6 What Old Wrinkly Said

6. WHAT OLD WRINKLY SAID Old Wrinkly was Hiccup's grandfather on his mother's side. He lived in a large untidy house on the beach. He was delighted to see them, and he fed them all porridge. Toothless snoozed in front of the blazing fire in his fireplace, while the snowy clothes of Hiccup and Fishlegs dripped dry on chairs. 'What can I do for you, little Hiccup?' wheezed Old Wrinkly, lighting a big fat pipe. 'It's my friend, Fishlegs,' explained Hiccup. 'He's not very well.' Old Wrinkly looked at Fishlegs, who was shaking like a leaf in a high wind. 'Oh come on, Hiccup,' said Fishlegs irritably. 'I keep telling you, it's just a NASTY COLD…' Old Wrinkly tut-tutted. Old Wrinkly was the wise man and soothsayer of the Hooligan Tribe. If you were ill, you would go to Old Wrinkly and he would examine you, consult the gods, and then give you some perfectly disgusting medicine like rabbits' droppings in limpet goo that might or might not make you better. (Doctoring and looking into the future are complicated businesses– to tell the truth, Old Wrinkly did not always get them right.)

6. 老皱纹说的老皱纹是小嗝嗝妈妈那边的爷爷。 他住在海边一所又大又乱的房子里。 他很高兴看到他们，他给他们喂粥。 无牙在壁炉里熊熊燃烧的炉火前打着盹儿，小嗝嗝和鱼腿的雪衣在椅子上滴干了。 “我能为你做些什么，小嗝嗝？”老皱纹气喘吁吁地说，点燃了一根又大又肥的烟斗。 “是我的朋友，鱼腿。”嗝嗝解释道。 “他身体不太好。”老皱纹看着鱼腿，鱼腿像大风中的树叶一样颤抖着。 “得了吧，小嗝嗝，”鱼腿不耐烦地说。 “我一直跟你说，这只是一场严重的感冒……” 老皱纹是流氓部落的智者和预言家。 如果你生病了，你会去找老皱纹，他会给你做检查，向神灵请教，然后给你一些非常恶心的药，比如兔屎和帽贝胶，可能会让你好转，也可能不会。 （医生和预测未来是复杂的事情——说实话，老皱纹并不总是做对。）

Old Wrinkly put his ancient old hand on Fishlegs's forehead, and tut-tutted again. 'Very hot, very hot,' he muttered to himself, 'and sweaty.' He listened to Fishlegs's heart with a strange trumpet-like instrument and tut-tutted some more. And then he threw some twigs on to the fire, and poked the flames with a long metal stick. 'Oh dearie me!' gasped Old Wrinkly as he stared at the red embers. 'That sounds cheerful,' shivered Fishlegs. 'The fire seems to be telling me that your friend has VORPENTITIS, caused by the sting of a VENOMOUS VORPENT,' said Old Wrinkly sadly. 'Have you met any Venomous Vorpents recently?' There was a nasty cold feeling in the bottom of Hiccup's stomach. 'We did meet a Venomous Vorpent…' Hiccup said slowly. 'A couple of months ago… a Vorpent fell on to Fishlegs's hand when we were escaping from Fort Sinister…' 'But it didn't sting me!' Fishlegs said eagerly. 'I didn't feel anything sting me!' Old Wrinkly shook his head. 'The Vorpent numbs the skin before it stings. It's very clever really. You wouldn't have felt a thing. And then nothing happens,

老皱纹把他那苍老的手放在鱼腿的额头上，又发出啧啧声。 “很热，很热，”他自言自语道，“而且汗流浃背。”他用一种奇怪的小号一样的乐器听着鱼腿的心跳，然后又发出啧啧声。 然后他把一些小树枝扔进火里，用一根长长的金属棒戳着火焰。 “噢，天哪！”老皱纹盯着火红的余烬喘着气说。 “听起来很愉快。”鱼腿颤抖着说。 “火似乎在告诉我，你的朋友患了毒蛇炎，是被毒蛇螫伤引起的。” “你最近遇到过毒蛇吗？”嗝嗝的胃底有一种恶心的寒意。 “我们确实遇到了一只毒蛇……”嗝嗝慢慢地说。 “两个月前……我们从险恶堡逃跑的时候，一条大毒蛇落在了鱼腿的手上……”鱼腿急切地说。 “我没感觉到有什么东西在刺我！”老皱纹摇了摇头。 “蟒蛇在蜇人之前先把皮肤麻木。 这真的很聪明。你不会有任何感觉的。 然后什么也没发生，

until a couple of months later, when you fall ill with Vorpentitis.' 'What are the symptoms of Vorpentitis?' asked Hiccup. 'Fever… runny nose… episodes of madness…' replied Old Wrinkly gloomily. Hiccup's stomach was now as cold as ice, but he tried to sound cheerful. 'And how do we get him better?' Old Wrinkly sounded gloomier still. 'Weeeell…' he croaked, 'that's the tricky part… The sting of the Venomous Vorpent is pretty much always FATAL.' There was a nasty silence. 'The good news is,' continued Old Wrinkly, 'we have until ten in the morning tomorrow to find the antidote* before your friend dies.' 'Oh good,' said Hiccup, hugely relieved. 'So there IS an antidote…' Fishlegs had been listening with an open mouth. 'But all I've got is a NASTY COLD!' he protested. 'A nasty cold– and you tell me I've only got one day to live!' Hiccup ignored him. 'What's the antidote?' asked Hiccup. 'This is where the tricky part gets trickier…' wheezed Old Wrinkly. 'The antidote to the sting of the

