Howling Up the Moon望月狼嚎

文◎Diana C.Conway 譯◎Jasmine 繪◎馬豆子

Howling Up the Moon望月狼嚎

文◎Diana C.Conway 譯◎Jasmine 繪◎馬豆子

In Alask a long ago, when animals still talked to humans, Old Wolf met a small girl at a river. The girl's name was Nurauq.

Old Wolf greeted her. "Waqaa? What brings you here?" "I'm taking some food to my grandamother." said Nurauq. At the word food, Old Wolf pricked up his tattered①ears. He no longer moved fast enough to catch juicy mice. For many months, he had eaten only scraps thrown away by the villagersmoldy②fish skins and rotten caribou③bones. But now, he thought, I will trick this little girl into giving me some real food.

He blinked his golden eyes at Nurauq and said, "My, that's a lovely new parka④you're wearing."

Nurauq thanked him. "Quyana. My grandmother sewed it for me from many squirrel skins."

"And what food are you carrying to her?" "Fresh caught eels⑤," answered Nurauq.

Eels, he thought. I can swallow eels without even chewing. Out loud he said, "Dear little girl, where does your grandmother live?"

Nurauq didn't much like being called little girl, but she pointed politely with her chin to a cliff.

"That's a long walk for a two-legged creature," said Old Wolf. "Allow me to carry your bag for you."

很久很久以前，在阿拉斯加，動物可以和人類交談。一天，一匹老狼在河邊遇見了一個小女孩。女孩名叫努拉克。

老狼跟女孩打招呼道：“你好（尤皮克語），你在這兒做什么？”

“我給我外婆帶些食物去。”努拉克說。

“食物”二字令他豎起了皸裂的耳朵。他早已跑不動了，再也抓不住鮮嫩多汁的老鼠。很多個月里，他只能吃村民們丟棄的殘羹——發霉的魚皮和腐爛的馴鹿骨頭。不過現在他有了主意——從這個小女孩手中騙到一些真正的食物。

他朝努拉克眨了眨金色的眼睛，說道：“我的天，你身上的皮大衣可真好看。”

努拉克說：“謝謝（尤皮克語），這是我外婆給我縫的，用了好多松鼠皮。”

“你給她帶的是什么食物？”

“剛抓的鰻魚。”努拉克答道。

"Not on your 1ife." said Nurauq. Her black eyes sparkled like wet beach stones. "My mother warned me to watch out for your tricky ways."

"Well then, at least let me carry you across the river on my back so your mukluks⑥don't get wet."

"No need." said Nurauq. "I can hop from stone to stone, like this."

"I'll just hurry ahead and tell your grandmother you are coming," he said. "That way she can heat some water to cook those eels."

"No!" said Nurauq. "Mauluqa might jump out of her skin to see a wolf at the door."

Old Wolf wheezed⑦and limped along with her. This little girl is hard to trick, he thought.

On the horizon, the moon began to show like the edge of a white clam shell, this gave Old Wolf an idea. "Slow down," he said. "If you give me one of your eels. I will make some magic for you."

"Magic?" asked Nurauq. "Don't you know we wolves make the moon rise at night?" Old Wolf lifted his nose into the air and began to howl. Because he was old, lonely and very hungry, his howls reached the ends of the earth. Slowly and steadily, the ful lmoon began to rise over the tundra⑧.

鰻魚，他想著。我可以吞下一條鰻魚不帶嚼的。他大聲問：“親愛的小姑娘，你外婆住在哪里？”

努拉克不怎么樂意被叫“小姑娘”，但她還是禮貌地用下巴指了指一座懸崖。

“兩條腿的生物要走過去夠遠的，”老狼說，“讓我幫你把包帶過去吧。”

“不用你操心。”努拉克說。她的黑眼珠閃爍著，像濕潤的海邊石頭。“我媽媽叮囑過我小心你的把戲。”

“好吧，那至少讓我背你過河，免得你的靴子打濕了。”

“不用了。”努拉克說，“我可以像這樣

Nurauq clapped her hands and said, "How lovely!"

Old Wolf could already imagine the taste of the fresh, oily eel. Then the girl began to giggle. "But you know perfectly well the moon rises every night all by itself."

一個個石頭跳過去。”

“我會先趕過去告訴你外婆你要到了。”他說，“這樣她可以燒水準備煮這些鰻魚。”

Old Wolf's tail drooped. Nurauq looked at his knobby ribs. "You poor old thing," she said. "You really are hungry. aren't you?"

