Howling Up the Moon望月狼嚎

文◎Diana C.Conway 译◎Jasmine 绘◎马豆子

Howling Up the Moon望月狼嚎

文◎Diana C.Conway 译◎Jasmine 绘◎马豆子

In Alask a long ago, when animals still talked to humans, Old Wolf met a small girl at a river. The girl's name was Nurauq.

Old Wolf greeted her. "Waqaa? What brings you here?" "I'm taking some food to my grandamother." said Nurauq. At the word food, Old Wolf pricked up his tattered①ears. He no longer moved fast enough to catch juicy mice. For many months, he had eaten only scraps thrown away by the villagersmoldy②fish skins and rotten caribou③bones. But now, he thought, I will trick this little girl into giving me some real food.

He blinked his golden eyes at Nurauq and said, "My, that's a lovely new parka④you're wearing."

Nurauq thanked him. "Quyana. My grandmother sewed it for me from many squirrel skins."

"And what food are you carrying to her?" "Fresh caught eels⑤," answered Nurauq.

Eels, he thought. I can swallow eels without even chewing. Out loud he said, "Dear little girl, where does your grandmother live?"

Nurauq didn't much like being called little girl, but she pointed politely with her chin to a cliff.

"That's a long walk for a two-legged creature," said Old Wolf. "Allow me to carry your bag for you."

很久很久以前，在阿拉斯加，动物可以和人类交谈。一天，一匹老狼在河边遇见了一个小女孩。女孩名叫努拉克。

老狼跟女孩打招呼道：“你好（尤皮克语），你在这儿做什么？”

“我给我外婆带些食物去。”努拉克说。

“食物”二字令他竖起了皲裂的耳朵。他早已跑不动了，再也抓不住鲜嫩多汁的老鼠。很多个月里，他只能吃村民们丢弃的残羹——发霉的鱼皮和腐烂的驯鹿骨头。不过现在他有了主意——从这个小女孩手中骗到一些真正的食物。

他朝努拉克眨了眨金色的眼睛，说道：“我的天，你身上的皮大衣可真好看。”

努拉克说：“谢谢（尤皮克语），这是我外婆给我缝的，用了好多松鼠皮。”

“你给她带的是什么食物？”

“刚抓的鳗鱼。”努拉克答道。

"Not on your 1ife." said Nurauq. Her black eyes sparkled like wet beach stones. "My mother warned me to watch out for your tricky ways."

"Well then, at least let me carry you across the river on my back so your mukluks⑥don't get wet."

"No need." said Nurauq. "I can hop from stone to stone, like this."

"I'll just hurry ahead and tell your grandmother you are coming," he said. "That way she can heat some water to cook those eels."

"No!" said Nurauq. "Mauluqa might jump out of her skin to see a wolf at the door."

Old Wolf wheezed⑦and limped along with her. This little girl is hard to trick, he thought.

On the horizon, the moon began to show like the edge of a white clam shell, this gave Old Wolf an idea. "Slow down," he said. "If you give me one of your eels. I will make some magic for you."

"Magic?" asked Nurauq. "Don't you know we wolves make the moon rise at night?" Old Wolf lifted his nose into the air and began to howl. Because he was old, lonely and very hungry, his howls reached the ends of the earth. Slowly and steadily, the ful lmoon began to rise over the tundra⑧.

鳗鱼，他想着。我可以吞下一条鳗鱼不带嚼的。他大声问：“亲爱的小姑娘，你外婆住在哪里？”

努拉克不怎么乐意被叫“小姑娘”，但她还是礼貌地用下巴指了指一座悬崖。

“两条腿的生物要走过去够远的，”老狼说，“让我帮你把包带过去吧。”

“不用你操心。”努拉克说。她的黑眼珠闪烁着，像湿润的海边石头。“我妈妈叮嘱过我小心你的把戏。”

“好吧，那至少让我背你过河，免得你的靴子打湿了。”

“不用了。”努拉克说，“我可以像这样

Nurauq clapped her hands and said, "How lovely!"

Old Wolf could already imagine the taste of the fresh, oily eel. Then the girl began to giggle. "But you know perfectly well the moon rises every night all by itself."

一个个石头跳过去。”

“我会先赶过去告诉你外婆你要到了。”他说，“这样她可以烧水准备煮这些鳗鱼。”

Old Wolf's tail drooped. Nurauq looked at his knobby ribs. "You poor old thing," she said. "You really are hungry. aren't you?"

