霍比特人：Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire 才出煎锅又入火坑

OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE

才出煎锅又入火坑

Bilbo had escaped the goblins, but he did not know where he was. He had lost hood, cloak, food, pony, his buttons and his friends. He wandered on and on, till the sun began to sink westwards—behind the mountains. Their shadows fell across Bilbo’s path, and he looked back. Then he looked forward and could see before him only ridges and slopes falling towards lowlands and plains glimpsed occasionally between the trees.

比尔博逃出了半兽人的魔穴，却不知道自己身在何处。他弄丢了兜帽、斗篷、食物、小马、纽扣和所有的朋友。他漫无目的地走啊走，直到太阳开始西沉——落到大山背后去了。大山把自已的阴影投在比尔博走的路上，他回头望望，然后又朝前看去，前面只有山岭与山坡在往下绵延，通往低地与平原，但低地与平原被树林挡住了，只有透过缝隙才能偶然得见。

“Good heavens!” he exclaimed. “I seem to have got right to the other side of the Misty Mountains, right to the edge of the Land Beyond! Where and O where can Gandalf and the dwarves have got to? I only hope to goodness they are not still back there in the power of the goblins!”

“老天爷啊!”比尔博惊叹道，“我好像穿过了迷雾山脉，来到了山的另一边，来到了遥远之地的边缘!哦!甘道夫和矮人们究竟去了哪儿啊?我只希望老天保佑，他们不会还在半兽人的势力范围内!”

He still wandered on, out of the little high valley, over its edge, and down the slopes beyond; but all the while a very uncomfortable thought was growing inside him. He wondered whether he ought not, now he had the magic ring, to go back into the horrible, horrible, tunnels and look for his friends. He had just made up his mind that it was his duty, that he must turn back—and very miserable he felt about it—when he heard voices.

他继续漫无目的地往前走，走出了狭窄的山谷，越过了山谷边缘，往山坡下走去，但心中一直萦绕着一个让他很不舒服的念头。他在想的是，既然已经有了魔法戒指，难道不该再回到那些恐怖黑暗的隧道中找寻自己的朋友吗?他刚下定决心，认为这是他的责任，必须回去——这想法让他很是痛苦——就在这时，他听见了说话的声音。

He stopped and listened. It did not sound like goblins; so he crept forward carefully. He was on a stony path winding downwards with a rocky wall on the left hand; on the other side the ground sloped away and there were dells below the level of the path overhung with bushes and low trees. In one of these dells under the bushes people were talking.

他停下脚步听了起来。这不像是半兽人的声音，因此他小心翼翼地又朝前走了几步。这时他踏在一条蜿蜒向下的石径上，左边是一片岩壁，另一边则是一道通往下方的斜坡，从上面看去，可以看见下面的山谷中长着许多灌木和低矮的植物。在其中一座山谷中的灌木丛之下，有人在交谈。

He crept still nearer, and suddenly he saw peering between two big boulders a head with a red hood on: it was Balin doing look-out. He could have clapped and shouted for joy, but he did not. He had still got the ring on, for fear of meeting something unexpected and unpleasant, and he saw that Balin was looking straight at him without noticing him.

他又潜近了些，突然看见一个戴着红兜帽的脑袋在两块大石头间若隐若现：那是负责站岗的巴林。他差点高兴得拍手大叫起来，但他忍住了。由于担心还会遇到什么意外的险情，他手上依然戴着戒指，因此，他看见巴林虽然看着自己的方向，却根本没注意到自己。

“I will give them all a surprise,” he thought, as he crawled into the bushes at the edge of the dell. Gandalf was arguing with the dwarves. They were discussing all that had happened to them in the tunnels, and wondering and debating what they were to do now. The dwarves were grumbling, and Gandalf was saying that they could not possibly go on with their journey leaving Mr. Baggins in the hands of the goblins, without trying to find out if he was alive or dead, and without trying to rescue him.

“我要给大家一个惊喜。”他这么想着，就钻进了山谷边的灌木丛中。甘道夫正在和矮人们争论着什么，他们在讨论着发生在隧道中的事情，想要决定接下来该怎么办。矮人们在抱怨着，而甘道夫则坚持说决不能把巴金斯先生留在半兽人手里，他们自己管自己上路，至少得弄清他是死是活，或者该去尝试营救他。

“After all he is my friend,” said the wizard, “and not a bad little chap. I feel responsible for him. I wish to goodness you had not lost him.”

“他毕竟是我的朋友。”巫师说，“他也不是个坏人，我对他有责任，我真希望你们没有把他给弄丢。”

The dwarves wanted to know why he had ever been brought at all, why he could not stick to his friends and come along with them, and why the wizard had not chosen someone with more sense. “He has been more trouble than use so far,” said one. “If we have got to go back now into those abominable tunnels to look for him, then drat him, I say.”

矮人们想要知道当初把他带来究竟有什么用，为什么他不能跟紧他的朋友们，和他们一起行动，巫师又为什么不挑选一个更机灵点的家伙。“到目前为止他惹的麻烦比帮的忙多，”有人说，“如果我们现在还得回到那可恶的隧道里去找他，还不如让他见鬼去呢。”

Gandalf answered angrily: “I brought him, and I don’t bring things that are of no use. Either you help me to look for him, or I go and leave you here to get out of the mess as best you can yourselves. If we can only find him again, you will thank me before all is over. Whatever did you want to go and drop him for, Dori?”

甘道夫生气地回答：“带他来的人是我，我决不会带上一个没用的人。要么你们帮我一起去找他，要么我自己去找，你们就留在这里，自己想办法从麻烦中脱身。如果我们能找到他的话，在探险结束以前你们一定会感谢我的。多瑞，你当初为什么只顾着自己跑，把他给丢下了?”

“You would have dropped him,” said Dori, “if a goblin had suddenly grabbed your legs from behind in the dark, tripped up your feet, and kicked you in the back!”

“如果有个半兽人在黑暗中突然从背后抓住你，把你绊倒作地，还在你背上踢一脚，”多瑞辩解道，“换了你也会背不住他的!”

“Then why didn’t you pick him up again?”

“那你为什么不回头把他再背上呢?”

“Good heavens! Can you ask! Goblins fighting and biting in the dark, everybody falling over bodies and hitting one another! You nearly chopped off my head with Glamdring, and Thorin was stabbing here there and everywhere with Orcrist. All of a sudden you gave one of your blinding flashes, and we saw the goblins running back yelping. You shouted ‘follow me everybody!’ and everybody ought to have followed. We thought everybody had. There was no time to count, as you know quite well, till we had dashed through the gate-guards, out of the lower door, and helter-skelter down here. And here we are—without the burglar, confusticate him!”

“天哪!亏你还好意思问!半兽人在黑暗里又打又咬，每个人不是在别人身上绊倒，就是互相撞来撞去!你差点用格拉姆德凛剑把我的脑袋砍掉，索林则挥舞着他的奥克锐斯特剑到处乱戳。然后，你突然放出那种能把人眼睛都照瞎的闪光，我们看见半兽人尖叫着逃回去了。你大喊‘大家跟我来’，大家应该都跟着你走了。我们以为大家都跟上了。那会儿哪有时间点数啊，这你应该很明白，然后我们就一路杀过门口的守卫，冲出了矮门，慌里慌张地就跑到这儿来了。“现在我们就是这副样子——飞贼不见了，我们把他抛弃啦!”

“And here’s the burglar!” said Bilbo stepping down into the middle of them, and slipping off the ring.

“飞贼在这儿呢!”比尔博说着走到大伙儿中间，褪下了戒指。

Bless me, how they jumped! Then they shouted with surprise and delight. Gandalf was as astonished as any of them, but probably more pleased than all the others. He called to Balin and told him what he thought of a look-out man who let people walk right into them like that without warning. It is a fact that Bilbo’s reputation went up a very great deal with the dwarves after this. If they had still doubted that he was really a first-class burglar, in spite of Gandalf’s words, they doubted no longer. Balin was the most puzzled of all; but everyone said it was a very clever bit of work.

