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Grahem The wind in the willows (a whole book), The Wind in the Willows (6)

The Wind in the Willows (6)

The country lay bare and entirely leafless around him, and he thought that he had never seen so far and so intimately into the insides of things as on that winter day when Nature was deep in her annual slumber and seemed to have kicked the clothes off. Copses, dells, quarries, and all hidden places, which had been mysterious mines for exploration in leafy summer, now exposed themselves and their secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him to overlook their shabby poverty for a while, till they could riot in rich masquerade as before, and trick and entice him with the old deceptions. It was pitiful in a way, and yet cheering—even exhilarating. He was glad that he liked the country undecorated, hard, and stripped of its finery. He had got down to the bare bones of it, and they were fine and strong and simple. He did not want the warm clover and the play of seeding grasses; the screens of quickset, the billowy drapery of beech and elm seemed best away; and with great cheerfulness of spirit he pushed on towards the Wild Wood, which lay before him low and threatening, like a black reef in some still southern sea.

There was nothing to alarm him at first entry. Twigs crackled under his feet, logs tripped him, funguses on stumps resembled caricatures, and startled him for the moment by their likeness to something familiar and far away; but that was all fun, and exciting. It led him on, and he penetrated to where the light was less, and trees crouched nearer and nearer, and holes made ugly mouths at him on either side.

Everything was very still now. The dusk advanced on him steadily, rapidly, gathering in behind and before; and the light seemed to be draining away like flood-water.

Then the faces began.

It was over his shoulder, and indistinctly, that he first thought he saw a face, a little, evil, wedge-shaped face, looking out at him from a hole. When he turned and confronted it, the thing had vanished.

He quickened his pace, telling himself cheerfully not to begin imagining things or there would be simply no end to it. He passed another hole, and another, and another; and then—yes!—no!—yes! certainly a little, narrow face, with hard eyes, had flashed up for an instant from a hole, and was gone. He hesitated—braced himself up for an effort and strode on. Then suddenly, and as if it had been so all the time, every hole, far and near, and there were hundreds of them, seemed to possess its face, coming and going rapidly, all fixing on him glances of malice and hatred: all hard-eyed and evil and sharp.

If he could only get away from the holes in the banks, he thought, there would be no more faces. He swung off the path and plunged into the untrodden places of the wood.

Then the whistling began.

Very faint and shrill it was, and far behind him, when first he heard it; but somehow it made him hurry forward. Then, still very faint and shrill, it sounded far ahead of him, and made him hesitate and want to go back. As he halted in indecision it broke out on either side, and seemed to be caught up and passed on throughout the whole length of the wood to its farthest limit. They were up and alert and ready, evidently, whoever they were! And he—he was alone, and unarmed, and far from any help; and the night was closing in.

Then the pattering began.

He thought it was only falling leaves at first, so slight and delicate was the sound of it. Then as it grew it took a regular rhythm, and he knew it for nothing else but the pat-pat-pat of little feet still a very long way off. Was it in front or behind? It seemed to be first one, and then the other, then both. It grew and it multiplied, till from every quarter as he listened anxiously, leaning this way and that, it seemed to be closing in on him. As he stood still to hearken, a rabbit came running hard towards him through the trees. He waited, expecting it to slacken pace or to swerve from him into a different course. Instead, the animal almost brushed him as it dashed past, his face set and hard, his eyes staring. "Get out of this, you fool, get out!" the Mole heard him mutter as he swung round a stump and disappeared down a friendly burrow.

The pattering increased till it sounded like sudden hail on the dry leaf-carpet spread around him. The whole wood seemed running now, running hard, hunting, chasing, closing in round something or—somebody? In panic, he began to run too, aimlessly, he knew not whither. He ran up against things, he fell over things and into things, he darted under things and dodged round things. At last he took refuge in the deep, dark hollow of an old beech tree, which offered shelter, concealment—perhaps even safety, but who could tell? Anyhow, he was too tired to run any further, and could only snuggle down into the dry leaves which had drifted into the hollow and hope he was safe for a time. And as he lay there panting and trembling, and listened to the whistlings and the patterings outside, he knew it at last, in all its fulness, that dread thing which other little dwellers in field and hedgerow had encountered here, and known as their darkest moment—that thing which the Rat had vainly tried to shield him from—the Terror of the Wild Wood!

