這珍珠像罪一樣

“You have a pearl? A good pearl?” the doctor asked with interest.

「你有珍珠？一顆好珍珠？」醫生很感興趣地問。

And then the chorus of the neighbours broke in.

接著鄰居們齊聲插嘴。

“He has found the Pearl of the World,” they cried, and they joined forefinger with thumb to show how great the pearl was.

「他找到了世界之珠！」他們嚷著，用食指和拇指圈起來，比出珍珠有多大。

“Kino will be a rich man,” they clamoured.

「奇諾要變成有錢人了。」他們吵嚷著。

“It is a pearl such as one has never seen.”

「那是一顆誰都沒見過的珍珠。」

The doctor looked surprised.

醫生一臉驚訝。

“I had not heard of it.

「我沒聽說過。

Do you keep this pearl in a safe place?

你把這顆珍珠放在安全的地方嗎？

Perhaps you would like me to put it in my safe?”

也許你想讓我替你放進我的保險箱？」

Kino’s eyes were hooded now, his cheeks were drawn taut.

奇諾這時半垂著眼皮，臉頰繃得緊緊的。

“I have it secure,” he said.

「我藏好了。」他說。

“Tomorrow I will sell it and then I will pay you.”

「明天我會把它賣掉，然後付你錢。」

The doctor shrugged, and his wet eyes never left Kino’s eyes.

醫生聳聳肩，他那雙濕潤的眼睛一直沒有離開奇諾的眼睛。

He knew the pearl would be buried in the house, and he thought Kino might look towards the place where it was buried.

他知道珍珠一定埋在屋裡，他也料到奇諾可能會往埋藏的地方看。

“It would be a shame to have it stolen before you could sell it,” the doctor said, and he saw Kino’s eyes flick involuntarily to the floor near the side post of the brush house.

「要是在你賣掉之前被偷了，那就太可惜了。」醫生說，他看見奇諾的眼睛不由自主地往樹枝屋側柱旁的地面瞥了一下。

When the doctor had gone and all the neighbours had reluctantly returned to their houses, Kino squatted beside the little glowing coals in the fire hole and listened to the night sound, the soft sweep of the little waves on the shore and the distant barking of dogs, the creeping of the breeze through the brush house roof and the soft speech of his neighbours in their houses in the village.

醫生走了，鄰居們也都依依不捨地回家了，奇諾蹲在火坑裡發著微光的炭旁，聽著夜晚的聲音：小浪輕輕拂過岸邊，遠處的狗在吠，微風悄悄穿過樹枝屋的屋頂，村子裡鄰居們在各自屋裡低聲說話。

For these people do not sleep soundly all night; they awaken at intervals and talk a little and then go to sleep again.

因為這些人整夜都睡不沉；他們隔一陣子就醒來，說幾句話，又睡回去。

And after a while Kino got up and went to the door of his house.

過了一會兒，奇諾站起來，走到門口。

He smelled the breeze and he listened for any foreign sound of secrecy or creeping, and his eyes searched the darkness, for the music of evil was sounding in his head and he was fierce and afraid.

他嗅著微風，聽有沒有任何鬼祟或潛行的陌生聲音，眼睛在黑暗中搜尋，因為惡的音樂正在他腦中響著，他既兇猛又害怕。

After he had probed the night with his senses he went to the place by the side post where the pearl was buried, and he dug it up and brought it to his sleeping-mat, and under his sleeping-mat he dug another little hole in the dirt floor and buried his pearl and covered it up again.

他用感官把夜晚探查了一遍之後，走到側柱旁埋珍珠的地方，把它挖出來，拿到他的睡蓆邊，在睡蓆底下的泥土地上又挖了一個小洞，把珍珠埋進去，再蓋好。

And Juana, sitting by the fire hole, watched him with questioning eyes, and when he had buried his pearl she asked: “Who do you fear?”

胡安娜坐在火坑邊，用疑問的眼神看著他，等他埋好珍珠，她問：「你怕誰？」

Kino searched for a true answer, and at last he said: “Everyone.”

奇諾想找一個真實的答案，最後他說：「每個人。」

And he could feel a shell of hardness drawing over him.

他感覺得到一層堅硬的外殼正在覆蓋他。

After a while they lay down together on the sleeping-mat, and Juana did not put the baby in his box tonight, but cradled him on her arms and covered his face with her head shawl.

過了一會兒，他們一起躺到睡蓆上，今晚胡安娜沒有把嬰兒放進木箱，而是抱在臂彎裡，用頭巾蓋住他的臉。

And the last light went out of the embers in the fire hole.

火坑裡的餘燼熄掉了最後一點光。

But Kino’s brain burned, even during his sleep, and he dreamed that Coyotito could read, that one of his own people could tell him the truth of things.