我的天哪，大家伙儿见了他全都跳了起来，然后发出惊喜的欢呼。甘道夫和别人一样吃惊，但他的欢喜或许要更胜其他人一筹。他把巴林叫了过来，问他是怎么放的哨，居然让人走到了他们身边而没有发出一点警告。经过这件事以后，比尔博在矮人们中间声名鹊起。就算之前他们对比尔博作为一流飞贼的身份仍然有所怀疑，哪怕甘道夫再怎么夸奖、推荐也没用，可现在他们彻彻底底地服了。尽管巴林依旧百思不得其解，但大家却都说比尔博这手露得真漂亮。

Indeed Bilbo was so pleased with their praise that he just chuckled inside and said nothing whatever about the ring; and when they asked him how he did it, he said: “Oh, just crept along, you know—very carefully and quietly.”

大伙儿的赞誉比尔博听了着实受用，他在心中窃笑着，嘴上却对戒指的事只字不提。当大家问他究竟怎么办到的时候，他说：“哦，没什么，悄悄地走过来就行了——当然，要非常小心，一点声音也没有。”

“Well, it is the first time that even a mouse has crept along carefully and quietly under my very nose and not been spotted,” said Balin, “and I take off my hood to you.” Which he did.

“以前，就算再小心，再没有声音，也没有哪怕一只小老鼠能从我鼻子底下经过而不被我发觉的，你绝对是头一个。”巴林说，“请接受我脱帽致敬。”说完他真的这么做了。

“Balin at your service,” said he.

“巴林愿意为您效劳!”他敬佩地说道。

“Your servant, Mr. Baggins,” said Bilbo.

“在下巴金斯愿意为您效劳!”比尔博答礼道。

Then they wanted to know all about his adventures after they had lost him, and he sat down and told them everything—except about the finding of the ring (“not just now” he thought). They were particularly interested in the riddle-competition, and shuddered most appreciatively at his description of Gollum.

接着他们全都想要知道比尔博和他们走散之后的冒险经历，于是他坐了下来，将一切娓娓道来——只把找到戒指这件事瞒了下来。(“只是现在暂时不说而已。”他是这样想的。)他们对于猜谜比赛的那段听得津津有味，听到他对咕噜的描述时全都感到刺激得微微发抖。

“And then I couldn’t think of any other question with him sitting beside me,” ended Bilbo; “so I said ‘what’s in my pocket?’ And he couldn’t guess in three goes. So I said: ‘what about your promise? Show me the way out!’ But he came at me to kill me, and I ran, and fell over, and he missed me in the dark. Then I followed him, because I heard him talking to himself. He thought I really knew the way out, and so he was making for it. And then he sat down in the entrance, and I could not get by. So I jumped over him and escaped, and ran down to the gate.”

“那时，他在我旁边坐着，我哪还想得出什么谜题啊，”比尔博的讲述临近了尾声，“所以，我就问‘我的口袋里面有什么?’他连猜了三次都没猜中。于是我问他：‘你答应的事怎么办?你得带我出去!’可是他过来要杀我，我撒腿就跑，没多久摔了一跤，黑暗之中他从我旁边擦身而过。然后我就一路跟着他，因为我听见过他自言自语，他以为我其实知道出去的路，就沿着这条路一路走来。到了入口的地方，他一屁股坐了下来，把我的路给挡住了。最后，我只好从他头上跳了过去，一路跑到了大石门。”

“What about the guards?” they asked. “Weren’t there any?”

“那些守卫呢?”他们问，“门口难道没有守卫吗?”

“O yes! lots of them; but I dodged ’em. I got stuck in the door, which was only open a crack, and I lost lots of buttons,” he said sadly looking at his torn clothes. “But I squeezed through all right—and here I am.”

“有!多得是，可全都叫我给躲过去了。门只开了一条缝，我给卡在了门里，好多扣子都挣掉了呢，”他看着自己扯破的衣服难过地说道，“可我最终还是挤了出来——于是我就在这儿了。”

The dwarves looked at him with quite a new respect, when he talked about dodging guards, jumping over Gollum, and squeezing through, as if it was not very difficult or very alarming.

比尔博从容讲述着自己躲避守卫、跳过咕噜和挤出大门的过程，仿佛这并不是什么很困难或是很可怕的事情，矮人们听了不禁用比之前更尊敬的眼光看着他。

“What did I tell you?” said Gandalf laughing. “Mr. Baggins has more about him than you guess.” He gave Bilbo a queer look from under his bushy eyebrows, as he said this, and the hobbit wondered if he guessed at the part of his tale that he had left out.

“我跟你们怎么说来着?”甘道夫笑着说道，“巴金斯先生的实力可是远远超出你们的想像啊!”他说这话的时候，从他那浓密的眉毛下面对巴金斯使了个奇怪的眼色，霍比特人不禁怀疑他是否已经猜到故事中他隐瞒掉的内容了。

Then he had questions of his own to ask, for if Gandalf had explained it all by now to the dwarves, Bilbo had not heard it. He wanted to know how the wizard had turned up again, and where they had all got to now.

接着，比尔博也有问题要问。就算之前甘道夫已经对矮人们都解释过一切了，可比尔博并没有听到。他想要知道巫师是怎么重新出现的，他们后来又去了哪儿。

The wizard, to tell the truth, never minded explaining his cleverness more than once, so now he told Bilbo that both he and Elrond had been well aware of the presence of evil goblins in that part of the mountains. But their main gate used to come out on a different pass, one more easy to travel by, so that they often caught people benighted near their gates. Evidently people had given up going that way, and the goblins must have opened their new entrance at the top of the pass the dwarves had taken, quite recently, because it had been found quite safe up to now.

说实话，巫师并不介意再次讲述他的聪明睿智，因此，他就跟比尔博说了起来。他和埃尔隆德早就知道这一带有邪恶的半兽人出没，但是，以前他们的正门是在另一个路上的，一条更好走些的路，他们经常在夜晚捕捉不小心靠近的旅人。显然，人们后来再也不走那条路了，于是半兽人肯定在山顶的通道，也就是矮人们走的那条路旁盖了个新的门，这应该是最近的事情，因为直到现在，人们都觉得那条路是相当安全的。

“I must see if I can’t find a more or less decent giant to block it up again,” said Gandalf, “or soon there will be no getting over the mountains at all.”

“我得要看看，是否能找到一个多少还算正直的巨人把那个门再堵起来，”甘道夫说，“不然这山很快就没法儿过了。”

As soon as Gandalf had heard Bilbo’s yell he realized what had happened. In the flash which killed the goblins that were grabbing him he had nipped inside the crack, just as it snapped to. He followed after the drivers and prisoners right to the edge of the great hall, and there he sat down and worked up the best magic he could in the shadows.

甘道夫在避雨的山洞里一听到比尔博的叫喊，就意识到发生了什么。借着那道杀死那些抓他的半兽人的闪光，他在裂缝合拢前的一刹那溜了进去。他跟着半兽人士兵和他们的囚犯一路来到大厅附近，接着他坐了下来，开始在黑暗中准备他所掌握的最强大的魔法。

“A very ticklish business, it was,” he said. “Touch and go!”

“那可真是需要算计得非常准确才行，”他说，“一击成功之后必须马上逃离!”

But, of course, Gandalf had made a special study of bewitchments with fire and lights (even the hobbit had never forgotten the magic fireworks at Old Took’s midsummer-eve parties, as you remember). The rest we all know—except that Gandalf knew all about the back-door, as the goblins called the lower gate, where Bilbo lost his buttons. As a matter of fact it was well known to anybody who was acquainted with this part of the mountains; but it took a wizard to keep his head in the tunnels and guide them in the right direction.

但是，当然啦，甘道夫对于火焰和光的魔法有特别的研究(就连霍比特人也一直对老图克家夏至宴会中的烟火表演念念不忘，这你们应该还记得)。其他的我们都知道了——惟一的例外是甘道夫早就知道有后门，也就是半兽人口中的下层门，比尔博掉了纽扣的地方。事实上，任何了解这一带地形的人都知道有这个出口，但要能在隧道中保持冷静，带领他们朝正确的方向前进，则非得是巫师才行。

“They made that gate ages ago,” he said, “partly for a way of escape, if they needed one; partly as a way out into the lands beyond, where they still come in the dark and do great damage. They guard it always and no one has ever managed to block it up. They will guard it doubly after this,” he laughed.