In panic, he began to run In panic, he began to run

Meantime the Rat, warm and comfortable, dozed by his fireside. His paper of half-finished verses slipped from his knee, his head fell back, his mouth opened, and he wandered by the verdant banks of dream-rivers. Then a coal slipped, the fire crackled and sent up a spurt of flame, and he woke with a start. Remembering what he had been engaged upon, he reached down to the floor for his verses, pored over them for a minute, and then looked round for the Mole to ask him if he knew a good rhyme for something or other.

But the Mole was not there.

He listened for a time. The house seemed very quiet.

Then he called "Moly!" several times, and, receiving no answer, got up and went out into the hall.

The Mole's cap was missing from its accustomed peg. His goloshes, which always lay by the umbrella-stand, were also gone.

The Rat left the house, and carefully examined the muddy surface of the ground outside, hoping to find the Mole's tracks. There they were, sure enough. The goloshes were new, just bought for the winter, and the pimples on their soles were fresh and sharp. He could see the imprints of them in the mud, running along straight and purposeful, leading direct to the Wild Wood.

The Rat looked very grave, and stood in deep thought for a minute or two. Then he re-entered the house, strapped a belt round his waist, shoved a brace of pistols into it, took up a stout cudgel that stood in a corner of the hall, and set off for the Wild Wood at a smart pace.

It was already getting towards dusk when he reached the first fringe of trees and plunged without hesitation into the wood, looking anxiously on either side for any sign of his friend. Here and there wicked little faces popped out of holes, but vanished immediately at sight of the valorous animal, his pistols, and the great ugly cudgel in his grasp; and the whistling and pattering, which he had heard quite plainly on his first entry, died away and ceased, and all was very still. He made his way manfully through the length of the wood, to its furthest edge; then, forsaking all paths, he set himself to traverse it, laboriously working over the whole ground, and all the time calling out cheerfully, "Moly, Moly, Moly! Where are you? It's me—it's old Rat!"

He had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, when at last to his joy he heard a little answering cry. Guiding himself by the sound, he made his way through the gathering darkness to the foot of an old beech tree, with a hole in it, and from out of the hole came a feeble voice, saying "Ratty! Is that really you?"

The Rat crept into the hollow, and there he found the Mole, exhausted and still trembling. "O Rat!" he cried, "I've been so frightened, you can't think!"

"O, I quite understand," said the Rat soothingly. "You shouldn't really have gone and done it, Mole. I did my best to keep you from it. We river-bankers, we hardly ever come here by ourselves. If we have to come, we come in couples at least; then we're generally all right. Besides, there are a hundred things one has to know, which we understand all about and you don't, as yet. I mean passwords, and signs, and sayings which have power and effect, and plants you carry in your pocket, and verses you repeat, and dodges and tricks you practise; all simple enough when you know them, but they've got to be known if you're small, or you'll find yourself in trouble. Of course if you were Badger or Otter, it would be quite another matter."

"Surely the brave Mr. Toad wouldn't mind coming here by himself, would he?" inquired the Mole.

"Old Toad?" said the Rat, laughing heartily. "He wouldn't show his face here alone, not for a whole hatful of golden guineas, Toad wouldn't."

The Mole was greatly cheered by the sound of the Rat's careless laughter, as well as by the sight of his stick and his gleaming pistols, and he stopped shivering and began to feel bolder and more himself again.

"Now then," said the Rat presently, "we really must pull ourselves together and make a start for home while there's still a little light left. It will never do to spend the night here, you understand. Too cold, for one thing."

"Dear Ratty," said the poor Mole, "I'm dreadfully sorry, but I'm simply dead beat and that's a solid fact. You must let me rest here a while longer, and get my strength back, if I'm to get home at all."

"O, all right," said the good-natured Rat, "rest away. It's pretty nearly pitch dark now, anyhow; and there ought to be a bit of a moon later."

So the Mole got well into the dry leaves and stretched himself out, and presently dropped off into sleep, though of a broken and troubled sort; while the Rat covered himself up, too, as best he might, for warmth, and lay patiently waiting, with a pistol in his paw.

