CHAPTER FIVE There she blows! KAPITEL FÜNF Da bläst sie! 챕터 5 저기 그녀가 불어요! ГЛАВА ПЯТАЯ Вот она дует! 第五章 她在那裡吹氣！

CHAPTER FIVE

There she blows! Ecco che soffia!

Ahab knew that as captain of the Pequod he had another task which was not his personal revenge. Achab sapeva che come capitano del Pequod aveva un altro compito che non era la sua vendetta personale. He had to bring back whale oil because that was the purpose of the voyage. That meant we had to kill other whales, not only Moby Dick.

We all kept our eyes open for any whale and the days passed slowly and easily. Then one day as I was helping Queequeg make a mat, I heard Tashtego, who was high up on the masthead of the ship, cry, "There she blows! Un giorno, mentre aiutavo Queequeg a fare una stuoia, sentii Tashtego, che era in alto sulla testa d'albero della nave, gridare: "Ecco che soffia! Однажды, когда я помогал Квикегу делать циновку, я услышал, как Таштего, сидевший высоко на мачте корабля, закричал: "Вот она дует! There! There!" We all looked up and in the distance we saw several sperm whales that were blowing as regularly as a clock. Abbiamo alzato lo sguardo e in lontananza abbiamo visto diversi capodogli che soffiavano con la stessa regolarità di un orologio. Мы все посмотрели вверх и увидели вдалеке несколько кашалотов, которые дули с регулярностью, как часы. My first whale! This was the moment I was waiting for. Each member of the crew knew what he had to do, but there was still a lot of confusion and running around. Ciascun membro dell'equipaggio sapeva cosa doveva fare, ma c'era ancora molta confusione e corse a vuoto. Каждый член экипажа знал, что он должен делать, но все равно было много путаницы и беготни.

My heart was beating hard and fast. I looked at the whales in the distance. Was one of them Moby Dick? But no, Moby Dick always swam alone. Ma no, Moby Dick ha sempre nuotato da solo. I was relieved because I didn't want to meet him my first time out. Ero sollevato perché non volevo incontrarlo alla mia prima uscita. Я почувствовал облегчение, потому что не хотел встречаться с ним в первый раз. It was almost time for the whale hunt that I had been waiting for. Era quasi arrivato il momento della caccia alle balene che stavo aspettando. The harpoon boats were lowered into the sea, and this was the beginning of the adventure.

But just as I was getting into my boat I saw them - five extra whaling men appeared out of nowhere. Ma proprio mentre stavo salendo sulla mia barca li ho visti: cinque balenieri in più sono apparsi dal nulla. I had never seen them before. Who were they? Where did they come from? They were not ghosts, but real men. They must have spent all of this time in the hold. Devono aver trascorso tutto questo tempo nella stiva. Должно быть, все это время они провели в трюме. Could they be the demons Elijah was talking about?

Perhaps Elijah was right - these were Ahab's demons! If Elijah was right about the demons, then what else was he right about? Se Elia aveva ragione sui demoni, su cos'altro aveva ragione?

Four harpoon boats were lowered into the water instead of three. Ahab and his crew of expert whale-killers rowed far ahead of the other three boats. Ахав и его команда, состоящая из опытных убийц китов, гребли далеко впереди остальных трех лодок. The rowers had great power in their arms and they were very determined. У гребцов была большая сила в руках, и они были очень решительны.

I learned later that one of these men was a Persian called Fedallah, Ahab's personal harpooner. He was tall and dark and wore an old black Chinese jacket, black trousers and a white turban on his head. He was a mysterious figure. Он был загадочной фигурой. The other four looked like natives of the Philippines.

Starbuck was the master of my boat and he stood at the stern and shouted his orders. Starbuck era il padrone della mia barca e stava a poppa a gridare i suoi ordini. I suddenly felt afraid and confused away from the ship. All'improvviso mi sono sentito spaventato e confuso lontano dalla nave. Вдали от корабля я вдруг почувствовал страх и растерянность. I was at eye level with the sea, and there was fog and mist everywhere. Ero all'altezza del mare e c'erano nebbia e foschia ovunque. Я находился на уровне глаз от моря, и повсюду был туман и дымка. This was the whale's world and I was in it. Everything at that moment seemed impressive to me. How could these men possibly hunt and kill the biggest creature in the sea?

