9 BARRELS OUT OF BOND

Chapter 9 BARRELS OUT OF BOND The day after the battle with the spiders Bilbo and the dwarves made one last despairing effort to find a way out before they died of hunger and thirst. They got up and staggered on in the direction which eight out of the thirteen of them guessed to be the one in which the path lay; but they never found out if they were right. Such day as there ever was in the forest was fading once more into the blackness of night, when suddenly out sprang the light of many torches all round them, like hundreds of red stars. Out leaped Wood-elves with their bows and spears and called the dwarves to halt. There was no thought of a fight. Even if the dwarves had not been in such a state that they were actually glad to be captured, their small knives, the only weapons they had, would have been of no use

第九章 逃出酒桶 蜘蛛大战结束的第二天，比尔博和矮人们在饿死渴死前，做了最后一次找路的绝望尝试 他们爬起身，朝着十三个矮人里八个都猜是正路的方向跌跌撞撞走去；可他们始终没能确认这条路对不对 森林里本就微弱的日光再次褪去，黑夜即将降临，这时他们四周突然亮起无数火把，像成百上千颗红色的星星 森林精灵拿着弓箭长矛跳出来，喝令矮人们停下 他们根本没想过要打斗 且不说矮人们现在这副模样，其实被抓他们都心甘情愿，就算不是这样，他们仅有的武器就是这几把小刀，也根本派不上用场

against the arrows of the elves that could hit a bird's eye in the dark. So they simply stopped dead and sat down and waited —all except Bilbo, who popped on his ring and slipped quickly to one side. That is why, when the elves bound the dwarves in a long line, one behind the other, and counted them, they never found or counted the hobbit. Nor did they hear or feel him trotting along well behind their torch-light as they led off their prisoners into the forest. Each dwarf was blindfold, but that did not make much difference, for even Bilbo with the use of his eyes could not see where they were going, and neither he nor the others knew where they had started from anyway. Bilbo had all he could do to keep up with the torches, for the elves were making the dwarves go as fast as ever they could, sick and weary as they were. The king had ordered them to make haste. Suddenly the torches stopped, and the hobbit had just time to catch them up before they began to cross the bridge. This was the bridge that led across the river to the king's doors. The water flowed dark and swift and strong beneath; and at the far end were gates before the mouth of a huge cave that ran into the side of a steep slope covered with trees. There the great

根本挡不住精灵能在黑暗中射中鸟眼的箭 所以他们只好直接停下，坐在地上等待——只有比尔博例外，他戴上戒指飞快躲到了一边 因此精灵把矮人们一个挨一个绑成一长串清点人数时，根本没发现也没数到这个霍比特人 精灵押着俘虏走进森林时，也没听见或是察觉到比尔博跟在火把后面小跑跟着 每个矮人都被蒙了眼，但其实没什么区别，就算比尔博睁着眼也看不出要去哪儿，而且不管是他还是其他人，本来也不知道出发点在哪 比尔博拼尽全力才跟上队伍，哪怕矮人们又病又累，精灵还是逼着他们尽快赶路 是精灵王下令让他们加快速度 火把突然停了下来，比尔博刚赶上去，队伍就开始过桥了 这座桥跨过河流，直通精灵王的宫门 桥下河水又黑又湍急；对岸被树木覆盖的陡坡上开了一个大洞，洞口前就是宫门 那儿的高大

beeches came right down to the bank, till their feet were in the stream. Across the bridge the elves thrust their prisoners, but Bilbo hesitated in the rear. He did not at all like the look of the cavern-mouth, and he only made up his mind not to desert his friends just in time to scuttle over at the heels of the last elves, before the great gates of the king closed behind them with a clang. Inside the passages were lit with red torch-light, and the elf-guards sang as they marched along the twisting, crossing, and echoing paths. These were not like those of the goblin-cities; they were smaller, less deep underground, and filled with a cleaner air. In a great hall with pillars hewn out of the living stone sat the Elvenking on a chair of carven wood. On his head was a crown of berries and red leaves, for the autumn was come again. In the spring he wore a crown of woodland flowers. In his hand he held a carven staff of oak.