When at last the Mole woke up, much refreshed and in his usual spirits, the Rat said, "Now then! I'll just take a look outside and see if everything's quiet, and then we really must be off."

He went to the entrance of their retreat and put his head out. Then the Mole heard him saying quietly to himself, "Hullo! hullo! here—is—a—go!"

"What's up, Ratty?" asked the Mole.

"Snow is up," replied the Rat briefly; "or rather, down. It's snowing hard."

The Mole came and crouched beside him, and, looking out, saw the wood that had been so dreadful to him in quite a changed aspect. Holes, hollows, pools, pitfalls, and other black menaces to the wayfarer were vanishing fast, and a gleaming carpet of faery was springing up everywhere, that looked too delicate to be trodden upon by rough feet. A fine powder filled the air and caressed the cheek with a tingle in its touch, and the black boles of the trees showed up in a light that seemed to come from below.

"Well, well, it can't be helped," said the Rat, after pondering.

The Wind in the Willows (6) Der Wind in den Weiden (6) El viento en los sauces (6) Il vento nei salici (6) 柳に風 (6) O Vento nos Salgueiros (6)

The country lay bare and entirely leafless around him, and he thought that he had never seen so far and so intimately into the insides of things as on that winter day when Nature was deep in her annual slumber and seemed to have kicked the clothes off. 他周圍的鄉村光禿禿的,一片光禿禿的,他覺得自己從來沒有像那個冬日那樣如此深入、如此近距離地觀察過事物的內部,當時大自然正沉浸在一年一度的沉睡中,似乎已經把衣服踢掉了。 Copses, dells, quarries, and all hidden places, which had been mysterious mines for exploration in leafy summer, now exposed themselves and their secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him to overlook their shabby poverty for a while, till they could riot in rich masquerade as before, and trick and entice him with the old deceptions. 灌木叢、山谷、採石場和所有隱蔽的地方,這些地方在綠樹成蔭的夏天曾是神秘的礦藏,現在可悲地暴露了自己和它們的秘密,似乎要求他暫時忽略它們破舊的貧困,直到它們可以在富裕的地方騷亂。像以前一樣偽裝,用老一套的騙術來欺騙和引誘他。 It was pitiful in a way, and yet cheering—even exhilarating. 從某種程度上來說,這很可憐,但又令人歡呼——甚至令人興奮。 He was glad that he liked the country undecorated, hard, and stripped of its finery. 他很高興自己喜歡這個未經裝飾、樸實無華、沒有華麗裝飾的國家。 He had got down to the bare bones of it, and they were fine and strong and simple. 他已經深入了它的基本框架,它們很好、很強大、很簡單。 He did not want the warm clover and the play of seeding grasses; the screens of quickset, the billowy drapery of beech and elm seemed best away; and with great cheerfulness of spirit he pushed on towards the Wild Wood, which lay before him low and threatening, like a black reef in some still southern sea. 他不想要溫暖的三葉草和播種草的遊戲;他不要溫暖的三葉草和播種草的遊戲。快速安裝的屏風、山毛櫸和榆木的波浪形窗簾似乎是最好的選擇。他懷著無比愉快的心情繼續向荒林前進,那片森林在他面前低矮而險惡,就像寧靜的南方海域中的黑色暗礁。

There was nothing to alarm him at first entry. 第一次進來時並沒有什麼讓他驚慌的。 Twigs crackled under his feet, logs tripped him, funguses on stumps resembled caricatures, and startled him for the moment by their likeness to something familiar and far away; but that was all fun, and exciting. 樹枝在他腳下劈啪作響,圓木絆倒了他,樹樁上的真菌就像漫畫,讓他一時吃了一驚,因為它們與熟悉而遙遠的東西相似;但這一切都很有趣,也很令人興奮。 It led him on, and he penetrated to where the light was less, and trees crouched nearer and nearer, and holes made ugly mouths at him on either side. 它引導他繼續前行,他深入到光線較暗的地方,樹木蹲伏得越來越近,兩邊的洞對他形成了醜陋的嘴巴。

Everything was very still now. The dusk advanced on him steadily, rapidly, gathering in behind and before; and the light seemed to be draining away like flood-water. 暮色不斷地、迅速地向他襲來,前後漸濃。光芒似乎像洪水一樣正在流失。

Then the faces began.

