霍比特人：An Unexpected Party 不速之客 （下）

Far over the misty mountains cold

越過冰冷而又霧蒙蒙的大山，

To dungeons deep and caverns old

在那深深地下洞穴已有千年，

We must away ere break of day

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

To seek the pale enchanted gold.

尋找那迷人的黃金顏色淺淺。

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,

往昔的矮人們念下強大咒語，

While hammers fell like ringing bells

伴著那鐵錘砸出的叮當(dāng)樂曲，

In places deep, where dark things sleep,

幽深之處有黑暗的生物沉睡，

In hollow halls beneath the fells.

在山石下的空穴深不知幾許。

For ancient king and elvish lord

精靈的貴族們和遠古的國王，

There many a gleaming golden hoard

擁有著閃閃發(fā)光的黃金寶藏，

They shaped and wrought, and light they caught

他們錘鍛黃金又將光芒捕捉，

To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

在劍柄的寶石之間將其斂藏!

On silver necklaces they strung

在銀項鏈上他們串起了一行

The flowering stars, on crowns they hung

星辰，如鮮花那般美麗綻放，

The dragon-fire, in twisted wire

在皇冠上他們綴以龍的火焰，

They meshed the light of moon and sun.

扭曲的線條間透出日月華光。

Far over the misty mountains cold

越過冰冷而又霧蒙蒙的大山，

To dungeons deep and caverns old

在那深深地下洞穴已有千年，

We must away, ere break of day,

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

To claim our long-forgotten gold.

把久已忘卻的黃金尋回眼前。

Goblets they carved there for themselves

他們?yōu)樽约捍蛟炝嗣利惥票?/p>

And harps of gold; where no man delves

黃金的豎琴，在從無人得窺

There lay they long, and many a song

之地寶藏長久靜躺，許多歌

Was sung unheard by men or elves.

人類和精靈都無緣聆賞其味。

The pines were roaring on the height,

松樹在那高峻之地放聲咆哮，

The winds were moaning in the night.

強風(fēng)在那夜半之時凄厲哀號。

The fire was red, it flaming spread;

火焰紅紅，火苗在迅猛蔓延，

The trees like torches blazed with light.

樹木如同火把將天都快點著。

The bells were ringing in the dale

山谷之中，鐘聲在陣陣鳴響，

And men looked up with faces pale;

人類抬頭張望臉色寫滿驚惶;

The dragon’s ire more fierce than fire

惡龍的怒火比那火焰更猛烈，

Laid low their towers and houses frail.

摧毀了巍巍高塔和柔弱屋房。

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;

山脈在月光下升起騰騰煙霧;

The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.

矮人們聽見末日的沉沉腳步。

They fled their hall to dying fall

他們逃離廳堂卻倒在它腳下，

Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

在月光下奄奄一息難逃劫數(shù)。

Far over the misty mountains grim

越過冰冷而又陰森森的大山，

To dungeons deep and caverns dim

在那深深地下洞穴分外昏暗，

We must away, ere break of day,

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

To win our harps and gold from him!

為奪回豎琴和黃金與它開戰(zhàn)!

As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He looked out of the window. The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark caverns. Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up—probably somebody lighting a wood-fire—and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again.

隨著他們的歌聲，霍比特人在心中升騰起一股對美好事物的摯愛來，那些美好的東西是由靈巧的雙手、智慧與魔法共同創(chuàng)造出來的，所以這種愛變得強烈而充滿嫉妒，矮人心中的欲望被點燃了。這時，他身體內(nèi)某種圖克家族所特有的東西被喚醒了，他想去看看那巍峨的山脈，想聆聽松樹的歌吟和瀑布的轟鳴，想探索一下那些洞穴，想要隨身配上一把寶劍而不只是一根手杖。他把目光投向窗外，黑暗的天空中星星已經(jīng)升起在了樹梢。他不禁聯(lián)想到了矮人的寶藏在黑暗的洞穴中閃光。突然間，小河對岸的林子里亮起了一團火光——也許是誰點燃了營火——這讓他想起了四處劫掠的惡龍盤踞在他的寧靜小丘上，將它變成了一片火海。想到這里，他不由得打了個寒戰(zhàn)，然后立刻恢復(fù)了清醒，又變回到與世無爭的袋底洞的巴金斯先生。

He got up trembling. He had less than half a mind to fetch the lamp, and more than half a mind to pretend to, and go and hide behind the beer-barrels in the cellar, and not come out again until all the dwarves had gone away. Suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and they were all looking at him with eyes shining in the dark.

他顫抖著站起身來，有點裝模作樣地要去拿油燈，其實他真正想做的是跑去躲在酒窖中的啤酒桶后面，等到矮人們?nèi)吖庖院蟛懦鰜?。突然間，他發(fā)現(xiàn)音樂和唱歌聲全都停了下來，所有矮人都在看著他，他們的眼睛在黑暗中閃著光。

“Where are you going?” said Thorin, in a tone that seemed to show that he guessed both halves of the hobbit’s mind.

“你要去哪兒?”從索林講話的口氣來判斷，他似乎對霍比特人明里暗里的心思都猜到了。

“What about a little light?” said Bilbo apologetically.

“來點亮光怎么樣?”比爾博滿懷歉意地問道。

“We like the dark,” said all the dwarves. “Dark for dark business! There are many hours before dawn.”

“我們喜歡黑暗。”全體矮人說， “不想告訴人的事情就得在黑暗里談!離天亮還有很長的時間呢。”

“Of course!” said Bilbo, and sat down in a hurry. He missed the stool and sat in the fender, knocking over the poker and shovel with a crash.

“當(dāng)然，當(dāng)然!”比爾博一邊說著一邊急忙坐了下來，孰料匆忙間沒坐上板凳，卻坐上了壁爐擋板，把壁爐旁邊的火鉗和鏟子給撞倒了。

“Hush!” said Gandalf. “Let Thorin speak!” And this is how Thorin began.

“噓!小聲點!”甘道夫說，“大家聽索林講!”索林于是就開始了：

“Gandalf, dwarves and Mr. Baggins! We are met together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit—may the hair on his toes never fall out! all praise to his wine and ale!—” He paused for breath and for a polite remark from the hobbit, but the compliments were quite lost on poor Bilbo Baggins, who was wagging his mouth in protest at being called audacious and worst of all fellow conspirator, though no noise came out, he was so flummoxed. So Thorin went on:

“甘道夫、諸位矮人和巴金斯先生!今天我們聚會在我們的朋友和同謀者的家中，他是最最出色、最最具有冒險精神的霍比特人--愿他腳上的毛永不脫落!讓我們贊美他的葡萄酒和麥芽酒!--”他停下來喘了口氣，順便希望從霍比特人那里獲得禮貌的回應(yīng)，可這些贊美之詞在可憐的比爾博·巴金斯身上沒有激起什么反應(yīng)。只見他嘴巴動了動，想要抗議被稱作“具有冒險精神的”，尤其要命的是被稱作“同謀者”。雖然他心里已經(jīng)亂得沒了主張，可嘴巴動了幾下也沒有發(fā)出聲音。索林見狀繼續(xù)說道：

“We are met to discuss our plans, our ways, means, policy and devices. We shall soon before the break of day start on our long journey, a journey from which some of us, or perhaps all of us (except our friend and counsellor, the ingenious wizard Gandalf) may never return. It is a solemn moment. Our object is, I take it, well known to us all. To the estimable Mr. Baggins, and perhaps to one or two of the younger dwarves (I think I should be right in naming Kili and Fili, for instance), the exact situation at the moment may require a little brief explanation—”

“我們在此聚會是為了討論我們的計劃、方法、措施、方針和手段。我們在天亮之前馬上就必須踏上漫長的旅途。這次的旅程，我們之中的一些人，甚至是我們所有人(除了我們的朋友和顧問，充滿智慧的巫師甘道夫以外)都可能再也回不來了。這是嚴(yán)肅的一刻。至于我們的目標(biāo)，我想大家已經(jīng)都很清楚。對于可敬的巴金斯先生，或許還有一兩位比較年輕的矮人(我想我點點奇力和菲力的名應(yīng)該不會有問題吧)，他們可能會需要我們就目前的確切狀況進行一下簡短的解釋──”

This was Thorin’s style. He was an important dwarf. If he had been allowed, he would probably have gone on like this until he was out of breath, without telling any one there anything that was not known already. But he was rudely interrupted. Poor Bilbo couldn’t bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. All the dwarves sprang up, knocking over the table. Gandalf struck a blue light on the end of his magic staff, and in its firework glare the poor little hobbit could be seen kneeling on the hearth-rug, shaking like a jelly that was melting. Then he fell flat on the floor, and kept on calling out “struck by lightning, struck by lightning!” over and over again; and that was all they could get out of him for a long time. So they took him and laid him out of the way on the drawing-room sofa with a drink at his elbow, and they went back to their dark business.

這就是索林的講話風(fēng)格。他是個地位很重要的矮人，如果沒人攔著他，他可以這樣一直滔滔不絕地說下去，直到他喘不過氣來為止，而且這些話里還沒有哪點內(nèi)容是有人不知道的。不過，這次他被粗魯?shù)卮驍嗔?，因為可憐的比爾博再也聽不下去了。一聽見“可能再也回不來了”這幾個字，他就感到有一聲尖叫在他體內(nèi)躥起，沒多久這聲尖叫就沖了出來，像是沖出隧道的火車頭拉響的汽笛。所有的矮人都騰地跳了起來，把桌子都給碰翻了。甘道夫立刻用魔杖點出一道藍光，在耀眼的光芒中，大家看見可憐的霍比特人跪在地上，像正在融化的果凍那樣打著顫。然后他頹然跌倒在地上，口中不停喊著“我被雷劈了，我被雷劈了”，一遍又一遍，好長時間都從他嘴里掏不出別的話來。大家伙兒于是抓住他，把他抱到客廳的沙發(fā)上，在他手邊放了杯喝的，又繼續(xù)回去討論他們不想告訴人的事情去了。

“Excitable little fellow,” said Gandalf, as they sat down again. “Gets funny queer fits, but he is one of the best, one of the best—as fierce as a dragon in a pinch.”

“這小家伙太容易激動了。”甘道夫待眾人重新坐下后說道，“他有時候會像這樣發(fā)發(fā)癲，可人倒是最好的，最好的——兇起來像被戳痛的惡龍一樣。”

If you have ever seen a dragon in a pinch, you will realize that this was only poetical exaggeration applied to any hobbit, even to Old Took’s great-grand-uncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul’s head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.