Old Wolf didn't much like being called poor old thing, but he answered truthfully. "Yes, I could eat a bear."

Nurauq looked at the moon in the sky, smiled at Old Wolf, reached into her bag and tossed him a fat eel.

Old Wolf swallowed that eel in one gulp, Then he stretched out his front paws and bowed low to Nurauq, "Quyana, little one."

"You're welcome," she answered.

They had fi nally reached the house of Nurauq's grandmother. At the first sound of old Wolf's howls. Grandmother had come up to see what was happening. She noticed the shiny eel oil around Old Wolf's muzzle. "Has that old thing tricked you into feeding him?" she asked.

"No, Grandmother. He kept me company on the walk so that no bears would bother me."

"I did?" said Old Wolf. "Ah. yes. I did."

Grandmother smiled. "Well in that case, here's another eel for you."

That night, Nurauq and her Grandmother ate eel soup. Old Wolf slept just outside, protected from the cold wind by the mound. The moon moved all by itself among the glimmering stars, because Old Wolf was much too contented to howl it across the sky.

“不行！”努拉克说，“外婆（尤皮克语）看到一匹狼在门外会吓一大跳的。”

老狼喘着气，一瘸一拐地跟着她。这个小女孩真不好骗，他想。

地平线的那端，月亮开始显现出白色蛤壳的形状，老狼有了个主意。“慢点儿，”他说，“如果你给我一条鳗鱼，我就给你变个魔术。”

“魔术？”努拉克问道。“你不知道是我们狼让月亮在晚上升起吗？”老狼抬起鼻子，开始嗥叫。因为他又老，又孤单，又饿，他的嗥叫声抵达了天的另一边。满月开始从苔原缓缓地稳稳升起。

努拉克拍手叫道：“真美！”

老狼都能想象到鲜嫩多汁的鳗鱼味道了。接着女孩开始咯咯笑。“但你明明知道，月亮每天晚上是自己升起的。”

老狼的尾巴垂了下来。努拉克看着他瘦骨嶙峋的样子感叹道，“可怜的老家伙，你真的很饿了，对吗？”

老狼很不想被叫“老家伙”，但他坦承地回答：“是的，我可以吃下一只熊。”

努拉克看着天上的月亮，对老狼笑了笑，从包里拿出一只肥鳗鱼丢给他。

老狼一口吞下鳗鱼，伸出前爪对努拉克鞠了一躬，“谢谢你（尤皮克语），小家伙。”

“不用谢。”她回答。

他们终于到了努拉克外婆家。外婆听到第一声老狼的嗥叫，就从屋里出来看是怎么回事。她注意到老狼鼻口部的鳗鱼油光。“那个老家伙骗你喂他了吗？”她问道。

“没有，外婆。他一路护送我过来，这样就没有熊敢伤我了。”

“我有吗？”老狼说，“啊，是的，是我干的。”

外婆笑了。“好吧，看在这个分上，再给你一条鳗鱼。”

那天晚上，努拉克和外婆喝了鳗鱼汤。老狼就睡在外面，土堆保护他免受冷风的侵袭。月亮在闪烁的群星中自己移动，因为老狼心甘情愿地对着天空嗥叫。

①tattered 英 ['tætəd] 美 ['tætɚd] adj. 破烂的，衣衫褴褛的 v. 变破烂（tatter的过去分词）

②moldy 英 ['məʊldɪ] 美 ['moldi] adj. 发霉的；乏味的；陈腐的

③caribou 英 ['kærɪbuː] 美 ['kærɪbu] n. 北美驯鹿

④parka 英 ['pɑːkə] 美 ['pɑrkə] n. （户外穿着用的）派克大衣；皮质大衣

⑤eel 英 [iːl] 美 [il] n. 鳗鱼；鳝鱼

⑥mukluk 英 ['mʌklʌk] 美 ['mʌklʌk] n. 用裘作衬里的长统靴

⑦wheeze 英 [wiːz] 美 [wiz] vi. 喘息；呼哧呼哧地响vt. 喘息着说；喘息地发出n. 喘息；喘气声

⑧tundra 英 ['tʌndrə] 美 ['tʌndrə] n. [生态]苔原；[地理] 冻原；冻土地带