“他们在很多年之前就造了这座大门，既是为了在需要的时候能有一条逃跑的路径，也是为了有一条路通向山背后的地区，他们现在还会趁天黑出来，对这一带造成很大的祸害。他们日夜守着这个出口，没有任何人能够将这个门堵死。经过这次事情后，他们肯定更要加强守卫了。”甘道夫大笑着说。

All the others laughed too. After all they had lost a good deal, but they had killed the Great Goblin and a great many others besides, and they had all escaped, so they might be said to have had the best of it so far.

其他的人也跟着开怀大笑。虽然他们损失了很多东西，但他们也杀死了那个高大的半兽人首领和许多半兽人士兵，而且都安全地逃了出来。所以，到目前为止，他们或许可以说是取得了胜利。

But the wizard called them to their senses. “We must be getting on at once, now we are a little rested,” he said. “They will be out after us in hundreds when night comes on; and already shadows are lengthening. They can smell our footsteps for hours and hours after we have passed. We must be miles on before dusk. There will be a bit of moon, if it keeps fine, and that is lucky. Not that they mind the moon much, but it will give us a little light to steer by.”

但巫师让他们恢复了清醒。“既然我们已经稍稍休息了一下，那么必须要马上出发了。”他说，“等夜幕降临，就会有成百上千的半兽人出来追杀我们。现在影子已经渐渐长起来了，只要是我们经过的地方，他们在若干小时内都还能闻出我们的足迹，因此我们必须赶在天黑之前尽量远离此地。如果天气一直晴好的话，晚上会有一点月光，这对我们来说是幸运的事情。他们不是很在乎月光，但月光能方便我们认路前进。”

“O yes!” he said in answer to more questions from the hobbit. “You lose track of time inside goblin-tunnels. Today’s Thursday, and it was Monday night or Tuesday morning that we were captured. We have gone miles and miles, and come right down through the heart of the mountains, and are now on the other side—quite a short cut. But we are not at the point to which our pass would have brought us; we are too far to the North, and have some awkward country ahead. And we are still pretty high up. Let’s get on!”

“哦，是的!”还没等霍比特人提出更多的问题来他就先回答了，“你在半兽人的洞穴中已经忘记白天黑夜了。今天是周四，我们是在周一晚上或周二凌晨被抓的，从那以后走了很长的路，从大山的肚子里穿了出来，现在来到了山的另外一边——倒是条捷径，但和我们经过原计划中的道路所到达的地点有一段距离，太偏北了，所以前面会有一段不太好走的乡村野路。我们现在所处位置的地势还很高呢，还是快赶路吧!”

“I am dreadfully hungry,” groaned Bilbo, who was suddenly aware that he had not had a meal since the night before the night before last. Just think of that for a hobbit! His stomach felt all empty and loose and his legs all wobbly, now that the excitement was over.

“我的肚子实在是饿坏了。”比尔博被甘道夫这么一说，才突然意识到他已经有整整两三天没吃过一顿饭了。想想看，这对爱吃的霍比特人来说意味着什么吧!兴奋劲儿一过去，他才发现肚子瘪瘪的，饿得咕咕直叫，双腿也直打颤。

“Can’t help it,” said Gandalf, “unless you like to go back and ask the goblins nicely to let you have your pony back and your luggage.”

“没办法，”甘道夫说，“除非你想要再回去，客客气气地请那些半兽人把行李和小马还给你。”

“No thank you!” said Bilbo.

“那还是算了吧!”比尔博说。

“Very well then, we must just tighten our belts and trudge on—or we shall be made into supper, and that will be much worse than having none ourselves.”

“很好，那我们就只能勒紧裤带，继续我们的跋涉——否则找们就要成为别人的晚餐了，这可比不吃晚餐要糟糕多了!”

As they went on Bilbo looked from side to side for something to eat; but the blackberries were still only in flower, and of course there were no nuts, not even hawthorn-berries. He nibbled a bit of sorrel, and he drank from a small mountain-stream that crossed the path, and he ate three wild strawberries that he found on its bank, but it was not much good.

他们继续上路以后，比尔博一直左顾右盼，希望能够找到点吃的东西，但黑莓才刚开始开花，坚果当然更没影，就连山楂果子也一个都没见到。他找了些苦苦的酸模啃了几口，又从横贯过小径的山溪里喝了些水，吃了三颗溪岸边找到的野草莓，但肚子依然饿得厉害。

They still went on and on. The rough path disappeared. The bushes, and the long grasses between the boulders, the patches of rabbit-cropped turf, the thyme and the sage and the marjoram, and the yellow rockroses all vanished, and they found themselves at the top of a wide steep slope of fallen stones, the remains of a landslide. When they began to go down this, rubbish and small pebbles rolled away from their feet; soon larger bits of split stone went clattering down and started other pieces below them slithering and rolling; then lumps of rock were disturbed and bounded off, crashing down with a dust and a noise. Before long the whole slope above them and below them seemed on the move, and they were sliding away, huddled all together, in a fearful confusion of slipping, rattling, cracking slabs and stones.

他们继续前进，走着走着连依稀的山径也消失了，之前的灌木丛、砾石间的长草、兔子经营出来的小片草皮、百里香、山艾树、香花薄荷和黄色的岩蔷薇也全都消失了，他们发现自己身处一片满是落石的宽阔陡坡上，这必定是山崩的遗迹。他们沿着陡坡开始往下走，尘土和小石子从脚边往下滚去。没多久更大块的碎石就哗啦啦地落了下来，落在下面的石头上，带动着它们一起滑动翻滚。再接着，大片大片的岩石都被扰动了，翻跌着滚落，所到之处激起一阵巨响，荡起一团尘埃。到最后，他们上面和下面的整个山坡似乎都动了起来，大家跟着山坡一起滑落，挤跌成一团，与轰隆隆、哗啦啦、呼噜噜翻滚的大小石头一起陷入一片可怕的混乱之中。

It was the trees at the bottom that saved them. They slid into the edge of a climbing wood of pines that here stood right up the mountain slope from the deeper darker forests of the valleys below. Some caught hold of the trunks and swung themselves into lower branches, some (like the little hobbit) got behind a tree to shelter from the onslaught of the rocks. Soon the danger was over, the slide had stopped, and the last faint crashes could be heard as the largest of the disturbed stones went bounding and spinning among the bracken and the pine-roots far below.

长在斜坡底部的树木救了他们一命。他们滑到了山坡边的一丛松树里，这丛松树是从下面山谷中更深更黑暗的树林里伸出到斜坡上来的。有些人抓住了树干，慢慢地滑到了靠下一点的树枝上，有些人(比如小霍比特人)则藏身树后，躲避着落下的岩石。很快，危险过去了，滑坡停止了，最大、最沉重的岩石旋转着落入下方的羊齿蕨和松树树根间，传来最后一些微弱的撞击之声。

“Well! that has got us on a bit,” said Gandalf; “and even goblins tracking us will have a job to come down here quietly.”

“很好!我们又多了一点领先优势了，”甘道夫说，“就算是追杀我们的半兽人也得费一番工夫才能太太平平地下来吧!”

“I daresay,” grumbled Bombur; “but they won’t find it difficult to send stones bouncing down on our heads.” The dwarves (and Bilbo) were feeling far from happy, and were rubbing their bruised and damaged legs and feet.

“这话不错，”邦伯口齿不清地说道，“不过他们要从上面对着我们的脑袋扔石头可不是什么难事。”矮人们和比尔博一点都不觉得髙兴，他们都在揉搓着被石头擦伤砸破的腿和脚。

“Nonsense! We are going to turn aside here out of the path of the slide. We must be quick! Look at the light!”

“没的话!我们这就朝旁边拐一拐，离开滑坡要经过的线路。我们的动作得快了!你们看天色!”

The sun had long gone behind the mountains. Already the shadows were deepening about them, though far away through the trees and over the black tops of those growing lower down they could still see the evening lights on the plains beyond. They limped along now as fast as they were able down the gentle slopes of a pine forest in a slanting path leading steadily southwards. At times they were pushing through a sea of bracken with tall fronds rising right above the hobbit’s head; at times they were marching along quiet as quiet over a floor of pine-needles; and all the while the forest-gloom got heavier and the forest-silence deeper. There was no wind that evening to bring even a sea-sighing into the branches of the trees.

