18 Grimbeard the Ghastly’s final surprise

18. GRIMBEARD THE GHASTLY'S FINAL SURPRISE The entire mound reared up and shook itself, cups and jewels and swords and coins cascading down the sides like molten lava. And something that looked like a big white rope reached out of the treasure and wound its way around Alvin's waist. It wasn't a rope. It was a singularly unattractive white tentacle that looked as if it were made out of a quivering piece of fat. The tentacle was dotted with small indentations out of which there oozed a disgusting whitey-grey sticky sludge that smelt indescribably awful. Alvin shrieked in horror as the treasure dropped away to reveal the creature that had been sleeping underneath it, a creature they had awoken with their swordfight. It was Grimbeard the Ghastly's last surprise, his FINAL booby trap. He had left it there to guard the treasure, a monster that Hiccup had heard of in Legends,

18. 整个土堆竖立起来，摇晃着，杯子、珠宝、剑和硬币像熔岩一样从两边滚落下来。 从宝藏里伸出一根白色的大绳子，绕在艾尔文的腰上。 那不是绳子。那是一条特别难看的白色触手，看起来好像是用一块颤抖的脂肪做的。 触手上布满了小凹痕，从凹痕里渗出一种令人作呕的灰白色黏糊糊的污泥，气味难闻得难以形容。 阿尔文惊恐地尖叫起来，财宝掉了下去，露出了一直睡在财宝下面的那个生物，一个他们在剑斗中唤醒的生物。 这是可怕的Grimbeard最后的惊喜，他最后的陷阱。 他把它留在那里看守宝藏，这是一只小嗝嗝在《传说》中听说过的怪物，

but never seen before, and one that he sincerely hoped he would never, ever have to see again. It was the same animal that surprised the little lost Deadly Nadder, the day before, if you remember, and it was called a Monstrous Strangulator. A Strangulator was a gigantic Monster genetically related to dragons, octopuses, and snakes. It had tiny withered Dragon wings, and tiny crippled Dragon legs that were basically useless, as it heaved its great body through underground tunnels like a serpent, leaving a trail of gooey slime. It had never seen daylight and was the colour of nothing. Its tentacles had obviously found a way up through to the upper caves of the Wild Dragon Cliffs, for it was transparent, and you could actually see the forms of unfortunate dragons it had eaten moving through its digestive system. Some, further down the Strangulator's great length, were lying quite still. Others that he had eaten more recently were jerking about, and one was trying to fly, trapped in the Monster's great throat. The naturalist in Hiccup automatically identified the species– Monstrous Nightmare, Deadly Nadder, Common or Garden times three– making their slow

但他以前从未见过，而且他真诚地希望他永远不会再看到。 如果你还记得的话，就是前一天吓到那只迷路的小致命纳德的那只动物，它被称为“怪物扼杀者”。 扼杀者是一种巨大的怪物，与龙、章鱼和蛇有遗传关系。 它长着小而干瘪的龙翅膀和小而残废的龙腿，当它像蛇一样拖着巨大的身体穿过地下隧道时，会留下一串黏糊糊的黏液。 它从来没有见过日光，是虚无的颜色。 它的触手显然已经找到了一条通往野龙崖上方洞穴的路，因为它是透明的，你可以看到它吃过的不幸的龙的形状在它的消化系统里蠕动。 有些人躺在绞杀者长长的身躯下面，一动也不动。 他最近吃过的其他的也在抽搐着，有一只困在怪物的大喉咙里，想要飞起来。 《嗝嗝》中的博物学家自动识别出了这些物种——可怕的噩梦、致命的纳德、普通的或花园的三倍——使它们变得缓慢

progress through the Serpent's alimentary canal. So small was the Creature's brain in proportion to its size, that it had difficulty in keeping sensory track of all of its squirming tentacles and they wandered about as if they had independent lives of their own. The Creature had to concentrate hard to make the tentacle that was holding Alvin move very slowly up to its head so it could have a look at him, unsure of what to make of this weird new animal. 'Isss food?' hissed the Serpent musingly to itself. Hiccup practically cried with relief. For the creature was speaking a dialect of Dragonese, a very ancient form of it, but Dragonese nonetheless. And Hiccup was of the opinion that if you could talk to your killer, you were in with a chance. Alvin struggled wildly and slashed at the great squeezing tentacle with the Stormblade. 'Tickle me with your prickle, would you?' said the Creature. 'Then I'll tickle you with mine…' And languidly, it dangled the tip of its tail in front of Alvin's face. Hiccup had seen such a tail on much smaller

