7 QUEER LODGINGS

Chapter 7 QUEER LODGINGS The next morning Bilbo woke up with the early sun in his eyes. He jumped up to look at the time and to go and put his kettle on—and found he was not home at all. So he sat down and wished in vain for a wash and a brush. He did not get either, nor tea nor toast nor bacon for his breakfast, only cold mutton and rabbit. And after that he had to get ready for a fresh start. This time he was allowed to climb on to an eagle's back and cling between his wings. The air rushed over him and he shut his eyes. The dwarves were crying farewells and promising to repay the Lord of the Eagles if ever they could, as off rose fifteen great birds from the mountain's side. The sun was still close to the eastern edge of things. The morning was cool, and mists were in the valleys and hollows and

第七章 古怪的住处 第二天一早，比尔博醒来，朝阳直射进他的眼睛。 他猛地跳起来，想去看时间，烧上水——结果发现自己根本不在家。 于是他坐下来，空盼着能洗洗脸、梳梳头。 他两样都没能得到，早餐也没有茶、吐司和培根，只有冷羊肉和野兔肉。 吃完之后，他就得做好准备重新出发了。 这一回，他获准爬到一只巨鹰的背上，抓稳在鹰的双翅之间。 疾风从他身旁吹过，他紧紧闭上了眼睛。 十五只巨鹰从山边起飞的时候，矮人们高声道别，还许诺只要有机会一定会报答鹰王。 太阳还低低挨着东边的天际。 清晨天气凉爽，雾气笼罩着山谷与洼地，

twined here and there about the peaks and pinnacles of the hills. Bilbo opened an eye to peep and saw that the birds were already high up and the world was far away, and the mountains were falling back behind them into the distance. He shut his eyes again and held on tighter. "Don't pinch!" said his eagle. "You need not be frightened like a rabbit, even if you look rather like one. It is a fair morning with little wind. What is finer than flying?" Bilbo would have liked to say: "A warm bath and late breakfast on the lawn afterwards;" but he thought it better to say nothing at all, and to let go his clutch just a tiny bit. After a good while the eagles must have seen the point they were making for, even from their great height, for they began to go down circling round in great spirals. They did this for a long while, and at last the hobbit opened his eyes again. The earth was much nearer, and below them were trees that looked like oaks and elms, and wide grass lands, and a river running through it all. But cropping out of the ground, right in the path of the stream which looped itself about it, was a great rock, almost a hill of stone, like a last outpost of the distant mountains,

缭绕在群山各处的峰顶与山尖之间。 比尔博睁开一只眼睛偷看，发现鸟儿已经飞得很高，大地远远落在下方，群山也退到了远处。 他又闭上双眼，把鹰抓得更紧了。 “别掐我！”载着比尔博的鹰说。 “就算你长得挺像兔子，也不用像兔子一样吓得慌呀。 今天天气晴朗，风也很小。 还有什么比飞翔更畅快的呀？” 比尔博本来想说：“先泡个热水澡，再在草坪上慢悠悠吃顿晚早餐才最棒！”不过他觉得还是什么都别说更好，只稍微松了一点抓着的力气。 过了好一会儿，哪怕从那么高的地方，巨鹰们也认出了目的地，于是它们开始打着大圈往下降。 它们盘旋了好一阵子，最后霍比特人终于又睁开了眼睛。 大地离得近多了，下方长着看着像是橡树和榆树的大树，还有大片草地，一条河从整片原野流过。 在那条弯弯曲曲绕着它流的河道中央，拱出一块巨大的岩石，它几乎就是一座石头小山，活像是远方群山伸出来的最后一座前哨，

or a huge piece cast miles into the plain by some giant among giants. Quickly now to the top of this rock the eagles swooped one by one and set down their passengers. "Farewell!" they cried, "wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at the journey's end!" That is the polite thing to say among eagles. "May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks," answered Gandalf, who knew the correct reply. And so they parted. And though the Lord of the Eagles became in after days the King of All Birds and wore a golden crown, and his fifteen chieftains golden collars (made of the gold that the dwarves gave them), Bilbo never saw them again—except high and far off in the battle of Five Armies. But as that comes in at the end of this tale we will say no more about it just now. There was a flat space on the top of the hill of stone and a well worn path with many steps leading down it to the river, across which a ford of huge flat stones led to the grass-land beyond the stream. There was a little cave (a wholesome one with a pebbly floor) at the foot of the steps and near the end of the stony ford. Here the party gathered and