太阳早已落到山背后去了，他们四周的阴影已经渐渐加深，尽管穿过远处树木的缝隙，越过比它们长得更低的林木的黑色树梢，他们依旧可以看见遥远平原上的晚霞。他们一瘸一拐地勉力前行着。现在，他们走的是一面平缓的斜坡，斜坡上长满松树，林间倾斜向下的小路一直朝着南方延伸。有些时候，他们必须拨开正好高过霍比特人头顶的茂密生长的羊齿蕨叶子，才能够艰难前行;有时候他们又寂静无声地在一地松针中大步走着，整个一路森林的阴郁之气变得越来越重，寂静则变得越来越深邃。那天晚上，没有一点风吹进松林，令其发出海涛般的歌吟。

“Must we go any further?” asked Bilbo, when it was so dark that he could only just see Thorin’s beard wagging beside him, and so quiet that he could hear the dwarves’ breathing like a loud noise. “My toes are all bruised and bent, and my legs ache, and my stomach is wagging like an empty sack.”

“我们非得再走吗?”比尔博问道，这时天色已经黑到他只能看见索林的胡子在他身边乱晃，周围的寂静使得矮人的呼吸声在他耳朵里成了响亮的噪音。“我的脚指头都破了而且弯了半天，我的腿很痛，我的胃像个空袋子一样甩来甩去。”

“A bit further,” said Gandalf.

“再走一点。”甘道夫说。

After what seemed ages further they came suddenly to an opening where no trees grew. The moon was up and was shining into the clearing. Somehow it struck all of them as not at all a nice place, although there was nothing wrong to see.

经过了似乎有好几年那么长的跋涉后，他们来到了一块没有树木生长的空地，月亮升起来了，正照着这块空地。虽然这里看着没有什么不对劲，但他们都觉得这里不像是什么好地方。

All of a sudden they heard a howl away down hill, a long shuddering howl. It was answered by another away to the right and a good deal nearer to them; then by another not far away to the left. It was wolves howling at the moon, wolves gathering together!

突然，他们听见从山下传来一声嗥叫，那是悠长而带着颤抖的嗥叫。这声嗥叫得到了来自另一边也就是右边的应和，距离离他们更近;然后左边不太远的地方也响起了一声回应。这是狼群在对着月亮嗥叫，它们正在呼朋引伴!

There were no wolves living near Mr. Baggins’ hole at home, but he knew that noise. He had had it described to him often enough in tales. One of his elder cousins (on the Took side), who had been a great traveller, used to imitate it to frighten him. To hear it out in the forest under the moon was too much for Bilbo. Even magic rings are not much use against wolves—especially against the evil packs that lived under the shadow of the goblin-infested mountains, over the Edge of the Wild on the borders of the unknown. Wolves of that sort smell keener than goblins, and do not need to see you to catch you!

在巴金斯先生家乡的洞府附近是没有狼出没的，但他认得这声音，他之前听过的故事里对此有很多描述。他有一位年长的表亲(是图克家那边的)，游历过许多地方，他曾经模仿过这种声音来吓唬他。在月下的森林中听见这声音对比尔博来说实在是太可怕了。就算他有魔法戒指，对狼也没什么办法——尤其是生活在半兽人出没的大山阴影中，在荒野之缘与未知世界接壤地带的邪恶狼群。这里的恶狼嗅觉比半兽人还要灵敏，根本不需要看见你就能把你抓住!

“What shall we do, what shall we do!” he cried. “Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!” he said, and it became a proverb, though we now say “out of the frying-pan into the fire” in the same sort of uncomfortable situations.

“我们该怎么办，该怎么办?”他惊慌失措地大喊着，“刚躲开半兽人，又被恶狼逮住!”他说的这句话后来成为了一句成语，尽管我们现在碰到同样让人难受的处境多半会说“才出煎锅，又人火坑”。

“Up the trees quick!” cried Gandalf; and they ran to the trees at the edge of the glade, hunting for those that had branches fairly low, or were slender enough to swarm up. They found them as quick as ever they could, you can guess; and up they went as high as ever they could trust the branches. You would have laughed (from a safe distance), if you had seen the dwarves sitting up in the trees with their beards dangling down, like old gentlemen gone cracked and playing at being boys. Fili and Kili were at the top of a tall larch like an enormous Christmas tree. Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin were more comfortable in a huge pine with regular branches sticking out at intervals like the spokes of a wheel. Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin were in another. Dwalin and Balin had swarmed up a tall slender fir with few branches and were trying to find a place to sit in the greenery of the topmost boughs. Gandalf, who was a good deal taller than the others, had found a tree into which they could not climb, a large pine standing at the very edge of the glade. He was quite hidden in its boughs, but you could see his eyes gleaming in the moon as he peeped out.

“快上树!”甘道夫大喊道。大家立刻跑到草地边缘的树林中，找寻那些树枝相对低矮的树，或是树干较细、比较好爬的树。你可以想见，他们当时爬起树来个个都是要多快有多快，而且只要树枝能承受得了他们的重量，都是能爬多高就爬多高。如果你在旁边(当然，得在安全的距离之外)，看到矮人们坐在树枝上，胡须飘来荡去，就像一群老头儿突然发起了疯，玩起了扮孩子的游戏，一定会忍俊不禁的。菲力和奇力躲在一株高大的、长得很像圣诞树的落叶松顶端。多瑞、诺瑞、欧瑞、欧因和格罗因则在一株巨大的松树上找到了更舒服的藏身之处，这棵松树的树枝长得很有规律，几乎是等距离地伸展出去，就像是轮子的辐条一样。比弗、波弗和邦伯挤在另一棵松树上。杜瓦林和巴林爬上了一棵又高又细的杉树，拼命想在树顶的绿色枝叶中找到可以落脚的地方。甘道夫由于个子比大家都高，因此找到了一棵其他人都爬不上去的树，那是位于草地边缘的一棵大松树。他在枝叶中隐藏得相当好，不过，当他往外张望的时候，你还是可以看见他的双眼在月光下放射着光芒。

And Bilbo? He could not get into any tree, and was scuttling about from trunk to trunk, like a rabbit that has lost its hole and has a dog after it.

那么比尔博呢?他哪棵树也爬不上去，正心急慌忙地从一棵树跑到另一棵树，就像一只失去了洞穴的兔子，屁股后面还有一条狗在撵着。

“You’ve left the burglar behind again!” said Nori to Dori looking down.

“你又把飞贼给扔在后面了!”诺瑞对多瑞说。

“I can’t be always carrying burglars on my back,” said Dori, “down tunnels and up trees! What do you think I am? A porter?”

“我总不能一直把飞贼背在背上吧?”多瑞说，“又下隧道又上树的!你以为我是谁啊?挑夫吗?”

“He’ll be eaten if we don’t do something,” said Thorin, for there were howls all round them now, getting nearer and nearer. “Dori!” he called, for Dori was lowest down in the easiest tree, “be quick, and give Mr. Baggins a hand up!”

“如果我们不想点办法，他会被吃掉的!” 索林说，因为这时的狼嚎声已经四面都是，而且越来越近了。“多瑞!”他大叫道，因为多瑞距离地面最近，他在的那棵树也是最好爬的，“快点，把巴金斯先生拉上来!”

Dori was really a decent fellow in spite of his grumbling. Poor Bilbo could not reach his hand even when he climbed down to the bottom branch and hung his arm down as far as ever he could. So Dori actually climbed out of the tree and let Bilbo scramble up and stand on his back.

虽然多瑞很爱抱怨，但其实他是个很好心的人。可即使多瑞爬到最下面的树枝上倒挂着伸出手臂，可怜的比尔博还是抓不到他的手。因此，多瑞索性从树上爬了下来，让比尔博踩在他的背上往上爬。

Just at that moment the wolves trotted howling into the clearing. All of a sudden there were hundreds of eyes looking at them. Still Dori did not let Bilbo down. He waited till he had clambered off his shoulders into the branches, and then he jumped for the branches himself. Only just in time! A wolf snapped at his cloak as he swung up, and nearly got him. In a minute there was a whole pack of them yelping all round the tree and leaping up at the trunk, with eyes blazing and tongues hanging out.

就在那时，野狼们嗥叫着小步跑进了空地，突然间便有几百双眼睛望向他们。多瑞没有让比尔博掉下来，他一直等他从自己的肩膀爬上树之后，才跳上树枝，真是千钧一发啊!在他翻身上树的刹那，一只狼叼住了他的斗篷，差点把他给扯了下去。没过不久，就有一整群狼在围着树嗥叫不已，还对着树干跃扑着，舌头吐在外面，眼睛放着凶光。

But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees. For a time they were safe. Luckily it was warm and not windy. Trees are not very comfortable to sit in for long at any time; but in the cold and the wind, with wolves all round below waiting for you, they can be perfectly miserable places.

