他睡著了，夢見獅子

He rested for what he believed to be two hours.

他歇了他認為大概是兩個鐘頭的時間。

The moon did not rise now until late and he had no way of judging the time.

這時節月亮升得晚，他沒有辦法判斷時刻。

Nor was he really resting except comparatively.

而且他也不算真的在休息，只是相對而言。

He was still bearing the pull of the fish across his shoulders but he placed his left hand on the gunwale of the bow and confided more and more of the resistance to the fish to the skiff itself.

他肩上還扛著那條魚的拉力，不過他把左手按在船頭的舷緣上，把抵抗那條魚的工作，越來越多地託付給小船本身。

How simple it would be if I could make the line fast, he thought.

要是能把線繫死，那該多簡單，他想。

But with one small lurch he could break it.

可是牠只要輕輕一竄，就能把它扯斷。

I must cushion the pull of the line with my body and at all times be ready to give line with both hands.

我必須用身體替這條線的拉力當緩衝，而且隨時準備用雙手放線。

"But you have not slept yet, old man," he said aloud.

「可是你還沒睡過，老頭子，」他出聲說。

"It is half a day and a night and now another day and you have not slept.

「半天加一夜，現在又是一天，你都沒睡。

You must devise a way so that you sleep a little if he is quiet and steady.

要是牠安靜又穩，你得想個法子讓自己睡一會兒。

If you do not sleep you might become unclear in the head."

要是不睡，你腦子可能會不清楚。」

I'm clear enough in the head, he thought.

我腦子夠清楚了，他想。

Too clear.

清楚過頭了。

I am as clear as the stars that are my brothers.

我跟那些當我兄弟的星星一樣清楚。

Still I must sleep.

可是我還是得睡。

They sleep and the moon and the sun sleep and even the ocean sleeps sometimes on certain days when there is no current and a flat calm.

牠們會睡，月亮和太陽也會睡，甚至連海洋有時候也會睡——在某些沒有海流、風平浪靜的日子裡。

But remember to sleep, he thought.

可是記得要睡，他想。

Make yourself do it and devise some simple and sure way about the lines.

逼自己去睡，並且想個簡單又可靠的辦法來對付那幾條線。

Now go back and prepare the dolphin.

現在挪回去把那條鬼頭刀處理好。

It is too dangerous to rig the oars as a drag if you must sleep.

要是你非睡不可，把槳綁成阻力就太危險了。

I could go without sleeping, he told himself.

我可以不睡，他對自己說。

But it would be too dangerous.

可是那太危險了。

He started to work his way back to the stern on his hands and knees, being careful not to jerk against the fish.

他手腳並用地往船尾挪，小心不要扯動那條魚。

He may be half asleep himself, he thought.

說不定牠自己也半睡半醒，他想。

But I do not want him to rest.

可是我不想讓牠休息。

He must pull until he dies.

牠必須一直拉到死。

Back in the stern he turned so that his left hand held the strain of the line across his shoulders and drew his knife from its sheath with his right hand.

回到船尾，他轉過身，讓左手扛住橫在肩上的那條線，右手從鞘裡抽出刀。

The stars were bright now and he saw the dolphin clearly and he pushed the blade of his knife into his head and drew him out from under the stern.

這會兒星星很亮，他看得清那條鬼頭刀；他把刀刃刺進牠的頭，把牠從船尾底下拖了出來。

He put one of his feet on the fish and slit him quickly from the vent up to the tip of his lower jaw.

他一隻腳踩住那條魚，飛快地從泄殖孔一路劃到牠下顎的尖端。

Then he put his knife down and gutted him with his right hand, scooping him clean and pulling the gills clear.

接著他放下刀，用右手把牠的內臟掏出來，掏乾淨，再把鰓扯下來。

He felt the maw heavy and slippery in his hands and he slit it open.

他覺得那個胃在手裡又重又滑，就把它剖開。

There were two flying fish inside.

裡頭有兩條飛魚。

They were fresh and hard and he laid them side by side and dropped the guts and the gills over the stern.