又或是巨人族里的巨人扔到平原上的一大块碎石。 紧接着巨鹰们一只接一只俯冲落到这块巨石顶上，把背上的乘客放了下来。 “一路顺风！” 它们喊道：“无论你们去往何方，愿旅程终点的巢穴迎接你们！” 这是鹰之间常用的礼貌道别语。 “愿你们翼下的风，载你们去往太阳航行、月亮漫步的地方，”懂礼节的甘道夫这样回覆。 就这样，他们和巨鹰们分了手。 后来鹰王成了百鸟之王，戴上了金王冠，他的十五位头领也戴上了矮人们赠送的金项圈，可比尔博除了在五军之战里远远见过他们一回，之后再也没见过他们。 不过这件事要到故事的结尾才会发生，我们现在先不多说。 石头山顶有一块平地，一条踩得平整的小径带着许多台阶一直往下通到河边，河上用大块扁平石头搭出了浅滩，通往河对岸的草地。 台阶脚边、石滩尽头附近有一个小山洞（干净清爽，地面铺着鹅卵石）。 大伙儿都聚集在这里，

discussed what was to be done. "I always meant to see you all safe (if possible) over the mountains," said the wizard, "and now by good management and good luck I have done it. Indeed we are now a good deal further east than I ever meant to come with you, for after all this is not my adventure. I may look in on it again before it is all over, but in the meanwhile I have some other pressing business to attend to." The dwarves groaned and looked most distressed, and Bilbo wept. They had begun to think Gandalf was going to come all the way and would always be there to help them out of difficulties. "I am not going to disappear this very instant," said he. "I can give you a day or two more. Probably I can help you out of your present plight, and I need a little help myself. We have no food, and no baggage, and no ponies to ride; and you don't know where you are. Now I can tell you that. You are still some miles north of the path which we should have been following, if we had not left the mountain pass in a hurry. Very few people live in these parts, unless they have come here since I was last down this way, which is some years ago. But there is somebody that I know of, who lives not far away. That Somebody

商量接下来该怎么办。 “我一直都想着要把你们平平安安送出大山（如果可能的话），”巫师说，“现在靠着好安排和好运气，我已经做到了。 说真的，我们现在已经比我原本计划陪你们走的路线更往东好多了，毕竟这场冒险本来就不是我的。 说不定整件事结束前我还会回来一趟，不过眼下我还有别的紧急事务要处理。” 矮人们唉声叹气，满脸愁容，比尔博也掉了眼泪。 他们本来还以为甘道夫会一路陪着他们，永远都能帮他们解决难题呢。 “我又不会现在立刻就消失不见，”他说。 “我还能再陪你们一两天。 说不定我还能帮你们解决眼下的困境，而且我自己也需要一点帮忙。 我们现在没食物，没行李，没马可骑；你们也不知道自己身在何处。 不过我可以告诉你们。 如果我们当初没有匆忙离开山道，本该走原定路线，我们现在还在原定路线以北好几英里的地方。 这一带没什么人居住，除非是我上次来这里之后才搬来的，我上次来已经是好多年前了。 不过我认识一个人，他就住在离这不远的地方。 这个人

