04 We Are the Minpins

We Are the Minpins The very next thing Little Billy saw was a tiny face at the window. It had appeared suddenly, from nowhere, and it was the face of an extremely old man with white hair. Little Billy could see this clearly despite the fact that the whole of the tiny man's head was no larger than a pea.

接着，小比利看到窗口有一张小脸。 那张脸突然出现了，不知从哪里冒出来的，是一张白发苍苍的老人的脸。 小比利能清楚地看到这一点，尽管这个小人的整个脑袋还没有一颗豌豆大。

This ancient miniature face was staring straight at Little Billy with the most severe expression on it. The skin on the face was deeply wrinkled all over, but the eyes were as bright as two stars. Now something even more peculiar began to happen. All around him, not only on the huge main trunk of the tree but also on all the big branches that grew out of it, other tiny windows were opening and tiny faces were peering out. Some of these faces belonged to men and others were clearly women. Here and there the head of a child was seen peering over a windowsill. The heads of these children were no larger than the heads of matchsticks. In the end, there must have been more than twenty small windows all around

这张古老的微型脸直直地盯着小比利，脸上带着最严肃的表情。 脸上的皮肤布满了深深的皱纹，但眼睛却像两颗星星一样明亮。 现在，更奇怪的事情开始发生了。 在他的周围，不仅是巨大的树干上，还有从树干上长出来的所有大树枝上，都有其他的小窗户开着，小面孔向外张望。 这些面孔中有些是男人的，有些显然是女人的。 到处可以看到一个孩子的头从窗台上探出头来。 这些孩子的头还没有火柴棍的头大。 最后，周围肯定有二十多扇小窗户

where Little Billy was sitting, and from each window these amazing little faces were peering out. No sound came from any of the watchers. The faces were silent, unmoving, almost ghostlike. Now the tiny old man in the window nearest to Billy seemed to be saying something, but his voice was so soft and whispery, Little Billy had to lean right up close to catch his words.

小比利坐在那里，每扇窗户都有这些令人惊奇的小脸向外张望。 守夜人没有发出任何声音。 那些面孔沉默不语，一动不动，几乎像幽灵一样。 现在，离比利最近的窗户里的那个小老头似乎在说什么，但他的声音是那么柔和和耳语，小比利不得不靠得很近才能听清他的话。

'You're in a bit of a twizzler, aren't you?' the voice was saying. 'You can't go down again because if you do you'll be guzzled up at once. But you can't possibly sit up here forever, either.' 'I know, I know!' Little Billy gasped. 'Don't shout,' the tiny man said. 'I'm not shouting,' Little Billy said. 'Talk softer,' the tiny man said. 'If you talk too loud your voice will blow me away.' 'But … but … who are you?' Little Billy asked, taking care to speak very softly this time. 'We are the Minpins,' the tiny man said, 'and we own this wood. I shall come closer, then you will hear me better.' The old Minpin climbed out of his window and walked straight down the big steeply sloping branch, then up another branch

“你有点糊涂了，是不是?”那个声音在说。 “你不能再下去了，因为如果你下去的话，你会立刻被喝光的。 但你也不可能永远坐在这里。“我知道，我知道!”小比利喘着气说。 “别喊，”小个子男人说。 “我没有大喊大叫，”小比利说。 “说话温柔点，”小个子男人说。 “如果你说话太大声，你的声音会把我吹走。“可是……可是……你是谁?”小比利问道，这次他说话小心翼翼，声音很轻。 “我们是明平家的人，”小个子男人说，“这片树林是我们的。 我走近一点，这样你就能听得更清楚了。”老民品爬出窗户，径直走下陡峭的大树枝，然后爬上另一根树枝

until he found a place only a few inches from Little Billy's face. It was amazing to see him walking up and down these almost vertical branches without the slightest trouble. It was like seeing someone walking up and down a wall. 'How on earth do you do that?' Little Billy asked.

直到他找到了一个离小比利脸只有几英寸的地方。 看到他毫不费力地在这些几乎垂直的树枝上走来走去，真是太神奇了。 就像看到有人在墙上走来走去。 “你到底是怎么做到的?”小比利问。

'Suction-boots,' the Minpin said. 'We all wear them. You can't live in trees without suctionboots.' On his feet he was wearing tiny green boots rather like miniature wellies. His clothes were curiously old-fashioned, mostly brown and black, the sort of thing people wore two or three hundred years ago. Suddenly, all the other Minpins, men, women and children, were climbing out of their windows and making their way towards Little Billy. Their suction-boots seemed to allow them to walk up and down the steepest branches with the greatest ease, and some were even walking upside-down underneath the branches. All of them were wearing these old-fashioned clothes from hundreds of years ago, and several had on very peculiar hats and bonnets. They stood or sat in groups on all the branches around Little Billy, staring at him as though he were someone from outer space.

“吸盘靴，”民品说。 “我们都戴着。没有吸力靴，你不能住在树上。”他脚上穿着一双绿色的小靴子，有点像袖珍雨靴。 他的衣服出奇地老式，大多是棕色和黑色的，是两三百年前人们穿的那种衣服。 突然，所有敏品家的男人、女人和孩子都从窗户里爬出来，朝小比利走去。 它们的吸靴似乎能让它们在最陡峭的树枝上轻松自如地上下行走，有些甚至倒立在树枝下面行走。 他们都穿着几百年前的老式衣服，有几个人戴着非常奇怪的帽子和软帽。 他们在小比利周围的所有树枝上或站或坐，盯着他，好像他是来自外太空的人。