20 Epilogue

EPILOGUE BY HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD, THE LAST OF THE GREAT VIKING HEROES I guessed, but never knew for sure, what had happened in that strange frozen moment in my childhood, when the Doomfang stole my potato. But many years later, when I was a tall young man in command of my first ship and we were just returning home from some wild and dangerous adventure, we suddenly realised that we were being followed by something. For days and days it followed us, always staying at the same distance behind the boat. I spent hours up the mast watching the black pin-prick on the horizon and trying to work out what it was, whale or shark or dragon monster, friend or foe, with some nagging feeling at the back of my mind that this was something I recognised from somewhere in my past. It wasn't until we entered the Sullen Sea that the creature came right up close. It was immediately clear from its glossy dark colour that it was a Doomfang. It didn't attack us, as I had been secretly dreading, but began to play with the boat, swimming alongside, diving

可怕的黑线鳕第三位，最后一位伟大的维京英雄我猜到了，但从来没有确切地知道，在我童年那个奇怪的凝固的时刻发生了什么，当末日之牙偷走了我的土豆。 但许多年后，当我成为一个高大的年轻人，指挥我的第一艘船时，我们刚从一次狂野而危险的冒险中回家，我们突然意识到我们被什么东西跟踪了。 一天又一天，它跟着我们，总是跟在船后面保持同样的距离。 我在桅杆上呆了好几个小时，看着地平线上那个黑色的刺状物体，试图弄清楚它是什么，是鲸鱼、鲨鱼还是龙怪，是朋友还是敌人，心里总有一种挥之不去的感觉，觉得这是我在过去某个地方见过的东西。 直到我们进入阴森海，那怪物才靠近我们。 从它乌黑发亮的颜色上，立刻就能看出来它是一颗末日毒牙。 它并没有像我暗自担心的那样攻击我们，而是开始和船玩耍，在旁边游泳，潜水

underneath and coming up the other side, getting nearer and nearer with each circle that it made. This is common enough behaviour in dolphins, and even in humpback whales, who are fascinated by boats, and will play like this for hours. But it is hugely unusual in a Doomfang. Doomfangs normally have the same attitude towards humans that we have toward insects: they loftily ignore us. But this Doomfang was different. Even though it was clearly a fully grown animal, at least five times as long and as big as our ship, it played with us like a child, swimming round and round the boat, until finally the great creature gave a mighty thrash with its tail and soared out of the water, spreading wide its wings. It jumped right over the ship, just clearing the mast. My Warriors gasped in awe and fear and amazement and wonder, as the great long body blocked out the sun, and I gasped too, for I recognised the animal at last. This was my Doomfang, not slain, not dead, not gone away, but in the very pink of health, and it seemed rather pleased with itself, and with me. For when it entered the water on the other side, the great Doomfang tucked its legs up neatly and entered the water at exactly the right angle, so that it would not cause a single ripple to rock our little boat.

从下面爬到另一边，每绕一圈就越来越近。 这在海豚中是很常见的行为，甚至在座头鲸中也是如此，它们对船很着迷，会像这样玩上几个小时。 但这在末日之牙里是非常不寻常的。 通常，末日毒牙对人类的态度就像我们对昆虫的态度一样：它们傲慢地无视我们。 但这只末日之牙与众不同。 尽管它显然是一只完全成年的动物，至少有我们的船五倍长，那么大，但它还是像个孩子一样和我们玩耍，绕着船游来游去，直到最后，这只伟大的动物用尾巴狠狠地拍打了一下，张开翅膀飞出了水面。 它直接跳过了船，刚好越过了桅杆。 我的战士们在敬畏、恐惧、惊奇和惊奇中喘着气，因为那巨大的长身体挡住了阳光，我也喘着气，因为我终于认出了那只动物。 这就是我的末日之牙，没有被杀死，没有死去，没有消失，而是非常健康，它似乎对自己和我都很满意。 因为当它从另一边进入水里的时候，那只巨大的厄运之牙把它的腿整齐地蜷起来，以完全正确的角度进入水里，这样它就不会引起任何涟漪来摇晃我们的小船。

And when the creature swam alongside, so close now that we could reach out and touch its glistening raven black sides, it rolled on to its back and moved its wing almost like it was waving, and its terrible mouth seemed to be grinning at me. That very same Doomfang has followed my boat ever after, not like a Doom or a Curse, but more like a guardian angel. I have lost count of the times when I have been out at sea in the most dreadful peril (for we Vikings lead dangerous and exciting lives) and just at the moment when all hope is lost, the Doomfang has appeared. That Doomfang has steered my boat through the Great Storm that drowned a thousand ships in the Restless West Sea, it has rescued me from shipwreck on Cannibal Isle, it has fought great Monsters that had my ship wrapped around with their squids' tentacles like a cat's-cradle. It has returned the favour I once did it of saving its life in a cold, cold world, a hundred times over. It is following me still, even though I don't need rescuing so much now I am old and slow as a great sea turtle, and my hair is as white as a Semi-Spotted Snowpecker. You can Cheat a Dragon's Curse.

