6 The Tale of Alvin

6. THE TALE OF ALVIN THE POOR-BUT-HONEST-FARMER The whole of the Tribe of Hairy Hooligans sat round-eyed, in silence, as Alvin settled himself into Stoick's throne and told his Tale. 'I was put in the coffin,' began Alvin, 'by some very rude people who not only disbelieved the Tale I am about to tell you but also suspected me of being a common thief. They dumped me over the side of the Harbour on their island with a lot of rude laughter…' 'Meatheads,' said Stoick knowledgeably. 'Were they led by a tall chap, one eye, bad breath, answers to the name of Mogadon?' 'That does ring a bell,' admitted Alvin. 'But how had you come across the coffin in the first place?' asked Stoick. 'I am a poor but honest farmer,' said Alvin, 'and a long time ago in the Peaceable Country, far far away, I was digging up some ground for… er… planting potatoes when I came across this coffin which… er… just fell open in my hands.' 'And when you opened this coffin which says

6. 阿尔文的故事——贫穷但诚实的农民阿尔文的故事——当阿尔文坐在斯托伊克的宝座上讲述他的故事时，整个毛茸茸的流氓部落的人都圆着眼睛，沉默地坐着。 “我是被一些非常粗鲁的人放进棺材的，”阿尔文开始说，“他们不仅不相信我将要告诉你的故事，而且怀疑我是个普通的小偷。 他们粗鲁地大笑着把我扔到他们岛上的港湾边……”“笨蛋，”斯托伊克睿智地说。 “领导他们的是一个高个子，一只眼睛，口臭，叫摩加迪安的人吗？”“这倒让我想起来了，”阿尔文承认道。 “但是你最初是怎么发现棺材的呢？”斯托伊克问道。 “我是一个贫穷但诚实的农民，”阿尔文说，“很久以前，在那个和平之国，很远很远的地方，我在挖土种土豆的时候，偶然发现了这口棺材，它……嗯……就在我手里打开了。”“当你打开棺材的时候，上面写着

quite clearly "DO NOT OPEN" on the front,' asked Old Wrinkly thoughtfully, 'was there not some sort of surprise?' 'You could say that,' admitted Alvin with a good-natured smile that perhaps did not quite reach his eyes. 'I opened the coffin, reached forward quite innocently to grasp something inside… and the coffin lid snapped shut with the force of a shark's jaws and in one stroke cut off my hand.' Alvin held up his right arm. There, where his hand should have been emerging from his sleeve, was an iron claw. The Hooligans gasped in horror. 'Dearie me,' tutted Stoick. 'BOOBY-TRAPPED. I do apologise for my great-grandfather. He did have a nasty sense of humour.' 'Yeeesss,' said Alvin, smiling happily once more, 'but luckily us Poor-But-Honest-Farmers can take a joke… And this,' he gestured to the claw, 'is very handy for opening up oysters… Now, back to my Tale. I was careful the next time I opened the coffin to dismantle the booby trap first, but there was no sign of any Treasure inside, nor indeed the body of Grimbeard the Ghastly… What there was…'

“上面明明写着‘请勿打开’，”老皱纹若有所思地问，“难道没有什么惊喜吗？“你可以这么说，”阿尔文承认道，脸上带着善意的微笑，也许他的眼睛并没有看到这种微笑。 “我打开棺材，很天真地伸手去抓里面的什么东西……棺材盖就像鲨鱼的下颚一样猛地合上了，我的手一下子就断了。”阿尔文举起他的右臂。 在那里，他的手应该从袖子里伸出来的地方，是一只铁爪。 流氓们惊恐地倒吸一口冷气。 “天哪，”斯托伊克嘟哝着说。 设置了陷阱。我为我的曾祖父道歉。 他确实有一种令人讨厌的幽默感。“是啊，”阿尔文说，又开心地笑了，“但幸运的是，我们这些贫穷但诚实的农民开得起玩笑……而这个，”他指了指爪子，“用来打开牡蛎非常方便……现在，回到我的故事。” 第二次打开棺材时，我小心翼翼地先拆除了诡雷，但里面没有任何宝藏的迹象，也没有幽灵Grimbeard的尸体……

The entire Tribe of Hairy Hooligans leaned forward eagerly, mouths open, eyes wide… '…was this map*, and this riddle.' Alvin reached into his breast pocket and held up the map and the riddle for everybody to see. 'Oh,' said Stoick, very disappointed. 'No Grimbeard? No treasure? No Stormblade? Just two little pieces of paper?' 'Ah, but Stoick,' said Alvin craftily, 'these two little pieces of paper will LEAD us to Grimbeard's treasure.' 'US?' said Old Wrinkly. 'Something is puzzling me. You have the riddle, you have the map, why didn't you just go and find the treasure yourself? Why did you come here to us?' 'But that would be dishonest!' said Alvin virtuously. 'We all know the Saga of 'The Lost Treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly'… This treasure belongs to you, his descendants. Besides, there's the little matter of the riddle. The riddle makes it clear that this treasure cannot be found by just anybody.' Alvin cleared his throat.*