如果你真的看到過被戳痛的惡龍，那么你就會知道，用這種說法來形容任何一個霍比特人，都太詩意、太夸張了，即便是用來形容老圖克的曾叔祖“吼牛”也仍是太過分了些。吼牛身形龐大(相對霍比特人而言)，可以騎上一匹馬。在綠野之戰(zhàn)中，他一馬當(dāng)先地沖向格拉姆山半獸人的陣中，用一根木棒就干凈利落地敲掉了他們的國王高爾夫酋的腦袋。他的腦袋在空中飛了有一百碼，然后掉進一個兔子洞中。吼牛不僅以這種方式贏得了這場戰(zhàn)斗，還捎帶著發(fā)明了高爾夫球游戲。

In the meanwhile, however, Bullroarer’s gentler descendant was reviving in the drawing-room. After a while and a drink he crept nervously to the door of the parlour. This is what he heard, Gloin speaking: “Humph!” (or some snort more or less like that). “Will he do, do you think? It is all very well for Gandalf to talk about this hobbit being fierce, but one shriek like that in a moment of excitement would be enough to wake the dragon and all his relatives, and kill the lot of us. I think it sounded more like fright than excitement! In fact, if it had not been for the sign on the door, I should have been sure we had come to the wrong house. As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow bobbing and puffing on the mat, I had my doubts. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar!”

不過此時此刻，吼牛的那個溫和柔弱得多的后代正躺在起居室中尚未完全蘇醒。又過了一陣子，喝了一點酒之后，他才鬼頭鬼腦、躡手躡腳地回到客廳門邊。他正好聽到格羅因說：“哼!”(或者某種與此多少類似的哼哼聲)。“你們認(rèn)為他能行嗎?甘道夫說這個霍比特人很兇猛，這固然不錯，可他如果稍微感到點興奮就像這樣尖叫，那可足以把惡龍一家老小都給叫醒，會害我們很多人送命的。我覺得他的尖叫聽起來與其說是興奮，倒還不如說是害怕呢!事實上，要不是因為門上有記號，我肯定會覺得我們來錯了人家。我一看到那個胖家伙氣喘吁吁地跑來跑去，心里就覺得不對勁。他看起來一點不像飛賊，倒更像是雜貨店老板!”

Then Mr. Baggins turned the handle and went in. The Took side had won. He suddenly felt he would go without bed and breakfast to be thought fierce. As for little fellow bobbing on the mat it almost made him really fierce. Many a time afterwards the Baggins part regretted what he did now, and he said to himself: “Bilbo, you were a fool; you walked right in and put your foot in it.”

這時，巴金斯先生一扭門把走了進來。他身上屬于圖克家族的那部分占了上風(fēng)。他突然覺得自己情愿沒有床睡，沒有早餐吃，也要讓人覺得自己是個兇猛的家伙。當(dāng)他聽見“那個胖家伙氣喘吁吁跑來跑去”的時候，他差點要真的生氣了。以后有許多次，他身上屬于巴金斯的那部分會為他此刻的行為懊悔不已，他會對自己說：“比爾博，你可真是個蠢貨，誰叫你當(dāng)時走了進去，自己跳進了火坑呢?”

“Pardon me,” he said, “if I have overheard words that you were saying. I don’t pretend to understand what you are talking about, or your reference to burglars, but I think I am right in believing” (this is what he called being on his dignity) “that you think I am no good. I will show you. I have no signs on my door—it was painted a week ago—, and I am quite sure you have come to the wrong house. As soon as I saw your funny faces on the door-step, I had my doubts. But treat it as the right one. Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert. I had a great-great-great-grand-uncle once, Bullroarer Took, and—”

“如果我不小心聽到了你們在說的話，”他說，“那么敬請原諒。我并不想假裝了解你們在討論什么，或是你們提到的飛賊什么的，但我敢確信──(他認(rèn)為此事關(guān)乎自己的尊嚴(yán))你們認(rèn)為我不夠好。我會讓你們知道我究竟好不好的。我的門上根本沒什么記號——我的門上禮拜才剛刷過油漆——我很肯定你們一定找錯人家了。一打開門看見你們這些可笑的面孔時，我還覺得不對勁來著呢。但我招待你們可沒有短了一點禮數(shù)。告訴我你們想要干什么，我會努力去做的，哪怕是叫我從這里徒步跋涉前往極東的沙漠，去和狂野的惡龍奮戰(zhàn)也行。嘿嘿，我祖上有個曾曾曾叔祖叫‘吼牛圖克’，他──”

“Yes, yes, but that was long ago,” said Gloin. “I was talking about you. And I assure you there is a mark on this door—the usual one in the trade, or used to be. Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward, that’s how it is usually read. You can say Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like. Some of them do. It’s all the same to us. Gandalf told us that there was a man of the sort in these parts looking for a Job at once, and that he had arranged for a meeting here this Wednesday tea-time.”

“對，對，你說得沒錯，可那已經(jīng)是很久以前的事了。”格羅因說，“我正在說你呢。我可以向你保證，你家門上有記號，就是我們這一行通常用的記號，或者說過去常用的。‘飛賊想要好工作，尋求刺激和合理的報酬’這就是那個記號通常的意思。當(dāng)然，如果你喜歡的話，也可以用‘職業(yè)尋寶獵人’來代替‘飛賊’，有些人就喜歡這么遮遮掩掩的，可對我們來說其實都一樣。甘道夫告訴我們，說這一帶有人急著想要找份工作，他已經(jīng)安排好這個星期三下午茶的時間會面。”

“Of course there is a mark,” said Gandalf. “I put it there myself. For very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal.”

“門上當(dāng)然有記號，”甘道夫說，“是我親手留的，而且我有非常充分的理由。你們要我替你們的探險找到第十四個伙伴，我選擇了巴金斯先生。你們只管說我挑錯人或是找錯房子吧，那你們就守著‘十三’這個數(shù)字，好好享受你們自找的厄運，或者索性回去挖你們的煤吧!”

He scowled so angrily at Gloin that the dwarf huddled back in his chair; and when Bilbo tried to open his mouth to ask a question, he turned and frowned at him and stuck out his bushy eyebrows, till Bilbo shut his mouth tight with a snap. “That’s right,” said Gandalf. “Let’s have no more argument. I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you. If I say he is a Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself. You may (possibly) all live to thank me yet. Now Bilbo, my boy, fetch the lamp, and let’s have a little light on this!”

他怒氣沖沖地瞪著格羅因，把矮人看得又縮回到了椅子上。而當(dāng)比爾博張開嘴想要提一個問題時，甘道夫又轉(zhuǎn)過身來瞪著他，濃密的眉毛高高挑起，直到比爾博啪嗒一聲牢牢閉上了嘴。“這才對!”甘道夫說，“不要再吵了，我已經(jīng)選中了巴金斯先生，對你們來說這就夠了。如果我說他是飛賊，那他就是飛賊，或者時候到了自然會是。你們別小看他，他這人不可貌相，有多大能耐連他自己都不太清楚。你們或許都能有可以活下來感謝我的那天。對了，比爾博，我的孩子，去把油燈拿來吧，讓這兒有點光亮!”

On the table in the light of a big lamp with a red shade he spread a piece of parchment rather like a map.

桌上，在一盞大油燈投下的帶著紅暈的光亮下，他攤開一張像是地圖的羊皮紙。

“This was made by Thror, your grandfather, Thorin,” he said in answer to the dwarves’ excited questions. “It is a plan of the Mountain.”

“這張地圖是你的祖父瑟羅爾制作的，索林。”他既是在對巴金斯介紹，也順便回答了矮人們興奮的提問，“這是通往大山的道路示意圖。”

“I don’t see that this will help us much,” said Thorin disappointedly after a glance. “I remember the Mountain well enough and the lands about it. And I know where Mirkwood is, and the Withered Heath where the great dragons bred.”

“我看不出這對我們有多大幫助。”索林瞥了一眼之后失望地說道，“我對那座山和四周的景物都記得很清楚，知道黑森林在哪兒，也認(rèn)得巨龍們生養(yǎng)后代的荒野。”

“There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain,” said Balin, “but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if ever we arrive there.”

“山里面有個紅色的惡龍標(biāo)志，”巴林說，“可如果我們能到那兒的話，要找到龍還不容易?”

“There is one point that you haven’t noticed,” said the wizard, “and that is the secret entrance. You see that rune on the West side, and the hand pointing to it from the other runes? That marks a hidden passage to the Lower Halls.” (Look at the map at the beginning of this book, and you will see there the runes.)

“有個地方你們都沒有注意到，”巫師說，“就是秘密入口。你們看到西邊的如尼文了嗎?還有從其他如尼文上指著它的那只手嗎?這標(biāo)示的是通往地底大廳的一條密道。”(翻到本書最前面的地圖，就可以看見那些如尼文。)

“It may have been secret once,” said Thorin, “but how do we know that it is secret any longer? Old Smaug has lived there long enough now to find out anything there is to know about those caves.”

“這在以前或許是個秘密，”索林說，“可我們怎么知道它現(xiàn)在還是一個秘密呢?老斯毛格已經(jīng)在那邊住了很久了，關(guān)于那些洞穴還會有什么他不知道的呢?”

“He may—but he can’t have used it for years and years.”

“他也許知道，但他肯定有好多年沒有用過那條秘道了。”

“Why?”

“為什么?”

“Because it is too small. ‘Five feet high the door and three may walk abreast’ say the runes, but Smaug could not creep into a hole that size, not even when he was a young dragon, certainly not after devouring so many of the dwarves and men of Dale.”

“因為秘道太小了。如尼文上面寫的是‘大門五呎高，三人并肩行’，但斯毛格可爬不進這種尺寸的洞穴，就算在他還是一條年輕的龍時也鉆不進，而在吃掉了那么多矮人和河谷城中的人類之后就更別想了。”

“It seems a great big hole to me,” squeaked Bilbo (who had no experience of dragons and only of hobbit-holes). He was getting excited and interested again, so that he forgot to keep his mouth shut. He loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked on it in red ink. “How could such a large door be kept secret from everybody outside, apart from the dragon?” he asked. He was only a little hobbit you must remember.

“我倒覺得那是個很大的洞。”比爾博低聲地說(他對于惡龍完全沒有任何經(jīng)驗，只知道霍比特人的洞府)。他重新變得興致高昂起來，因此忘了要閉上自己的嘴。他喜歡地圖，客廳里面就掛著一幅大大的鄰近地區(qū)詳圖，他在那上面把他愛走的路徑都用紅墨水做了標(biāo)記。“姑且先不提那頭龍，這么大個門又怎么就能躲過所有外來人的眼睛呢?”他問道。大家別忘了，他只是個個子十分矮小的霍比特人。

“In lots of ways,” said Gandalf. “But in what way this one has been hidden we don’t know without going to see. From what it says on the map I should guess there is a closed door which has been made to look exactly like the side of the Mountain. That is the usual dwarves’ method—I think that is right, isn’t it?”