牠們還新鮮硬挺，他把牠們並排放好，把內臟和鰓從船尾丟下去。

They sank leaving a trail of phosphorescence in the water.

牠們沉了下去，在水裡留下一道磷光的痕。

The dolphin was cold and a leprous gray-white now in the starlight and the old man skinned one side of him while he held his right foot on the fish's head.

那條鬼頭刀這會兒冷了，在星光下呈現一種麻風似的灰白；老人右腳踩著魚頭，剝下牠一面的皮。

Then he turned him over and skinned the other side and cut each side off from the head down to the tail.

接著他把牠翻過來，剝下另一面的皮，再把兩面的肉從頭到尾各切了下來。

He slid the carcass overboard and looked to see if there was any swirl in the water.

他把骨架推下船，看看水裡有沒有漩渦。

But there was only the light of its slow descent.

可是只有它緩緩下沉時的那點光。

He turned then and placed the two flying fish inside the two fillets of fish and putting his knife back in its sheath, he worked his way slowly back to the bow.

於是他轉過身，把那兩條飛魚夾進兩片魚肉裡，再把刀插回鞘中，慢慢往船頭挪回去。

His back was bent with the weight of the line across it and he carried the fish in his right hand.

線橫在他背上，那重量把他的背壓彎了；他右手拎著那些魚。

Back in the bow he laid the two fillets of fish out on the wood with the flying fish beside them.

回到船頭，他把兩片魚肉攤在木板上，飛魚擱在旁邊。

After that he settled the line across his shoulders in a new place and held it again with his left hand resting on the gunwale.

然後他把線在肩上挪到一個新的位置安頓好，再用左手握著，手擱在舷緣上。

Then he leaned over the side and washed the flying fish in the water, noting the speed of the water against his hand.

接著他探出船舷，在水裡洗那兩條飛魚，一面留意水沖過他手的速度。

His hand was phosphorescent from skinning the fish and he watched the flow of the water against it.

他的手因為剝過魚而發著磷光；他看著水流沖過它。

The flow was less strong and as he rubbed the side of his hand against the planking of the skiff, particles of phosphorus floated off and drifted slowly astern.

水流弱了些；他把手側在船板上擦了擦，一顆顆磷的微粒浮了開來，慢慢往船尾漂去。

"He is tiring or he is resting," the old man said.

「牠累了，要不然就是在休息，」老人說。

"Now let me get through the eating of this dolphin and get some rest and a little sleep."

「現在讓我把這條鬼頭刀吃完，歇一歇，再睡一小覺。」

Under the stars and with the night colder all the time he ate half of one of the dolphin fillets and one of the flying fish, gutted and with its head cut off.

在星空下，夜越來越冷，他吃了半片鬼頭刀肉，還有一條飛魚——掏了內臟、切掉了頭。

"What an excellent fish dolphin is to eat cooked," he said. "And what a miserable fish raw. I will never go in a boat again without salt or limes."

「煮熟的鬼頭刀是多好的一條魚啊，」他說。「生的又是多可憐的一條魚。以後我上船，絕不會再不帶鹽或萊姆。」

If I had brains I would have splashed water on the bow all day and drying, it would have made salt, he thought.

要是我有腦子，我就整天往船頭潑水，水乾了就有鹽了，他想。

But then I did not hook the dolphin until almost sunset.

不過話說回來，我快日落才鉤到那條鬼頭刀。

Still it was a lack of preparation.

可是這還是準備不足。

But I have chewed it all well and I am not nauseated.

不過我都好好嚼了，也沒有反胃。

The sky was clouding over to the east and one after another the stars he knew were gone.

東邊的天正在起雲，他認得的星星一顆接一顆不見了。

It looked now as though he were moving into a great canyon of clouds and the wind had dropped.

這會兒看起來，他像是正駛進一道巨大的雲的峽谷，而風停了。

"There will be bad weather in three or four days," he said. "But not tonight and not tomorrow. Rig now to get some sleep, old man, while the fish is calm and steady."

