22 It’s Off to Work We Go!

It's Off to Work We Go! For supper that evening my grandmother had a plain omelette and one slice of bread. I had a piece of that brown Norwegian goats'-milk cheese known as gjetost which I had loved even when I was a boy. We ate in front of the fire, my grandmother in her armchair and me on the table with my cheese on a small plate. 'Grandmamma,' I said, 'now that we have done away with The Grand High Witch, will all the other witches in the world gradually disappear?' 'I'm quite sure they won't,' she answered. I stopped chewing and stared at her. 'But they must!' I cried. 'Surely they must!' 'I'm afraid not,' she said. 'But if she's not there any longer how are they going to get all the money they need? And who is going to give them orders and jazz them up at the

这是我们开始工作!那天晚上的晚餐，我祖母吃了一个纯煎蛋卷和一片面包。 我吃了一块棕色的挪威山羊奶奶酪，这种奶酪被称为gjetost，我从小就喜欢吃。 我们在火炉前吃饭，祖母坐在她的扶手椅上，我坐在桌子上，用小盘子盛着奶酪。 “奶奶，”我说，“既然我们已经消灭了至尊女巫，世界上所有其他女巫是不是都会逐渐消失?”“我敢肯定他们不会的，”她回答。 我停止咀嚼，盯着她。 “但他们必须这么做!”我哭了。“当然了!”“恐怕不行，”她说。 “可是如果她不在了，他们怎么弄到所需的钱呢?” 谁来给他们下命令，让他们活跃起来

Annual Meetings and invent all their magic formulas for them?' 'When a queen bee dies, there is always another queen in the hive ready to take her place,' my grandmother said. 'It's the same with witches. In the great headquarters where The Grand High Witch lives, there is always another Grand High Witch waiting in the wings to take over should anything happen.' 'Oh no!' I cried. 'That means everything we did was for nothing! Have I become a mouse for nothing at all?' 'We saved the children of England,' she said. 'I don't call that nothing.' 'I know, I know!' I cried. 'But that's not nearly good enough! I felt sure that all the witches of the world would slowly fade away after we had got rid of their leader! Now you tell me that everything is going to go on just the same as before!' 'Not exactly as before,' my grandmother said. 'For instance, there are no longer any witches in

年会并为他们发明所有神奇的公式?“当一个蜂王死了，总有另一个蜂王在蜂房里准备取代她的位置，”我祖母说。 “女巫也一样。 在最高女巫居住的大总部里，总会有另一个最高女巫伺机而动，一旦发生什么事情就会接管。“哦，不!”我哭了。 “那就是说我们所做的一切都白做了!”难道我白白变成了一只老鼠吗?“我们拯救了英国的孩子们，”她说。 “我不认为那是虚无。“我知道，我知道!”我哭了。 “但这还远远不够!”我确信，在我们除掉女巫的首领之后，世界上所有的女巫都会慢慢地消失!现在你告诉我一切都会和以前一样!“不完全像以前那样，”我祖母说。 “比如说，这里已经没有女巫了

England. That's quite a triumph, isn't it?' 'But what about the rest of the world?' I cried. 'What about America and France and Holland and Germany? And what about Norway?' 'You must not think I have been sitting back and doing nothing these last few days,' she said. 'I have been giving a great deal of thought and time to that particular problem.' I was looking up at her face when she said this, and all at once I noticed that a little secret smile was beginning to spread slowly around her eyes and the corners of her mouth. 'Why are you smiling, Grandmamma?' I asked her. 'I have some rather interesting news for you,' she said. 'What news?' 'Shall I tell it to you right from the beginning?' 'Yes please,' I said. 'I like good news.' She had finished her omelette, and I had had enough of my cheese. She wiped her lips with a napkin and said, 'As soon as we arrived back in