“有很多辦法可以把門掩藏起來。”甘道夫說，“但這扇門用的是什么方法，我們得去看了才能知道。從地圖上的記載來看，我猜這扇門只要關(guān)起來就一定和山壁一模一樣。矮人通常都是這么做的，我說得沒錯吧?”

“Quite right,” said Thorin.

“的確沒錯。”索林說。

“Also,” went on Gandalf, “I forgot to mention that with the map went a key, a small and curious key. Here it is!” he said, and handed to Thorin a key with a long barrel and intricate wards, made of silver. “Keep it safe!”

“而且，”甘道夫繼續(xù)說道，“我也忘了提到，這張地圖還附有一把鑰匙，一把小小的、有點古怪的鑰匙。就在這里!”他遞給索林一把有著長柄和非常復(fù)雜齒凹的銀鑰匙。“好好保管!”

“Indeed I will,” said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that hung about his neck and under his jacket. “Now things begin to look more hopeful. This news alters them much for the better. So far we have had no clear idea what to do. We thought of going East, as quiet and careful as we could, as far as the Long Lake. After that the trouble would begin—.”

“我一定會的。”索林邊說邊用一條掛在脖子上的細鏈子將鑰匙拴好，藏進了外衣里面，“現(xiàn)在我們成功的希望更大了。鑰匙的出現(xiàn)讓情況朝好的方面有了很大進展。到目前為止，我們還不太清楚該做些什么。我們想過先盡可能小心隱蔽地往東走，一直走到長湖邊。在那之后麻煩就會開始了──”

“A long time before that, if I know anything about the roads East,” interrupted Gandalf.

“麻煩來得要比那早得多，我對往東的路可是一無所知啊。”甘道夫打斷道。

“We might go from there up along the River Running,” went on Thorin taking no notice, “and so to the ruins of Dale—the old town in the valley there, under the shadow of the Mountain. But we none of us liked the idea of the Front Gate. The river runs right out of it through the great cliff at the South of the Mountain, and out of it comes the dragon too—far too often, unless he has changed his habits.”

“我們可以從那里沿著奔流河一路往上走。”索林沒有在意甘道夫的話，徑自說了下去，“這樣就可以來到河谷城的廢墟，也就是原先在大山附近的那個舊城鎮(zhèn)。不過，我們誰都不想要從正門進去。河流從正門流出，在大山南邊的懸崖落下。惡龍也會從那兒出來——極有可能，除非惡龍改變了習(xí)慣。”

“That would be no good,” said the wizard, “not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighbourhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be found. Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers; and dragons are comfortably far-off (and therefore legendary). That is why I settled on burglary—especially when I remembered the existence of a Side-door. And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar, the chosen and selected burglar. So now let’s get on and make some plans.”

“這樣可不行，”巫師說，“除非我們有個很厲害的戰(zhàn)士，甚至得是個大英雄才行。我找過，但遠方的戰(zhàn)士們都在忙著彼此征戰(zhàn)，而這附近的英雄則寥寥無幾，根本就找不到。這一帶的刀劍大都已經(jīng)鈍了，斧子都是用來砍樹的，盾牌也改成了搖籃或是蓋飯菜用的東西。惡龍遠在天邊，對人們的生活無擾(因此退化成了傳說)，所以我才退而求其次，只想要找飛賊了──尤其是當(dāng)我想起有這么個密門之后。就這樣，我找到了我們的小比爾博·巴金斯，那個飛賊，那個百里挑一選中的飛賊。好了，讓我們繼續(xù)制訂計劃吧。”

“Very well then,” said Thorin, “supposing the burglar-expert gives us some ideas or suggestions.” He turned with mock-politeness to Bilbo.

“好的，”索林說，“或許這位專業(yè)飛賊可以給我們一些點子或建議吧。”他假裝客氣地轉(zhuǎn)向比爾博。

“First I should like to know a bit more about things,” said he, feeling all confused and a bit shaky inside, but so far still Tookishly determined to go on with things. “I mean about the gold and the dragon, and all that, and how it got there, and who it belongs to, and so on and further.”

“首先，我得對情況多些了解。”他腦子里一團亂麻，心中抖抖索索，但仍然因了圖克家的血統(tǒng)決定繼續(xù)要撐下去。“我是說那些黃金啊，惡龍啊，諸如此類，怎么能到那邊去?這些東西又是誰的?等等等等。”

“Bless me!” said Thorin, “haven’t you got a map? and didn’t you hear our song? and haven’t we been talking about all this for hours?”

“天哪!”索林說，“你不是有地圖了嗎?你難道沒聽見我們唱的歌嗎?我們剛才難道不是對此已經(jīng)討論了好幾小時了嗎?”

“All the same, I should like it all plain and clear,” said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf’s recommendation. “Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth”—by which he meant: “What am I going to get out of it? and am I going to come back alive?”

“盡管如此，我還是希望你們能徹底解釋清楚。”他固執(zhí)地堅持道，一邊換上了一副辦正事的樣子(這副樣子通常是留給那些想要問他借錢的人的)。他竭盡全力讓自己顯得睿智、審慎、專業(yè)，能夠配得上甘道夫向眾人推薦他時的那些溢美之詞。“我還想要知道風(fēng)險、需要掏現(xiàn)錢的支出、所需的時間以及報酬，等等”——他的意思其實是：“這件事我能得到什么好處?我還能活著回來嗎?”

“O very well,” said Thorin. “Long ago in my grandfather Thror’s time our family was driven out of the far North, and came back with all their wealth and their tools to this Mountain on the map. It had been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, but now they mined and they tunnelled and they made huger halls and greater workshops—and in addition I believe they found a good deal of gold and a great many jewels too. Anyway they grew immensely rich and famous, and my grandfather was King under the Mountain again, and treated with great reverence by the mortal men, who lived to the South, and were gradually spreading up the Running River as far as the valley overshadowed by the Mountain. They built the merry town of Dale there in those days. Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even the least skillful most richly. Fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay us handsomely, especially in food-supplies, which we never bothered to grow or find for ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is not to be found in the world now-a-days. So my grandfather’s halls became full of armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the toy market of Dale was the wonder of the North.

“好吧，”索林說，“很久以前，在我祖父瑟羅爾那一代，我們的家族從北方被趕了出來，帶著他們所有的財富和工具來到地圖上的這條山脈。這地方是我很久遠的一位先祖老瑟萊因發(fā)現(xiàn)的，現(xiàn)在他們已經(jīng)在里面挖礦，修了許多隧道，建起了巨大的廳堂和大型的作坊——而且我相信他們也在這里找到了許多的黃金和大量的珠寶。反正他們變得極度富有，聲名遠播，我的祖父再度成為了山下之王，那些居住在南方的人類都非常尊敬他，他們沿著奔流河慢慢向上遷徙，一直來到了大山附近的谷地中，在那邊興建了一座被稱為河谷城的快樂小城。歷代國王曾到那里去聘請匠人，即使是手藝再差的也會獲得豐厚的獎賞。許多父親會哀求我們把他們的兒子帶去做學(xué)徒，并為此給予我們許多的東西，尤其是糧食，所以我們從來不需要自己動手去種或者四處籌集?？傊?，那段時間是我們的好日子，即使最貧窮的同胞也都有錢花，還能借給別人，有閑暇時間可以純粹出于興趣而制作美麗的東西，更別提那些美妙而又神奇的玩具了，這樣的東西現(xiàn)在世上已經(jīng)找不到了。所以，我祖父的宮殿里裝滿了鎧甲、珠寶、雕刻工藝品和精美的酒杯，河谷城的玩具市場成了大陸北方的一大奇觀。

“Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon. Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know, from men and elves and dwarves, wherever they can find them; and they guard their plunder as long as they live (which is practically for ever, unless they are killed), and never enjoy a brass ring of it. Indeed they hardly know a good bit of work from a bad, though they usually have a good notion of the current market value; and they can’t make a thing for themselves, not even mend a little loose scale of their armour. There were lots of dragons in the North in those days, and gold was probably getting scarce up there, with the dwarves flying south or getting killed, and all the general waste and destruction that dragons make going from bad to worse. There was a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm called Smaug. One day he flew up into the air and came south. The first we heard of it was a noise like a hurricane coming from the North, and the pine-trees on the Mountain creaking and cracking in the wind. Some of the dwarves who happened to be outside (I was one luckily—a fine adventurous lad in those days, always wandering about, and it saved my life that day)—well, from a good way off we saw the dragon settle on our mountain in a spout of flame. Then he came down the slopes and when he reached the woods they all went up in fire. By that time all the bells were ringing in Dale and the warriors were arming. The dwarves rushed out of their great gate; but there was the dragon waiting for them. None escaped that way. The river rushed up in steam and a fog fell on Dale, and in the fog the dragon came on them and destroyed most of the warriors—the usual unhappy story, it was only too common in those days. Then he went back and crept in through the Front Gate and routed out all the halls, and lanes, and tunnels, alleys, cellars, mansions and passages. After that there were no dwarves left alive inside, and he took all their wealth for himself. Probably, for that is the dragons’ way, he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside, and sleeps on it for a bed. Later he used to crawl out of the great gate and come by night to Dale, and carry away people, especially maidens, to eat, until Dale was ruined, and all the people dead or gone. What goes on there now I don’t know for certain, but I don’t suppose any one lives nearer to the Mountain than the far edge of the Long Lake now-a-days.