整个长毛流氓部落急切地向前倾着身子，张大嘴巴，瞪大眼睛……“……就是这张地图，还有这个谜语。”艾尔文把手伸进胸前的口袋，拿出地图和谜语给大家看。 “哦，”斯托伊克说，非常失望。 “没有Grimbeard ?没有珍惜? 没有Stormblade ?只是两张小纸条？“啊，但是斯托伊克，”阿尔文狡猾地说，“这两张小纸条会带我们找到Grimbeard的宝藏。”“我们?老皱纹说。 “有件事使我迷惑不解。 你有谜底，有地图，为什么不自己去找宝藏呢？ 你为什么来找我们？“但那是不诚实的！”阿尔文彬彬有礼地说。 “我们都知道‘幽灵Grimbeard丢失的宝藏’的传说……这个宝藏属于你们，他的后代。” 再说，还有个小谜语。 这个谜语清楚地表明，这个宝藏不是任何人都能找到的。”艾尔文清了清嗓子

Dare you brave the watery grave? The Deal's Head prick of fire and sleep? If you dare you are my Feir For my Heir's Beast shall sniff it there And he shall tell me underground Am I lost or am I found? 'So you see,' said Alvin, 'it seems only the Heir to Grimbeard the Ghastly can find the treasure… And only his beast can sniff it out. I assume by 'Beast' he means dragon.' Dragons were excellent sniffers and finders of Treasure. A good dragon could sniff out gold and precious metals even when they were buried some way below ground. 'And I couldn't possibly find this treasure myself,' said Alvin, 'because I don't have a way with dragons. They just DON'T LIKE ME, I don't know what it is. Anyway, I wonder if any of you have any idea of where the riddle is talking about? You, for instance, Stoick, with your quick and lively brain?'

你敢到水里去吗？ 火和睡眠刺痛交易的头？ 如果你敢，你就是我的首领因为我的继承人的野兽会在那里嗅它会在地下告诉我我是迷路了还是被找到了？ “所以你看，”阿尔文说，“似乎只有可怕的Grimbeard的继承人才能找到宝藏……而且只有他的野兽才能嗅出来。” 我猜他说的‘野兽’是指龙。”龙是出色的嗅探者和宝藏发现者。 一条好的龙可以嗅出金子和贵重金属，即使它们被埋在地下。 “我自己也不可能找到这个宝藏，”阿尔文说，“因为我对龙没有办法。 他们就是不喜欢我，我不知道是怎么回事。 不管怎样，我想知道你们中是否有人知道这个谜语在说什么？ 比如你，斯托伊克，你的头脑敏捷而活跃？”

Stoick struggled to look intelligent. 'Hmmmm, it's a hard one…' Hiccup looked at the map. 'Don't you think the Death's Head might be talking about the Isle of the Skullions, Father?' suggested Hiccup. 'A Death's Head is a skull, after all…' 'Of course!' boomed Stoick. 'The Isle of the Skullions! That'll be where it is!' The Isle of the Skullions was a small island off the west coast of Berk that formed the shape of a skull-and-crossbones. It was this shape that Grimbeard had adopted for his flag and, most famously, his helmet. 'So this island here is the Isle of the Skullions, is it?' purred Alvin gleefully, pointing at the map. 'And that's where we'll find our treasure?' To Alvin's surprise the Hooligans started laughing. 'Oh, there's no question of finding the treasure if it's on the Isle of the Skullions,' said Stoick cheerfully. 'Nobody has ever returned from the Isle of the Skullions ALIVE. Hiccup, you're the expert on dragons, you explain to Alvin about Skullions…'

斯托伊克努力让自己显得聪明。 “嗯，这很难……”嗝嗝看了看地图。 “爸爸，你不认为死神说的可能是骷髅岛吗？”小嗝嗝建议道。 “骷髅头毕竟是个骷髅……”斯托伊克大声说。 “骷髅岛！”它就在那儿！”骷髅岛是伯克岛西海岸外的一个小岛，形成了一个头骨和交叉骨头的形状。 这个形状就是Grimbeard所采用的旗帜，最著名的是他的头盔。 “那么这个岛就是骷髅岛了，是吗？”阿尔文指着地图，高兴地咕噜着。 “那就是我们找到宝藏的地方吗？”令阿尔文吃惊的是，流氓们笑了起来。 “哦，如果宝藏在骷髅岛上，那是不可能找到的，”斯托伊克高兴地说。 “没有人从骷髅岛活着回来过。 小嗝嗝，你是龙方面的专家，你给阿尔文解释一下骷髅……”