「三四天後會有壞天氣，」他說。「不過不是今晚，也不是明天。趁那魚安靜又穩，現在就把睡覺的傢伙架好吧，老頭子。」

He held the line tight in his right hand and then pushed his thigh against his right hand as he leaned all his weight against the wood of the bow.

他用右手把線緊緊握住，再用大腿頂住右手，同時把全身的重量壓在船頭的木板上。

Then he passed the line a little lower on his shoulders and braced his left hand on it.

接著他把線在肩上往下挪了一點，用左手撐住它。

My right hand can hold it as long as it is braced, he thought.

只要撐住了，我的右手就握得住，他想。

If it relaxes in sleep my left hand will wake me as the line goes out.

要是睡著的時候它鬆了，線一出去，左手就會把我弄醒。

It is hard on the right hand.

這對右手很難受。

But he is used to punishment.

可是牠習慣受罰了。

Even if I sleep twenty minutes or a half an hour it is good.

就算只睡二十分鐘或半個鐘頭，也是好的。

He lay forward cramping himself against the line with all of his body, putting all his weight onto his right hand, and he was asleep.

他往前伏著，用整個身體把自己緊緊卡在那條線上，把全部重量都壓在右手上——然後他就睡著了。

He did not dream of the lions but instead of a vast school of porpoises that stretched for eight or ten miles and it was in the time of their mating and they would leap high into the air and return into the same hole they had made in the water when they leaped.

他沒有夢見獅子，夢見的是一大群鼠海豚，綿延八到十哩；那正是牠們交配的季節，牠們高高躍到空中，再從自己躍起時在水面打出的同一個洞裡回去。

Then he dreamed that he was in the village on his bed and there was a norther and he was very cold and his right arm was asleep because his head had rested on it instead of a pillow.

接著他夢見自己在村子裡，躺在自己床上，颳著北風，他很冷，而他的右臂麻了——因為他拿它當枕頭，沒有用枕頭。

After that he began to dream of the long yellow beach and he saw the first of the lions come down onto it in the early dark and then the other lions came and he rested his chin on the wood of the bows where the ship lay anchored with the evening off-shore breeze and he waited to see if there would be more lions and he was happy.

在那之後他開始夢見那道長長的黃色海灘，看見第一頭獅子在初暗中走下沙灘，接著其他的獅子也來了；他把下巴擱在船頭的木板上——那條船正下著錨，晚間的陸風吹著——他等著看還會不會有更多的獅子，而他很快樂。

The moon had been up for a long time but he slept on and the fish pulled on steadily and the boat moved into the tunnel of clouds.

月亮升起來很久了，他卻還睡著；那魚穩穩地拉著，船駛進了那道雲的隧道。

He woke with the jerk of his right fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand.

他醒過來，是被自己右拳猛地打上臉的那一下驚醒的——線正從他右手裡灼燒著竄出去。

He had no feeling of his left hand but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out.

他的左手一點知覺也沒有；他用右手拚命煞住，線還是狂洩。

Finally his left hand found the line and he leaned back against the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly.

終於左手摸到了線，他往後仰著抵住它；這會兒線灼著他的背和他的左手，而左手承受了全部的力道，割得很慘。

He looked back at the coils of line and they were feeding smoothly.

他回頭看那幾盤線，它們正順順地放出去。

Just then the fish jumped making a great bursting of the ocean and then a heavy fall.

就在這時，那魚跳了，海面轟然炸開，接著重重落下。

Then he jumped again and again and the boat was going fast although line was still racing out and the old man was raising the strain to breaking point and raising it to breaking point again and again.

接著牠一次又一次地跳；船走得飛快，儘管線還在狂洩，而老人一次又一次把張力提到斷裂點，再一次又一次提到斷裂點。

He had been pulled down tight onto the bow and his face was in the cut slice of dolphin and he could not move.

他被拉得死死壓在船頭上，臉正埋在那片切開的鬼頭刀肉裡，動彈不得。