The three boats moved forward and Starbuck, Stubb and Flask were telling their men to row faster and faster.

I was rowing as fast as I could, but I noticed that there was a lot of competition between the boats and the mates. And, of course, the Filipinos were far ahead of us.

The whales swam as fast as we rowed - they were like arrows shooting through the dark water. Le balene nuotavano con la stessa velocità con cui remavamo: erano come frecce che scoccavano nell'acqua scura. Would we ever reach them?

"Come on, men!" shouted Starbuck. "Get those muscles moving! " "Fate muovere quei muscoli!". I wanted our boat to be the first to reach the whales, but my back and legs started hurting. Then a storm arrived from the north and it started raining hard and the waves grew bigger, so it was harder to row. I had never rowed in such an angry sea with the waves crashing into our little boat. How could we reach the whales when we could hardly row?

And in spite of the increasing danger, in the back of our minds was the shiny gold coin nailed to the mast of the Pequod!

"There's his hump," said Starbuck to Queequeg. "Ecco la sua gobba", disse Starbuck a Queequeg. "Give it to him! " "Daglielo!" Suddenly a sperm whale, a creature of incredible size, came to the surface next to our boat. At the same time the rain became much stronger and we could hardly see anything. Queequeg bravely threw his harpoon at the whale, but his hand was wet with rain and he missed it. So the great creature we had tried to kill escaped back down into the deep, dark waters.

Suddenly our oars flew away and we were lifted and then thrown back into the wild waves of the sea. Improvvisamente i nostri remi volarono via e fummo sollevati e poi ributtati nelle onde selvagge del mare. Вдруг весла отлетели в сторону, нас подняло, а затем бросило обратно в бурные волны моря. Miraculously our boat did not break, but it was full of water. The cold water left us confused and we couldn't speak. The world around us had become a curtain of white fog. Il mondo intorno a noi era diventato una cortina di nebbia bianca. Where was the Pequod and how could we get there since we were surrounded by thick, white fog? Dov'era il Pequod e come potevamo arrivarci visto che eravamo circondati da una fitta nebbia bianca?

The wind blew loudly and the storm got worse. We sat trembling in the boat half filled with water. Suddenly Queequeg jumped to his feet and put his hand to his ear. Then we all heard the Pequod approaching. Poi sentimmo tutti l'avvicinarsi del Pequod. It almost crushed our boat with us in it. We jumped out and the Pequod sailed right over our boat. Siamo saltati fuori e il Pequod ha navigato proprio sopra la nostra barca. Мы выпрыгнули, и "Пекод" проплыл прямо над нашей лодкой. We then swam as hard as we could to reach the ship. Poi abbiamo nuotato il più possibile per raggiungere la nave.

I was the last man to be pulled onto the ship. I fell onto the deck and was happy to be alive.

I saw Queequeg and said, "Does this sort of thing happen very often? " "Yes," he answered without much emotion. "Did we lose any men?" I asked.

"No," said Starbuck. "They're all safely on board. " The other men were sitting on the deck exhausted, telling their own stories of how they had seen death in the face and how they had swum to safety. Gli altri uomini erano seduti sul ponte, esausti, e raccontavano le loro storie di come avevano visto la morte in faccia e come avevano nuotato per salvarsi. I soon realized that each time I went out I was risking my life. Ben presto mi resi conto che ogni volta che uscivo rischiavo la vita. The sea and the whales were powerful and unforgiving, and I was just a man. Il mare e le balene erano potenti e spietati, e io ero solo un uomo. I decided I had better write my last will and testament. Я решил, что мне лучше написать свою последнюю волю и завещание. I went below deck with Queequeg, who was my witness, and wrote my will. He put his mark on the bottom of the page and it became official. Ha apposto il suo marchio in fondo alla pagina e il documento è diventato ufficiale.