It was over his shoulder, and indistinctly, that he first thought he saw a face, a little, evil, wedge-shaped face, looking out at him from a hole. 就在他的肩膀上,他隱約地第一次覺得自己看到了一張臉,一張邪惡的楔形小臉,從一個洞裡向外望著他。 When he turned and confronted it, the thing had vanished. 當他轉身面對它時,那東西已經消失了。

He quickened his pace, telling himself cheerfully not to begin imagining things or there would be simply no end to it. 他加快了腳步,愉快地告訴自己不要開始幻想,否則就沒有盡頭。 He passed another hole, and another, and another; and then—yes!—no!—yes! certainly a little, narrow face, with hard eyes, had flashed up for an instant from a hole, and was gone. 當然,一張狹長的小臉,一雙冷酷的眼睛,從一個洞裡閃現出來,然後就消失了。 He hesitated—braced himself up for an effort and strode on. 他猶豫了一下——做好了努力的準備,然後大步向前走去。 Then suddenly, and as if it had been so all the time, every hole, far and near, and there were hundreds of them, seemed to possess its face, coming and going rapidly, all fixing on him glances of malice and hatred: all hard-eyed and evil and sharp. 突然間,彷彿一直都是這樣,每一個無論遠近,有數百個的洞,似乎都擁有了它的臉,來來去去快,所有的目光都注視著他,充滿惡意和仇恨:目光冷酷、邪惡、尖銳。

If he could only get away from the holes in the banks, he thought, there would be no more faces. 他想,只要他能逃離河岸上的洞,就不會有更多的面孔了。 He swung off the path and plunged into the untrodden places of the wood. 他偏離了小路,一頭栽進了樹林裡人跡罕至的地方。

Then the whistling began. 然後口哨聲開始了。

Very faint and shrill it was, and far behind him, when first he heard it; but somehow it made him hurry forward. 當他第一次聽到這個聲音時,聲音非常微弱而刺耳,而且離他很遠。但不知何故,這讓他加快了腳步。 Then, still very faint and shrill, it sounded far ahead of him, and made him hesitate and want to go back. 然後,聲音仍然非常微弱和刺耳,在他前方很遠的地方響起,讓他猶豫著想要回去。 As he halted in indecision it broke out on either side, and seemed to be caught up and passed on throughout the whole length of the wood to its farthest limit. 當他猶豫不決地停下來時,它從兩邊爆發出來,似乎被抓住並穿過整個樹林,一直延伸到最遠的極限。 They were up and alert and ready, evidently, whoever they were! 顯然,無論他們是誰,他們都站了起來,警覺起來,做好了準備! And he—he was alone, and unarmed, and far from any help; and the night was closing in. 而他──他孤身一人,手無寸鐵,也遠離任何幫助;夜幕即將降臨。

Then the pattering began. 然後,啪嗒啪嗒的聲音開始了。

He thought it was only falling leaves at first, so slight and delicate was the sound of it. 他一開始以為只是落葉的聲音,那聲音是那麼輕微而細膩。 Then as it grew it took a regular rhythm, and he knew it for nothing else but the pat-pat-pat of little feet still a very long way off. 然後,隨著它的生長,它有了規律的節奏,他只知道小腳的拍拍拍聲還很遙遠。 Was it in front or behind? It seemed to be first one, and then the other, then both. It grew and it multiplied, till from every quarter as he listened anxiously, leaning this way and that, it seemed to be closing in on him. 它長大了,倍增了,直到他焦急地聽著,左顧右盼,它似乎正向他逼近。 As he stood still to hearken, a rabbit came running hard towards him through the trees. 當他站著不動聽時,一隻兔子穿過樹林猛烈地向他跑來。 He waited, expecting it to slacken pace or to swerve from him into a different course. 他等待著,期待它放慢腳步或偏離他而轉向另一條路線。 Instead, the animal almost brushed him as it dashed past, his face set and hard, his eyes staring. 相反,這隻動物衝過去時幾乎擦到了他,他的表情嚴肅而冷酷,眼睛盯著。 "Get out of this, you fool, get out!" 「滾出去,你這個傻瓜,滾出去!」 the Mole heard him mutter as he swung round a stump and disappeared down a friendly burrow. 鼴鼠聽到他嘟囔著,繞過一個樹樁,消失在一個友善的洞穴裡。

