計畫一旦說出口

But Kino’s face shone with prophecy.

可是奇諾的臉上閃著預言的光。

“My son will read and open the books, and my son will write and will know writing.

「我的兒子會讀書、會打開那些書，我的兒子會寫字，會懂得書寫。

And my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will know—he will know and through him we will know.”

我的兒子還會算數，這些會讓我們自由，因為他會知道——他會知道，而透過他，我們也會知道。」

And in the pearl Kino saw himself and Juana squatting by the little fire in the brush hut while Coyotito read from a great book.

在珍珠裡，奇諾看見他自己和胡安娜蹲在樹枝屋的小火堆旁，柯尤提托正在讀一本大書。

“This is what the pearl will do,” said Kino.

「這就是珍珠會做到的事。」奇諾說。

And he had never said so many words together in his life.

他這輩子從來沒有一口氣說過這麼多話。

And suddenly he was afraid of his talking.

他突然害怕起自己說的話。

His hand closed down over the pearl and cut the light away from it.

他的手合起來握住珍珠，把它的光遮斷了。

Kino was afraid as a man is afraid who says: “I will,” without knowing.

奇諾害怕的樣子，就像一個人說了「我要」，卻不知道後果會如何。

Now the neighbours knew they had witnessed a great marvel.

這時鄰居們知道，他們見證了一個偉大的奇蹟。

They knew that time would now date from Kino’s pearl, and that they would discuss this moment for many years to come.

他們知道，從今以後，時間會從奇諾的珍珠開始算起，他們會在未來許多年裡談論這一刻。

If these things came to pass, they would recount how Kino looked and what he said and how his eyes shone, and they would say: “He was a man transfigured.

如果這些事成真了，他們會細數奇諾當時的模樣、他說了什麼、他的眼睛怎麼發亮，他們會說：「他整個人都變了。

Some power was given to him, and there it started.

有某種力量賜給了他，一切就是從那裡開始的。

You see what a great man he has become, starting from that moment.

你看他從那一刻起，變成了多麼偉大的人。

And I myself saw it.”

而我親眼看見了。」

And if Kino’s planning came to nothing, those same neighbours would say: “There it started.

而如果奇諾的計畫落空了，同樣這些鄰居會說：「就是從那裡開始的。

A foolish madness came over him so that he spoke foolish words.

一股愚蠢的瘋狂攫住了他，所以他說出那些愚蠢的話。

God keep us from such things.

願上帝讓我們遠離這種事。

Yes, God punished Kino because he rebelled against the way things are.

對，上帝懲罰了奇諾，因為他反抗事情本來的樣子。

You see what has become of him.

你看他落得什麼下場。

And I myself saw the moment when his reason left him.”

而我親眼看見了他失去理智的那一刻。」

Kino looked down at his closed hand and the knuckles were scabbed over and tight where he had struck the gate.

奇諾低頭看著握緊的手，砸門的地方，指節已經結了痂，繃得緊緊的。

Now the dusk was coming.

黃昏來了。

And Juana looped her shawl under the baby so that he hung against her hip, and she went to the fire hole and dug a coal from the ashes and broke a few twigs over it and fanned a flame alive.

胡安娜把披巾兜在嬰兒身下，讓他靠在她的腰側，她走到火坑邊，從灰燼裡挖出一塊炭，折幾根細枝撒上去，搧出火苗。

The little flames danced on the faces of the neighbours.

小小的火焰在鄰居們的臉上跳動。

They knew they should go to their own dinners, but they were reluctant to leave.

他們知道自己該回家吃晚飯了，卻捨不得離開。

The dark was almost in, and Juana’s fire threw shadows on the brush walls when the whisper came in, passed from mouth to mouth.

天差不多全黑了，胡安娜的火在樹枝牆上投下陰影，這時一句耳語傳了進來，一個嘴巴傳一個嘴巴。

“The Father is coming—the priest is coming.”

「神父來了——神父來了。」

The men uncovered their heads and stepped back from the door, and the women gathered their shawls about their faces and cast down their eyes.

男人們摘下帽子，從門口退開，女人們拉攏披巾遮住臉，垂下眼睛。

Kino and Juan Tomás, his brother, stood up.

奇諾和他的哥哥胡安．托馬斯站了起來。

The priest came in—a greying, ageing man with an old skin and a young sharp eye.

神父走了進來——一個頭髮花白、漸漸老去的男人，皮膚老了，眼神卻年輕銳利。

Children he considered these people, and he treated them like children.

他把這些人看成孩子，也把他們當孩子對待。

“Kino,” he said softly, “thou art named after a great man—and a great Father of the Church.”

「奇諾，」他輕聲說，「汝的名字來自一位偉人——一位教會的偉大神父。」

He made it sound like a benediction.

他說得像一句祝福。

“Thy namesake tamed the desert and sweetened the minds of thy people, didst thou know that?