“毫無疑問，正是這把惡龍給招來了。惡龍會從人類、精靈和矮人手中搶奪黃金和珠寶，這你們知道，找到多少就搶走多少。只要它們活著(它們幾乎能永遠活下去，除非被殺)，就會牢牢地看守著這些搶來的贓物，卻哪怕連一個不值錢的黃銅戒指也不會拿來享受享受。盡管它們對寶物當(dāng)下的市值常常知道得很清楚，可其實它們根本分不清做工的好壞。它們自己什么東西也做不來，哪怕是自己身上的鱗甲，就算有一小片松動了，也不懂該怎么修。那時候在大陸北方有許多的惡龍，由于矮人大多被殺或是往南逃，那里的黃金可能越來越少了，惡龍四處破壞，讓情況變得越來越糟。這其中有一只特別貪婪、強壯與邪惡的大蟲，叫作斯毛格。有一天，他騰身飛上天際，就朝著南方來了。我們最早聽到的動靜，仿佛是一陣來自北方的旋風(fēng)，山上的松樹在強風(fēng)中發(fā)出吱吱嘎嘎的哀嚎。有些矮人正巧在外面(我有幸是其中的一個——那會兒我是個愛冒險的好孩子，經(jīng)常到處亂跑，誰料那天卻因此逃過一劫)——于是我們從很遠的地方，看到惡龍口中噴出火焰落到了我們的山頭上。然后他又順著斜坡沖下來，等它到達樹林的時候，樹林變成了一片火海。那時，河谷城所有的警鐘都響了起來，戰(zhàn)士們紛紛拿起武器準(zhǔn)備迎戰(zhàn)。矮人們從大門里沖了出來，但惡龍就在門口等著他們。一個矮人也沒有逃掉啊!河流化成蒸汽，濃霧籠罩谷地，惡龍在濃霧中撲向他們，殺死了大多數(shù)的戰(zhàn)士——這是個尋常的悲慘故事，那時候這樣的事簡直太多了。然后他掉頭從前門鉆進山里，把所有廳堂、巷弄、隧道、地窖、房屋和走廊都轉(zhuǎn)了個遍，打敗了所有遇到的人。那之后，山里面一個活的矮人也沒剩，斯毛格把他們所有的財富都掠為己有。按照惡龍的行事風(fēng)格，他多半把這些寶藏收成一大堆，藏在洞穴深處，當(dāng)床睡在上面。后來，它習(xí)慣了在晚上從大門出來，沖進谷地，把人類，尤其是少女擄去吃掉，直到河谷城化為廢墟，居民們死的死、逃的逃?，F(xiàn)在那里發(fā)生什么事我不是很清楚，但我想住得離山脈最靠近的也不會超過長湖的遠端。

“The few of us that were well outside sat and wept in hiding, and cursed Smaug; and there we were unexpectedly joined by my father and my grandfather with singed beards. They looked very grim but they said very little. When I asked how they had got away, they told me to hold my tongue, and said that one day in the proper time I should know. After that we went away, and we have had to earn our livings as best we could up and down the lands, often enough sinking as low as blacksmith-work or even coalmining. But we have never forgotten our stolen treasure. And even now, when I will allow we have a good bit laid by and are not so badly off”—here Thorin stroked the gold chain round his neck—“we still mean to get it back, and to bring our curses home to Smaug—if we can.

“當(dāng)時我們屈指可數(shù)的幾個正巧身在洞外的人坐在藏身之處哭泣不已，詛咒著斯毛格。出乎我們意料，我父親和祖父須發(fā)焦黑地與我們會合了。他們臉色凝重，卻不太愿意說話。我問他們是怎么逃出來的，他們叫我不要多話，說等時機到了的那天自會讓我知道。在那之后，我們就離開了那里，在大陸四處漂泊，拼命掙錢糊口，有時甚至必須去做打鐵或是挖煤的工作。但我們從未忘記過我們被搶奪走的寶藏。即使是現(xiàn)在，我得承認(rèn)我們已經(jīng)存下了不少錢，日子不像過去那樣緊巴巴了，”說到這里，索林輕輕摸了摸脖子上的金鏈子，“可我們還是想著要奪回屬于我們的寶藏，讓詛咒降臨到斯毛格身上——如果能做到的話。

“I have often wondered about my father’s and my grandfather’s escape. I see now they must have had a private Side-door which only they knew about. But apparently they made a map, and I should like to know how Gandalf got hold of it, and why it did not come down to me, the rightful heir.”

“我經(jīng)常會琢磨我父親和祖父是怎么逃出來的，現(xiàn)在我知道他們一定有一條只有他們才知道的密道。不過，很顯然，他們畫過一張地圖，我很想知道甘道夫是怎么弄到手的，為什么它沒有傳到我這個合法繼承者的手里。”

“I did not ‘get hold of it,’ I was given it,” said the wizard. “Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin.”

“我可不是‘弄到手’的，是別人給我的。”巫師說，“你的祖父瑟羅爾是在墨瑞亞礦坑中被半獸人阿佐格所殺，這你還記得吧?”

“Curse his name, yes,” said Thorin.

“詛咒那個名字!是的，我記得。”索林說。

“And Thrain your father went away on the twenty-first of April, a hundred years ago last Thursday, and has never been seen by you since–”

“你父親瑟萊因(Thrain)是在距離上周四的一百年前，也就是四月二十一號離開你的，之后你就再也不曾見過他──”

“True, true,” said Thorin.

“是的，是的。”索林說。

“Well, your father gave me this to give to you; and if I have chosen my own time and way for handing it over, you can hardly blame me, considering the trouble I had to find you. Your father could not remember his own name when he gave me the paper, and he never told me yours; so on the whole I think I ought to be praised and thanked! Here it is,” said he handing the map to Thorin.

“這東西是你父親給我，請我轉(zhuǎn)交你的。如果我選擇我認(rèn)為合適的時機和地點來轉(zhuǎn)交，諒你也不會怪我，更何況我花了多少功夫才找到你啊。你父親把這張紙給我的時候，連自己的名字都不記得了，當(dāng)然也從來沒跟我提起過你的名字。所以總的來說，我覺得自己應(yīng)該受到贊美和感謝才對!給!”說著他把地圖遞給了索林。

“I don’t understand,” said Thorin, and Bilbo felt he would have liked to say the same. The explanation did not seem to explain.

“我還是不明白。”索林說。比爾博覺得自己也想說同樣的話。甘道夫的解釋似乎沒有把一切解釋清楚。

“Your grandfather,” said the wizard slowly and grimly, “gave the map to his son for safety before he went to the mines of Moria. Your father went away to try his luck with the map after your grandfather was killed; and lots of adventures of a most unpleasant sort he had, but he never got near the Mountain. How he got there I don’t know, but I found him a prisoner in the dungeons of the Necromancer.”

“你的祖父，”巫師慢慢地，神情凝重地說，“在他前往墨瑞亞礦坑之前，將這張地圖托給自己的兒子保管。你祖父被殺后，你父親帶著這張地圖出發(fā)去試試他的運氣。他經(jīng)歷了許多很不愉快的冒險，但是卻連這座山的邊兒也沒摸著。雖然我不知道他是怎么淪落到那地方的，但我發(fā)現(xiàn)他的時候，他被關(guān)在死靈法師的地牢中。”

“Whatever were you doing there?” asked Thorin with a shudder, and all the dwarves shivered.

“你到那兒去又是干什么呢?”索林打了個寒戰(zhàn)道，所有的矮人也都渾身一哆嗦。

“Never you mind. I was finding things out, as usual; and a nasty dangerous business it was. Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped. I tried to save your father, but it was too late. He was witless and wandering, and had forgotten almost everything except the map and the key.”

“這你就別管了。像平常一樣，我去查點事情，那次可真是險過剃頭，即便是我甘道夫，也只能堪堪保住性命。我努力過，想要救出你父親，但已經(jīng)太遲了，他變得癡呆，只知道到處瞎逛，除了這張地圖和這把鑰匙之外，幾乎什么都不記得了。”

“We have long ago paid the goblins of Moria,” said Thorin; “we must give a thought to the Necromancer.”

“很久以前，我們已經(jīng)報復(fù)了墨瑞亞的半獸人，”索林說，“接下來我們得算計一下這個死靈法師了。”

“Don’t be absurd! He is an enemy far beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together, if they could all be collected again from the four corners of the world. The one thing your father wished was for his son to read the map and use the key. The dragon and the Mountain are more than big enough tasks for you!”

“別不自量力了!他的力量遠遠超過所有矮人之和，就算你真的能夠把所有的矮人從世界的四個角落召集來，也打不過這個恐怖的敵人。你父親惟一想要的，就是讓他的兒子能夠看到這張地圖，使用這把鑰匙。單是惡龍與大山就足夠你對付了!”

“Hear, hear!” said Bilbo, and accidentally said it aloud.

“聽著，聽著!”比爾博冷不丁地大聲說道。

“Hear what?” they all said turning suddenly towards him, and he was so flustered that he answered “Hear what I have got to say!”

“聽什么?”大家都突然轉(zhuǎn)向他說道，而他慌亂之下竟然回答，“聽我要說的話!”

“What’s that?” they asked.

“你要說什么?”他們問。

“Well, I should say that you ought to go East and have a look round. After all there is the Side-door, and dragons must sleep sometimes, I suppose. If you sit on the door-step long enough, I daresay you will think of something. And well, don’t you know, I think we have talked long enough for one night, if you see what I mean. What about bed, and an early start, and all that? I will give you a good breakfast before you go.”

“嗯，我想說的是你們應(yīng)該往東走，去仔細看看。再怎么說那兒也有條密道，而且我想惡龍肯定偶爾也會睡覺。只要你們在門口守得夠久，我敢說你們一定可以想出點辦法來。而且，知道嗎，我覺得我們今兒晚上已經(jīng)說得夠多了。不如先睡個覺，然后明天早上早點動身，怎么樣?在你們出門之前，我會讓你們好好吃一頓早餐的。”

“Before we go, I suppose you mean,” said Thorin. “Aren’t you the burglar? And isn’t sitting on the door-step your job, not to speak of getting inside the door? But I agree about bed and breakfast. I like six eggs with my ham, when starting on a journey: fried not poached, and mind you don’t break ’em.”

“你想說的是‘我們’出門之前吧?”索林說，“你難道不是飛賊嗎?守在大門口難道不是你的活兒嗎?更別說混進門里去了!不過，我同意先睡覺，明天好好吃一頓早餐。在遠行之前，我喜歡給火腿配上六個雞蛋：要煎的，不要煮的，注意別把蛋黃弄破。”

After all the others had ordered their breakfasts without so much as a please (which annoyed Bilbo very much), they all got up. The hobbit had to find room for them all, and filled all his spare-rooms and made beds on chairs and sofas, before he got them all stowed and went to his own little bed very tired and not altogether happy. One thing he did make his mind up about was not to bother to get up very early and cook everybody else’s wretched breakfast. The Tookishness was wearing off, and he was not now quite so sure that he was going on any journey in the morning.

在紛紛點完早餐而且連聲“請”也沒說之后(這讓比爾博覺得相當(dāng)不爽)，大家就起身準(zhǔn)備睡了?；舯忍厝诉€得替所有人找到睡覺的地方。所有空房間都住了人，此外還得在椅子和沙發(fā)上鋪床。把他們都安頓完之后，霍比特人才筋疲力盡、悶悶不樂地回到自己的小床上。他心中暗暗打定了主意，明天早上絕對不會起個大早，給大家做該死的早餐。圖克家的熱血已經(jīng)漸漸冷卻了，他實在不確定明早會不會和大家一起踏上冒險的征程。

As he lay in bed he could hear Thorin still humming to himself in the best bedroom next to him:

躺在床上時，他聽見索林依舊在隔壁最好的臥室中輕輕哼著：

Far over the misty mountains cold

越過冰冷而又霧蒙蒙的大山，

To dungeons deep and caverns old

在那深深地下洞穴已有千年，

We must away, ere break of day,

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

To find our long-forgotten gold.

