《最後一戰》第11期:無尾猿煊赫一時(4)
"And now here's another thing," the Ape went on, fitting a fresh nut into its cheek, "Ihear some of the horses are saying, Let's hurry up and get this job of carting timber overas quickly as we can, and then we'll be free again. Well, you can get that idea out of yourheads at once. And not only the Horses either. Everybody who can work is going to be made towork in future. Aslan has it all settled with the King of Calormen - The Tisroc, as our darkfaced friends the Calormenes call him. All you Horses and Bulls and Donkeys are to be sentdown into Calormen to work for your living - pulling and carrying the way horses and such-like do in other countries. And all you digging animals like Moles and Rabbits and Dwarfsare going down to work in The Tisroc's mines. And -"
"No, no, no," howled the Beasts. "It can't be true. Aslan would never sell us intoslavery to the King of Calormen."
"None of that! Hold your noise!" said the Ape with a snarl. "Who said anything aboutslavery? You won't be slaves. You'll be paid - very good wages too. That is to say, your paywill be paid into Aslan's treasury and he will use it all for everybody's good." Then heglanced, and almost winked, at the chief Calormene. The Calormene bowed and replied, in thepompous Calormene way:
"Most sapient Mouthpiece of Aslan, The Tisroc (may he-live-forever) is wholly of onemind with your lordship in this judicious plan."
"There! You see!" said the Ape. "It's all arranged. And all for your own good. We'll beable, with the money you earn, to make Narnia a country worth living in. There'll be orangesand bananas pouring in - and roads and big cities and schools and offices and whips andmuzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons - Oh, everything."
"But we don't want all those things," said an old Bear. "We want to be free. And we wantto hear Aslan speak himself."
"Now don't you start arguing," said the Ape, "for it's a thing I won't stand. I'm a Man:you're only a fat, stupid old Bear. What do you know about freedom? You think freedom meansdoing what you like. Well, you're wrong. That isn't true freedom. True freedom means doingwhat I tell you."
"H-n-n-h," grunted the Bear and scratched its head; it found this sort of thing hard tounderstand.
"Please, please," said the high voice of a woolly lamb, who was so young that everyonewas surprised he dared to speak at all.
"What is it now?" said the Ape. "Be quick."
"Please," said the Lamb, "I can't understand. What have we to do with the Calormenes? Webelong to Aslan. They belong to Tash. They have a god called Tash. They say he has four armsand the head of a vulture. They kill Men on his altar. I don't believe there's any suchperson as Tash. But if there was, how could Aslan be friends with him?"
All the animals cocked their heads sideways and all their bright eyes flashed towardsthe Ape. They knew it was the best question anyone had asked yet.
The Ape jumped up and spat at the Lamb.
一片死一般的寂靜，只聽見一隻小灌的號哭和它媽媽竭力叫它別哭的聲音。
“還有另外一件事情，”無尾猿一面把一顆新的堅果塞進嘴巴里，一面繼續說道，“我聽見有些馬兒在說，讓我們抓緊幹活，把這運木頭的活兒儘可能迅速完成，我們就可以重新獲得自由了。哦，你們立刻從腦子裏把這種想法排除出去吧。而且，不僅馬兒要排除這種想法。凡是能幹活的，將來都要叫它去幹活。阿斯蘭和卡樂門的國王已經就這個問題達成了協議，我們的黑臉朋友——卡樂門人，都管這國王叫‘蒂斯羅克’。一切馬兒、公牛、驢子等，都要送到卡樂門去幹活謀生——幹那拖呀拉呀以及其他國家馬兒所幹的種種營生。一切挖挖掘掘的動物，像鼴鼠、松鼠以及小矮人等，統統要到‘蒂斯羅克’的礦山裏去幹活。還有——”
“不，不，不，”衆野獸號啕道，“這不可能是真實的。阿斯蘭決不會把我們賣給卡樂門國王做奴隸的。”
“別來這一套|不許吵吵鬧鬧的！”無尾猿咆哮着說道，“誰說過要去做奴隸的？你們不會成爲奴隸的。你們會得到報酬——還是很好的工資哩。那就是說，你們的工資，都將收歸阿斯蘭的國庫，阿斯蘭將把錢都用在爲大家謀福利上。”無尾猿這就瞧瞧那卡樂門人的頭兒，幾乎跟他眨巴着眼睛。那個卡樂門人鞠躬回答，都是卡樂門式的浮誇風度。
“阿斯蘭獅王最最賢明的代言人，對於這個審慎明智的計劃，‘蒂斯羅克’(願他萬壽無疆)同閣下是完全一致的。”
“好啦！你們瞧瞧！”無尾猿說道，“全都安排好了。全都是爲了你們的福利。你們掙來了錢，我們就可以用來改造納尼亞，使之成爲一個值得居住的國家。椅子和香蕉會大量涌到——還要建設公路、大城市、學校、辦公樓、馬鞭子、口勒、馬鞍子、籠子、狗窩、監獄——啊，建設一切的一切。”
“但這些東西我們並不全要，"一頭老熊說，"我們要自由，我們要聽到阿斯蘭親自說話。”。
“你們可別開始辯論，”無尾猿說，“因爲這是我容忍不了的。我是人，你不過是頭肥胖的、愚蠢的老熊。你懂得什麼自由？你以爲自由就是愛幹什麼就幹什麼？告訴你，你錯了。那不是真正的自由。真正的自由意味着我叫你幹什麼你就幹什麼。”
“赫一恩一恩一赫。”老熊悻悻地咕噸道，它搔搔腦袋，覺得這種問題真是難以理解。“對不起，對不起。”一頭渾身是絨毛的小羊的高而尖的聲音說道，它是那麼幼稚，竟敢大膽講話，大家都感到驚訝。
“這又是什麼意見了？”無尾猿說道，“快講！”
“對不起，”小羊說，“我搞不懂。我們跟卡樂門人有什麼相干？我們屬於阿斯蘭。他們屬於塔什。他們有個神，叫做塔什。據說，塔什神有四條胳膊，一個鷹頭。他們在塔什神的祭臺上殺人。我不相信竟有像塔什那樣的人物。然而，如果有的話，阿斯蘭怎麼能和他做朋友？”
所有的野獸都斜斜地擡起了腦袋，它們明亮的眼睛都向無尾猿炯炯注視。它們知道這是個任何人都還沒有提到過的、最最厲害的問題。
無尾猿直跳起來，暗了小羊一口唾沫。