通过蛇的消化道的过程。 这种生物的大脑相对于它的体型来说是如此之小，以至于它很难用感官追踪所有蠕动的触手，它们四处游荡，就好像它们有自己独立的生命一样。 这个生物必须集中精力，让抓住阿尔文的触手慢慢地移到头上，这样它就能看他一眼，不知道该怎么看待这个奇怪的新动物。 “国际空间站食物吗?蛇若有所思地低声对自己说。 嗝嗝如释重负，几乎哭了出来。 因为这个生物说的是龙语的一种方言，一种非常古老的龙语，但毕竟是龙语。 小嗝嗝认为如果你能和凶手谈谈，你就有机会。 艾文拼命挣扎，用暴风之刃砍向那巨大的触手。 “用你的刺给我搔搔痒，好吗？”那动物说。 “那我就用我的胳肢给你挠痒痒……”它懒洋洋地把尾巴尖在阿尔文的脸前晃来晃去。 小嗝嗝在更小的地方见过这样的尾巴

animals. It was filled to the tip with a grass-green venom, pure as glass. There was a plunger a little way down, and the tip just had to penetrate its victim, the plunger go down, and it was goodnight sweet world, hello Valhalla. 'Oh excellent,' thought Hiccup to himself. 'A poisonous Monstrous Strangulator. My favourite kind.' Alvin fainted as soon as he set eyes on that deadly tail. He was frightened of needles. So the Strangulator didn't even bother to inject him. It just swallowed him whole, alive, just as he was, Stormblade and all. In fascinated horror, Hiccup watched the now awake and struggling form of Alvin travelling down the Strangulator's transparent throat. 'So,' thought Hiccup, 'the Eater of Human Flesh is eaten himself. Isn't fate artistic?' Sometimes it is harder to force yourself to stand still than it is to run away, but Hiccup knew that he wouldn't have a chance if he tried to escape. This animal was just too big. So Hiccup froze, in the hope that the Creature's eyesight was poor, like other beasts that lived solely underground. Hiccup was probably right, but one of those

动物。从头到尾都是草绿色的毒液，纯净得像玻璃。 下面有一个柱塞，顶端刚好穿过受害者，柱塞向下，然后是晚安，甜蜜的世界，你好，英灵殿。 “哦，太好了，”小嗝嗝心想。 “一个有毒的怪物扼杀者。 我最喜欢的那种。”艾尔文一看到那条致命的尾巴就晕了过去。 他害怕针。 所以扼杀者根本没给他注射。 它就这样把他囫囵吞了下去，活灵活现，连暴风之刃也不放过。 小嗝嗝惊恐地看着阿尔文苏醒过来，挣扎着穿过扼杀者透明的喉咙。 “这么说，”小嗝嗝想，“吃人肉的人自己被吃掉了。 命运不是艺术吗？”有时候，强迫自己站着不动比逃跑更难，但小嗝嗝知道，如果他试图逃跑，他就没有机会了。 这种动物太大了。 于是小嗝嗝僵住了，他希望这个生物的视力很差，就像其他只生活在地下的动物一样。 小嗝嗝可能是对的，但其中之一

constantly-moving tentacles accidentally bumped into him, and as soon as it made contact with his warm body it automatically wrapped itself around Hiccup, and lifted him into the air. 'A Plan!' Fishlegs shouted out wildly from below. 'You need a Fiendishly Clever Plan!' 'Thank you, Fishlegs,' said Hiccup, his mind flicking about like a shrimp in a net, and trying to ignore the terrible squeezing around his chest. 'I'm aware of that… TOOTHLESS! Come up here!' The tentacles were turning Hiccup over and over. Toothless flapped up, and hovered as close as he could. Hiccup shouted something into the little dragon's ear. 'That's a t-t-t-terrible plan,' moaned Toothless, shaking his head. 'Just do as you're told for ONCE in your life,' yelled Hiccup. While the Creature remained unconscious of having caught anything he still stood a chance of escape. With his sword, he jabbed away at the sticky tentacle that was encircling his trunk and it seemed to be loosening… Way down at the bottom of the treasure mound,

不断移动的触手不小心撞到了他，一接触到他温暖的身体，它就自动把自己包裹在小嗝嗝身上，把他举到空中。 “一个计划!”鱼腿在下面疯狂地叫着。 “你需要一个绝顶聪明的计划！”“谢谢你，鱼腿，”小嗝嗝说，他的脑子像网里的虾一样蹦来蹦去，努力不去理会他胸口那可怕的挤压。 “我知道……没有牙齿！”上这儿来！”触角把小嗝嗝转了一圈又一圈。 无牙拍打着翅膀，尽可能地靠近他。 嗝嗝对着小龙的耳朵喊了些什么。 “这个计划太——太——太——可怕了。”无牙摇着头呻吟道。 “就按我说的去做吧，这辈子就这一次。”嗝嗝嚷道。 当那怪物还没有意识到自己抓到了什么东西的时候，他还有逃脱的机会。 他用剑戳了一下缠绕在他鼻子上的黏糊糊的触手，它似乎松动了……在宝藏堆的底部，