可即便它们是凶桿的座狼(荒野之缘的野狼就叫这个名字)，它们也不会爬树。他们至少暂时是安全的。幸好这时天气暖和，也没有刮风。本来树枝也不是能让人舒舒服服地久坐的地方，但如果要是碰到寒冷的天气，刮着大风，再有恶狼围在下面等着吃你，那它们可成了十足要人命的地方。

This glade in the ring of trees was evidently a meeting-place of the wolves. More and more kept coming in. They left guards at the foot of the tree in which Dori and Bilbo were, and then went snuffling about till they had smelt out every tree that had anyone in it. These they guarded too, while all the rest (hundreds and hundreds it seemed) went and sat in a great circle in the glade; and in the middle of the circle was a great grey wolf. He spoke to them in the dreadful language of the Wargs. Gandalf understood it. Bilbo did not, but it sounded terrible to him, and as if all their talk was about cruel and wicked things, as it was. Every now and then all the Wargs in the circle would answer their grey chief all together, and their dreadful clamour almost made the hobbit fall out of his pine-tree.

这块林中空地显然是野狼们聚会的地方，只见越来越多的狼不断向这边集中过来。它们在多瑞和比尔博所在的那棵树下留了守卫，然后四处嗅啊闻的，直到把躲着人的树都找了出来为止。它们在这些树下也派出了守卫看守，其他的狼(看着有好几百只)则在草地中央围成一个大圈坐了下来，位于圆圈中央的是一只身形庞大的灰狼，它用座狼的恐怖语言对其余的狼说话。甘道夫能听懂这种狼的语言。比尔博虽然听不懂，但觉得这种语言非常可怕，好像它们在谈论的是残忍而又邪恶的事情，而事实也的确如此。每隔一段时间，所有围成圈的座狼就会齐声应和它们的灰狼首领，而它们可怕的嗥叫声，几乎让霍比特人从栖身的松树上跌落下来。

I will tell you what Gandalf heard, though Bilbo did not understand it. The Wargs and the goblins often helped one another in wicked deeds. Goblins do not usually venture very far from their mountains, unless they are driven out and are looking for new homes, or are marching to war (which I am glad to say has not happened for a long while). But in those days they sometimes used to go on raids, especially to get food or slaves to work for them. Then they often got the Wargs to help and shared the plunder with them. Sometimes they rode on wolves like men do on horses. Now it seemed that a great goblin-raid had been planned for that very night. The Wargs had come to meet the goblins and the goblins were late. The reason, no doubt, was the death of the Great Goblin, and all the excitement caused by the dwarves and Bilbo and the wizard, for whom they were probably still hunting.

虽然比尔博听不懂狼话，但甘道夫可是全听懂了。座狼和半兽人经常会相帮着做坏事。半兽人通常不会冒险远离大山，除非他们被赶了出来，被迫要寻找新家，或是行军到远方去作战(关于这一点我很高兴地告诉大家，这样的事情已经很久没发生了)。在那个年代，他们有时会四处劫掠，夺取食物或是去抓替他们工作的奴隶。这些时候，他们往往会请座狼来帮忙，事后会和他们一起分享劫掠来的赃物。有时候他们还会骑在狼的身上就像人类骑马一样。从现在的情形来看，那天晚上半兽人似乎计划了一场大行动，座狼是来和半兽人会面的，而半兽人则迟到了。毫无疑问，其原因便是他们的高个子首领被杀，再加上比尔博、矮人们和巫师所造成的骚乱。这会儿，半兽人也许还在追捕他们呢。

In spite of the dangers of this far land bold men had of late been making their way back into it from the South, cutting down trees, and building themselves places to live in among the more pleasant woods in the valleys and along the river-shores. There were many of them, and they were brave and well-armed, and even the Wargs dared not attack them if there were many together, or in the bright day. But now they had planned with the goblins’ help to come by night upon some of the villages nearest the mountains. If their plan had been carried out, there would have been none left there next day; all would have been killed except the few the goblins kept from the wolves and carried back as prisoners to their caves.

即使在这块遥远土地上有许多危险，勇敢的人类近来还是从南方千方百计回到此地，砍伐树木，在山谷或是河岸边更安全宜人的树林中为自己建起了栖身之所。他们人数很多，勇敢善战而又武器精良。如果他们是集体行动，或是在大白天，那么就连座狼也不敢对他们发起攻击。不过，这次它们计划在半兽人的帮助下，趁着黑夜对最靠近山边的几座村子发动袭击。如果它们的计划得以实施，那么第二天这些村子里就不会有人剩下了，所有人都会被杀，除了半兽人从狼嘴里拦下来的一小部分，那是因为半兽人要把他们抓回去当奴隶。

This was dreadful talk to listen to, not only because of the brave woodmen and their wives and children, but also because of the danger which now threatened Gandalf and his friends. The Wargs were angry and puzzled at finding them here in their very meeting-place. They thought they were friends of the woodmen, and were come to spy on them, and would take news of their plans down into the valleys, and then the goblins and the wolves would have to fight a terrible battle instead of capturing prisoners and devouring people waked suddenly from their sleep. So the Wargs had no intention of going away and letting the people up the trees escape, at any rate not until morning. And long before that, they said, goblin soldiers would be coming down from the mountains; and goblins can climb trees, or cut them down.

这些话听着就让人毛骨悚然，不仅是因为这些勇敢的伐木人和他们的妻儿有可能要惨遭毒手，也因为甘道夫和他的朋友们眼下就面临着极大的危险。座狼对于会在他们集会的地方发现这些人感到既愤怒又迷惑。它们认为这些人是伐木人的朋友，是前来侦察他们的，会把它们进攻的计划通知下面的山谷。半兽人和狼群原先准备趁着黑夜，偷袭尚在梦乡中的村民，把他们抓去做奴隶或是大快朵颐。可现在这样一来，偷袭就会成为一场艰苦的血战了。因此，座狼们不打算离开这里，让树上的这些家伙逃脱，至少也要把他们拖到天亮。它们还说，在那之前，半兽人的士兵就会从山上下来了，这些半兽人可以爬树，也可以将树砍倒，反正有办法收拾这帮闯进来的探子。

Now you can understand why Gandalf, listening to their growling and yelping, began to be dreadfully afraid, wizard though he was, and to feel that they were in a very bad place, and had not yet escaped at all. All the same he was not going to let them have it all their own way, though he could not do very much stuck up in a tall tree with wolves all round on the ground below. He gathered the huge pine-cones from the branches of the tree. Then he set one alight with bright blue fire, and threw it whizzing down among the circle of the wolves. It struck one on the back, and immediately his shaggy coat caught fire, and he was leaping to and fro yelping horribly. Then another came and another, one in blue flames, one in red, another in green. They burst on the ground in the middle of the circle and went off in coloured sparks and smoke. A specially large one hit the chief wolf on the nose, and he leaped in the air ten feet, and then rushed round and round the circle biting and snapping even at the other wolves in his anger and fright.

大家现在能明白，为什么甘道夫听着它们的嗥叫与嘶吼，虽然身为巫师，也开始感到恐惧起来了吧。他感到他们正处于非常危险的境地，根本就没有逃脱。眼下自己被困在树上，地上有狼群围着，简直无计可施，然而尽管如此，他还是不想让他们得偿所愿。他从身处的大松树上收集了一大堆大个儿的松果，然后用蓝色火焰将其中一个点燃，嗖地朝着围成圈的狼群扔去。松果打在了一只狼的背上，它那毛茸茸的狼皮外套马上就烧了起来，烧得它前蹿后跳，发出可怕的尖叫。然后火球一颗接一颗地抛了下来，一颗燃着蓝色火焰，一颗燃着红色火焰，还有一颗则燃着绿色火焰。它们在地面上狼群围成的圈子中间炸了开来，冒出各种颜色的火星和烟雾。一颗特别大的松果正中狼群首领的鼻子，疼得它一跳足有十呎高，然后在惊恐与愤怒中围着狼群的圈子拼命奔跑并胡乱撕咬，甚至咬到了其他恶狼。

The dwarves and Bilbo shouted and cheered. The rage of the wolves was terrible to see, and the commotion they made filled all the forest. Wolves are afraid of fire at all times, but this was a most horrible and uncanny fire. If a spark got in their coats it stuck and burned into them, and unless they rolled over quick they were soon all in flames. Very soon all about the glade wolves were rolling over and over to put out the sparks on their backs, while those that were burning were running about howling and setting others alight, till their own friends chased them away and they fled off down the slopes crying and yammering and looking for water.