把久已忘卻的黃金尋回眼前。

Bilbo went to sleep with that in his ears, and it gave him very uncomfortable dreams. It was long after the break of day, when he woke up.

比爾博就在這縈繞耳畔的歌聲中睡去了，這歌讓他做了一串很不舒服的夢。待他醒來時，天已經(jīng)亮了很久了。

Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,

While hammers fell like ringing bells

In places deep, where dark things sleep,

In hollow halls beneath the fells.

For ancient king and elvish lord

There many a gleaming golden hoard

They shaped and wrought, and light they caught

To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung

The flowering stars, on crowns they hung

The dragon-fire, in twisted wire

They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away, ere break of day,

To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves

And harps of gold; where no man delves

There lay they long, and many a song

Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height,

The winds were moaning in the night.

The fire was red, it flaming spread;

The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale

And men looked up with faces pale;

The dragon’s ire more fierce than fire

Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;

The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.

They fled their hall to dying fall

Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim

To dungeons deep and caverns dim

We must away, ere break of day,

To win our harps and gold from him!

As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He looked out of the window. The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark caverns. Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up—probably somebody lighting a wood-fire—and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again.

He got up trembling. He had less than half a mind to fetch the lamp, and more than half a mind to pretend to, and go and hide behind the beer-barrels in the cellar, and not come out again until all the dwarves had gone away. Suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and they were all looking at him with eyes shining in the dark.

“Where are you going?” said Thorin, in a tone that seemed to show that he guessed both halves of the hobbit’s mind.

“What about a little light?” said Bilbo apologetically.

“We like the dark,” said all the dwarves. “Dark for dark business! There are many hours before dawn.”

“Of course!” said Bilbo, and sat down in a hurry. He missed the stool and sat in the fender, knocking over the poker and shovel with a crash.

“Hush!” said Gandalf. “Let Thorin speak!” And this is how Thorin began.

“Gandalf, dwarves and Mr. Baggins! We are met together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit—may the hair on his toes never fall out! all praise to his wine and ale!—” He paused for breath and for a polite remark from the hobbit, but the compliments were quite lost on poor Bilbo Baggins, who was wagging his mouth in protest at being called audacious and worst of all fellow conspirator, though no noise came out, he was so flummoxed. So Thorin went on:

“We are met to discuss our plans, our ways, means, policy and devices. We shall soon before the break of day start on our long journey, a journey from which some of us, or perhaps all of us (except our friend and counsellor, the ingenious wizard Gandalf) may never return. It is a solemn moment. Our object is, I take it, well known to us all. To the estimable Mr. Baggins, and perhaps to one or two of the younger dwarves (I think I should be right in naming Kili and Fili, for instance), the exact situation at the moment may require a little brief explanation—”

This was Thorin’s style. He was an important dwarf. If he had been allowed, he would probably have gone on like this until he was out of breath, without telling any one there anything that was not known already. But he was rudely interrupted. Poor Bilbo couldn’t bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. All the dwarves sprang up, knocking over the table. Gandalf struck a blue light on the end of his magic staff, and in its firework glare the poor little hobbit could be seen kneeling on the hearth-rug, shaking like a jelly that was melting. Then he fell flat on the floor, and kept on calling out “struck by lightning, struck by lightning!” over and over again; and that was all they could get out of him for a long time. So they took him and laid him out of the way on the drawing-room sofa with a drink at his elbow, and they went back to their dark business.

“Excitable little fellow,” said Gandalf, as they sat down again. “Gets funny queer fits, but he is one of the best, one of the best—as fierce as a dragon in a pinch.”

If you have ever seen a dragon in a pinch, you will realize that this was only poetical exaggeration applied to any hobbit, even to Old Took’s great-grand-uncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul’s head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.

In the meanwhile, however, Bullroarer’s gentler descendant was reviving in the drawing-room. After a while and a drink he crept nervously to the door of the parlour. This is what he heard, Gloin speaking: “Humph!” (or some snort more or less like that). “Will he do, do you think? It is all very well for Gandalf to talk about this hobbit being fierce, but one shriek like that in a moment of excitement would be enough to wake the dragon and all his relatives, and kill the lot of us. I think it sounded more like fright than excitement! In fact, if it had not been for the sign on the door, I should have been sure we had come to the wrong house. As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow bobbing and puffing on the mat, I had my doubts. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar!”

Then Mr. Baggins turned the handle and went in. The Took side had won. He suddenly felt he would go without bed and breakfast to be thought fierce. As for little fellow bobbing on the mat it almost made him really fierce. Many a time afterwards the Baggins part regretted what he did now, and he said to himself: “Bilbo, you were a fool; you walked right in and put your foot in it.”

“Pardon me,” he said, “if I have overheard words that you were saying. I don’t pretend to understand what you are talking about, or your reference to burglars, but I think I am right in believing” (this is what he called being on his dignity) “that you think I am no good. I will show you. I have no signs on my door—it was painted a week ago—, and I am quite sure you have come to the wrong house. As soon as I saw your funny faces on the door-step, I had my doubts. But treat it as the right one. Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert. I had a great-great-great-grand-uncle once, Bullroarer Took, and—”

“Yes, yes, but that was long ago,” said Gloin. “I was talking about you. And I assure you there is a mark on this door—the usual one in the trade, or used to be. Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward, that’s how it is usually read. You can say Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like. Some of them do. It’s all the same to us. Gandalf told us that there was a man of the sort in these parts looking for a Job at once, and that he had arranged for a meeting here this Wednesday tea-time.”

“Of course there is a mark,” said Gandalf. “I put it there myself. For very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal.”

He scowled so angrily at Gloin that the dwarf huddled back in his chair; and when Bilbo tried to open his mouth to ask a question, he turned and frowned at him and stuck out his bushy eyebrows, till Bilbo shut his mouth tight with a snap. “That’s right,” said Gandalf. “Let’s have no more argument. I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you. If I say he is a Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself. You may (possibly) all live to thank me yet. Now Bilbo, my boy, fetch the lamp, and let’s have a little light on this!”

On the table in the light of a big lamp with a red shade he spread a piece of parchment rather like a map.

“This was made by Thror, your grandfather, Thorin,” he said in answer to the dwarves’ excited questions. “It is a plan of the Mountain.”

“I don’t see that this will help us much,” said Thorin disappointedly after a glance. “I remember the Mountain well enough and the lands about it. And I know where Mirkwood is, and the Withered Heath where the great dragons bred.”

“There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain,” said Balin, “but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if ever we arrive there.”

“There is one point that you haven’t noticed,” said the wizard, “and that is the secret entrance. You see that rune on the West side, and the hand pointing to it from the other runes? That marks a hidden passage to the Lower Halls.” (Look at the map at the beginning of this book, and you will see there the runes.)

“It may have been secret once,” said Thorin, “but how do we know that it is secret any longer? Old Smaug has lived there long enough now to find out anything there is to know about those caves.”

“He may—but he can’t have used it for years and years.”

“Why?”

“Because it is too small. ‘Five feet high the door and three may walk abreast’ say the runes, but Smaug could not creep into a hole that size, not even when he was a young dragon, certainly not after devouring so many of the dwarves and men of Dale.”

“It seems a great big hole to me,” squeaked Bilbo (who had no experience of dragons and only of hobbit-holes). He was getting excited and interested again, so that he forgot to keep his mouth shut. He loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked on it in red ink. “How could such a large door be kept secret from everybody outside, apart from the dragon?” he asked. He was only a little hobbit you must remember.

“In lots of ways,” said Gandalf. “But in what way this one has been hidden we don’t know without going to see. From what it says on the map I should guess there is a closed door which has been made to look exactly like the side of the Mountain. That is the usual dwarves’ method—I think that is right, isn’t it?”

“Quite right,” said Thorin.

“Also,” went on Gandalf, “I forgot to mention that with the map went a key, a small and curious key. Here it is!” he said, and handed to Thorin a key with a long barrel and intricate wards, made of silver. “Keep it safe!”

“Indeed I will,” said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that hung about his neck and under his jacket. “Now things begin to look more hopeful. This news alters them much for the better. So far we have had no clear idea what to do. We thought of going East, as quiet and careful as we could, as far as the Long Lake. After that the trouble would begin—.”

“A long time before that, if I know anything about the roads East,” interrupted Gandalf.

“We might go from there up along the River Running,” went on Thorin taking no notice, “and so to the ruins of Dale—the old town in the valley there, under the shadow of the Mountain. But we none of us liked the idea of the Front Gate. The river runs right out of it through the great cliff at the South of the Mountain, and out of it comes the dragon too—far too often, unless he has changed his habits.”

“That would be no good,” said the wizard, “not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighbourhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be found. Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers; and dragons are comfortably far-off (and therefore legendary). That is why I settled on burglary—especially when I remembered the existence of a Side-door. And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar, the chosen and selected burglar. So now let’s get on and make some plans.”

“Very well then,” said Thorin, “supposing the burglar-expert gives us some ideas or suggestions.” He turned with mock-politeness to Bilbo.

“First I should like to know a bit more about things,” said he, feeling all confused and a bit shaky inside, but so far still Tookishly determined to go on with things. “I mean about the gold and the dragon, and all that, and how it got there, and who it belongs to, and so on and further.”

“Bless me!” said Thorin, “haven’t you got a map? and didn’t you hear our song? and haven’t we been talking about all this for hours?”

“All the same, I should like it all plain and clear,” said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf’s recommendation. “Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth”—by which he meant: “What am I going to get out of it? and am I going to come back alive?”

“O very well,” said Thorin. “Long ago in my grandfather Thror’s time our family was driven out of the far North, and came back with all their wealth and their tools to this Mountain on the map. It had been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, but now they mined and they tunnelled and they made huger halls and greater workshops—and in addition I believe they found a good deal of gold and a great many jewels too. Anyway they grew immensely rich and famous, and my grandfather was King under the Mountain again, and treated with great reverence by the mortal men, who lived to the South, and were gradually spreading up the Running River as far as the valley overshadowed by the Mountain. They built the merry town of Dale there in those days. Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even the least skillful most richly. Fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay us handsomely, especially in food-supplies, which we never bothered to grow or find for ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is not to be found in the world now-a-days. So my grandfather’s halls became full of armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the toy market of Dale was the wonder of the North.

“Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon. Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know, from men and elves and dwarves, wherever they can find them; and they guard their plunder as long as they live (which is practically for ever, unless they are killed), and never enjoy a brass ring of it. Indeed they hardly know a good bit of work from a bad, though they usually have a good notion of the current market value; and they can’t make a thing for themselves, not even mend a little loose scale of their armour. There were lots of dragons in the North in those days, and gold was probably getting scarce up there, with the dwarves flying south or getting killed, and all the general waste and destruction that dragons make going from bad to worse. There was a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm called Smaug. One day he flew up into the air and came south. The first we heard of it was a noise like a hurricane coming from the North, and the pine-trees on the Mountain creaking and cracking in the wind. Some of the dwarves who happened to be outside (I was one luckily—a fine adventurous lad in those days, always wandering about, and it saved my life that day)—well, from a good way off we saw the dragon settle on our mountain in a spout of flame. Then he came down the slopes and when he reached the woods they all went up in fire. By that time all the bells were ringing in Dale and the warriors were arming. The dwarves rushed out of their great gate; but there was the dragon waiting for them. None escaped that way. The river rushed up in steam and a fog fell on Dale, and in the fog the dragon came on them and destroyed most of the warriors—the usual unhappy story, it was only too common in those days. Then he went back and crept in through the Front Gate and routed out all the halls, and lanes, and tunnels, alleys, cellars, mansions and passages. After that there were no dwarves left alive inside, and he took all their wealth for himself. Probably, for that is the dragons’ way, he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside, and sleeps on it for a bed. Later he used to crawl out of the great gate and come by night to Dale, and carry away people, especially maidens, to eat, until Dale was ruined, and all the people dead or gone. What goes on there now I don’t know for certain, but I don’t suppose any one lives nearer to the Mountain than the far edge of the Long Lake now-a-days.

“The few of us that were well outside sat and wept in hiding, and cursed Smaug; and there we were unexpectedly joined by my father and my grandfather with singed beards. They looked very grim but they said very little. When I asked how they had got away, they told me to hold my tongue, and said that one day in the proper time I should know. After that we went away, and we have had to earn our livings as best we could up and down the lands, often enough sinking as low as blacksmith-work or even coalmining. But we have never forgotten our stolen treasure. And even now, when I will allow we have a good bit laid by and are not so badly off”—here Thorin stroked the gold chain round his neck—“we still mean to get it back, and to bring our curses home to Smaug—if we can.

“I have often wondered about my father’s and my grandfather’s escape. I see now they must have had a private Side-door which only they knew about. But apparently they made a map, and I should like to know how Gandalf got hold of it, and why it did not come down to me, the rightful heir.”

“I did not ‘get hold of it,’ I was given it,” said the wizard. “Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin.”

“Curse his name, yes,” said Thorin.

“And Thrain your father went away on the twenty-first of April, a hundred years ago last Thursday, and has never been seen by you since–”

“True, true,” said Thorin.

“Well, your father gave me this to give to you; and if I have chosen my own time and way for handing it over, you can hardly blame me, considering the trouble I had to find you. Your father could not remember his own name when he gave me the paper, and he never told me yours; so on the whole I think I ought to be praised and thanked! Here it is,” said he handing the map to Thorin.

“I don’t understand,” said Thorin, and Bilbo felt he would have liked to say the same. The explanation did not seem to explain.

“Your grandfather,” said the wizard slowly and grimly, “gave the map to his son for safety before he went to the mines of Moria. Your father went away to try his luck with the map after your grandfather was killed; and lots of adventures of a most unpleasant sort he had, but he never got near the Mountain. How he got there I don’t know, but I found him a prisoner in the dungeons of the Necromancer.”

“Whatever were you doing there?” asked Thorin with a shudder, and all the dwarves shivered.

“Never you mind. I was finding things out, as usual; and a nasty dangerous business it was. Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped. I tried to save your father, but it was too late. He was witless and wandering, and had forgotten almost everything except the map and the key.”

“We have long ago paid the goblins of Moria,” said Thorin; “we must give a thought to the Necromancer.”

“Don’t be absurd! He is an enemy far beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together, if they could all be collected again from the four corners of the world. The one thing your father wished was for his son to read the map and use the key. The dragon and the Mountain are more than big enough tasks for you!”

“Hear, hear!” said Bilbo, and accidentally said it aloud.

“Hear what?” they all said turning suddenly towards him, and he was so flustered that he answered “Hear what I have got to say!”

“What’s that?” they asked.

“Well, I should say that you ought to go East and have a look round. After all there is the Side-door, and dragons must sleep sometimes, I suppose. If you sit on the door-step long enough, I daresay you will think of something. And well, don’t you know, I think we have talked long enough for one night, if you see what I mean. What about bed, and an early start, and all that? I will give you a good breakfast before you go.”

“Before we go, I suppose you mean,” said Thorin. “Aren’t you the burglar? And isn’t sitting on the door-step your job, not to speak of getting inside the door? But I agree about bed and breakfast. I like six eggs with my ham, when starting on a journey: fried not poached, and mind you don’t break ’em.”

After all the others had ordered their breakfasts without so much as a please (which annoyed Bilbo very much), they all got up. The hobbit had to find room for them all, and filled all his spare-rooms and made beds on chairs and sofas, before he got them all stowed and went to his own little bed very tired and not altogether happy. One thing he did make his mind up about was not to bother to get up very early and cook everybody else’s wretched breakfast. The Tookishness was wearing off, and he was not now quite so sure that he was going on any journey in the morning.

As he lay in bed he could hear Thorin still humming to himself in the best bedroom next to him:

Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away, ere break of day,

To find our long-forgotten gold.

Bilbo went to sleep with that in his ears, and it gave him very uncomfortable dreams. It was long after the break of day, when he woke up.

?

越過冰冷而又霧蒙蒙的大山，

在那深深地下洞穴已有千年，

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

尋找那迷人的黃金顏色淺淺。

往昔的矮人們念下強大咒語，

伴著那鐵錘砸出的叮當(dāng)樂曲，

幽深之處有黑暗的生物沉睡，

在山石下的空穴深不知幾許。

精靈的貴族們和遠古的國王，

擁有著閃閃發(fā)光的黃金寶藏，

他們錘鍛黃金又將光芒捕捉，

在劍柄的寶石之間將其斂藏!

在銀項鏈上他們串起了一行

星辰，如鮮花那般美麗綻放，

在皇冠上他們綴以龍的火焰，

扭曲的線條間透出日月華光。

越過冰冷而又霧蒙蒙的大山，

在那深深地下洞穴已有千年，

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

把久已忘卻的黃金尋回眼前。

他們?yōu)樽约捍蛟炝嗣利惥票?/p>

黃金的豎琴，在從無人得窺

之地寶藏長久靜躺，許多歌

人類和精靈都無緣聆賞其味。

松樹在那高峻之地放聲咆哮，

強風(fēng)在那夜半之時凄厲哀號。

火焰紅紅，火苗在迅猛蔓延，

樹木如同火把將天都快點著。

山谷之中，鐘聲在陣陣鳴響，

人類抬頭張望臉色寫滿驚惶;

惡龍的怒火比那火焰更猛烈，

摧毀了巍巍高塔和柔弱屋房。

山脈在月光下升起騰騰煙霧;

矮人們聽見末日的沉沉腳步。

他們逃離廳堂卻倒在它腳下，

在月光下奄奄一息難逃劫數(shù)。

越過冰冷而又陰森森的大山，

在那深深地下洞穴分外昏暗，

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

為奪回豎琴和黃金與它開戰(zhàn)!

隨著他們的歌聲，霍比特人在心中升騰起一股對美好事物的摯愛來，那些美好的東西是由靈巧的雙手、智慧與魔法共同創(chuàng)造出來的，所以這種愛變得強烈而充滿嫉妒，矮人心中的欲望被點燃了。這時，他身體內(nèi)某種圖克家族所特有的東西被喚醒了，他想去看看那巍峨的山脈，想聆聽松樹的歌吟和瀑布的轟鳴，想探索一下那些洞穴，想要隨身配上一把寶劍而不只是一根手杖。他把目光投向窗外，黑暗的天空中星星已經(jīng)升起在了樹梢。他不禁聯(lián)想到了矮人的寶藏在黑暗的洞穴中閃光。突然間，小河對岸的林子里亮起了一團火光——也許是誰點燃了營火——這讓他想起了四處劫掠的惡龍盤踞在他的寧靜小丘上，將它變成了一片火海。想到這里，他不由得打了個寒戰(zhàn)，然后立刻恢復(fù)了清醒，又變回到與世無爭的袋底洞的巴金斯先生。

他顫抖著站起身來，有點裝模作樣地要去拿油燈，其實他真正想做的是跑去躲在酒窖中的啤酒桶后面，等到矮人們?nèi)吖庖院蟛懦鰜?。突然間，他發(fā)現(xiàn)音樂和唱歌聲全都停了下來，所有矮人都在看著他，他們的眼睛在黑暗中閃著光。

“你要去哪兒?”從索林講話的口氣來判斷，他似乎對霍比特人明里暗里的心思都猜到了。

“來點亮光怎么樣?”比爾博滿懷歉意地問道。

“我們喜歡黑暗。”全體矮人說， “不想告訴人的事情就得在黑暗里談!離天亮還有很長的時間呢。”

“當(dāng)然，當(dāng)然!”比爾博一邊說著一邊急忙坐了下來，孰料匆忙間沒坐上板凳，卻坐上了壁爐擋板，把壁爐旁邊的火鉗和鏟子給撞倒了。

“噓!小聲點!”甘道夫說，“大家聽索林講!”索林于是就開始了：

“甘道夫、諸位矮人和巴金斯先生!今天我們聚會在我們的朋友和同謀者的家中，他是最最出色、最最具有冒險精神的霍比特人--愿他腳上的毛永不脫落!讓我們贊美他的葡萄酒和麥芽酒!--”他停下來喘了口氣，順便希望從霍比特人那里獲得禮貌的回應(yīng)，可這些贊美之詞在可憐的比爾博·巴金斯身上沒有激起什么反應(yīng)。只見他嘴巴動了動，想要抗議被稱作“具有冒險精神的”，尤其要命的是被稱作“同謀者”。雖然他心里已經(jīng)亂得沒了主張，可嘴巴動了幾下也沒有發(fā)出聲音。索林見狀繼續(xù)說道：

“我們在此聚會是為了討論我們的計劃、方法、措施、方針和手段。我們在天亮之前馬上就必須踏上漫長的旅途。這次的旅程，我們之中的一些人，甚至是我們所有人(除了我們的朋友和顧問，充滿智慧的巫師甘道夫以外)都可能再也回不來了。這是嚴(yán)肅的一刻。至于我們的目標(biāo)，我想大家已經(jīng)都很清楚。對于可敬的巴金斯先生，或許還有一兩位比較年輕的矮人(我想我點點奇力和菲力的名應(yīng)該不會有問題吧)，他們可能會需要我們就目前的確切狀況進行一下簡短的解釋──”

