04 The Grand High Witch

The Grand High Witch The next day, a man in a black suit arrived at the house carrying a brief-case, and he held a long conversation with my grandmother in the livingroom. I was not allowed in while he was there, but when at last he went away, my grandmother came in to me, walking very slowly and looking very sad. 'That man was reading me your father's will,' she said. 'What is a will?' I asked her. 'It is something you write before you die,' she said. 'And in it you say who is going to have your money and your property. But most important of all, it says who is going to look after your child if both the mother and father are dead.' A fearful panic took hold of me. 'It did say you, Grandmamma?' I cried. 'I don't have to go to somebody else, do I?'

第二天，一个身穿黑色西装的男人提着一个公文包来到我家，他和我祖母在客厅里谈了很长时间。 他在那里的时候，我是不允许进去的，但是当他最后离开的时候，我的祖母向我走来，走得很慢，看起来很悲伤。 “那个人在给我读你父亲的遗嘱，”她说。 “什么是遗嘱?”我问她。 “这是你死前写的东西，”她说。 “你在里面说谁将拥有你的钱和财产。 但最重要的是，它说如果父母都死了，谁来照顾你的孩子。”一阵可怕的恐慌攫住了我。 “上面说的是你吗，奶奶?”我哭了。 “我不必去找别人，对吧?”

'No,' she said. 'Your father would never have done that. He has asked me to take care of you for as long as I live, but he has also asked that I take you back to your own house in England. He wants us to stay there.' 'But why?' I said. 'Why can't we stay here in Norway? You would hate to live anywhere else! You told me you would!' 'I know,' she said. 'But there are a lot of complications with money and with the house that you wouldn't understand. Also, it said in the will that although all your family is Norwegian, you were born in England and you have started your education there and he wants you to continue going to English schools.' 'Oh, Grandmamma!' I cried. 'You don't want to go and live in our English house, I know you don't!' 'Of course I don't,' she said. 'But I am afraid I must. The will said that your mother felt the same way about it, and it is important to respect the wishes of the parents.'

“不，”她说。“你父亲决不会那样做的。 他要我照顾你一辈子，但他也要我带你回你在英国的家。 他想让我们呆在那里。“可是为什么呢?”我说。 “我们为什么不能留在挪威呢?” 你会讨厌住在别的地方的!你说过你会的!“我知道，”她说。 “但是钱和房子有很多你无法理解的复杂问题。 此外，遗嘱中说，虽然你的家人都是挪威人，但你出生在英国，并在那里开始了你的教育，他希望你继续在英国学校上学。“噢，奶奶!”我哭了。 “你不想去住在我们英国的房子里，我知道你不想!”“我当然不知道，”她说。 “但恐怕我必须这么做。遗嘱上说你妈妈也这么想，尊重父母的意愿很重要。”

There was no way out of it. We had to go to England, and my grandmother started making arrangements at once. 'Your next school term begins in a few days,' she said, 'so we don't have any time to waste.' On the evening before we left for England, my grandmother got on to her favourite subject once again. 'There are not as many witches in England as there are in Norway,' she said. 'I'm sure I won't meet one,' I said. 'I sincerely hope you won't,' she said, 'because those English witches are probably the most vicious in the whole world.' As she sat there smoking her foul cigar and talking away, I kept looking at the hand with the missing thumb. I couldn't help it. I was fascinated by it and I kept wondering what awful thing had happened that time when she had met a witch. It must have been something absolutely appalling and gruesome otherwise she would have told me about it. Maybe the thumb had been twisted off. Or perhaps she had been forced to jam her thumb down the spout of a boiling kettle until it was