英格兰。这是一个巨大的胜利，不是吗?“但是世界其他地方呢?”我哭了。 “那美国、法国、荷兰和德国呢?” 那挪威呢?“你可别以为这几天我一直闲坐着，什么事也不干，”她说。 “我在这个问题上花了很多时间和心思。”她说这话的时候，我正抬头看着她的脸，突然间，我注意到她的眼睛和嘴角开始慢慢地露出一丝神秘的微笑。 “你为什么在笑，奶奶?”我问她。 “我有一些相当有趣的消息要告诉你，”她说。 “什么消息?”“我从头开始就告诉你好吗?“好的，”我说。 “我喜欢好消息。”她吃完了煎蛋卷，我也吃够了奶酪。 她用餐巾擦了擦嘴唇，说:“我们一回来

Norway, I picked up the telephone and made a call to England.' 'Who in England, Grandmamma?' 'To the Chief of Police in Bournemouth, my darling. I told him I was the Chief of Police for the whole of Norway and that I was interested in the peculiar happenings that had taken place recently in the Hotel Magnificent.' 'Now hang on a sec, Grandmamma,' I said. 'There's no way an English policeman is going to believe that you are the Head of the Norwegian Police.'

在挪威，我拿起电话，给英国打了一个电话。“谁在英国，奶奶?”“给伯恩茅斯警察局局长，亲爱的。” 我告诉他，我是整个挪威的警察局长，我对最近在瑰丽酒店发生的奇怪事件很感兴趣。“等一下，奶奶，”我说。 “英国警察不可能相信你是挪威警察局长。”

'I am very good at imitating a man's voice,' she said. 'Of course he believed me. The policeman in Bournemouth was honoured to get a call from the Chief of Police for the whole of Norway.' 'So what did you ask him?' 'I asked him for the name and address of the lady who had been living in Room 454 in the Hotel Magnificent, the one who disappeared.' 'You mean The Grand High Witch!' I cried. 'Yes, my darling.' 'And did he give it to you?'

“我很擅长模仿男人的声音，”她说。 “他当然相信我。 伯恩茅斯的警察很荣幸接到了挪威全国警察局长的电话。”“那你问他什么了?“我问他住在瑰丽酒店454号房的那位女士的姓名和地址，就是失踪的那位女士。“你是说那个大女巫!”我哭了。 “是的，亲爱的。“他给你了吗?”

'Naturally he gave it to me. One policeman will always help another policeman.' 'By golly, you've got a nerve, Grandmamma!' 'I wanted her address,' my grandmother said. 'But did he know her address?' 'He did indeed. They had found her passport in her room and her address was in it. It was also in the hotel register. Everyone who stays in a hotel has to put a name and address in the book.' 'But surely The Grand High Witch wouldn't have put her real name and address in the hotel register?' I said. 'Why ever not?' my grandmother said. 'Nobody in the world had the faintest idea who she was except the other witches. Wherever she went, people simply knew her as a nice lady. You, my darling, and you alone, were the only non-witch ever to see her with her mask off. Even in her home district, in the village where she lived, people knew her as a kindly and very wealthy Baroness who gave large sums of money to charity. I have checked up on that.'

“他自然把它给了我。 一个警察总是会帮助另一个警察。“天哪，你胆子真大，奶奶!”“我想要她的地址，”祖母说。 “可是他知道她的地址吗?””“他确实说了。 他们在她的房间里找到了她的护照，上面有她的地址。 酒店的登记簿上也有。 每个住旅馆的人都必须在本子上写上姓名和地址。“可是大女巫肯定不会把她的真实姓名和地址写在旅馆的登记簿上吧?”我说。 “为什么不呢?”我祖母说。 “除了其他女巫，世界上没有人知道她是谁。 无论她走到哪里，人们都只知道她是一位好女士。 你，亲爱的，只有你，是唯一一个见过她摘下面具的非女巫。 即使在她的家乡，在她居住的村子里，人们也知道她是一位善良而富有的男爵夫人，她为慈善事业捐了大笔钱。 我已经查过了。”