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2 The Shadow
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Ged had thought that as the prentice of a great mage he would enter at once into the mystery and mastery of power. He would understand the language of the beasts and the speech of the leaves of the forest, he thought, and sway the winds with his word, and learn to change himself into any shape he wished. Maybe he and his master would run together as stags, or fly to Re Albi over the mountain on the wings of eagles.
姟德思之。习道术者。将入秘境。解率兽之语。明林叶之诉。以言役风。随心赋形。今共师往瑞阿比，或化麋鹿而齐趋，或乘鹰鸷而逾岭，当有神也。
But it was not so at all. They wandered, first down into the Vale and then gradually south and westward around the mountain, given lodging in little villages or spending the night out in the wilderness, like poor journeyman-sorcerers, or tinkers, or beggars. They entered no mysterious domain. Nothing happened. The mage's oaken staff that Ged had watched at first with eager dread was nothing but a stout staff to walk with. Three days went by and four days went by and still Ogion had not spoken a single charm in Ged's hearing, and had not taught him a single name or rune or spell.
然弗若是，唯师徒步行，始则入谷，渐西南绕山行。路无庄舍，昏则野宿，如巫，如匠，如丐。行止如凡人，了无神奇。师所执杖，姟德尝所讶畏者，亦唯助步而。三四日间，未闻师一咏咒禁，亦无所教授者。
Though a very silent man he was so mild and calm that Ged soon lost his awe of him, and in a day or two more he was bold enough to ask his master, "When will my apprenticeship begin, Sir?"
师虽讷，然慈静，姟德渐不畏之，复一二日，稍询于师，“师几当教我？”
"It has begun," said Ogion.
“教矣”，师答之。
There was a silence, as if Ged was keeping back something he had to say. Then he said it: "But I haven't learned anything yet!"
姟德默然许时，若有欲言而苦隐者，究不能耐，“然小子犹无所得！”
"Because you haven't found out what I am teaching," replied the mage, going on at his steady, long-legged pace along their road, which was the high pass between Ovark and Wiss. He was a dark man, like most Gontishmen, dark copper-brown; grey-haired, lean and tough as a hound, tireless. He spoke seldom, ate little, slept less. His eyes and ears were very keen, and often there was a listening look on his face.
“子未知吾之所教者也，”师为答，而步不辍，奥沃克至威斯间，山高路隘，唯健行其中。师容止若冈底斯之众，黝肤灰发，长身健矫，无所倦惫。耳目甚敏，往往若有警者。
Ged did not answer him. It is not always easy to answer a mage.
道人固非易答者，姟德未之应。
"You want to work spells," Ogion said presently, striding along. "You've drawn too much water from that well. Wait. Manhood is patience. Mastery is nine times patience. What is that herb by the path?"
“汝欲习禁咒，”师即行即言。“然汝所习已多，过矣。待之。人立身者必耐烦，于学当九倍之。且视路畔，彼何种草？”
"Strawflower."
“蜡菊者也。”
"And that?"
“此又何种草？”
"I don't know."
“小子不知。”
"Fourfoil, they call it." Ogion had halted, the coppershod foot of his staff near the little weed, so Ged looked closely at the plant, and plucked a dry seedpod from it, and finally asked, since Ogion said nothing more, "What is its use, Master?"
“人所谓四叶草者。”师止步，以杖指之，姟德近视其草，撷其籽实。以师无复言，问曰，“吾师，此何所用？”
"None I know of."
“吾不之知。”
Ged kept the seedpod a while as they went on, then tossed it away.
师徒继行，姟德将其籽有顷，弃之。
"When you know the fourfoil in all its seasons root and leaf and flower, by sight and scent and seed, then you may learn its true name, knowing its being: which is more than its use. What, after all, is the use of you? or of myself? Is Gont Mountain useful, or the Open Sea?" Ogion went on a halfmile or so, and said at last, "To hear, one must be silent."
“子耳目观之，口鼻嗅之，并手植之，见其根叶花实四时生长，彼时当解其真如。知其真如，所得过于用度法。思之，汝何所用？吾何所用？此山何所用？彼沧海复何所用。”行半里许，复告之曰：“咨，人固宜讷。” |
发表于 2007-11-20 15:02:19