山毛榉一直延伸到岸边，树根都浸在了溪水里 精灵推着俘虏过了桥，比尔博在队尾犹豫着不敢进 他一点也不喜欢这个山洞洞口的样子，直到最后一刻才下定决心不抛下朋友，赶紧跟在最后一个精灵身后跑过去，刚进去精灵王的大门就哐当一声在他们身后关上了 洞里的通道被红色火把照亮，精灵卫兵沿着蜿蜒交错、回声阵阵的小路前进，边走边唱歌 这里的通道和哥布林城市的不一样，它们更小，埋得没那么深，空气也更加清新 精灵王坐在有着天然岩石凿成的石柱的大厅中，坐的是一把雕花木椅 他头上戴着浆果和红叶编的王冠，因为秋天已经到来了 到了春天，他会戴一顶林间野花编成的王冠 他手里握着一根雕刻过的橡木手杖

The Elvenking's Gate

精灵王的大门

The prisoners were brought before him; and though he looked grimly at them, he told his men to unbind them, for they were ragged and weary. "Besides they need no ropes in here," said he. "There is no escape from my magic doors for those who are once brought inside." Long and searchingly he questioned the dwarves about their doings, and where they were going to, and where they were coming from; but he got little more news out of them than out of Thorin. They were surly and angry and did not even pretend to be polite. "What have we done, O king?" said Balin, who was the eldest left. "Is it a crime to be lost in the forest, to be hungry and thirsty, to be trapped by spiders? Are the spiders your tame beasts or your pets, if killing them makes you angry?" Such a question of course made the king angrier than ever, and he answered: "It is a crime to wander in my realm without leave. Do you forget that you were in my kingdom, using the road that my people made? Did you not three times pursue and trouble my people in the forest and rouse the spiders with your riot and clamour? After all the disturbance you have made I have a right to know what brings you

俘虏们被带到他面前，虽然他脸色阴沉地看着他们，还是叫手下给他们松绑，因为他们衣衫褴褛，疲惫不堪 "反正他们在这儿也不需要绑着，"他说 "只要被带进这儿，没人能从我的魔法门逃出去。" 他仔仔细细盘问了矮人们很久，问他们的目的，要去哪里，从哪里来；可是他从这些矮人嘴里得到的消息，不比从索林那里多 他们脾气暴躁又愤怒，连假装礼貌都不肯 "我们做错了什么，国王？"年纪最大的巴林说 "在森林里迷路，又饿又渴，被蜘蛛困住，也算犯罪吗？ 我们杀了蜘蛛就让你动怒，难道这些蜘蛛是你养的宠物吗？" 这个问题当然让国王更生气了，他回答道："不经允许在我的领地上乱闯，就是犯罪。 你们难道忘了，你们在我的王国里，走的是我的人民修的路？ 你们不是三次在森林里骚扰我的人民，吵吵闹闹吵醒了蜘蛛吗？ 你们弄出这么多乱子，我当然有权知道你们来这儿找

here, and if you will not tell me now, I will keep you all in prison until you have learned sense and manners!" Then he ordered the dwarves each to be put in a separate cell and to be given food and drink, but not to be allowed to pass the doors of their little prisons, until one at least of them was willing to tell him all he wanted to know. But he did not tell them that Thorin was also a prisoner with him. It was Bilbo who found that out. Poor Mr. Baggins—it was a weary long time that he lived in that place all alone, and always in hiding, never daring to take off his ring, hardly daring to sleep, even tucked away in the darkest and remotest corners he could find. For something to do he took to wandering about the Elvenking's palace. Magic shut the gates, but he could sometimes get out, if he was quick. Companies of the Wood-elves, sometimes with the king at their head, would from time to time ride out to hunt, or to other business in the woods and in the lands to the East. Then if Bilbo was very nimble, he could slip out just behind them; though it was a dangerous thing to do. More than

事到如今，你要是现在还不肯说，我就把你们全都关起来，直到你们学会懂规矩、懂礼貌！" 接着他下令把每个矮人都单独关在不同牢房，供给吃喝，但不许他们踏出囚房一步，直到至少有一个矮人愿意把他想知道的事全说出来。 但他没告诉众人，索林也和矮人们一起被关在这里。 这件事是比尔博发现的。 可怜的巴金斯先生——他孤零零一个人住在这里熬了好久，永远躲躲藏藏，连戒指都不敢摘，就算躲到能找到的最偏僻阴暗的角落，也几乎不敢睡觉。 为了找点事做，他开始在精灵国王的宫殿里四处闲逛。 大门被魔法锁着，可他只要动作快，有时候也能溜出去。 一队队木精灵，偶尔由国王亲自带队，时不时会骑马外出打猎，或是去森林和东边的大地处理其他事务。 要是比尔博动作足够敏捷，就能悄悄跟在他们身后溜出去，不过这么做十分危险。 不止