矮人们和比尔博大叫着，欢呼着。群狼发怒的样子看起来十分恐怖，让整个森林都跟着骚动了起来。狼自古以来就是怕火的，但这次它们碰到的火尤为可怕和怪异。只要有一点火星落到它们的皮毛上，就会沾在上面燃烧起来，除非它们赶紧就地打滚，否则马上就会被火焰吞噬。没多久，整个草地上到处是狼在打滚，想把背上的火星熄灭，而那些已经烧了起来的狼则嚎哭着四处奔逃，倒把其他的狼给点着了，最后它们的伙伴只好把它们赶远，它们一路哀号着跑下山坡去寻找水源。

“What is all this uproar in the forest tonight?” said the Lord of the Eagles. He was sitting, black in the moonlight, on the top of a lonely pinnacle of rock at the eastern edge of the mountains. “I hear wolves’ voices! Are the goblins at mischief in the woods?”

“今天晚上森林里这些闹腾是怎么冋事?”大鹰之王说。它在月光下一身漆黑，蹲坐在山脉东角的一座孤岩之巅，“我听见狼群的声音了!半兽人是不是又在森林里作恶了?”

He swept up into the air, and immediately two of his guards from the rocks at either hand leaped up to follow him. They circled up in the sky and looked down upon the ring of the Wargs, a tiny spot far far below. But eagles have keen eyes and can see small things at a great distance. The Lord of the Eagles of the Misty Mountains had eyes that could look at the sun unblinking, and could see a rabbit moving on the ground a mile below even in the moonlight. So though he could not see the people in the trees, he could make out the commotion among the wolves and see the tiny flashes of fire, and hear the howling and yelping come up faint from far beneath him. Also he could see the glint of the moon on goblin spears and helmets, as long lines of the wicked folk crept down the hillsides from their gate and wound into the wood.

它腾身而起飞向空中，随即左右两边两只担任护卫的大鹰也跃起跟了上来。它们在空中盘旋，俯瞰着地面上座狼围成的圆圈，从高处望向那只是极小的一点。不过，大鹰们拥有极佳的眼力，可以从很远的地方看见很小的东西。迷雾山脉鹰王的眼睛可以直视太阳而不眨眼，也可以甚至在月光下看清楚一哩之外奔跑的一只兔子。因此，尽管它看不见躲在树上的人们，但它可以看清楚底下狼群的骚乱，看见火光的细微闪烁，听见从下方极远处传来的微弱的嗥叫与嘶吼。它还能看见月光在半兽人的长矛和头盔上的反光，这些邪恶的家伙正排着长队从他们的大门出来，沿着山坡悄悄向下，迂回着向树林进发。

Eagles are not kindly birds. Some are cowardly and cruel. But the ancient race of the northern mountains were the greatest of all birds; they were proud and strong and noble-hearted. They did not love goblins, or fear them. When they took any notice of them at all (which was seldom, for they did not eat such creatures), they swooped on them and drove them shrieking back to their caves, and stopped whatever wickedness they were doing. The goblins hated the eagles and feared them, but could not reach their lofty seats, or drive them from the mountains.

老鹰并不是和善的鸟类，有些老鹰是懦弱而残忍的，但北方山脉的古老鹰族是鸟中之王，它们骄傲、强壮，拥有髙尚的心灵。它们不喜欢半兽人，也不怕他们。当它们注意这些家伙的时候(这种情况并不多，因为它们不吃这样的生物)，它们会直扑向他们，赶得这些家伙尖叫着逃回洞里去，从而终止他们正在干的坏事。半兽人对大鹰又恨又怕，可是他们既无法到达它们高峻的巢穴，也无法将它们从山中赶走。

Tonight the Lord of the Eagles was filled with curiosity to know what was afoot; so he summoned many other eagles to him, and they flew away from the mountains, and slowly circling ever round and round they came down, down, down towards the ring of the wolves and the meeting-place of the goblins.

今夜，鹰王好奇心很盛，想要知道下面正在发生着什么，因此它召唤来许多大鹰，一起飞离山巅，缓缓地盘旋下降，朝着围成圈的群狼以及它们与半兽人会合的地点飞近。

A very good thing too! Dreadful things had been going on down there. The wolves that had caught fire and fled into the forest had set it alight in several places. It was high summer, and on this eastern side of the mountains there had been little rain for some time. Yellowing bracken, fallen branches, deep-piled pine-needles, and here and there dead trees, were soon in flames. All round the clearing of the Wargs fire was leaping. But the wolf-guards did not leave the trees. Maddened and angry they were leaping and howling round the trunks, and cursing the dwarves in their horrible language, with their tongues hanging out, and their eyes shining as red and fierce as the flames.

这真是件好事啊!下面正在发生着很可怕的事情，着了火之后逃进森林中去的群狼，让森林中几处地方烧了起来。此刻正是盛夏，这里是山的东侧，已经有很长时间没下过多少雨水了。没多久，黄色的羊齿蕨、掉落的枯枝、堆得厚厚的松针以及散布在各处的枯树全都烧了起来。座狼所在空地的四周已经到处是火苗在蹿动了，但狼群依旧不肯离开这些树木。它们气得发狂，围着那些有人的树干不停地跳跃、嗥叫，用它们恐怖的语言诅咒着矮人，舌头伸在外面，双眼如同火焰一般闪动着猛烈的红光。

Then suddenly goblins came running up yelling. They thought a battle with the woodmen was going on; but they soon learned what had really happened. Some of them actually sat down and laughed. Others waved their spears and clashed the shafts against their shields. Goblins are not afraid of fire, and they soon had a plan which seemed to them most amusing.

然后，突然间，半兽人吼叫着冲了出来。他们以为和伐木人之间的战斗正在进行中，但很快就发现了事情的真相。有些人甚至坐下来哈哈大笑，其他的人则是挥舞着长矛，用矛柄敲打着盾牌。半兽人不怕火，他们很快就想出了一个对他们来说很有趣的点子。

Some got all the wolves together in a pack. Some stacked fern and brushwood round the tree-trunks. Others rushed round and stamped and beat, and beat and stamped, until nearly all the flames were put out—but they did not put out the fire nearest to the trees where the dwarves were. That fire they fed with leaves and dead branches and bracken. Soon they had a ring of smoke and flame all round the dwarves, a ring which they kept from spreading outwards; but it closed slowly in, till the running fire was licking the fuel piled under the trees. Smoke was in Bilbo’s eyes, he could feel the heat of the flames; and through the reek he could see the goblins dancing round and round in a circle like people round a midsummer bonfire. Outside the ring of dancing warriors with spears and axes stood the wolves at a respectful distance, watching and waiting.

一些半兽人将所有的狼重新汇拢成一群，一些半兽人在树干底下堆起了羊齿蕨和矮灌木，还有一些则跑来跑去，又是踩来又是打，又是打来又是踩，直到差不多把所有的火焰都给扑灭了，但他们把最靠近矮人藏身那些树木的火留着，不仅不扑灭，反倒更往火里添加许多落叶、枯枝和蕨类。很快，矮人就被一个浓烟和烈焰的大圈子给包围了。半兽人不让这个圈子往外扩散，而是让它慢慢朝中心收缩，火焰终于烧到了堆放在树下的燃料。烟雾熏到了比尔博的双眼，他已经感受到了火焰的灼热。透过浓烟他可以看见半兽人围成圆圈在转着跳舞，就像人们围着仲夏夜的篝火所做的那样。在这圈拿着长矛和斧头不停跳舞的战士外面，群狼远远地站着，看着好戏上演，等待着它们乐于见到的结果。

He could hear the goblins beginning a horrible song:

他可以听见半兽人开始唱起了一首可怕的歌谣：

Fifteen birds in five fir-trees,

五棵冷杉树上有十五只鸟，

their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!

羽毛在狂风中不停飘摇!

But, funny little birds, they had no wings!

可是，可笑的小鸟，它们连翅膀也没有!

