雙語全文 ● 魯迅——鴨的喜劇

The Comedy of the Ducks

Not long after the blind Russian poet Eroshenko brought his sixstringed guitar to Beijing， he complained to me， “Lonely， lonely！ Like the loneliness in a desert！ ”

This was no doubt his honest feeling， but not mine： I was an old resident. “Stay long in a room filled with iris and epidendrum， and you become oblivious of their scent.” I simply found the place noisy. But perhaps what I called noisy was what he called lonely.

It did seem to me though that Beijing had no spring or autumn. Old residents said that the warmth underground had shifted northward， making the climate milder. Still， in my opinion there was no spring or autumn； the end of winter merged with the start of summer； and as soon as summer ended， winter started.

One day， or rather one night， at this time when winter ended and summer began， happening to be free I called on Eroshenko. He stayed in Zhong Mi’s home. By this hour the rest of the household was in bed， and the place was very quiet. Eroshenko was resting alone on his couch， his high brows slightly wrinkled under his long yellow hair as he thought of his travels in Burma， of summer nights in Burma.

“On a night like this，” he said， “there is music all over Burma. Buildings， grass and trees， all have insects shrilling there. Those different sounds merge into a most extraordinary harmony. Now and then snakes hiss， but their hisses blend into the insect’s shrilling....”

He fell silent， as if eager to recapture that scent.

There was nothing I could say. I had certainly never heard miraculous music of that kind in Beijing； so no matter how patriotic I was I could put up no defence， for although blind he was not deaf.

“You haven’t even frogs in Beijing....” he sighed.

鴨的喜劇

俄國的盲詩人愛羅先珂君帶了他那六弦琴到北京之后不多久，便向我訴苦說：

“寂寞呀，寂寞呀，在沙漠上似的寂寞呀！”

這應(yīng)該是真實的，但在我卻未曾感得；我住得久了，“入芝蘭之室，久而不聞其香”，只以為很是嚷嚷罷了。然而我之所謂嚷嚷，或者也就是他之所謂寂寞罷。

我可是覺得在北京仿佛沒有春和秋。老于北京的人說，地氣北轉(zhuǎn)了，這里在先是沒有這么和曖。只是我總以為沒有春和秋；冬末和夏初銜接起來，夏才去，冬又開始了。

一日就是這冬末夏初的時候，而且是夜間，我偶而得了閑暇，去訪問愛羅先珂君。他一向寓在仲密君的家里；這時一家的人都睡了覺了，天下很安靜。他獨自靠在自己的臥榻上，很高的眉棱在金黃色的長發(fā)之間微蹙了，是在想他舊游之地的緬甸，緬甸的夏夜。

“這樣的夜間，”他說，“在緬甸是遍地是音樂。房里，草間，樹上，都有昆蟲吟叫，各種聲音，成為合奏，很神奇。其間時時夾著蛇鳴：‘嘶嘶！’可是也與蟲聲相和協(xié)……”他沉思了，似乎想要追想起那時的情景來。

我開不得口。這樣奇妙的音樂，我在北京確乎未曾聽到過，所以即使如何愛國，也辯護(hù)不得，因為他雖然目無所見，耳朵是沒有聾的。

“北京卻連蛙鳴也沒有……”他又嘆息說。

“Frogs？ We do！” This sigh of his emboldened me to protest， “In summer， after the big rains， you can hear no end of frogs croaking in the gutters， because there are gutters all over Beijing.”

“Oh....”

A few days later， sure enough， I was proved right， as Eroshenko bought a dozen or so tadpoles. He put them into a miniature pool in the middle of the yard outside his window. Three feet long and two feet wide， it had been dug by Zhong Mi to serve as a lotus pool. Although no one had ever seen even half a lotus growing there， it was a most appropriate place to raise frogs.

Clustered tadpoles swam through the water， and Eroshenko often went over to visit them. Once， the children told him， “Mr. Eroshenko， they’ve grown legs.” Then he smiled with pleasure and said， “Oh！”

But raising a poolful of musicians was only one of Eroshenko’s projects. A great advocate of self-sufficiency， he was all in favour of women keeping livestock and of men tilling the land. So whenever he met a good friend， he would advise him to go plant cabbages in his yard； and many a time he urged Mrs. Zhong Mi to keep bees， poultry， pigs， cows and camels. Subsequently， sure enough， many chicks appeared in the Zhong Mi household and flapped all over the yard， pecking it bare of the tender leaves on the ground. This was probably the outcome of his advice.

After that， the countryman selling chicks often called， and each time they bought a few， because chicks are prone to forage for themselves and fall ill—they are seldom very long-lived. One of them， moreover， became the central figure in The Tragedy of the Chicks， the only story Eroshenko wrote in Beijing. One morning， unexpectedly， the countryman brought along some cheeping ducklings， but Mrs. Zhong Mi said she did not want them. Eroshenko hurried out too. They put a duckling in his hands， and it cheeped as he held it. He thought the little creature so lovable， he felt he had to buy it. He bought four in all， for eighty cash apiece.

And those ducklings were really lovable， covered with golden down.Set on the ground they waddled about， calling to each other and always keeping together. Everybody praised them and said they must buy some loaches the next day to feed them. Eroshenko said， “You must let me pay for it.”

