3 A SHORT REST

Chapter 3 A SHORT REST They did not sing or tell stories that day, even though the weather improved; nor the next day, nor the day after. They had begun to feel that danger was not far away on either side. They camped under the stars, and their horses had more to eat than they had; for there was plenty of grass, but there was not much in their bags, even with what they had got from the trolls. One morning they forded a river at a wide shallow place full of the noise of stones and foam. The far bank was steep and slippery. When they got to the top of it, leading their ponies, they saw that the great mountains had marched down very near to them. Already they seemed only a day's easy journey from the feet of the nearest. Dark and drear it looked, though there were patches of sunlight on its brown sides, and behind its shoulders

第三章 短暂歇息 这天天气转好，可他们既没唱歌也没讲故事，第二天、第三天也都没有。 他们渐渐感觉到，危险已经从四面八方逼近了。 他们在星空下扎营，马儿吃得比他们还饱；这儿水草丰足，可就算加上从巨魔那儿得来的补给，他们袋子里的干粮也所剩无几了。 一天早上，他们在一处宽阔浅滩渡河，滩里乱石翻滚，水沫哗哗作响。 对岸的河岸又陡又滑。 他们牵着小马爬上岸顶，看见巍峨的山脉已经挪到了离他们很近的地方。 看样子，轻轻松松走一天就能走到最近那座山的山脚下。 山峦看着阴森凄凉，只有褐色山坡上洒着片片阳光，山肩后方

the tips of snow-peaks gleamed. "Is that The Mountain?" asked Bilbo in a solemn voice, looking at it with round eyes. He had never seen a thing that looked so big before. "Of course not!" said Balin. "That is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains, and we have got to get through, or over, or under those somehow, before we can come into Wilderland beyond. And it is a deal of a way even from the other side of them to the Lonely Mountain in the East where Smaug lies on our treasure." "O!" said Bilbo, and just at that moment he felt more tired than he ever remembered feeling before. He was thinking once again of his comfortable chair before the fire in his favourite sitting-room in his hobbit-hole, and of the kettle singing. Not for the last time! Now Gandalf led the way. "We must not miss the road, or we shall be done for," he said. "We need food, for one thing, and rest in reasonable safety— also it is very necessary to tackle the Misty Mountains by the proper path, or else you will get lost in them, and have to come back and start at the

积雪覆盖的山峰顶端闪着微光。 “那就是那座大山吗？”比尔博圆睁着眼睛，郑重地问道。 他从来没见过这么大的东西。 “当然不是！”巴林说。 “这才只是迷雾山脉的开头，我们总得想办法穿过去、翻过去或是钻过去，才能到另一边的荒野。 就算翻过了山，还要走很远才能到东边的孤山，史矛革正躺在那儿守着我们的宝藏呢。” “哦！”比尔博说道，这一刻他觉得比以往任何时候都要累。 他又开始想念霍比特洞府里，自己最爱的客厅壁炉前那把舒服的椅子，还有正鸣唱的水壶。 这可不是他最后一次想这个！ 这时甘道夫走在前面领路。 “咱们可不能走错路，不然就全完了。”他说。 “一来我们需要食物，还得找个安全的地方休息——而且过迷雾山脉必须走对路，不然就会在山里迷路，只能回头重新从

beginning again (if you ever get back at all)." They asked him where he was making for, and he answered: "You are come to the very edge of the Wild, as some of you may know. Hidden somewhere ahead of us is the fair valley of Rivendell where Elrond lives in the Last Homely House. I sent a message by my friends, and we are expected." That sounded nice and comforting, but they had not got there yet, and it was not so easy as it sounds to find the Last Homely House west of the Mountains. There seemed to be no trees and no valleys and no hills to break the ground in front of them, only one vast slope going slowly up and up to meet the feet of the nearest mountain, a wide land the colour of heather and crumbling rock, with patches and slashes of grass-green and moss-green showing where water might be. Morning passed, afternoon came; but in all the silent waste there was no sign of any dwelling. They were growing anxious, for they saw now that the house might be hidden almost anywhere between them and the mountains. They came on unexpected valleys, narrow with steep sides, that opened suddenly at their feet, and they looked down surprised to see trees below them and running water

头开始（如果你能回得去的话）。” 他们问他要往哪里去，甘道夫答道：“你们有人大概也知道，我们已经到荒野的边界了。 我们前方某处藏着美丽的幽谷瑞文戴尔，埃尔隆德住在最后家园里。 我托朋友捎了信，他们正等着我们呢。” 这话说着舒服又安心，可他们还没到目的地，要找到山脉西边的最后家园，可不像听起来那么容易。 眼前的大地没有树木、山谷和丘陵起伏，只有一片巨大的缓坡慢慢向上延伸，一直连到最近那座山的山脚，整片开阔土地都是石楠和碎石的颜色，片片块块的绿草青苔表明那里可能有水。 清晨过去了，午后来临，可整片寂静的荒野里，没有丝毫住人的痕迹。 他们越来越着急，因为现在他们知道，那座房子可能藏在他们和山脉之间的任何地方。 他们突然撞见意想不到的山谷，谷道狭窄、两岸陡峭，猛地出现在脚边，他们惊讶地朝下看，看见谷底长着树，还有流水