O what shall we do with the funny little things?

我们该拿这些可笑的小东西怎么开销?

Roast ’em alive, or stew them in a pot;

是把它们活活烤熟，还是在锅里炖得咕嘟冒泡;

fry them, boil them and eat them hot?

是把它们用油炸了，还是煮熟之后趁热吃掉?

Then they stopped and shouted out: “Fly away little birds! Fly away if you can! Come down little birds, or you will get roasted in your nests! Sing, sing little birds! Why don’t you sing?”

然后他们停下脚步来大叫道：“快飞走啊，小鸟们!会飞的话就请快飞走吧!下来吧，小鸟，不然你们就会在巢里面被活活烤熟啦!唱吧，唱吧，小鸟儿!你们为什么不唱歌呢?”

“Go away! little boys!” shouted Gandalf in answer. “It isn’t bird-nesting time. Also naughty little boys that play with fire get punished.” He said it to make them angry, and to show them he was not frightened of them—though of course he was, wizard though he was. But they took no notice, and they went on singing.

“滚开吧!小毛孩儿!”甘道夫大叫着回答，“现在可不是团聚的时候，而且玩火的淘气小毛孩儿是要受到惩罚的。”他说这话是为了激怒他们，而且让他们知道他一点儿也不害怕他们——尽管他当然是害怕的，虽然他是巫师。不过半兽人没有把甘道夫的回应当回事，他们继续唱道：

Burn, burn tree and fern!

烧吧，烧吧，大树和苔藓!

Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch

变枯，变焦!变成火把撕嘶烧

To light the night for our delight,

照亮黑夜，让我们乐翻天，

Ya hey!

呀嘿!

Bake and toast ’em, fry and roast ’em!

把他们烤一烤，炸一炸，烧一烧!

till beards blaze, and eyes glaze;

把他们的胡子烧焦，眼睛烤成玻璃球;

till hair smells and skins crack,

把他们头发烧出焦糊味道，把他们皮肤烤出裂缝一道道，

fat melts, and bones black

把他们的脂肪烤化，把他们的骨头烧得焦黑

in cinders lie

让他们变成一堆灰渣，

beneath the sky!

躺在天空之下!

So dwarves shall die,

矮人们就该这样死掉，

and light the night for our delight,

点亮夜空，让我们乐翻天，

Ya hey!

呀嘿!

Ya-harri-hey!

呀哈哩嘿!

Ya hoy!

呀呼!

And with that Ya hoy! the flames were under Gandalf’s tree. In a moment it spread to the others. The bark caught fire, the lower branches cracked.

那声“呀呼!”刚一完，火焰就来到了甘道夫藏身的那棵树下，而且转眼之间，又扩散到其他的树上。树皮着了火，较低的树枝开始劈啪作响。

Then Gandalf climbed to the top of his tree. The sudden splendour flashed from his wand like lightning, as he got ready to spring down from on high right among the spears of the goblins. That would have been the end of him, though he would probably have killed many of them as he came hurtling down like a thunderbolt. But he never leaped.

甘道夫立刻爬上树的最高点，他的魔杖突然发出耀眼的光芒，如同闪电一般，他准备就这样从高处跳进半兽人的长矛堆中去。这一跳跳下去后他必死无疑，虽然他这挟风带电、雷霆万钧的一跃，可能会杀死许多半兽人。然而，他这一跳却始终没有跳下去。

Just at that moment the Lord of the Eagles swept down from above, seized him in his talons, and was gone.

因为就在那一瞬间，鹰王从空中俯冲而下，一把就用爪子将他抓起，带着他飞走了。

There was a howl of anger and surprise from the goblins. Loud cried the Lord of the Eagles, to whom Gandalf had now spoken. Back swept the great birds that were with him, and down they came like huge black shadows. The wolves yammered and gnashed their teeth; the goblins yelled and stamped with rage, and flung their heavy spears in the air in vain. Over them swooped the eagles; the dark rush of their beating wings smote them to the floor or drove them far away; their talons tore at goblin faces. Other birds flew to the tree-tops and seized the dwarves, who were scrambling up now as far as they ever dared to go.

从半兽人那里传出一阵愤怒和失望的嚎叫。鹰王发出大声的鸣叫，因为甘道夫已经跟它说过话了。和它同行的大鹰们如同巨大的黑影般再度俯冲而下。狼群叹息着，咬紧了牙关;半兽人吼叫着，愤怒地跺脚，徒劳地将长矛往天空中掷去。大鹰对着他们俯冲过去，扇动的翅膀在黑暗中强劲地扫过，将他们击倒在地，或是以劲风将他们驱散，它们的利爪撕扯半兽人的脸孔，其他的大鹰飞近树梢，将尽力往树梢爬去的矮人们一个个抓起救走。

Poor little Bilbo was very nearly left behind again! He just managed to catch hold of Dori’s legs, as Dori was borne off last of all; and up they went together above the tumult and the burning, Bilbo swinging in the air with his arms nearly breaking.

可怜的小比尔博这次差点又被大家撇下!他最后关头终于抓住了多瑞的双腿，而多瑞是最后一个被接走的。他们就这样离开了下面这一团混乱与火海的场景，比尔博在空中害怕得拼命舞动双臂，差点把两条胳膊都给弄断了。

Now far below the goblins and the wolves were scattering far and wide in the woods. A few eagles were still circling and sweeping above the battleground. The flames about the trees sprang suddenly up above the highest branches. They went up in crackling fire. There was a sudden flurry of sparks and smoke. Bilbo had escaped only just in time!

现在，远远的下方，半兽人和野狼在森林中四散奔跑，几只大鹰仍在战场上盘旋扫荡。原先在树周围的火焰突然间都窜上了最高的枝条，烈火熊熊，大树被烧得噼啪作响，猛然间爆出一团团火星与浓烟来。比尔博堪堪躲过一劫!

Soon the light of the burning was faint below, a red twinkle on the black floor; and they were high up in the sky, rising all the time in strong sweeping circles. Bilbo never forgot that flight, clinging onto Dori’s ankles. He moaned “my arms, my arms!”; but Dori groaned “my poor legs, my poor legs!”

很快，底下的火光就变弱了，成为黑色地面上星星点点闪动的红光。他们身在高空，不停地盘旋着往上飞。比尔博一直没忘记自己是在飞行，死死地抓着多瑞的脚踝，哀嚎着：“我的手臂啊，我的手臂啊!”而多瑞哭喊的则是：“我可怜的腿啊，我可怜的腿啊!”

At the best of times heights made Bilbo giddy. He used to turn queer if he looked over the edge of quite a little cliff; and he had never liked ladders, let alone trees (never having had to escape from wolves before). So you can imagine how his head swam now, when he looked down between his dangling toes and saw the dark lands opening wide underneath him, touched here and there with the light of the moon on a hill-side rock or a stream in the plains.

就算是在最年轻力壮的时候，比尔博到了高处也会犯晕，哪怕是从一个小悬崖的边上望出去，他都会变得局促不安起来。他从来不喜欢爬梯子，更别提爬树了(因为他之前从来就没有躲避恶狼的需要)。所以大家可以想见当他从自己晃来晃去的脚趾头之间看见黑色的土地在下面如画卷般铺展开来，沐浴在月光下的岩坡或是平原上的溪流点缀其间时，脑袋该晕成什么样儿了吧!

The pale peaks of the mountains were coming nearer, moonlit spikes of rock sticking out of black shadows. Summer or not, it seemed very cold. He shut his eyes and wondered if he could hold on any longer. Then he imagined what would happen if he did not. He felt sick.

山脉的苍白群峰越来越靠近，被月光照亮的岩石峰尖从暗影中突兀而出。不管是不是夏天，这幅景象看起来都好冷。他闭上眼睛，不知道自己是否能再撑下去。然后他想像万一自己支撑不住会有怎样的事情发生——想着想着他就恶心想吐了。

The flight ended only just in time for him, just before his arms gave way. He loosed Dori’s ankles with a gasp and fell onto the rough platform of an eagle’s eyrie. There he lay without speaking, and his thoughts were a mixture of surprise at being saved from the fire, and fear lest he fall off that narrow place into the deep shadows on either side. He was feeling very queer indeed in his head by this time after the dreadful adventures of the last three days with next to nothing to eat, and he found himself saying aloud: “Now I know what a piece of bacon feels like when it is suddenly picked out of the pan on a fork and put back on the shelf!”