“蛙鳴是有的！”這嘆息，卻使我勇猛起來了，于是抗議說，“到夏天，大雨之后，你便能聽到許多蝦蟆叫，那是都在溝里面的，因為北京到處都有溝?！?

“哦……”

過了幾天，我的話居然證實了，因為愛羅先珂君已經(jīng)買到了十幾個科斗子。他買來便放在他窗外的院子中央的小池里。那池的長有三尺，寬有二尺，是仲密所掘，以種荷花的荷池。從這荷池里，雖然從來沒有見過養(yǎng)出半朵荷花來，然而養(yǎng)蝦蟆卻實在是一個極合式的處所。

科斗成群結(jié)隊的在水里面游泳；愛羅先珂君也常常踱來訪他們。有時候，孩子告訴他說，“愛羅先珂先生，他們生了腳了?！彼愀吲d的微笑道，“哦！”

然而養(yǎng)成池沼的音樂家卻只是愛羅先珂君的一件事。他是向來主張自食其力的，常說女人可以畜牧，男人就應(yīng)該種田。所以遇到很熟的友人，他便要勸誘他就在院子里種白菜；也屢次對仲密夫人勸告，勸伊養(yǎng)蜂，養(yǎng)雞，養(yǎng)豬，養(yǎng)牛，養(yǎng)駱駝。后來仲密家里果然有了許多小雞，滿院飛跑，啄完了鋪地錦的嫩葉，大約也許就是這勸告的結(jié)果了。

從此賣小雞的鄉(xiāng)下人也時常來，來一回便買幾只，因為小雞是容易積食，發(fā)痧，很難得長壽的；而且有一匹還成了愛羅先珂君在北京所作唯一的小說《小雞的悲劇》里的主人公。有一天的上午，那鄉(xiāng)下人竟意外的帶了小鴨來了，咻咻的叫著；但是仲密夫人說不要。愛羅先珂君也跑出來，他們就放一個在他兩手里，而小鴨便在他兩手里咻咻的叫。他以為這也很可愛，于是又不能不買了，一共買了四個，每個八十文。

小鴨也誠然是可愛，遍身松花黃，放在地上，便蹣跚的走，互相招呼，總是在一處。大家都說好，明天去買泥鰍來喂他們罷。愛羅先珂君說，“這錢也可以歸我出的?！?

Then he went off to a class， and the others dispersed. When presently Mrs. Zhong Mi took out some left-over rice for the ducklings， she heard a distant splashing and， running over to look， saw the four of them having a bath in the lotus pool. They were turning somersaults too and eating something. By the time she shooed them ashore， the water in the pool was muddy. When eventually the mud settled， all that could be seen were a few thin lotus roots. Not a single tadpole that had grown legs was left.

“They’ve gone， Mr. Eroshenko， the baby frogs.” The smallest child made haste to announce this as soon as he came back that evening.

“Eh？ The frogs？”

Mrs. Zhong Mi came out too， to report how the ducklings had eaten all the tadpoles.

“Well， well！” he said.

By the time the ducklings shed their down， Eroshenko had suddenly become so homesick for “Mother Russia” that he hastily set off for Chita.

By the time frogs were croaking all around， the ducklings had grown into ducks， two white， two speckled， and they no longer cheeped but had started quacking. The lotus pool was too small for them to sport in； but luckily Zhong Mi’s compound is so low-lying that each time it rained in summer it filled with water. Then they swam， dabbled in the water， flapped their wings and quacked joyfully.

Now the end of summer has once more merged with the start of winter，and still there is no news of Eroshenko. There is no knowing where he is.

Only four ducks are left， still quacking in the desert.

Oct-22

他于是教書去了；大家也走散。不一會，仲密夫人拿冷飯來喂他們時，在遠(yuǎn)處已聽得潑水的聲音，跑到一看，原來那四個小鴨都在荷池里洗澡了，而且還翻筋斗，吃東西呢。等到攔他們上了岸，全池已經(jīng)是渾水，過了半天，澄清了，只見泥里露出幾條細(xì)藕來；而且再也尋不出一個已經(jīng)生了腳的科斗了。

“伊和希珂先，沒有了，蝦蟆的兒子?！卑頃r候，孩子們一見他回來，最小的一個便趕緊說。

“唔，蝦蟆？”

仲密夫人也出來了，報告了小鴨吃完科斗的故事。

“唉，唉！……”他說。

待到小鴨褪了黃毛，愛羅先珂君卻忽而渴念著他的“俄羅斯母親”了，便匆匆的向赤塔去。

待到四處蛙鳴的時候，小鴨也已經(jīng)長成，兩個白的，兩個花的，而且不復(fù)咻咻的叫，都是“鴨鴨”的叫了。荷花池也早已容不下他們盤桓了，幸而仲密的住家的地勢是很低的，夏雨一降，院子里滿積了水，他們便欣欣然，游水，鉆水，拍翅子，“鴨鴨”的叫。

現(xiàn)在又從夏末交了冬初，而愛羅先珂君還是絕無消息，不知道究竟在那里了。

只有四個鴨，卻還在沙漠上“鴨鴨”的叫。

一九二二年十月。