当这只生物游到旁边时，它已经游得很近了，我们伸手就能摸到它乌黑发亮的两侧，它翻了个身，扇动着翅膀，几乎像是在挥手，它那可怕的嘴似乎在对我咧嘴笑。 从那以后，那个厄运之牙就一直跟着我的船，不像厄运或诅咒，更像一个守护天使。 我已经记不清有多少次在海上冒着最可怕的危险（因为我们维京人过着危险而刺激的生活），就在一切希望都失去的时候，厄运之牙出现了。 这颗厄运之牙曾带领我的船在汹涌的西海渡过了淹没了一千艘船的大风暴，它曾把我从食人岛的海难中救了出来，它曾与那些用鱿鱼般的触手把我的船缠得像摇篮一样的大怪物搏斗过。 它已经回报了我曾经做过的事，在一个寒冷的世界里救了它一百次。 它还在跟着我，尽管我现在不那么需要拯救了。我老了，行动迟缓，像一只大海龟，我的头发白得像一只半斑啄雪鸟。 你可以欺骗龙的诅咒。

You do not have to accept the hand that Fate has dealt you. Look at me, the skinniest, most unlikely Viking ever, now known as this great Hero all around the world. Again and again, I have the same dream. Norbert the Nutjob has thrown the axe high, high into the air, it is turning round and round, and the black side is going to plunge into the ground first… Bad Luck will follow and the Tribe will be DOOMED. Again and again I make the same leap, I dodge the bright and black murderous blades, I catch the axe before it lands, I make my own luck. If none of this had happened, the potato would still be stuck frozen on Hysteria, of no use to anybody. Instead of which, I buried the arrow which saved my life in some muddy ground behind my house, and, miracle of miracles! A single seed must have been sticking to the metal! For some time later, in the springtime, I noticed a strange green plant in that particular spot, and I dug the arrow up again. A new potato, larger than the one I lost, had grown right around the arrow's point. From that new potato, I grew more potatoes, and now there are potatoes growing all over Berk and the whole of the Barbaric Archipelago, and not a SINGLE PERSON

你不必接受命运的摆布。 看看我，最瘦的，最不像维京人的人，现在被全世界称为伟大的英雄。 一次又一次，我做着同样的梦。 疯子诺伯特把斧头高高高高扔向空中，它在不停地旋转，黑色的一面将首先扎进地面……厄运紧随其后，部落将注定灭亡。 我一次又一次地做着同样的跳跃，我躲开了那又亮又黑的凶刃，我在斧头落地之前抓住了它，我创造了我自己的运气。 如果这一切都没有发生，土豆就会冻在歇斯底里上，对任何人都没有用处。 相反，我把那支救了我命的箭埋在了我家后面的泥地里，奇迹中的奇迹！一定是有一颗种子粘在金属上了！过了一段时间，到了春天，我注意到那个地方长了一株奇怪的绿色植物，于是我又把箭挖了出来。 一个新的土豆，比我丢失的那个还要大，在箭头的周围长了出来。 我用那个新土豆种了更多的土豆，现在伯克岛和整个野蛮群岛都种满了土豆，却没有一个人种

or dragon has died a terrible death from Vorpent stings EVER SINCE. (The potatoes are also rather delicious when they are cooked, either mashed or just plain with a little dollop of melted butter.) But more importantly still, if I had never gone on the quest for the Frozen Potato, I would never have saved the life of my good friend Fishlegs, who, although some people thought of him as a little weirdo, was the best and truest friend a Viking ever— HANG ON A SECOND. You see how confusing all of this is. I didn't save the life of my good friend Fishlegs, after all, did I? Because Fishlegs was never ill in the first place. I saved myself.

从那以后，一条龙就死于毒蛇的毒刺。 （土豆煮熟后也相当美味，无论是土豆泥，还是抹上一小块融化的黄油。）但更重要的是，如果我没有去寻找冷冻土豆，我就永远不会救我的好朋友鱼腿的命，尽管有些人认为他是个小怪人，但他是维京人有史以来最好、最真诚的朋友——等一下。 你看到这一切有多令人困惑了吧。 毕竟，我没有救我的好朋友鱼腿的命，不是吗？ 因为鱼腿一开始就没病过。 我救了我自己。