《新月集》重译 | 被掳之地

【译文原创，侵权必究】

幽囚

妈妈，天空的光线已变成灰色，我不知道现在是什么时候。

我的游戏了无趣味，所以我来找你。今天是星期六，我们的亲子日。

妈妈，你别干活了，就坐在这儿，靠窗坐着，告诉我童话故事里的特潘塔沙漠在哪儿。

雨的阴影笼罩了整个天空，从这头直到那头。

猛烈的闪电正用它的利爪划破长空。

乌云轰隆，打雷的时候，我心里害怕，总爱贴着你不放。

当大雨在竹叶上啪嗒啪嗒地击打，我们的窗户在狂风中摇来摇去，数个小时，我喜欢和你单独坐在房间里，妈妈，听你讲童话故事里的特潘塔沙漠。

它在哪里，妈妈，在哪一处海的岸边，在哪一座山的脚下，在哪一个国王的疆域里？

那里没有树篱作为田野的标记，没有村民黄昏时分回村时穿过田野的小路，在森林里拾干树枝的女人，也不用把她的货物拿到市场上去。特潘塔沙漠，沙地上有一片片鹅黄色的草地，只有一棵树，是一对聪明老鸟儿的巢穴。

我可以想象，在这样一个阴天，国王年轻的儿子怎样独自骑着一匹灰马，穿过沙漠，去寻找那被幽囚在不知名大海对面，巨人宫殿里的公主。

当烟霞在遥远的天空降下雨来，闪电像一阵突然发作的疼痛，他是否记得他不幸的母亲，被国王抛弃，在打扫牛棚，暗自落泪？而他那时，正骑着马穿过童话故事中的特潘塔沙漠。

妈妈，你看，天还没黑，村子里的道路上已经没有了行人。

牧童早早地从草场回家了，农人也离开了田地，坐在茅舍屋檐下的草席上，注视着阴沉沉的乌云。

妈妈，我把所有的书都放到书架上了——现在不要叫我去做功课。

当我长大了，像我父亲一样大的时候，我将学会所有必须学会的东西。

但是今天，就是现在，告诉我，妈妈，童话故事里的特潘塔沙漠在哪里？

英文译本

THE LAND OF THE EXILE

Mother, the light has grown grey in the sky; I do not know what the time is.

There is no fun in my play, so I have come to you. It is Saturday, our holiday.

Leave off your work, mother; sit here by the window and tell me where the desert of Tepāntar in the fairy tale is?

The shadow of the rains has covered the day from end to end.

The fierce lightning is scratching the sky with its nails.

When the clouds rumble and it thunders, I love to be afraid in my heart and cling to you.

When the heavy rain patters for hours on the bamboo leaves, and our windows shake and rattle at the gusts of wind, I like to sit alone in the room, mother, with you, and hear you talk about the desert of Tepāntar in the fairy tale.

Where is it, mother, on the shore of what sea, at the foot of what hills, in the kingdom of what king?

There are no hedges there to mark the fields, no footpath across it by which the villagers reach their village in the evening, or the woman who gathers dry sticks in the forest can bring her load to the market. With patches of yellow grass in the sand and only one tree where the pair of wise old birds have their nest, lies the desert of Tepāntar.

I can imagine how, on just such a cloudy day, the young son of the king is riding alone on a grey horse through the desert, in search of the princess who lies imprisoned in the giant's palace across that unknown water.

When the haze of the rain comes down in the distant sky, and lightning starts up like a sudden fit of pain, does he remember his unhappy mother, abandoned by the king, sweeping the cow-stall and wiping her eyes, while he rides through the desert of Tepāntar in the fairy tale?

See, mother, it is almost dark before the day is over, and there are no travellers yonder on the village road.

The shepherd boy has gone home early from the pasture, and men have left their fields to sit on mats under the eaves of their huts, watching the scowling clouds.

Mother, I have left all my books on the shelf—do not ask me to do my lessons now.

When I grow up and am big like my father, I shall learn all that must be learnt.

But just for to-day, tell me, mother, where the desert of Tepāntar in the fairy tale is?