The pattering increased till it sounded like sudden hail on the dry leaf-carpet spread around him. 啪嗒啪嗒的聲音越來越大,直到聽起來就像突然在他周圍鋪開的乾燥樹葉地毯上的冰雹。 The whole wood seemed running now, running hard, hunting, chasing, closing in round something or—somebody? 整個樹林現在似乎都在奔跑,拼命地奔跑,狩獵,追逐,包圍某物或──某人? In panic, he began to run too, aimlessly, he knew not whither. 驚慌失措中,他也開始漫無目的地奔跑,不知道要跑到哪裡去。 He ran up against things, he fell over things and into things, he darted under things and dodged round things. 他撞到東西,他摔倒在東西上,撞到東西上,他衝到東西下面,躲在東西周圍。 At last he took refuge in the deep, dark hollow of an old beech tree, which offered shelter, concealment—perhaps even safety, but who could tell? 最後,他在一棵老山毛櫸樹的又深又黑的樹洞裡避難,那裡提供了庇護所、隱蔽處——也許甚至是安全,但誰能說得準呢? Anyhow, he was too tired to run any further, and could only snuggle down into the dry leaves which had drifted into the hollow and hope he was safe for a time. 無論如何,他已經累得跑不動了,只能依偎在空地裡飄來的乾樹葉裡,希望自己能暫時安全。 And as he lay there panting and trembling, and listened to the whistlings and the patterings outside, he knew it at last, in all its fulness, that dread thing which other little dwellers in field and hedgerow had encountered here, and known as their darkest moment—that thing which the Rat had vainly tried to shield him from—the Terror of the Wild Wood! 當他氣喘吁籲、渾身顫抖地躺在那裡,聽著外面的口哨聲和啪嗒啪嗒的聲音時,他終於完全明白了,田野和樹籬中的其他小居民在這裡遇到過的可怕的事情,被稱為他們最黑暗的事情。那一刻——老鼠徒勞地試圖保護他免受野林恐怖的影響!

In panic, he began to run In panic, he began to run

Meantime the Rat, warm and comfortable, dozed by his fireside. 同時,老鼠溫暖舒適地在爐邊打瞌睡。 His paper of half-finished verses slipped from his knee, his head fell back, his mouth opened, and he wandered by the verdant banks of dream-rivers. 他寫了一半的詩文從膝蓋上滑落,他的頭向後仰去,張開嘴,在青翠的夢河岸邊漫步。 Then a coal slipped, the fire crackled and sent up a spurt of flame, and he woke with a start. 然後一塊煤炭滑落,火劈啪作響,噴出火焰,他驚醒了。 Remembering what he had been engaged upon, he reached down to the floor for his verses, pored over them for a minute, and then looked round for the Mole to ask him if he knew a good rhyme for something or other. 想起自己正在做的事情,他伸手到地板上拿起詩句,仔細地看了一會兒,然後環顧四周尋找鼴鼠,問他是否知道某件事或那件事的好韻律。

But the Mole was not there.

He listened for a time. The house seemed very quiet.

Then he called "Moly!" 然後他喊道:“莫莉!” several times, and, receiving no answer, got up and went out into the hall.