「與汝同名的那位馴服了沙漠，讓汝的族人心智變得溫順，汝知道嗎？

It is in the books.”

書上這樣寫的。」

Kino looked quickly down at Coyotito’s head, where he hung on Juana’s hip.

奇諾很快地低頭看了一眼柯尤提托的頭，他正掛在胡安娜的腰側。

Some day, his mind said, that boy would know what things were in the books and what things were not.

他心裡說：總有一天，那孩子會知道哪些事真的寫在書裡，哪些事沒有。

The music had gone out of Kino’s head, but now, thinly, slowly, the melody of the morning, the music of evil, of the enemy, sounded, but it was faint and weak.

音樂已經從奇諾的腦中退去，可是此刻，細細地、慢慢地，早晨的那段旋律——惡的音樂、敵人的音樂——又響了起來，只是很微弱。

And Kino looked at his neighbours to see who might have brought this song in.

奇諾看看鄰居們，想知道是誰把這首歌帶了進來。

But the priest was speaking again.

可是神父又開口了。

“It has come to me that thou hast found a great fortune, a great pearl.”

「我聽說汝找到了一大筆財富，一顆大珍珠。」

Kino opened his hand and held it out, and the priest gasped a little at the size and beauty of the pearl.

奇諾張開手伸出去，神父看到珍珠那麼大、那麼美，輕輕倒抽一口氣。

And then he said: “I hope thou wilt remember to give thanks, my son, to Him who has given thee this treasure, and to pray for guidance in the future.”

接著他說：「我希望汝會記得感謝，我的孩子，感謝那位賜汝這份寶藏的主，並祈求祂在未來指引汝。」

Kino nodded dumbly, and it was Juana who spoke softly.

奇諾默默點頭，開口的是胡安娜，她輕聲說。

“We will, Father.

「我們會的，神父。

And we will be married now.

而且我們現在要結婚了。

Kino has said so.”

奇諾說的。」

She looked at the neighbours for confirmation, and they nodded their heads solemnly.

她看向鄰居們尋求證實，他們莊重地點點頭。

The priest said: “It is pleasant to see that your first thoughts are good thoughts.

神父說：「看到你們最先想到的是好念頭，真令人欣慰。

God bless you, my children.”

願上帝祝福你們，我的孩子們。」

He turned and left quietly, and the people let him through.

他轉身靜靜離開，人們讓開讓他過去。

But Kino’s hand had closed tightly on the pearl again, and he was glancing about suspiciously, for the evil song was in his ears, shrilling against the music of the pearl.

可是奇諾的手又緊緊握住了珍珠，他懷疑地四下張望，因為惡之歌在他耳中，正對著珍珠的音樂尖聲鳴叫。

The neighbours slipped away to go to their houses, and Juana squatted by the fire and set her clay pot of boiled beans over the little flame.

鄰居們悄悄散去回家，胡安娜蹲在火邊，把裝著煮豆子的陶鍋放到小火上。

Kino stepped to the doorway and looked out.

奇諾走到門口往外看。

As always, he could smell the smoke from many fires, and he could see the hazy stars and feel the damp of the night air so that he covered his nose from it.

跟往常一樣，他聞得到許多火堆冒出的煙，看得見朦朧的星星，感覺得到夜晚空氣的潮濕，於是他把鼻子遮起來。

The thin dog came to him and threshed itself in greeting like a wind-blown flag, and Kino looked down at it and didn’t see it.

那隻瘦狗走到他身邊，像一面被風吹動的旗子一樣甩動身體跟他打招呼，奇諾低頭看著牠，卻視而不見。

He had broken through the horizons into a cold and lonely outside.

他已經衝破了地平線，來到一個寒冷而孤獨的外面。

He felt alone and unprotected, and scraping crickets and shrilling tree frogs and croaking toads seemed to be carrying the melody of evil.

他感到孤單、毫無保護，摩擦作響的蟋蟀、尖鳴的樹蛙、呱呱叫的蟾蜍，似乎都在傳唱著惡的旋律。

Kino shivered a little and drew his blanket more tightly against his nose.

奇諾微微打了個寒顫，把毯子更緊地拉到鼻子上。

He carried the pearl still in his hand, tightly closed in his palm, and it was warm and smooth against his skin.

他手裡還拿著珍珠，緊緊握在掌心，貼著皮膚，溫暖而光滑。

Behind him he heard Juana patting the cakes before she put them down on the clay cooking-sheet.

他聽見身後胡安娜在拍玉米餅，拍好了再放到陶烤盤上。

Kino felt all the warmth and security of his family behind him, and the Song of the Family came from behind him like the purring of a kitten.

奇諾感覺到家所有的溫暖與安全都在他身後，家之歌從他身後傳來，像小貓的呼嚕聲。

But now, by saying what his future was going to be like, he had created it.

可是現在，因為他說出了自己的未來會是什麼樣子，他就創造了那個未來。

A plan is a real thing, and things projected are experienced.

