《魔法師的外甥》第25期:安德魯舅舅的麻煩開始了(2)

"Quick, Digory!" said Polly. "Change rings and into' the home pool."

"Help! Help! Mercy!" cried the Witch in a faint voice, staggering after them. "Take me with you. You cannot. mean to leave me in this horrible place. It is killing me."

"It's a reason of State," said Polly spitefully. "Like when you killed all those people in your own world. Do be quick, Digory." They had put on their green rings, but Digory said:

"Oh bother! What are we to do?" He couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the Queen.

"Oh don't be such an ass," said Polly. "Ten to one she's only shamming. Do come on." And then both children plunged into the home pool. "It's a good thing we made that mark," thought Polly. But as they jumped Digory felt that a large cold finger and thumb had caught him by the ear. And as they sank down and the confused shapes of our own world began to appear, the grip of that finger and thumb grew stronger. The Witch was apparently recovering her strength. Digory struggled and kicked, but it was not of the least use. In a moment they found themselves in Uncle Andrew's study; and there was Uncle Andrew himself, staring at the wonderful creature that Digory had brought back from beyond the world.

And well he might stare. Digory and Polly stared too. There was no doubt that the Witch had got over her faintness; and now that one saw her in our own world, with ordinary things around her, she fairly took one's breath away. In Charn she had been alarming enough: in London, she was terrifying. For one thing, they had not realized till now how very big she was. "Hardly human" was what Digory thought when he looked at her; and he may have been right, for some say there is giantish blood in the royal family of Charn. But even her height was nothing compared with her beauty, her fierceness, and her wildness. She looked ten times more alive than most of the people one meets in London. Uncle Andrew was bowing and rubbing his hands and looking, to tell the truth, extremely frightened. He seemed a little shrimp of a creature beside the Witch. And yet, as Polly said after wards, there was a sort of likeness between her face and his, something in the expression. It was the look that all wicked Magicians have, the "Mark" which Jadis had said she could not find in Digory's face. One good thing about seeing the two together was that you would never again be afraid of Uncle Andrew, any more than you'd be afraid of a worm after you had met a rattlesnake or afraid of a cow after you had met a mad bull.

"Pooh!" thought Digory to himself. "Him a Magician! Not much. Now she's the real thing."

“快，迪格雷！”波莉說，“換戒指，跳進回家的水潭！”

“救命！救命！天呀！”女巫有氣無力地喊着，蹣跚地跟在後面，“把我帶上。你們不要把我留在這個可怕的地方，我會死的。”

“這是執政者的理由，”波莉恨恨地說，“就像你殺掉你的世界裏那麼多人一樣。快點，迪格雷。”他們已經戴上了綠戒指，但迪格雷說：

“真煩人！我們要幹什麼？”他不由得對女王產生了一絲憐憫。

“別當傻瓜，”波莉說，“她八成是裝的。快點兒。”然後，兩個孩子都跳進了回家的水潭。“幸好我們做了標記。”波莉想。但是，當他們往下跳時，迪格雷感到兩隻冰冷的大手指抓住了他的耳朵。他們沉下去了，我們這個世界開始模模糊糊、隱隱約約地導現出來。抓住他耳朵的手指也越來越有力。豪無疑問，女巫的力量正在恢復，迪格雷又打又踢，但毫無用處。一會兒，他們便到了安德魯舅舅的書房。安德色舅舅目瞪口呆地看着迪格雷從另一世界帶回的奇妙動物。

他這樣呆望着是有理由的。迪格雷和波莉也目瞪口呆。毫無疑問，女巫已經不再虛弱；眼下，她站在我們的世界裏，和周圍的普通事物一比，實在使人倒吸一口涼氣。在恰恩，她曾經使人非常驚訝：在倫敦，她使人感到恐懼。首先，他們到現在也沒弄清楚她到底有多麼龐大。“簡直不是人類。” 迪格雷看着她這樣想；他也許想得不錯，因爲有人說過，恰恩皇族有巨人血統。但她的高度，比起她的美貌、殘忍和野性來要遜色一籌。她看上去比倫敦街上的大多數人都要多出十倍的精力。安德魯舅舅躬腰、搓手，看着她；說實話，他害怕極了。在女巫身邊，他就像是蝦米一樣的小動物。而且，正如波莉後來說的，他和女巫的表情有某種相似之處；那是一種所有邪惡的魔法師都有的表情，即簡蒂絲說她在迪格雷臉上找不到的“標記”。看見這兩個人站在一起有一種好處：你不會再怕安德公舅舅，猶如見過響尾蛇不再怕蚯蚓，見過發瘋的公牛不再怕奶牛一樣。

“呸！”迪格雷想，“他也算魔法師！不夠格。她纔是真的。”