這就是索林的講話風(fēng)格。他是個地位很重要的矮人，如果沒人攔著他，他可以這樣一直滔滔不絕地說下去，直到他喘不過氣來為止，而且這些話里還沒有哪點內(nèi)容是有人不知道的。不過，這次他被粗魯?shù)卮驍嗔?，因為可憐的比爾博再也聽不下去了。一聽見“可能再也回不來了”這幾個字，他就感到有一聲尖叫在他體內(nèi)躥起，沒多久這聲尖叫就沖了出來，像是沖出隧道的火車頭拉響的汽笛。所有的矮人都騰地跳了起來，把桌子都給碰翻了。甘道夫立刻用魔杖點出一道藍光，在耀眼的光芒中，大家看見可憐的霍比特人跪在地上，像正在融化的果凍那樣打著顫。然后他頹然跌倒在地上，口中不停喊著“我被雷劈了，我被雷劈了”，一遍又一遍，好長時間都從他嘴里掏不出別的話來。大家伙兒于是抓住他，把他抱到客廳的沙發(fā)上，在他手邊放了杯喝的，又繼續(xù)回去討論他們不想告訴人的事情去了。

“這小家伙太容易激動了。”甘道夫待眾人重新坐下后說道，“他有時候會像這樣發(fā)發(fā)癲，可人倒是最好的，最好的——兇起來像被戳痛的惡龍一樣。”

如果你真的看到過被戳痛的惡龍，那么你就會知道，用這種說法來形容任何一個霍比特人，都太詩意、太夸張了，即便是用來形容老圖克的曾叔祖“吼牛”也仍是太過分了些。吼牛身形龐大(相對霍比特人而言)，可以騎上一匹馬。在綠野之戰(zhàn)中，他一馬當(dāng)先地沖向格拉姆山半獸人的陣中，用一根木棒就干凈利落地敲掉了他們的國王高爾夫酋的腦袋。他的腦袋在空中飛了有一百碼，然后掉進一個兔子洞中。吼牛不僅以這種方式贏得了這場戰(zhàn)斗，還捎帶著發(fā)明了高爾夫球游戲。

不過此時此刻，吼牛的那個溫和柔弱得多的后代正躺在起居室中尚未完全蘇醒。又過了一陣子，喝了一點酒之后，他才鬼頭鬼腦、躡手躡腳地回到客廳門邊。他正好聽到格羅因說：“哼!”(或者某種與此多少類似的哼哼聲)。“你們認(rèn)為他能行嗎?甘道夫說這個霍比特人很兇猛，這固然不錯，可他如果稍微感到點興奮就像這樣尖叫，那可足以把惡龍一家老小都給叫醒，會害我們很多人送命的。我覺得他的尖叫聽起來與其說是興奮，倒還不如說是害怕呢!事實上，要不是因為門上有記號，我肯定會覺得我們來錯了人家。我一看到那個胖家伙氣喘吁吁地跑來跑去，心里就覺得不對勁。他看起來一點不像飛賊，倒更像是雜貨店老板!”

這時，巴金斯先生一扭門把走了進來。他身上屬于圖克家族的那部分占了上風(fēng)。他突然覺得自己情愿沒有床睡，沒有早餐吃，也要讓人覺得自己是個兇猛的家伙。當(dāng)他聽見“那個胖家伙氣喘吁吁跑來跑去”的時候，他差點要真的生氣了。以后有許多次，他身上屬于巴金斯的那部分會為他此刻的行為懊悔不已，他會對自己說：“比爾博，你可真是個蠢貨，誰叫你當(dāng)時走了進去，自己跳進了火坑呢?”

“如果我不小心聽到了你們在說的話，”他說，“那么敬請原諒。我并不想假裝了解你們在討論什么，或是你們提到的飛賊什么的，但我敢確信──(他認(rèn)為此事關(guān)乎自己的尊嚴(yán))你們認(rèn)為我不夠好。我會讓你們知道我究竟好不好的。我的門上根本沒什么記號——我的門上禮拜才剛刷過油漆——我很肯定你們一定找錯人家了。一打開門看見你們這些可笑的面孔時，我還覺得不對勁來著呢。但我招待你們可沒有短了一點禮數(shù)。告訴我你們想要干什么，我會努力去做的，哪怕是叫我從這里徒步跋涉前往極東的沙漠，去和狂野的惡龍奮戰(zhàn)也行。嘿嘿，我祖上有個曾曾曾叔祖叫‘吼牛圖克’，他──”

“對，對，你說得沒錯，可那已經(jīng)是很久以前的事了。”格羅因說，“我正在說你呢。我可以向你保證，你家門上有記號，就是我們這一行通常用的記號，或者說過去常用的。‘飛賊想要好工作，尋求刺激和合理的報酬’這就是那個記號通常的意思。當(dāng)然，如果你喜歡的話，也可以用‘職業(yè)尋寶獵人’來代替‘飛賊’，有些人就喜歡這么遮遮掩掩的，可對我們來說其實都一樣。甘道夫告訴我們，說這一帶有人急著想要找份工作，他已經(jīng)安排好這個星期三下午茶的時間會面。”

“門上當(dāng)然有記號，”甘道夫說，“是我親手留的，而且我有非常充分的理由。你們要我替你們的探險找到第十四個伙伴，我選擇了巴金斯先生。你們只管說我挑錯人或是找錯房子吧，那你們就守著‘十三’這個數(shù)字，好好享受你們自找的厄運，或者索性回去挖你們的煤吧!”

他怒氣沖沖地瞪著格羅因，把矮人看得又縮回到了椅子上。而當(dāng)比爾博張開嘴想要提一個問題時，甘道夫又轉(zhuǎn)過身來瞪著他，濃密的眉毛高高挑起，直到比爾博啪嗒一聲牢牢閉上了嘴。“這才對!”甘道夫說，“不要再吵了，我已經(jīng)選中了巴金斯先生，對你們來說這就夠了。如果我說他是飛賊，那他就是飛賊，或者時候到了自然會是。你們別小看他，他這人不可貌相，有多大能耐連他自己都不太清楚。你們或許都能有可以活下來感謝我的那天。對了，比爾博，我的孩子，去把油燈拿來吧，讓這兒有點光亮!”

桌上，在一盞大油燈投下的帶著紅暈的光亮下，他攤開一張像是地圖的羊皮紙。

“這張地圖是你的祖父瑟羅爾制作的，索林。”他既是在對巴金斯介紹，也順便回答了矮人們興奮的提問，“這是通往大山的道路示意圖。”

“我看不出這對我們有多大幫助。”索林瞥了一眼之后失望地說道，“我對那座山和四周的景物都記得很清楚，知道黑森林在哪兒，也認(rèn)得巨龍們生養(yǎng)后代的荒野。”

“山里面有個紅色的惡龍標(biāo)志，”巴林說，“可如果我們能到那兒的話，要找到龍還不容易?”

“有個地方你們都沒有注意到，”巫師說，“就是秘密入口。你們看到西邊的如尼文了嗎?還有從其他如尼文上指著它的那只手嗎?這標(biāo)示的是通往地底大廳的一條密道。”(翻到本書最前面的地圖，就可以看見那些如尼文。)

“這在以前或許是個秘密，”索林說，“可我們怎么知道它現(xiàn)在還是一個秘密呢?老斯毛格已經(jīng)在那邊住了很久了，關(guān)于那些洞穴還會有什么他不知道的呢?”

“他也許知道，但他肯定有好多年沒有用過那條秘道了。”

“為什么?”

“因為秘道太小了。如尼文上面寫的是‘大門五呎高，三人并肩行’，但斯毛格可爬不進這種尺寸的洞穴，就算在他還是一條年輕的龍時也鉆不進，而在吃掉了那么多矮人和河谷城中的人類之后就更別想了。”

“我倒覺得那是個很大的洞。”比爾博低聲地說(他對于惡龍完全沒有任何經(jīng)驗，只知道霍比特人的洞府)。他重新變得興致高昂起來，因此忘了要閉上自己的嘴。他喜歡地圖，客廳里面就掛著一幅大大的鄰近地區(qū)詳圖，他在那上面把他愛走的路徑都用紅墨水做了標(biāo)記。“姑且先不提那頭龍，這么大個門又怎么就能躲過所有外來人的眼睛呢?”他問道。大家別忘了，他只是個個子十分矮小的霍比特人。

“有很多辦法可以把門掩藏起來。”甘道夫說，“但這扇門用的是什么方法，我們得去看了才能知道。從地圖上的記載來看，我猜這扇門只要關(guān)起來就一定和山壁一模一樣。矮人通常都是這么做的，我說得沒錯吧?”

“的確沒錯。”索林說。

“而且，”甘道夫繼續(xù)說道，“我也忘了提到，這張地圖還附有一把鑰匙，一把小小的、有點古怪的鑰匙。就在這里!”他遞給索林一把有著長柄和非常復(fù)雜齒凹的銀鑰匙。“好好保管!”

“我一定會的。”索林邊說邊用一條掛在脖子上的細鏈子將鑰匙拴好，藏進了外衣里面，“現(xiàn)在我們成功的希望更大了。鑰匙的出現(xiàn)讓情況朝好的方面有了很大進展。到目前為止，我們還不太清楚該做些什么。我們想過先盡可能小心隱蔽地往東走，一直走到長湖邊。在那之后麻煩就會開始了──”

“麻煩來得要比那早得多，我對往東的路可是一無所知啊。”甘道夫打斷道。

“我們可以從那里沿著奔流河一路往上走。”索林沒有在意甘道夫的話，徑自說了下去，“這樣就可以來到河谷城的廢墟，也就是原先在大山附近的那個舊城鎮(zhèn)。不過，我們誰都不想要從正門進去。河流從正門流出，在大山南邊的懸崖落下。惡龍也會從那兒出來——極有可能，除非惡龍改變了習(xí)慣。”

“這樣可不行，”巫師說，“除非我們有個很厲害的戰(zhàn)士，甚至得是個大英雄才行。我找過，但遠方的戰(zhàn)士們都在忙著彼此征戰(zhàn)，而這附近的英雄則寥寥無幾，根本就找不到。這一帶的刀劍大都已經(jīng)鈍了，斧子都是用來砍樹的，盾牌也改成了搖籃或是蓋飯菜用的東西。惡龍遠在天邊，對人們的生活無擾(因此退化成了傳說)，所以我才退而求其次，只想要找飛賊了──尤其是當(dāng)我想起有這么個密門之后。就這樣，我找到了我們的小比爾博·巴金斯，那個飛賊，那個百里挑一選中的飛賊。好了，讓我們繼續(xù)制訂計劃吧。”

“好的，”索林說，“或許這位專業(yè)飛賊可以給我們一些點子或建議吧。”他假裝客氣地轉(zhuǎn)向比爾博。

“首先，我得對情況多些了解。”他腦子里一團亂麻，心中抖抖索索，但仍然因了圖克家的血統(tǒng)決定繼續(xù)要撐下去。“我是說那些黃金啊，惡龍啊，諸如此類，怎么能到那邊去?這些東西又是誰的?等等等等。”

“天哪!”索林說，“你不是有地圖了嗎?你難道沒聽見我們唱的歌嗎?我們剛才難道不是對此已經(jīng)討論了好幾小時了嗎?”

