23 Epilogue by Hiccup

EPILOGUE BY HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD, THE LAST OF THE GREAT VIKING HEROES Here I am, back where I started; this all happened such a long, long time ago. But now I come to think of it, if I look around the desk where I am writing now I can see things all around me that remind me of that time. The hook of Alvin the Treacherous hangs on my wall like a golden question mark. By the door rests the shield given to me by the Fat Consul. I have taken that shield into battle with me all my life, much to the amusement of my friends, for instead of being circular like Viking shields it is square in the Roman fashion. But then I have always been somewhat of a square peg in a round hole. Even the quill with which I am writing now is made out of a Roman golden eagle's feather that I found in my cell at Fort Sinister.

可怕的黑线鳕第三，最后一个伟大的维京英雄我在这里，回到我出发的地方；这一切都发生在很久很久以前。 但现在我想起来了，如果我环顾一下我正在写作的桌子，我可以看到周围的东西让我想起了那段时间。 背信弃义的阿尔文的钩子挂在我的墙上就像一个金色的问号。 门边放着胖执政官给我的盾牌。 我一生都带着那面盾牌参加战斗，这让我的朋友们感到很好笑，因为它不像维京人的盾牌那样是圆形的，而是罗马风格的方形。 不过话说回来，我一直有点格格不入。 就连我现在写字用的羽毛笔也是用一根罗马金鹰的羽毛做的，那是我在险恶堡的牢房里找到的。

I look at these things and I remember, and what I remember most clearly is the moment when the balloon rose out of the jabber and hullabaloo of the prison of Fort Sinister and into the clear blue sky like a perfectly round bubble of happiness, or a balloon of thought. I remember the quiet stillness of that moment, floating free of all care and worry, suspended magically in the endless nothingness of the air below and above us. I remember my child-self looking down over the rim of the basket and seeing my entire world laid out beneath me like a map in a made-up story. For the first time I saw that the place where I lived and struggled and worried was part of an Archipelago of staggering beauty: hundreds of tiny green islands set in a shimmering blue sea. And suddenly I realised with such clearness what pinpricks we were on this ocean universe. What swaggering insects! What posturing amoebas! But size isn't everything, as I am always telling Snotlout. However small we are, we should always fight for what we believe to be right. And I don't mean fight with the power of our fists or the power of

我看着这些东西，我就记起来了，我记得最清楚的是气球从辛尼斯特堡监狱的喧闹声和喧闹声中升到晴朗的蓝天上的那一刻，就像一个幸福的圆泡泡，或者一个思想的气球。 我记得那一刻的宁静，摆脱了所有的忧虑和忧虑，神奇地悬浮在我们头顶和下方无尽的虚无中。 我记得小时候的自己俯视着篮子的边缘，看到我的整个世界就像一个虚构故事中的地图一样展现在我的脚下。 我第一次看到，我生活、奋斗和担忧的地方，是一个美丽得惊人的群岛的一部分：数百个绿色的小岛坐落在波光粼粼的蓝色大海上。 突然间，我清楚地意识到我们在这个海洋宇宙中是多么微不足道。 多么神气十足的昆虫啊！多么做作的变形虫啊！但是大小并不代表一切，就像我经常告诉snolout的那样。 无论我们多么渺小，我们都应该为我们认为正确的事情而奋斗。 我不是说用拳头或者

our swords. That has always been the problem with us Vikings. I mean the power of our brains and our thoughts and our dreams. And as small and quiet and unimportant as our fighting may look, perhaps we might all work together like the numberless armies of Ziggerastica, and break out of the prisons of our own making. Perhaps we might be able to keep this fierce and beautiful world of ours as free for all of us as it seemed to be on that blue afternoon of my childhood. Once, my hand held the sword 'Endeavour' so strongly. Now that same hand is as brown and wrinkly as an old salt kipper as it writes these words slowly and shakily across the page. The ink splutters and splodges where once it ran so smoothly. Sometimes I forget what I was doing last Tuesday, let alone sixty- five years ago. But the winds will still blow when I am no longer here. The storms will still rage, and the forces of

我们的剑。这一直是我们维京人的问题。 我指的是我们大脑、思想和梦想的力量。 尽管我们的战斗看起来渺小、安静、无足轻重，但也许我们可以像Ziggerastica的无数军队一样团结起来，冲破我们自己制造的牢笼。 也许我们能够保持我们这个激烈而美丽的世界对我们所有人都是自由的，就像在我童年那个蓝色的下午一样。 有一次，我的手紧紧握着“奋进”剑。 现在，这只手又黄又皱，像一条老腌鱼，慢慢地、摇摇晃晃地在纸上写着这些话。 墨水在曾经流畅的地方溅起了水花。 有时我都忘了上星期二我在做什么，更不用说65年前了。 但当我不在的时候，风还会继续吹。 暴风雨仍将肆虐，而

Empire and oppression, be they Roman or otherwise, will still be waiting at the corners of the ocean. The fight goes on for the Heroes of the Future.

帝国和压迫，无论是罗马人还是其他民族，都将在海洋的角落等待。 未来英雄的战斗还在继续。