对他来说，这场飞行结束得正是时候，因为他的双手再也支持不住了。他舒了一口气，松开多瑞的脚踝，倒在鹰巢所在的粗砺平台上。他躺在那里一言不发，心中感到又惊又怕，惊的是自己居然能够从大火中逃生，怕的是自己此刻躺的地方如此狭窄，一个不小心就会滚落到两边暗黑的深谷中去。在经过了过去三天的可怕冒险又几乎什么都没吃的情况下，此刻他脑子里的想法十分奇怪，他听见自己竟然把脑子里想到的东西大声说了出来：“现在我知道，一片火腿被人用叉子从煎锅里叉出来，重新放回到架子上去是什么感觉了!”

“No you don’t!” he heard Dori answering, “because the bacon knows that it will get back in the pan sooner or later; and it is to be hoped we shan’t. Also eagles aren’t forks!”

“不，你才不知道呢!”他听见多瑞回答，“因为火腿知道自己迟早总会回到煎锅里去的，而我们可不希望再回去了，再说大鹰也不是叉子!”

“O no! Not a bit like storks—forks, I mean,” said Bilbo sitting up and looking anxiously at the eagle who was perched close by. He wondered what other nonsense he had been saying, and if the eagle would think it rude. You ought not to be rude to an eagle, when you are only the size of a hobbit, and are up in his eyrie at night!

“噢，不!它们一点也不像沙子——叉子，我是说。”比尔博坐起身来，紧张地看着停在他近旁的大鹰。他不知道自己刚才说了些什么蠢话，也不知道大鹰们是否会认为这些话很粗鲁。如果你只有霍比特人这么大小，又是在夜间身处大鹰的巢穴中，那么最好别对他不礼貌!

The eagle only sharpened his beak on a stone and trimmed his feathers and took no notice.

大鹰只是在岩石上磨着巨喙，梳理着羽毛，根本没注意他们两个。

Soon another eagle flew up. “The Lord of the Eagles bids you to bring your prisoners to the Great Shelf,” he cried and was off again. The other seized Dori in his claws and flew away with him into the night leaving Bilbo all alone. He had just strength to wonder what the messenger had meant by ‘prisoners,’ and to begin to think of being torn up for supper like a rabbit, when his own turn came.

没多久，另一只大鹰飞了过来。“鹰王命令你把俘虏们带到大架岩去。”他把这句话叫完就又飞走了。巢中的这只大鹰用爪子将多瑞抓起，一鹰一人共同飞入了夜色中，把比尔博一个人留了下来。他身上剩下的一点点力气刚够他去思考信使口中的“俘虏”究竟是什么意思，然后他又开始想，等轮到他自己的时候，他会不会像只兔子一样被生吞活剥了当晚餐。

The eagle came back, seized him in his talons by the back of his coat, and swooped off. This time he flew only a short way. Very soon Bilbo was laid down, trembling with fear, on a wide shelf of rock on the mountain-side. There was no path down on to it save by flying; and no path down off it except by jumping over a precipice. There he found all the others sitting with their backs to the mountain wall. The Lord of the Eagles also was there and was speaking to Gandalf.

大鹰飞了回来，用爪子抓住他外套的后背，又飞了出去。这次他只飞了很短一段距离。很快，比尔博就被放了下来，怕得浑身发抖，呆立在山边上一面如同宽阔架子的岩壁上。除了靠飞以外，没有别的方法可以抵达该处，而且这里也没有办法离开，除非从悬崖上跳下去。在这里，他发现所有的伙伴们都背靠岩壁坐着。鹰王也在，他正在和甘道夫说话。

It seemed that Bilbo was not going to be eaten after all. The wizard and the eagle-lord appeared to know one another slightly, and even to be on friendly terms. As a matter of fact Gandalf, who had often been in the mountains, had once rendered a service to the eagles and healed their lord from an arrow-wound. So you see ‘prisoners’ had meant ‘prisoners rescued from the goblins’ only, and not captives of the eagles. As Bilbo listened to the talk of Gandalf he realized that at last they were going to escape really and truly from the dreadful mountains. He was discussing plans with the Great Eagle for carrying the dwarves and himself and Bilbo far away and setting them down well on their journey across the plains below.

看来比尔博不会被吃掉了。巫师和鹰王似乎之前打过点交道，甚至还有一些交情。事实上，经常来往于山间的甘道夫曾经帮过这些大鹰，还帮它们的首领治好过箭伤。所以各位明白了吧，所谓的“俘虏”，其实只是指“从半兽人手中救下的俘虏”，而不是大鹰们的俘虏。比尔博听了会儿甘道夫的谈话，这才意识到他们终于就要真正地逃离这座可怕的大山了。他正在和鹰王讨论计划，准备将矮人们、他自己和比尔博运走，带他们穿过平原回到原先计划好的旅途上。

The Misty Mountains Looking West from the Eyrie towards Goblin Gate

鹰王不愿意送他们靠近任何有人住的地方。“

The Lord of the Eagles would not take them anywhere near where men lived. “They would shoot at us with their great bows of yew,” he said, “for they would think we were after their sheep. And at other times they would be right. No! we are glad to cheat the goblins of their sport, and glad to repay our thanks to you, but we will not risk ourselves for dwarves in the southward plains.”

他们会用巨大的紫杉木弓射我们，”他说，“因为他们会以为我们想要抓他们的羊。平心而论，他们这么想也没错。所以不行!我们很愿意能坏了半兽人的好事，也很愿意报答你，但我们可不愿意为了矮人而在南面的平原上冒生命危险。”

“Very well,” said Gandalf. “Take us where and as far as you will! We are already deeply obliged to you. But in the meantime we are famished with hunger.”

“好吧，”甘道夫说，“那就把我们送到你们愿意去的最远的地方!我们已经欠你们很多情了。不过这会儿我们可都饿着哪!”

“I am nearly dead of it,” said Bilbo in a weak little voice that nobody heard.

“我快饿死了!”比尔博用微弱而又细小的声音说道，其他人都没听见。

“That can perhaps be mended,” said the Lord of the Eagles.

“这一点我们或许倒能帮得上忙!”鹰王说。

Later on you might have seen a bright fire on the shelf of rock and the figures of the dwarves round it cooking and making a fine roasting smell. The eagles had brought up dry boughs for fuel, and they had brought rabbits, hares, and a small sheep. The dwarves managed all the preparations. Bilbo was too weak to help, and anyway he was not much good at skinning rabbits or cutting up meat, being used to having it delivered by the butcher all ready to cook. Gandalf, too, was lying down after doing his part in setting the fire going, since Oin and Gloin had lost their tinder-boxes. (Dwarves have never taken to matches even yet.)

不久，岩壁上就烧起了明亮的火堆，矮人们围着火堆烹烤着，弄出好闻的烤肉香气来。大鹰们给他们送上了干树枝，还送来了几只兔子和一只小绵羊。料理的事情则由矮人们自己来操办。比尔博身体太虚弱了，什么忙都帮不上，再说给兔子剥皮或切肉这些事他也做不大来，在他以前的生活中，他一直习惯了由屠夫准备好一切，自己只要直接拿来做就行了。由于欧因和格罗因把火绒盒(矮人们直到那时也还不习惯用火柴)弄丢了，所以甘道夫帮大家生了火，做完这以后，他也躺倒休息去了。

So ended the adventures of the Misty Mountains. Soon Bilbo’s stomach was feeling full and comfortable again, and he felt he could sleep contentedly, though really he would have liked a loaf and butter better than bits of meat toasted on sticks. He slept curled up on the hard rock more soundly than ever he had done on his feather-bed in his own little hole at home. But all night he dreamed of his own house and wandered in his sleep into all his different rooms looking for something that he could not find nor remember what it looked like.

迷雾山脉的冒险就这样结束了。不久，比尔博的肚子又再次有了饱足的畅美感觉，他觉得这下可以美美地睡上一觉了，虽然按他平时的胃口，他比较喜欢面包和牛油，而不是树枝叉着的烤肉。他蜷缩成一团，在坚硬的岩石上睡着了，睡得甚至比在自己家里的羽毛床上还美。不过，一整晚他都梦到自己家，梦见自己在屋子的各个不同房间里找东西，可那东西他既没有找到，也不记得是什么样子的了。