可是奇諾的腦子在燃燒，連睡著了也一樣，他夢見柯尤提托會讀書了，夢見他自己的族人有一個能告訴他事情的真相。

And in his dream, Coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house, with letters as big as dogs, and the words galloped and played on the book.

在夢裡，柯尤提托正在讀一本像房子那麼大的書，字母像狗那麼大，那些字在書上奔騰嬉戲。

And then darkness spread over the page, and with the darkness came the music of evil again, and Kino stirred in his sleep; and when he stirred, Juana’s eyes opened in the darkness.

然後黑暗漫過書頁，惡的音樂隨著黑暗又來了，奇諾在睡夢中翻動；他一翻動，胡安娜的眼睛就在黑暗中睜開了。

And then Kino awakened, with the evil music pulsing in him, and he lay in the darkness with his ears alert.

接著奇諾醒了，惡的音樂在他身體裡脈動，他躺在黑暗中，豎起耳朵。

Then from the corner of the house came a sound so soft that it might have been simply a thought, a little furtive movement, a touch of a foot on earth, the almost inaudible purr of controlled breathing.

然後屋角傳來一個聲音，輕得也許只是一個念頭：一個鬼祟的小動作，一隻腳碰觸泥土，壓抑著的呼吸發出幾乎聽不見的低響。

Kino held his breath to listen, and he knew that whatever dark thing was in his house was holding its breath too, to listen.

奇諾屏住呼吸聽著，他知道，不管屋裡那個黑暗的東西是什麼，它也正屏住呼吸在聽。

For a time no sound at all came from the corner of the brush house.

有好一陣子，樹枝屋的角落一點聲音也沒有。

Then Kino might have thought he had imagined the sound.

奇諾幾乎要以為剛才的聲音是他想像出來的。

But Juana’s hand came creeping over to him in warning, and then the sound came again! the whisper of a foot on dry earth and the scratch of fingers in the soil.

可是胡安娜的手悄悄伸過來警告他，接著聲音又來了！腳踩在乾土上的細響，手指在泥土裡刮動的聲音。

And now a wild fear surged in Kino’s breast, and on the fear came rage, as it always did.

一股狂亂的恐懼湧上奇諾的胸口，憤怒也跟著恐懼來了，一向都是這樣。

Kino’s hand crept into his breast where his knife hung on a string, and then he sprang like an angry cat, leaped striking and spitting for the dark thing he knew was in the corner of the house.

奇諾的手伸進胸前，那裡用繩子掛著他的刀，接著他像一隻憤怒的貓一樣跳起來，朝他知道藏在屋角的那個黑暗東西撲過去，一邊刺一邊嘶吼。

He felt cloth, struck at it with his knife and missed, and struck again and felt his knife go through cloth, and then his head crashed with lightning and exploded with pain.

他摸到了布，用刀刺過去，沒刺中，又刺一次，感覺到刀子穿過了布，接著他的頭被一道閃電擊中，痛得炸開。

There was a soft scurry in the doorway, and running steps for a moment, and then silence.

門口一陣輕微的騷動，奔跑的腳步聲響了一下，然後一片寂靜。

Kino could feel warm blood running down from his forehead, and he could hear Juana calling to him.

奇諾感覺到溫熱的血從額頭流下來，他聽見胡安娜在叫他。

“Kino! Kino!”

「奇諾！奇諾！」

And there was terror in her voice.

她的聲音裡滿是恐懼。

Then coldness came over him as quickly as the rage had, and he said: “I am all right. The thing has gone.”

冷靜像剛才的憤怒一樣迅速地降臨在他身上，他說：「我沒事。那東西走了。」

He groped his way back to the sleeping-mat.

他摸索著回到睡蓆邊。

Already Juana was working at the fire.

胡安娜已經在弄火了。

She uncovered an ember from the ashes and shredded little pieces of corn-husk over it and blew a little flame into the corn-husks so that a tiny light danced through the hut.

她從灰燼裡撥出一塊餘燼，把玉米苞葉撕成小片撒上去，把火吹進苞葉裡，一點小小的光就在屋裡跳動起來。

And then from a secret place Juana brought a little piece of consecrated candle and lighted it at the flame and set it upright on a fire-place stone.

然後胡安娜從一個祕密的地方拿出一小截祝聖過的蠟燭，在火上點燃，豎在爐邊的石頭上。

She worked quickly, crooning as she moved about.

她動作很快，一邊走動一邊低聲哼唱。

She dipped the end of her head-shawl in water and swabbed the blood from Kino’s bruised forehead.

她把頭巾的一角沾了水，擦去奇諾瘀傷的額頭上的血。

“It is nothing,” Kino said, but his eyes and his voice were hard and cold and a brooding hate was growing in him.