The Mole's cap was missing from its accustomed peg. 鼴鼠的帽子從它慣用的掛鉤上不見了。 His goloshes, which always lay by the umbrella-stand, were also gone. 他一直放在傘架旁的套鞋也不見了。

The Rat left the house, and carefully examined the muddy surface of the ground outside, hoping to find the Mole's tracks. 老鼠離開了房子,仔細檢查了外面泥濘的地面,希望能找到鼴鼠的蹤跡。 There they were, sure enough. The goloshes were new, just bought for the winter, and the pimples on their soles were fresh and sharp. 套鞋是新的,剛買來過冬的,鞋底上的痘痘又新又尖。 He could see the imprints of them in the mud, running along straight and purposeful, leading direct to the Wild Wood. 他能看到泥濘中的他們的腳印,筆直而有目的地奔跑,直通荒林。

The Rat looked very grave, and stood in deep thought for a minute or two. 老鼠看起來很嚴肅,站在那裡沉思了一、兩分鐘。 Then he re-entered the house, strapped a belt round his waist, shoved a brace of pistols into it, took up a stout cudgel that stood in a corner of the hall, and set off for the Wild Wood at a smart pace. 然後他又進了屋,腰上繫了帶子,塞了一把手槍,拿起大廳一角的粗棍,邁著瀟灑的步伐向野林走去。

It was already getting towards dusk when he reached the first fringe of trees and plunged without hesitation into the wood, looking anxiously on either side for any sign of his friend. 當他到達第一片樹林邊緣時,天色已經快黃昏了,他毫不猶豫地跳進樹林裡,焦急地向兩邊尋找他朋友的蹤跡。 Here and there wicked little faces popped out of holes, but vanished immediately at sight of the valorous animal, his pistols, and the great ugly cudgel in his grasp; and the whistling and pattering, which he had heard quite plainly on his first entry, died away and ceased, and all was very still. 到處都有邪惡的小臉從洞裡冒出來,但一看到這隻勇敢的動物、他的手槍和他手裡那根醜陋的大棍子就立即消失了;他第一次進來就清楚聽到的口哨聲和啪嗒啪嗒的聲音漸漸消失了,一切都很安靜。 He made his way manfully through the length of the wood, to its furthest edge; then, forsaking all paths, he set himself to traverse it, laboriously working over the whole ground, and all the time calling out cheerfully, "Moly, Moly, Moly! 他勇敢地穿過樹林,到達最遠的邊緣。然後,他放棄了所有的道路,開始穿越它,在整個地面上費力地工作,並一直高興地喊著:「莫利,莫利,莫利! Where are you? It's me—it's old Rat!"

He had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, when at last to his joy he heard a little answering cry. 他在樹林裡耐心地搜尋了一個多小時,最後令他高興的是,他聽到了一聲回應的叫聲。 Guiding himself by the sound, he made his way through the gathering darkness to the foot of an old beech tree, with a hole in it, and from out of the hole came a feeble voice, saying "Ratty! 他循著聲音的指引,穿過越來越濃的黑暗,來到一棵老山毛櫸樹下,樹上有一個洞,從洞裡傳來一個微弱的聲音,說:「老鼠! Is that really you?"

The Rat crept into the hollow, and there he found the Mole, exhausted and still trembling. 老鼠爬進洞裡,在那裡他發現了鼴鼠,它精疲力盡,還在發抖。 "O Rat!" he cried, "I've been so frightened, you can't think!" 他喊道:“我太害怕了,你無法思考!”

"O, I quite understand," said the Rat soothingly. 「哦,我完全明白,」河鼠安慰地說。 "You shouldn't really have gone and done it, Mole. I did my best to keep you from it. We river-bankers, we hardly ever come here by ourselves. 我們這些河岸人,幾乎不會自己來這裡。 If we have to come, we come in couples at least; then we're generally all right. 如果一定要來,我們至少成雙成對;那我們通常都沒事。 Besides, there are a hundred things one has to know, which we understand all about and you don't, as yet. 此外,還有一百件事是我們必須了解的,而我們卻一無所知。 I mean passwords, and signs, and sayings which have power and effect, and plants you carry in your pocket, and verses you repeat, and dodges and tricks you practise; all simple enough when you know them, but they've got to be known if you're small, or you'll find yourself in trouble. 我指的是密碼、符號、具有力量和效果的諺語、你放在口袋裡的植物、你重複的詩句、你練習的躲避和技巧;當你了解它們時,一切都足夠簡單,但如果你很小,就必須了解它們,否則你會發現自己有麻煩。 Of course if you were Badger or Otter, it would be quite another matter."

"Surely the brave Mr. Toad wouldn't mind coming here by himself, would he?" “勇敢的蟾蜍先生肯定不介意自己來這裡吧?” inquired the Mole.