Old Wolf didn't much like being called poor old thing, but he answered truthfully. "Yes, I could eat a bear."

Nurauq looked at the moon in the sky, smiled at Old Wolf, reached into her bag and tossed him a fat eel.

Old Wolf swallowed that eel in one gulp, Then he stretched out his front paws and bowed low to Nurauq, "Quyana, little one."

"You're welcome," she answered.

They had fi nally reached the house of Nurauq's grandmother. At the first sound of old Wolf's howls. Grandmother had come up to see what was happening. She noticed the shiny eel oil around Old Wolf's muzzle. "Has that old thing tricked you into feeding him?" she asked.

"No, Grandmother. He kept me company on the walk so that no bears would bother me."

"I did?" said Old Wolf. "Ah. yes. I did."

Grandmother smiled. "Well in that case, here's another eel for you."

That night, Nurauq and her Grandmother ate eel soup. Old Wolf slept just outside, protected from the cold wind by the mound. The moon moved all by itself among the glimmering stars, because Old Wolf was much too contented to howl it across the sky.

“不行！”努拉克說，“外婆（尤皮克語）看到一匹狼在門外會嚇一大跳的。”

老狼喘著氣，一瘸一拐地跟著她。這個小女孩真不好騙，他想。

地平線的那端，月亮開始顯現出白色蛤殼的形狀，老狼有了個主意。“慢點兒，”他說，“如果你給我一條鰻魚，我就給你變個魔術。”

“魔術？”努拉克問道。“你不知道是我們狼讓月亮在晚上升起嗎？”老狼抬起鼻子，開始嗥叫。因為他又老，又孤單，又餓，他的嗥叫聲抵達了天的另一邊。滿月開始從苔原緩緩地穩穩升起。

努拉克拍手叫道：“真美！”

老狼都能想象到鮮嫩多汁的鰻魚味道了。接著女孩開始咯咯笑。“但你明明知道，月亮每天晚上是自己升起的。”

老狼的尾巴垂了下來。努拉克看著他瘦骨嶙峋的樣子感嘆道，“可憐的老家伙，你真的很餓了，對嗎？”

老狼很不想被叫“老家伙”，但他坦承地回答：“是的，我可以吃下一只熊。”

努拉克看著天上的月亮，對老狼笑了笑，從包里拿出一只肥鰻魚丟給他。

老狼一口吞下鰻魚，伸出前爪對努拉克鞠了一躬，“謝謝你（尤皮克語），小家伙。”

“不用謝。”她回答。

他們終于到了努拉克外婆家。外婆聽到第一聲老狼的嗥叫，就從屋里出來看是怎么回事。她注意到老狼鼻口部的鰻魚油光。“那個老家伙騙你喂他了嗎？”她問道。

“沒有，外婆。他一路護送我過來，這樣就沒有熊敢傷我了。”

“我有嗎？”老狼說，“啊，是的，是我干的。”

外婆笑了。“好吧，看在這個分上，再給你一條鰻魚。”

那天晚上，努拉克和外婆喝了鰻魚湯。老狼就睡在外面，土堆保護他免受冷風的侵襲。月亮在閃爍的群星中自己移動，因為老狼心甘情愿地對著天空嗥叫。

①tattered 英 ['t?t?d] 美 ['t?t?d] adj. 破爛的，衣衫襤褸的 v. 變破爛（tatter的過去分詞）

②moldy 英 ['m??ld?] 美 ['moldi] adj. 發霉的；乏味的；陳腐的

③caribou 英 ['k?r?bu?] 美 ['k?r?bu] n. 北美馴鹿

④parka 英 ['pɑ?k?] 美 ['pɑrk?] n. （戶外穿著用的）派克大衣；皮質大衣

⑤eel 英 [i?l] 美 [il] n. 鰻魚；鱔魚

⑥mukluk 英 ['m?kl?k] 美 ['m?kl?k] n. 用裘作襯里的長統靴

⑦wheeze 英 [wi?z] 美 [wiz] vi. 喘息；呼哧呼哧地響vt. 喘息著說；喘息地發出n. 喘息；喘氣聲

⑧tundra 英 ['t?ndr?] 美 ['t?ndr?] n. [生態]苔原；[地理] 凍原；凍土地帶