“盡管如此，我還是希望你們能徹底解釋清楚。”他固執(zhí)地堅持道，一邊換上了一副辦正事的樣子(這副樣子通常是留給那些想要問他借錢的人的)。他竭盡全力讓自己顯得睿智、審慎、專業(yè)，能夠配得上甘道夫向眾人推薦他時的那些溢美之詞。“我還想要知道風(fēng)險、需要掏現(xiàn)錢的支出、所需的時間以及報酬，等等”——他的意思其實是：“這件事我能得到什么好處?我還能活著回來嗎?”

“好吧，”索林說，“很久以前，在我祖父瑟羅爾那一代，我們的家族從北方被趕了出來，帶著他們所有的財富和工具來到地圖上的這條山脈。這地方是我很久遠的一位先祖老瑟萊因發(fā)現(xiàn)的，現(xiàn)在他們已經(jīng)在里面挖礦，修了許多隧道，建起了巨大的廳堂和大型的作坊——而且我相信他們也在這里找到了許多的黃金和大量的珠寶。反正他們變得極度富有，聲名遠播，我的祖父再度成為了山下之王，那些居住在南方的人類都非常尊敬他，他們沿著奔流河慢慢向上遷徙，一直來到了大山附近的谷地中，在那邊興建了一座被稱為河谷城的快樂小城。歷代國王曾到那里去聘請匠人，即使是手藝再差的也會獲得豐厚的獎賞。許多父親會哀求我們把他們的兒子帶去做學(xué)徒，并為此給予我們許多的東西，尤其是糧食，所以我們從來不需要自己動手去種或者四處籌集?？傊?，那段時間是我們的好日子，即使最貧窮的同胞也都有錢花，還能借給別人，有閑暇時間可以純粹出于興趣而制作美麗的東西，更別提那些美妙而又神奇的玩具了，這樣的東西現(xiàn)在世上已經(jīng)找不到了。所以，我祖父的宮殿里裝滿了鎧甲、珠寶、雕刻工藝品和精美的酒杯，河谷城的玩具市場成了大陸北方的一大奇觀。

“毫無疑問，正是這把惡龍給招來了。惡龍會從人類、精靈和矮人手中搶奪黃金和珠寶，這你們知道，找到多少就搶走多少。只要它們活著(它們幾乎能永遠活下去，除非被殺)，就會牢牢地看守著這些搶來的贓物，卻哪怕連一個不值錢的黃銅戒指也不會拿來享受享受。盡管它們對寶物當(dāng)下的市值常常知道得很清楚，可其實它們根本分不清做工的好壞。它們自己什么東西也做不來，哪怕是自己身上的鱗甲，就算有一小片松動了，也不懂該怎么修。那時候在大陸北方有許多的惡龍，由于矮人大多被殺或是往南逃，那里的黃金可能越來越少了，惡龍四處破壞，讓情況變得越來越糟。這其中有一只特別貪婪、強壯與邪惡的大蟲，叫作斯毛格。有一天，他騰身飛上天際，就朝著南方來了。我們最早聽到的動靜，仿佛是一陣來自北方的旋風(fēng)，山上的松樹在強風(fēng)中發(fā)出吱吱嘎嘎的哀嚎。有些矮人正巧在外面(我有幸是其中的一個——那會兒我是個愛冒險的好孩子，經(jīng)常到處亂跑，誰料那天卻因此逃過一劫)——于是我們從很遠的地方，看到惡龍口中噴出火焰落到了我們的山頭上。然后他又順著斜坡沖下來，等它到達樹林的時候，樹林變成了一片火海。那時，河谷城所有的警鐘都響了起來，戰(zhàn)士們紛紛拿起武器準(zhǔn)備迎戰(zhàn)。矮人們從大門里沖了出來，但惡龍就在門口等著他們。一個矮人也沒有逃掉啊!河流化成蒸汽，濃霧籠罩谷地，惡龍在濃霧中撲向他們，殺死了大多數(shù)的戰(zhàn)士——這是個尋常的悲慘故事，那時候這樣的事簡直太多了。然后他掉頭從前門鉆進山里，把所有廳堂、巷弄、隧道、地窖、房屋和走廊都轉(zhuǎn)了個遍，打敗了所有遇到的人。那之后，山里面一個活的矮人也沒剩，斯毛格把他們所有的財富都掠為己有。按照惡龍的行事風(fēng)格，他多半把這些寶藏收成一大堆，藏在洞穴深處，當(dāng)床睡在上面。后來，它習(xí)慣了在晚上從大門出來，沖進谷地，把人類，尤其是少女擄去吃掉，直到河谷城化為廢墟，居民們死的死、逃的逃?，F(xiàn)在那里發(fā)生什么事我不是很清楚，但我想住得離山脈最靠近的也不會超過長湖的遠端。

“當(dāng)時我們屈指可數(shù)的幾個正巧身在洞外的人坐在藏身之處哭泣不已，詛咒著斯毛格。出乎我們意料，我父親和祖父須發(fā)焦黑地與我們會合了。他們臉色凝重，卻不太愿意說話。我問他們是怎么逃出來的，他們叫我不要多話，說等時機到了的那天自會讓我知道。在那之后，我們就離開了那里，在大陸四處漂泊，拼命掙錢糊口，有時甚至必須去做打鐵或是挖煤的工作。但我們從未忘記過我們被搶奪走的寶藏。即使是現(xiàn)在，我得承認(rèn)我們已經(jīng)存下了不少錢，日子不像過去那樣緊巴巴了，”說到這里，索林輕輕摸了摸脖子上的金鏈子，“可我們還是想著要奪回屬于我們的寶藏，讓詛咒降臨到斯毛格身上——如果能做到的話。

“我經(jīng)常會琢磨我父親和祖父是怎么逃出來的，現(xiàn)在我知道他們一定有一條只有他們才知道的密道。不過，很顯然，他們畫過一張地圖，我很想知道甘道夫是怎么弄到手的，為什么它沒有傳到我這個合法繼承者的手里。”

“我可不是‘弄到手’的，是別人給我的。”巫師說，“你的祖父瑟羅爾是在墨瑞亞礦坑中被半獸人阿佐格所殺，這你還記得吧?”

“詛咒那個名字!是的，我記得。”索林說。

“你父親瑟萊因(Thrain)是在距離上周四的一百年前，也就是四月二十一號離開你的，之后你就再也不曾見過他──”

“是的，是的。”索林說。

“這東西是你父親給我，請我轉(zhuǎn)交你的。如果我選擇我認(rèn)為合適的時機和地點來轉(zhuǎn)交，諒你也不會怪我，更何況我花了多少功夫才找到你啊。你父親把這張紙給我的時候，連自己的名字都不記得了，當(dāng)然也從來沒跟我提起過你的名字。所以總的來說，我覺得自己應(yīng)該受到贊美和感謝才對!給!”說著他把地圖遞給了索林。

“我還是不明白。”索林說。比爾博覺得自己也想說同樣的話。甘道夫的解釋似乎沒有把一切解釋清楚。

“你的祖父，”巫師慢慢地，神情凝重地說，“在他前往墨瑞亞礦坑之前，將這張地圖托給自己的兒子保管。你祖父被殺后，你父親帶著這張地圖出發(fā)去試試他的運氣。他經(jīng)歷了許多很不愉快的冒險，但是卻連這座山的邊兒也沒摸著。雖然我不知道他是怎么淪落到那地方的，但我發(fā)現(xiàn)他的時候，他被關(guān)在死靈法師的地牢中。”

“你到那兒去又是干什么呢?”索林打了個寒戰(zhàn)道，所有的矮人也都渾身一哆嗦。

“這你就別管了。像平常一樣，我去查點事情，那次可真是險過剃頭，即便是我甘道夫，也只能堪堪保住性命。我努力過，想要救出你父親，但已經(jīng)太遲了，他變得癡呆，只知道到處瞎逛，除了這張地圖和這把鑰匙之外，幾乎什么都不記得了。”

“很久以前，我們已經(jīng)報復(fù)了墨瑞亞的半獸人，”索林說，“接下來我們得算計一下這個死靈法師了。”

“別不自量力了!他的力量遠遠超過所有矮人之和，就算你真的能夠把所有的矮人從世界的四個角落召集來，也打不過這個恐怖的敵人。你父親惟一想要的，就是讓他的兒子能夠看到這張地圖，使用這把鑰匙。單是惡龍與大山就足夠你對付了!”

“聽著，聽著!”比爾博冷不丁地大聲說道。

“聽什么?”大家都突然轉(zhuǎn)向他說道，而他慌亂之下竟然回答，“聽我要說的話!”

“你要說什么?”他們問。

“嗯，我想說的是你們應(yīng)該往東走，去仔細看看。再怎么說那兒也有條密道，而且我想惡龍肯定偶爾也會睡覺。只要你們在門口守得夠久，我敢說你們一定可以想出點辦法來。而且，知道嗎，我覺得我們今兒晚上已經(jīng)說得夠多了。不如先睡個覺，然后明天早上早點動身，怎么樣?在你們出門之前，我會讓你們好好吃一頓早餐的。”

“你想說的是‘我們’出門之前吧?”索林說，“你難道不是飛賊嗎?守在大門口難道不是你的活兒嗎?更別說混進門里去了!不過，我同意先睡覺，明天好好吃一頓早餐。在遠行之前，我喜歡給火腿配上六個雞蛋：要煎的，不要煮的，注意別把蛋黃弄破。”

在紛紛點完早餐而且連聲“請”也沒說之后(這讓比爾博覺得相當(dāng)不爽)，大家就起身準(zhǔn)備睡了。霍比特人還得替所有人找到睡覺的地方。所有空房間都住了人，此外還得在椅子和沙發(fā)上鋪床。把他們都安頓完之后，霍比特人才筋疲力盡、悶悶不樂地回到自己的小床上。他心中暗暗打定了主意，明天早上絕對不會起個大早，給大家做該死的早餐。圖克家的熱血已經(jīng)漸漸冷卻了，他實在不確定明早會不會和大家一起踏上冒險的征程。

躺在床上時，他聽見索林依舊在隔壁最好的臥室中輕輕哼著：

越過冰冷而又霧蒙蒙的大山，

在那深深地下洞穴已有千年，

我們一定要趕在天亮前出發(fā)，

把久已忘卻的黃金尋回眼前。

比爾博就在這縈繞耳畔的歌聲中睡去了，這歌讓他做了一串很不舒服的夢。待他醒來時，天已經(jīng)亮了很久了。