直到几个月后，你患上了vorpententitis。“鼻咽炎的症状是什么？”小嗝嗝问。 “发烧……流鼻涕……发疯……” 嗝嗝的胃现在冷得像冰一样，但他努力让自己的声音听起来很高兴。 “我们怎样才能使他好起来呢？”老皱纹听起来更沮丧了。 “哎……”他嘶哑地说，“这才是棘手的地方……毒蛇的刺几乎总是致命的。”一阵令人讨厌的沉默。 “好消息是，”老皱纹继续说，“在你的朋友死之前，我们必须在明天早上十点之前找到解药。“哦，太好了，”小嗝嗝说，松了一口气。 “这么说有解药了……”鱼腿一直张着嘴听着。 “可我得了重感冒！”他抗议道。 “得了严重的感冒——你却告诉我，我只能活一天了！”小嗝嗝不理他。 “解药是什么？”小嗝嗝问。 “这就是棘手的部分变得更棘手的地方……” 解毒剂的刺

Venomous Vorpent is the Vegetable-that-No-one-Dares- Name.' 'What, you mean the POTATO?' gasped Hiccup. 'Sssssh,' whispered Old Wrinkly, desperately flapping his hands. 'You're not supposed to name it! It's bad luck!' 'But the POTATO is an imaginary vegetable!' said Hiccup, who thought all this talk of bad luck was just superstition. 'It doesn't really exist!' 'There are those that say the Vegetable-that-No- one-Dares-Name can be found in a great country to the west known as America…' Old Wrinkly pointed out. 'But most people say,' said Hiccup slowly, 'that there's no such place as America. Most people say that it's an imaginary land that only crackpot weirdos believe in. Most people think that the earth is as flat as a pancake, and if you sail too far to the west you will fall off the end of it.' 'That is what most people say,' admitted Old Wrinkly, shrugging his shoulders and carrying on puffing his pipe. 'And even if there WAS such a thing as this so-called potato in this so-called land called America,' argued Hiccup, 'we're never going to be able to sail to it and find the antidote in only ONE DAY. In one day

毒蛇是一种没有人敢命名的蔬菜。“什么，你是说那个土豆？”嗝嗝喘着气说。 “嘘。”老皱纹低声说，绝望地拍打着双手。 “你不应该说出它的名字！”这是坏运气！“但是土豆是一种想象出来的蔬菜！”小嗝嗝说，他认为所有这些关于坏运气的说法都是迷信。 “它根本不存在！”“有人说，在西边一个叫美国的大国里，有一种叫不出名字的蔬菜……”老皱纹指出。 “可是大多数人都说，”小嗝嗝慢吞吞地说，“根本就没有美国这样的地方。 大多数人说那是一个只有疯子才会相信的幻想之地。 大多数人认为地球像煎饼一样平，如果你向西航行太远，你就会从它的一端掉下来。“大多数人都是这么说的，”皱纹老人承认道，耸了耸肩，继续抽着烟斗。 “即使在这个所谓的美洲大陆上有所谓的土豆这种东西，”小嗝嗝争辩道，“我们也不可能在一天之内航行到那里并找到解药。 一天之内

you'd hardly be out of the Sullen Sea… the thing you're suggesting is IMPOSSIBLE.' 'There's no such thing as im-POSSIBLE, Hiccup,' snorted Old Wrinkly, 'only im-PROBABLE. The only thing that limits us are the limits to our imaginations… and I used to think of you as an imaginative boy. Give up, if you want to… but I used to think of you as the sort of boy who would NEVER give up, however bad things looked.' 'OK, then,' said Hiccup crossly. 'Give me one reason not to give up.' 'I will give you a reason,' said Old Wrinkly. 'There is a chance that Norbert the Nutjob, Chief of the Hysterics, may have the antidote to Vorpentitis.' Hiccup jumped. 'NORBERT THE NUTJOB??' said Hiccup. 'Why does HE have a POTATO? Where did he get it from?' 'I will explain by telling you the story of Norbert the Nutjob's father and the Doomfang,' said Old Wrinkly. 'You do that,' said Hiccup, already feeling anxious at the mere mention of Norbert the Nutjob. Old Wrinkly relit his pipe. 'I have to warn you, Hiccup,' wheezed Old Wrinkly between puffs, 'that, like a lot of stories, this may or may not be true…'

你还没走出阴沉的大海……你说的事情是不可能的。“没有什么不可能，小嗝嗝，”老皱纹哼着鼻子说，“只有不大可能。” 唯一限制我们的是我们想象力的限制，而我过去一直认为你是一个富有想象力的男孩。 你想放弃就放弃吧……但我以前一直以为你是那种无论情况多么糟糕都不会放弃的男孩。“那好吧，”小嗝嗝生气地说。 给我一个不放弃的理由。“我给你一个理由，”老皱纹说。 “有可能，疯子诺伯，歇斯底里症的首领，可能有vorpententitis的解药。”打嗝吓了一跳。 “疯子诺伯特？？”小嗝嗝说。 “他为什么有一个土豆？” 他从哪儿弄来的？“我会给你讲一个关于疯子诺伯的父亲和末日毒牙的故事来解释。”老皱纹说。 “你去吧，”小嗝嗝说，一提到疯子诺伯，他就感到焦虑。 老皱纹重新点燃他的烟斗。 “我得警告你，小嗝嗝，”老皱纹气喘吁吁地说，“就像许多故事一样，这可能是真的，也可能不是真的……”