made the steps on the great rock—the Carrock I believe he calls it. He does not come here often, certainly not in the daytime, and it is no good waiting for him. In fact it would be very dangerous. We must go and find him; and if all goes well at our meeting, I think I shall be off and wish you like the eagles 'farewell wherever you fare!" They begged him not to leave them. They offered him dragon-gold and silver and jewels, but he would not change his mind. "We shall see, we shall see!" he said, "and I think I have earned already some of your dragon-gold—when you have got it." After that they stopped pleading. Then they took off their clothes and bathed in the river, which was shallow and clear and stony at the ford. When they had dried in the sun, which was now strong and warm, they were refreshed, if still sore and a little hungry. Soon they crossed the ford (carrying the hobbit), and then began to march through the long green grass and down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and the tall elms. "And why is it called the Carrock?" asked Bilbo as he went along at the wizard's side.

他在那块大岩石上修了台阶——我记得他把那岩石叫卡洛克。 他不常来这儿，白天肯定不会来，等他是没用的。 其实这么做非常危险。 我们得主动去找他；要是见面一切顺利，我就要动身了，我会像老鹰那样祝你们“此去一路平安！” 大伙都恳求他不要丢下他们。 他们承诺分给他龙的黄金、白银和珠宝，可他还是不肯改主意。 “走着瞧，咱们走着瞧！” 他说，“而且我觉得，等你们拿到宝藏，我已经配拿一部分龙的黄金了。” 从那之后，他们就不再恳求了。 接着他们脱掉衣服下河洗澡，浅滩这儿河水清浅，水底满是石子。 这会儿太阳暖融融的十分强烈，他们晒干身子后，虽说还是浑身酸痛、有点饿，好歹恢复了精神。 没多久他们就趟过了浅滩（还抬着霍比特人），接着穿过长长的青草地，沿着一棵棵枝繁叶茂的大橡树和高耸的榆树往前走。 “为什么它叫卡洛克呀？”比尔博走在巫师身边，边走边问。

"He called it the Carrock, because carrock is his word for it. He calls things like that carrocks, and this one is the Carrock because it is the only one near his home and he knows it well." "Who calls it? Who knows it?" "The Somebody I spoke of—a very great person. You must all be very polite when I introduce you. I shall introduce you slowly, two by two, I think; and you must be careful not to annoy him, or heaven knows what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry, though he is kind enough if humoured. Still I warn you he gets angry easily." The dwarves all gathered round when they heard the wizard talking like this to Bilbo. "Is that the person you are taking us to now?" they asked. "Couldn't you find someone more easy-tempered? Hadn't you better explain it all a bit clearer?"—and so on. "Yes it certainly is! No I could not! And I was explaining very carefully," answered the wizard crossly. "If you must know more, his name is Beorn. He is very strong, and he is a skin-changer." "What! a furrier, a man that calls rabbits conies, when he doesn't turn their skins into squirrels?" asked Bilbo.

“这名字是他取的，‘卡洛克’就是他对这类岩石的称呼。 他把所有这种大石头都叫卡洛克，这块是离他家最近的唯一一块，他熟得很，所以就叫它卡洛克。” “谁给它取的名？ 谁对它这么熟呀？” “就是我之前说的那位大人物。 我给你们引见的时候，所有人都得懂礼貌。 我打算一次两个慢慢引见，你们千万小心别惹恼他，不然天知道会出什么事。 顺着他性子来的时候他挺和善，生起气来可吓人了。 我先给你们打预防针，他很容易动怒。” 听见巫师这么跟比尔博说，矮人们全都围了过来。 “你现在就是要带我们去找这个人吗？” 他们问道。 “你就找不到一个脾气更好相处的人吗？ “你就不能把事情都说得更明白点吗？”大伙你一言我一语地问。 “没错，就是去找他！ “我才找不到更好的！ “我已经解释得够仔细了。”巫师没好气地回答。 “你们非要知道的话，他叫贝奥恩。 他力气特别大，是个换皮人。” “什么！ 是毛皮商人吗？就是那种不把兔子皮做成松鼠皮，还管兔子叫野兔肉的家伙？”比尔博问道。