「沒什麼。」奇諾說，可是他的眼神和聲音又硬又冷，一股陰鬱的仇恨正在他心中滋長。

Now the tension which had been growing in Juana boiled up to the surface and her lips were thin.

這時胡安娜心中不斷積累的緊張終於沸騰到了表面，她的嘴唇抿成一條細線。

“This thing is evil,” she cried harshly.

「這東西是邪惡的。」她尖厲地喊。

“This pearl is like a sin!

「這珍珠就像罪一樣！

It will destroy us,” and her voice rose shrilly.

它會毀了我們。」她的聲音尖銳地拔高。

“Throw it away, Kino.

「把它丟掉，奇諾。

Let us break it between stones.

我們拿石頭把它敲碎。

Let us bury it and forget the place.

我們把它埋起來，忘掉那個地方。

Let us throw it back into the sea.

我們把它丟回海裡。

It has brought evil.

它帶來了邪惡。

Kino, my husband, it will destroy us.”

奇諾，我的丈夫，它會毀了我們。」

And in the firelight her lips and her eyes were alive with her fear.

在火光中，她的嘴唇和眼睛都因為恐懼而顫動著。

But Kino’s face was set, and his mind and his will were set.

可是奇諾的臉色堅定，他的心意和他的意志都已經定了。

“This is our one chance,” he said.

「這是我們唯一的機會。」他說。

“Our son must go to school.

「我們的兒子一定要上學。

He must break out of the pot that holds us in.”

他一定要打破那個把我們困在裡面的鍋子。」

“It will destroy us all,” Juana cried.

「它會毀了我們所有人。」胡安娜哭喊。

“Even our son.”

「連我們的兒子也是。」

“Hush,” said Kino.

「別說了。」奇諾說。

“Do not speak any more.

「不要再說了。

In the morning we will sell the pearl, and then the evil will be gone, and only the good remain.

早上我們就去賣珍珠，然後邪惡就會消失，只留下好的。

Now hush, my wife.”

現在別說了，我的妻子。」

His dark eyes scowled into the little fire, and for the first time he knew that his knife was still in his hands, and he raised the blade and looked at it and saw a little line of blood on the steel.

他深色的眼睛皺著眉盯著小小的火，這才第一次發現刀子還在手裡，他舉起刀刃一看，看見鋼面上有一道細細的血痕。

For a moment he seemed about to wipe the blade on his trousers, but then he plunged the knife into the earth and so cleansed it.

有那麼一下，他好像要把刀刃往褲子上擦，可是最後他把刀插進泥土裡，就這樣把它清乾淨了。

The distant roosters began to crow and the air changed and the dawn was coming.

遠處的公雞開始啼叫，空氣變了，黎明要來了。

The wind of the morning ruffled the water of the estuary and whispered through the mangroves, and the little waves beat on the rubbly beach with an increased tempo.

晨風吹皺了河口的水面，在紅樹林間低語，小浪拍打碎石灘的節奏也加快了。

Kino raised the sleeping-mat and dug up his pearl and put it in front of him and stared at it.

奇諾掀起睡蓆，把珍珠挖出來，放在面前盯著看。

And the beauty of the pearl, winking and glimmering in the light of the little candle, cozened his brain with its beauty.

珍珠在小蠟燭的光裡眨著眼、閃著微光，它的美蠱惑了他的腦子。

So lovely it was, so soft, and its own music came from it—its music of promise and delight, its guarantee of the future, of comfort, of security.

它那麼可愛，那麼柔和，它自己的音樂從它身上傳出來——承諾與喜悅的音樂，對未來、對舒適、對安全的保證。

Its warm lucence promised a poultice against illness and a wall against insult.

它溫暖的光澤承諾著一帖對抗疾病的敷藥，一道擋住侮辱的牆。

It closed a door on hunger.

它把飢餓關在門外。

And as he stared at it Kino’s eyes softened and his face relaxed.

奇諾盯著它看，眼神柔和下來，臉也放鬆了。

He could see the little image of the consecrated candle reflected in the soft surface of the pearl, and he heard again in his ears the lovely music of the undersea, the tone of the diffused green light of the sea bottom.

他看得見那根祝聖蠟燭小小的影像映在珍珠柔和的表面上，耳中又聽見了那可愛的海底音樂，那海底瀰漫的綠光的音色。

Juana, glancing secretly at him, saw him smile.

胡安娜偷偷瞄了他一眼，看見他笑了。

And because they were in some way one thing and one purpose, she smiled with him.

因為他們在某種意義上是同一個人、同一個目的，她也跟著他笑了。

And they began this day with hope.

他們以希望開始了這一天。