"Old Toad?" said the Rat, laughing heartily. 河鼠開懷大笑地說。 "He wouldn't show his face here alone, not for a whole hatful of golden guineas, Toad wouldn't." “他不會獨自在這裡露面,不會為了一整頂金畿尼,蟾蜍不會。”

The Mole was greatly cheered by the sound of the Rat's careless laughter, as well as by the sight of his stick and his gleaming pistols, and he stopped shivering and began to feel bolder and more himself again. 聽到河鼠漫不經心的笑聲,以及看到他的手杖和閃閃發光的手槍,鼴鼠感到非常高興,他停止了顫抖,開始感到更加勇敢,更加自信了。

"Now then," said the Rat presently, "we really must pull ourselves together and make a start for home while there's still a little light left. 「那麼,」老鼠不久說道,「我們真的必須振作起來,趁著天還有一點亮的時候,出發回家。 It will never do to spend the night here, you understand. Too cold, for one thing."

"Dear Ratty," said the poor Mole, "I'm dreadfully sorry, but I'm simply dead beat and that's a solid fact. 「親愛的老鼠,」可憐的鼴鼠說,「我非常抱歉,但我只是精疲力竭,這是鐵一般的事實。 You must let me rest here a while longer, and get my strength back, if I'm to get home at all." 如果我想回家的話,你必須讓我在這裡多休息一會兒,恢復體力。”

"O, all right," said the good-natured Rat, "rest away. 「哦,好吧,」好心的老鼠說,「休息吧。 It's pretty nearly pitch dark now, anyhow; and there ought to be a bit of a moon later." 無論如何,現在天色幾乎已經漆黑了。稍後應該會有一點月亮。”

So the Mole got well into the dry leaves and stretched himself out, and presently dropped off into sleep, though of a broken and troubled sort; while the Rat covered himself up, too, as best he might, for warmth, and lay patiently waiting, with a pistol in his paw. 於是,鼴鼠鑽進了乾樹葉裡,伸了個懶腰,很快就睡著了,儘管睡得很傷心,也很不安。而河鼠也盡可能地把自己包起來取暖,耐心等待著,爪子裡握著一把手槍。

When at last the Mole woke up, much refreshed and in his usual spirits, the Rat said, "Now then! 當鼴鼠終於醒來時,精神煥發,精神煥發,老鼠說:「那麼現在! I'll just take a look outside and see if everything's quiet, and then we really must be off." 我只是看看外面,看看是否一切都很安靜,然後我們就真的該走了。”

He went to the entrance of their retreat and put his head out. 他走到他們的靜修處門口,探出了頭。 Then the Mole heard him saying quietly to himself, "Hullo! 然後鼴鼠聽見他輕聲自言自語道:「哈囉! hullo! here—is—a—go!"

"What's up, Ratty?" asked the Mole.

"Snow is up," replied the Rat briefly; "or rather, down. 「下雪了。」河鼠簡短地回答。 「或者更確切地說,下降。 It's snowing hard."

The Mole came and crouched beside him, and, looking out, saw the wood that had been so dreadful to him in quite a changed aspect. 鼴鼠走過來,蹲在他身邊,向外望去,發現曾經讓他感到害怕的樹林發生了很大的變化。 Holes, hollows, pools, pitfalls, and other black menaces to the wayfarer were vanishing fast, and a gleaming carpet of faery was springing up everywhere, that looked too delicate to be trodden upon by rough feet. 洞、凹陷、水池、陷阱和其他對行人的黑色威脅正在迅速消失,一塊閃閃發光的精靈地毯到處出現,看起來太精緻了,無法被粗糙的腳踩踏。 A fine powder filled the air and caressed the cheek with a tingle in its touch, and the black boles of the trees showed up in a light that seemed to come from below. 空氣中瀰漫著細細的粉末,撫摸著臉頰,觸感刺痛,黑色的樹幹在一道似乎來自下方的光芒中顯現出來。

"Well, well, it can't be helped," said the Rat, after pondering. 「好吧,好吧,這也是沒辦法的事。」河鼠想了想後說。