計畫是真實的東西，被設想的事就會被經歷。

A plan once made and visualized becomes a reality along with other realities—never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked.

一個計畫一旦訂下、一旦被想像出來，就會跟其他真實一樣成為真實——永遠不會被摧毀，卻很容易被攻擊。

Thus Kino’s future was real, but having set it up, other forces were set up to destroy it, and this he knew, so that he had to prepare to meet the attack.

所以奇諾的未來是真實的，可是他一把它建立起來，別的力量也就建立起來要摧毀它，這一點他知道，所以他得準備迎接攻擊。

And this Kino knew also—that the gods do not love men’s plans, and the gods do not love success unless it comes by accident.

奇諾也知道這一點——眾神不喜歡人的計畫，眾神也不喜歡成功，除非那成功是意外得來的。

He knew that the gods take their revenge on a man if he be successful through his own efforts.

他知道，一個人若是靠自己的努力成功，眾神會向他報復。

Consequently Kino was afraid of plans, but having made one, he could never destroy it.

所以奇諾害怕計畫，可是一旦訂了一個，他就永遠無法毀掉它。

And to meet the attack, Kino was already making a hard skin for himself against the world.

為了迎接攻擊，奇諾已經開始替自己長出一層對抗世界的硬殼。

His eyes and his mind probed for danger before it appeared.

他的眼睛和心思，在危險出現之前就在搜尋它。

Standing in the door, he saw two men approach; and one of them carried a lantern which lighted the ground and the legs of the men.

他站在門口，看見兩個男人走過來；其中一個提著燈籠，照亮了地面和兩人的腿。

They turned in through the opening of Kino’s brush fence and came to his door.

他們轉進奇諾樹枝圍籬的開口，來到他的門前。

And Kino saw that one was the doctor and the other the servant who had opened the gate in the morning.

奇諾看清楚，一個是醫生，另一個是早上開門的那個僕人。

The split knuckles on Kino’s right hand burned when he saw who they were.

看清他們是誰的那一刻，奇諾右手裂開的指節燒了起來。

The doctor said: “I was not in when you came this morning.

醫生說：「今天早上你來的時候，我不在。

But now, at the first chance, I have come to see the baby.”

可是現在，一有機會，我就來看孩子了。」

Kino stood in the door, filling it, and hatred raged and flamed in back of his eyes, and fear too, for the hundreds of years of subjugation were cut deep in him.

奇諾站在門口，把門堵滿了，仇恨在他眼睛後面翻騰燃燒，恐懼也一樣，因為幾百年的屈服已經深深刻進了他身體裡。

“The baby is nearly well now,” he said curtly.

「孩子差不多好了。」他簡短地說。

The doctor smiled, but his eyes in their little lymph-lined hammocks did not smile.

醫生笑了，可是他那雙陷在淋巴般浮腫的肉兜裡的眼睛沒有笑。

He said: “Sometimes, my friend, the scorpion sting has a curious effect.

他說：「有時候，我的朋友，蠍子螫傷會有奇怪的後果。

There will be apparent improvement, and then without warning—pouf!”

表面上看起來好轉了，然後毫無預警——噗！」

He pursed his lips and made a little explosion to show how quick it could be, and he shifted his small black doctor’s bag about so that the light of the lamp fell upon it, for he knew that Kino’s race love the tools of any craft and trust them.

他噘起嘴，做了個小小的爆炸聲，表示事情可以發生得多快，又把他那個黑色的小醫生皮包挪了挪，讓燈光落在上面，因為他知道奇諾這個種族喜愛任何行業的工具，也信任它們。

“Sometimes,” the doctor went on in a liquid tone, “sometimes there will be a withered leg or a blind eye or a crumpled back.

「有時候，」醫生用流暢的語調接著說，「有時候會落得一條萎縮的腿，或一隻瞎掉的眼睛，或一副彎曲的背。

Oh, I know the sting of the scorpion, my friend, and I can cure it.”

喔，我了解蠍子螫傷，我的朋友，我治得好。」

Kino felt the rage and hatred melting towards fear.

奇諾感覺到憤怒和仇恨正融化成恐懼。

He did not know, and perhaps this doctor did.

他不知道，而這個醫生也許知道。

And he could not take the chance of putting his certain ignorance against this man’s possible knowledge.

他不能冒險，拿自己確定的無知，去對抗這個人可能有的知識。

He was trapped as his people were always trapped, and would be until, as he had said, they could be sure that the things in the books were really in the books.

他被困住了，就像他的族人一直被困住一樣，而且會一直被困住，直到——就像他說的——他們能確定書裡寫的東西真的寫在書裡。

He could not take a chance—not with the life or with the straightness of Coyotito.

他不能冒險——不能拿柯尤提托的命、不能拿柯尤提托挺直的身體去冒險。

He stood aside and let the doctor and his man enter the brush hut.

他讓到一旁，讓醫生和他的僕人走進樹枝屋。