没有办法摆脱它。 我们必须去英国，我的祖母立刻开始安排。 “你的下一学期再过几天就要开始了，”她说，“所以我们没有时间可以浪费了。”在我们动身去英国的前一天晚上，祖母又开始讲她最喜欢的话题。 “英格兰的女巫没有挪威的多，”她说。 “我敢肯定我不会遇到的，”我说。 “我真心希望你不要，”她说，“因为那些英国女巫可能是全世界最恶毒的。”她坐在那里，一边抽着难闻的雪茄，一边滔滔不绝地说个不停，而我却一直盯着那只少了拇指的手。 我没办法。我被它迷住了，我一直在想，当她遇到一个女巫的时候发生了什么可怕的事情。 那一定是一件非常可怕的事情，否则她会告诉我的。 也许大拇指被拧断了。 或者她是被迫把拇指塞进烧开的水壶的壶嘴里，直到它沸腾

steamed away. Or did someone pull it out of her hand like a tooth? I couldn't help trying to guess. 'Tell me what those English witches do, Grandmamma,' I said. 'Well,' she said, sucking away at her stinking cigar, 'their favourite ruse is to mix up a powder that will turn a child into some creature or other that all grownups hate.' 'What sort of a creature, Grandmamma?' 'Often it's a slug,' she said. 'A slug is one of their favourites. Then the grown-ups step on the slug and squish it without knowing it's a child.' 'That's perfectly beastly!' I cried. 'Or it might be a flea,' my grandmother said. 'They might turn you into a flea, and without realizing what she was doing your own mother

蒸了。还是有人把它像牙齿一样从她手里拔了出来? 我忍不住去猜测。 “告诉我那些英国女巫是干什么的，奶奶。” “嗯，”她一边说，一边吸着她那股臭气熏天的雪茄，“他们最喜欢的诡计是混合一种粉末，这种粉末会把一个孩子变成所有大人都讨厌的某种生物。“什么东西，奶奶?”“通常是鼻涕虫，”她说。 蛞蝓是它们的最爱之一。 然后大人们踩在鼻涕虫身上，把它压扁，却不知道这是一个孩子。“那简直太残忍了!”我哭了。 “也可能是一只跳蚤，”祖母说。 “他们可能会把你变成一只跳蚤，而不知道她在做什么

would get out the fleapowder and then it's goodbye you.' 'You're making me nervous, Grandmamma. I don't think I want to go back to England.' 'I've known English witches,' she went on, 'who have turned children into pheasants and then sneaked the pheasants up into the woods the very day before the pheasant-shooting season opened.' 'Owch,' I said. 'So they get shot?' 'Of course they get shot,' she said. 'And then they get plucked and roasted and eaten for supper.' I pictured myself as a pheasant flying frantically over the men with the guns, swerving and dipping as the guns exploded below me. 'Yes,' my grandmother said, 'it gives the English witches great pleasure to stand back and

把跳蚤粉拿出来，然后说再见。“你让我很紧张，奶奶。” 我想我不想回英国了。“我认识一些英国女巫，”她接着说，“她们把孩子们变成野鸡，然后在猎野鸡季节开始的前一天把野鸡偷偷带到树林里。“哎哟，”我说。 “所以他们被枪杀了?”“他们当然会挨枪子，”她说。 “然后把它们拔下来烤了，当晚饭吃。”我把自己想象成一只野鸡，疯狂地飞过拿枪的人，当枪在我下面爆炸时，我突然转向，俯冲。 “是的，”我祖母说，“英国女巫们很乐意站在后面

watch the grown-ups doing away with their own children.' 'I really don't want to go to England, Grandmamma.' 'Of course you don't,' she said. 'Nor do I. But I'm afraid we've got to.' 'Are witches different in every country?' I asked. 'Completely different,' my grandmother said. 'But I don't know much about the other countries.' 'Don't you even know about America?' I asked. 'Not really,' she answered. 'Although I have heard it said that over there the witches are able to make the grown-ups eat their own children.' 'Never!' I cried. 'Oh no, Grandmamma! That couldn't be true!' 'I don't know whether it's true or not,' she said. 'It's only a rumour I've heard.' 'But how could they possibly make them eat their own children?' I asked.

看那些大人杀死自己的孩子。“我真的不想去英国，奶奶。”"你当然不知道，"她说。 “我也不知道，但恐怕我们必须这么做。“每个国家的女巫都不一样吗?”我问。 “完全不同，”我祖母说。 “但我对其他国家了解不多。“你连美国都不知道吗?”我问。 “不完全是，”她回答。 “不过我听说那边的女巫能让大人吃掉自己的孩子。“从来没有!”我哭了。 “哦，不，奶奶!”这不可能是真的!“我不知道这是真是假，”她说。 “这只是我听到的谣言。“但是他们怎么可能让他们吃自己的孩子呢?”我问。