19 The Final Chapter

19. THE FINAL CHAPTER Sometimes it is not until the Final Chapter that you realise what a quest has REALLY been about all along. Stoick's face turned from red anger to pure white terror. 'The Doomfang…' whispered Stoick the Vast in agony, rushing to hold his stiff son in his arms. 'By Woden and Freya and Hairy Knuckled Thor, he did get touched by the frozen flames of the Doomfang… and all for a stupid useless quest for NOTHING…' Enormous hairy Stoick the Vast burst into tears. 'Oh for Thor's sake, Stoick,' cried Old Wrinkly, bossily pushing Stoick out of the way. 'Will you just SHUT UP and listen to me? I'm really not that bad a soothsayer. This has nothing to do with the Doomfang.' He took Hiccup's pulse, and looked under his eyelids, and tapped his chest, which had turned as wooden as a tree trunk. 'This is VORPENTITIS.' Stoick reeled back. 'And what does that mean?' he whispered through white lips. 'It means,' said Old Wrinkly, 'that one little weirdo looks very like another when you're soothsaying in a fire, and it was HICCUP who was bitten by the Vorpent, and not Fishlegs. So HICCUP has Vorpentitis.

19. 有时候直到最后一章你才会意识到一个任务到底是关于什么的。 斯托伊克的脸从通红的愤怒变成了纯粹的白色恐惧。 “末日毒牙……”巨魔斯托伊克痛苦地低声说，冲过去把他僵硬的儿子抱在怀里。 “沃登、弗雷娅和毛茸茸的指节托尔，他确实被厄运之牙的冰冻火焰所触动……而这一切都是为了一个愚蠢的、毫无意义的任务……” “哦，看在托尔的份上，斯托伊克，”老皱纹叫道，霸道地把斯托伊克推开。 “你能不能闭嘴，听我说？” 我的占卜术还不错。 这和末日毒牙没有关系。”他给嗝嗝把脉，看了看他的眼皮，拍了拍他的胸部，他的胸部已经变得像树干一样木头了。 “这是VORPENTITIS。”斯托伊克踉跄着退了回去。 “那是什么意思？”他嘴唇发白，小声说。 “意思是说，”老皱纹说，“当你在火里占卜的时候，一个小怪看起来很像另一个小怪，被大毒蛇咬的是嗝嗝，而不是鱼腿。 所以HICCUP有vorpententitis。

And that means that since it is now…' (At this point Old Wrinkly reached into Hiccup's breast pocket, hoping to draw out the potato, and in fact drew out the ticking metal thingummy. He looked at the numbers on it and nodded his head.) '…oooh exactly five to ten in the morning on Freya'sday Friday!' continued Old Wrinkly, laying the metal thingummy carefully on the bed beside Hiccup, 'your son, Hiccup, who has Vorpentitis, has five minutes to live.' Old Wrinkly chuckled. This didn't seem to be worrying him much. 'Which wouldn't give a great deal of time for us to find an antidote. But luckily,' said Old Wrinkly, in the spirit of a conjuror, 'luckily, on your son's so-called stupid useless quest for NOTHING, he has brought back the antidote with him ALREADY. Camicazi, where is the potato? It doesn't seem to be here in Hiccup's pocket… Have you got it?' Camicazi was as white as One Eye's back. She shook her head numbly. 'No… potato,' she gasped. Old Wrinkly's mouth fell open, appalled. 'NO POTATO?' shrieked Old Wrinkly. 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO POTATO? YOU MUST HAVE THE POTATO!!!'

这就意味着，既然是现在……”(这时，老皱纹把手伸进嗝嗝的胸袋，想把土豆掏出来，结果却掏出了那个滴答作响的金属玩意儿。 他看了看上面的数字点了点头。)“哦，星期五，星期五，早上差5点10分！”老皱纹继续说，一边小心翼翼地把那个金属玩意儿放在小嗝嗝旁边的床上，“你的儿子，小嗝嗝，得了Vorpentitis，只能活五分钟了。”老皱纹笑了。 这似乎并没有使他太担心。 “这样我们就没有多少时间找到解药了。 “不过幸运的是，”老皱纹以一种魔术师的精神说，“幸运的是，在你儿子所谓愚蠢无用的无所追求的过程中，他已经把解药带回来了。 Camicazi，土豆在哪里？ 它好像不在小嗝嗝的口袋里……你拿到了吗？”卡米卡齐脸色苍白，就像独眼的后背一样。 她麻木地摇了摇头。 “不……土豆。”她喘着气说。 老皱纹张大了嘴，吓呆了。 “没有土豆吗?老皱纹尖叫道。 “你说没有土豆是什么意思？” 你一定要吃土豆！！”

Camicazi shook her head again. 'No potato,' she whispered. 'But I was so sure,' whispered Old Wrinkly. 'I was so sure you would bring back the potato… This is the last time I believe a single word those beastly fires say… they told me DEFINITELY that you would get it…' 'Oh, we got it all right,' mumbled Camicazi miserably. 'It was just that the Doomfang ATE it.'