at the bottom. There were gullies that they could almost leap over, but very deep with waterfalls in them. There were dark ravines that one could neither jump over nor climb into. There were bogs, some of them green pleasant places to look at, with flowers growing bright and tall; but a pony that walked there with a pack on its back would never have come out again. It was indeed a much wider land from the ford to the mountains than ever you would have guessed. Bilbo was astonished. The only path was marked with white stones, some of which were small, and others were half covered with moss or heather. Altogether it was a very slow business following the track, even guided by Gandalf, who seemed to know his way about pretty well. His head and beard wagged this way and that as he looked for the stones, and they followed his lead, but they seemed no nearer to the end of the search when the day began to fail. Tea-time had long gone by, and it seemed supper-time would soon do the same. There were moths fluttering about, and the light became very dim, for the moon had not risen. Bilbo's pony began to stumble over roots and stones. They came to the edge of a steep fall in the

在谷底奔腾。 有些冲沟窄得几乎能一步跳过去，可深得惊人，里面还藏着瀑布。 还有黑漆漆的峡谷，既跳不过去也爬不下去。 还有不少沼泽，有些看起来绿意怡人，长着鲜亮高大的花朵，可驮着行李的小马走进去，就再也出不来了。 从渡河浅滩到山脉之间的区域，确实比任何人预想的都要宽广得多。 比尔博惊呆了。 唯一的小路靠白色石头做标记，有些石头很小，还有不少半埋在青苔或石楠下面。 哪怕有甘道夫领路，他看起来对路线很熟悉，找路赶路还是慢得要命。 他来回晃着脑袋和胡子找石头，大家跟着他走，可天快黑了，他们看起来还是离终点没近一步。 下午茶时间早就过了，眼看着晚饭时间也马上要过去了。 飞蛾四处乱飞，光线变得非常昏暗，因为月亮还没升起来。 比尔博的小马不断被树根和石头绊倒。 他们走到了一处陡峭断崖的边缘，

ground so suddenly that Gandalf's horse nearly slipped down the slope. "Here it is at last!" he called, and the others gathered round him and looked over the edge. They saw a valley far below. They could hear the voice of hurrying water in a rocky bed at the bottom; the scent of trees was in the air; and there was a light on the valley-side across the water. Bilbo never forgot the way they slithered and slipped in the dusk down the steep zig-zag path into the secret valley of Rivendell. The air grew warmer as they got lower, and the smell of the pine-trees made him drowsy, so that every now and again he nodded and nearly fell off, or bumped his nose on the pony's neck. Their spirits rose as they went down and down. The trees changed to beech and oak, and there was a comfortable feeling in the twilight. The last green had almost faded out of the grass, when they came at length to an open glade not far above the banks of the stream. "Hmmm! it smells like elves!" thought Bilbo, and he looked up at the stars. They were burning bright and blue. Just then there came a burst of song like laughter in the trees:

地面突然下陷，甘道夫的马差点滑下斜坡。 “终于到啦！” 他喊道，其他人围到他身边，顺着崖边望去。 他们看见下方很深的地方有个山谷。 他们能听见谷底岩床里湍急的水流声，空气中飘着树木的清香，河谷对岸的山坡上还亮着一处光。 比尔博永远忘不了，那天黄昏，他们一路打滑溜下陡峭的之字形小路，走进秘密山谷瑞文戴尔的那一幕。 越往下走空气越暖，松树的香气让他昏昏欲睡，他时不时点头打盹，差点摔下马，要不就是鼻子撞到小马脖子上。 越往下走，他们的心情也越来越好。 树木渐渐变成山毛榉和橡树，暮色里让人觉得格外舒适。 草叶最后一点绿意都快褪去了，他们终于走到溪流岸边不远处的一片开阔林中空地。 “嗯！ 闻着有精灵的味道！”比尔博想着，抬头望向星星。 星星闪着明亮的蓝光。 就在这时，树林里突然传来一阵像笑声一样的歌声：

O! What are you doing, And where are you going? Your ponies need shoeing! The river is flowing! O! tra-la-la-lally here down in the valley! O! What are you seeking, And where are you making? The faggots are reeking, The bannocks are baking! O! tril-lil-lil-lolly the valley is jolly, ha! ha! O! Where are you going With beards all a-wagging? No knowing, no knowing What brings Mister Baggins And Balin and Dwalin down into the valley in June ha! ha!

哦！ 你们在做什么呀，你们要往哪里去？ 你们的小马还没钉蹄！ 河水正哗啦啦流个不停！ 哦！ 特啦啦啦啦，来到这山谷底下！ 哦！ 你们在找什么呀，你们要往哪儿赶？ 柴堆正冒着烟，烤饼正在炉上烤！ 哦！吹哩哩哩洛哩，山谷真开心，哈！哈！ 哦！ 你们晃着大胡子，到底要去哪儿呀？ 谁也想不到，谁也猜不着，巴金斯先生，还有巴林和德瓦林，六月天跑到山谷来，哈！哈！