认为我们有时间来唱那一类废话，你就无法了解现代商业有多少进步。”

诗人哭了， 因为他说： “唉， 他们真该死！”

THE SONGLESS COUNTRY

The poet came unto a great country in which there were no songs. And he lamented gently for the nation that had not any little foolish songs to sing to itself at evening.

And at last he said： “I will make for them myself some little foolish songs so that they may be merry in the lanes and happy by the fireside.” And for some days he made for them aimless songs such as maidens sing on the hills in the older happier countries.

Then he went to some of that nation as they sat weary with the work of the day and said to them： “I have made you some aimless songs out of the small unreasonable legends， that are somewhat akin to the wind in the vales of my childhood； and you may care to sing them in your disconsolate evenings.”

And they said to him: “If you think we have time for that sort of nonsense nowadays you cannot know much of the progress of modern commerce.”

And the poet wept for he said： “Alas! They are damned.”

我们突然想起了的事情

当那个广告商看见远处开阔丘陵之上的大教堂塔尖， 他看着看着就哭了起来。

他说： “要是这是牛肉的广告该有多好啊， 那么吸引人， 那么富于营养， 在你的汤里尝一尝， 女士们喜欢。”

WHAT WE HAVE COME TO

When the advertiser saw the cathedral spires over the downs in the distance， he looked at them and wept.

“If only，” he said， “this were an advertisement of Beefo，so nice, so nutritious, try it in your soup, ladies like it.”