卡米卡齐又摇了摇头。 “没有土豆，”她低声说。 “但我是那么肯定，”老皱纹低声说。 “我很肯定你会把土豆带回来……这是我最后一次相信那些可恶的大火说的话……他们明确地告诉我你会得到它……” “只不过是厄运牙把它吃了。”

'Oh, my goodness,' gulped Old Wrinkly. NO POTATO. Suddenly Old Wrinkly looked every second of his ninety-three years. His whole body crumpled up like an old brown leaf. Little did Hiccup know, when he was crying on the boat for his friend Fishlegs, that he should have been crying for himself. For it was indeed HICCUP who had been stung all those many months ago, escaping from the Fortress of Sinister. And it was Hiccup who was now moments away from the death he feared for his friend Fishlegs.

“哦，我的天哪，”老皱纹哽咽着说。 没有土豆。突然，老皱纹把他九十三岁的每一秒都看了一遍。 他的整个身体像一片棕色的老叶子一样蜷缩着。 小嗝嗝在船上为他的朋友鱼腿哭泣时，并不知道他其实是在为自己哭泣。 因为确实是嗝嗝几个月前从险恶要塞逃出来时被蜇的。 小嗝嗝现在离他担心的鱼腿朋友的死亡只有一步之遥了。

'WHAT CAN I DO?' roared Stoick the Vast. 'There must be other cures? Other medicines?' Old Wrinkly shook his head. 'The potato is the only cure for Vorpentitis.' 'I'LL BRING BACK THE POTATO!' cried Stoick the Vast, drawing his sword, a Man of Action to the last. 'JUST TELL ME WHERE TO GO AND HOW LONG I'VE GOT!' 'Well,' said Old Wrinkly sadly, 'the nearest potato is now roughly three-and-a-half-thousand miles away on the distant shores of the country known as America to those who may believe in it. And you have…' Old Wrinkly checked the clock sitting next to Hiccup's bed, '…exactly THREE minutes to find it.' Even Stoick seemed to feel that perhaps this might be a problem. He strode round the room, tearing at his beard. Old Wrinkly, Camicazi and One Eye sat at Hiccup's bedside. One Eye didn't seem as happy as he might have been two days ago at the thought of one less Human in the world. A big tear rolled out of his one eye and down his Sabre-Tooth and plopped on to the ground. Hiccup was stiff as a board, and his body was

“我能怎么办呢？”巨人斯托伊克吼道。 “一定还有别的治疗方法吧？” 其他药物?”老皱纹摇了摇头。 土豆是治疗vorpententitis的唯一良药。“我要把土豆带回来！”巨人斯托伊克喊道，拔出了他的剑，他是一个到最后都是实干家的人。 “告诉我该去哪儿，还有多久！”“嗯，”老皱纹伤心地说，“最近的马铃薯现在大约在三千五百英里之外的遥远的海岸上，对那些可能相信它的人来说，它被称为美国。” “你有……”老皱纹看了看小嗝嗝床边的钟，“……正好三分钟找到它。”就连斯托伊克似乎也觉得这可能是个问题。 他在房间里踱来踱去，扯着胡子。 老皱纹、卡米卡兹和独眼坐在小嗝嗝的床边。 “独眼”似乎不像两天前那样高兴，因为他想到世界上又少了一个人类。 一颗大泪珠从他的一只眼睛里滚落下来，顺着他的剑齿落在地上。 小嗝嗝僵硬得像块木板，他的身体

now red, and boiling hot. Toothless licked his poor red face, to try to cool it down. 'THE DOOMFANG!' cried Stoick the Vast. 'I COULD TRACK DOWN THE DOOMFANG AND WRESTLE THE POTATO FROM HIM!' 'You're going to find the Doomfang in the vast and trackless wastes of an immense and fathomless Ocean,' said Old Wrinkly wearily, checking the time again on the clock, 'in TWO minutes?' 'Face it, Stoick,' whispered Old Wrinkly. 'What you're talking about is not just im-PROBABLE… it's im-POSSIBLE…' Fishlegs had drawn back into the shadows, and he was watching his friend's face. Hiccup was trying to say something, but his frozen, burning mouth made it difficult for him to say the words. In fact he looked very like the Doomfang, when he was trying to speak to Hiccup out on the Sullen Sea. 'Ooot me…' mumbled Hiccup desperately. 'OOOOOT ME!' and he tried to point, but his arms were as stiff as if they were made out of wood. Old Wrinkly patted his hand, and bathed his forehead with water. Stoick's shoulders heaved with sobs.

现在又红又烫。无牙舔了舔自己可怜的红脸，想让它冷静下来。 “DOOMFANG !巨人斯托伊克喊道。 “我可以找到末日毒牙，把土豆从他手里抢过来！”“你要在无边无际、深不可测的汪洋大海中，在浩瀚无垠、无路可走的荒原上找到末日毒牙，”皱纹老头疲倦地说，又看了看钟上的时间，“两分钟后？”“面对现实吧，斯托伊克，”老皱纹低声说。 “你所说的不仅是不可能的……而且是不可能的……”鱼腿退回到阴影里，他注视着他朋友的脸。 小嗝嗝想说点什么，但他那冰冷灼热的嘴巴使他说不出话来。 事实上，他看起来很像在阴沉的海面上试图和嗝嗝说话的末日毒牙。 “噢，我……”嗝嗝绝望地嘟囔着。 “OOOOOT我!他想指一指，可是他的胳膊僵硬得像木头做的一样。 老皱纹拍了拍他的手，用水洗了洗他的额头。 斯托伊克的肩膀因抽泣而起伏。