10 How a Door Came to Me

How a Door Came to Me One morning before the wood peewees were up, I was smoking a mess of fish I had caught in the stream. When I caught more than I could eat, I would bone them, put them on a rack of sticks, and slowly smoke them until they dried out. This is the best way to preserve extra food. However, if you try it, remember to use a hard wood– hickory is the best. I tried pine on the first batch, and ruined them with black tarry smoke. Well, it was very silent– then came a scream. I jumped into my tree. Presently I had enough nerve to look out. "Well, Baron Weasel!" I said in astonishment. I was sure it was the same weasel I had met in the trap. He was on the boulder in front of the hemlock, batting the ferns with his front feet and rearing and staring at me.

一扇门的由来 一个清晨，山鹟还没起床，我正在熏制我从小溪里捕来的一堆鱼。 如果我钓的鱼吃不完，我就会剔掉鱼刺，把鱼放在木棍搭的架子上，慢慢熏到鱼肉干透。 这是储存多余食物最好的方法。 不过如果你要尝试，记得用硬木——山胡桃木最好。 我第一次熏制用了松木，带焦油的黑烟把整批鱼都毁了。 那会四下静悄悄的，接着突然传来一声尖叫。 我一下子跳回我的树屋。 过了一会，我鼓足勇气往外看。 “哎呀，黄鼠狼男爵！” 我惊讶地说道。 我敢肯定，它就是我之前在陷阱里碰到的那只黄鼠狼。 它站在铁杉前的巨石上，用前爪拍打着蕨草，直起身子盯着我看。

"Now, you stay right there," I said. Of course, he flipped and came off the rock like a jet stream. He was at the door before I could stop him, and loping around my feet like a bouncing ball. "You look glad all over, Baron. I hope all that frisking means joy," I said. He took my pants leg in his teeth, tugged it, and then rippled softly back to the boulder. He went down a small hole. He popped up again, bit a fern near by, and ran around the boulder. I crept out to look for him– no weasel. I poked a stick in the hole at the base of the rock trying to provoke him. I felt a little jumpy, so that when a shot rang out through the woods I leapt a foot in the air and dove into my hole. A cricket chirped, a catbird scratched the leaves. I waited. One enormous minute later a dark form ran on to the meadow. It stumbled and fell. I had the impression that it was a deer. Without waiting to consider what I might be

“好了，你就待在那儿别动”，我说。 结果它一下翻身，像激流一样从石头上冲了下来。 我还没来得及拦，它就跑到了门口，像弹跳球一样绕着我的脚边跑。 “黄鼠狼男爵，你看起来开心极了。 我希望你这么活蹦乱跳是真的开心”，我说。 它咬住我的裤腿扯了扯，接着又轻手轻脚跑回了巨石那里。 它钻进了一个小洞里。 它又冒了出来，咬了咬旁边的蕨草，绕着巨石跑圈。 我爬出去找它——连黄鼠狼的影子都没见着。 我把一根棍子插进石底的洞里，想逗它出来。 我本来就有点紧张，所以树林里突然响起枪声时，我吓得跳了一尺高，一下子扎回了我的树洞。 一只蟋蟀吱吱叫，一只猫鹊扒拉着树叶。 我静静等着。 漫长的一分钟过后，一个黑影冲进了草地。 它绊了一下，倒在了地上。 我看着那黑影像是一头鹿。 我没多想那到底是什么东西，就

running towards, I burst to the edge of the meadow. No one was in sight, I ran into the grass. There lay a dead deer With all my strength I dragged the heavy animal into the woods. I then hurried to my tree, gathered up the hemlock boughs on my bed, rushed back and threw them over the carcass. I stuck a few ferns in them so they would look as if they were growing there and ran back to camp, breathless. Hurriedly I put out the fire, covered it with dirt, hid my smoking rack in the spring, grabbed Frightful and got in my tree. Someone was poaching, and he might be along in a minute to collect his prize. The shot had come from the side of the mountain, and I figured I had about four minutes to clean up before the poacher arrived.

朝那边冲了过去，一口气跑到了草地边。 没看到人影，我连忙钻进了草丛。 一头死鹿躺在那儿，我用尽全力把这沉甸甸的大家伙拖进了树林。 接着我赶紧跑回树屋，收起床铺的铁杉枝，又跑回去把枝桠盖在了鹿的尸体上。 我又插了几棵蕨草上去，让它们看起来就像本来就长在那儿，然后气喘吁吁跑回了营地。 我连忙熄了火，用土盖住灰烬，把熏制架藏进泉水中，抓起惧惧爬回了树上。 有人在偷猎，他说不定马上就会过来找他的猎物。 枪声是从山那边传过来的，我算着偷猎者过来前，我大概有四分钟时间收拾好一切。

Then when I was hidden and ready, Frightful started her cry of hunger. I had not fed her yet that morning. Oh, how was I going to explain to her the awful need to be quiet? How did a mother falcon warn her young of danger? I took her in my hands and stroked her stomach. She fought me and then she lay still in my hand, her feet up, her eyes bright. She stiffened and drooped. I kept on stroking her. She was hypnotized. I would stop for a few moments, she would lie still then pop to her feet. I was sure this wasn't what her mother did to keep her quiet but it worked. Bushes cracked, leaves scuttled, and a man with a shotgun came into the meadow. I could just see his head and shoulders. He looked around and banged towards the hemlock forest. I crawled up on my bed and stroked the hungry Frightful. I couldn't see the man from my bed, but I could hear him.

等我藏好一切准备就绪，惧惧开始饿得叫起来。 那天早上我还没喂过它。 唉，我要怎么跟它说现在必须安安静静的呀？ 游隼妈妈都是怎么警告幼崽有危险的呢？ 我把它捧在手里，轻轻抚摸它的肚子。 它挣扎了几下，然后就静静躺在我手里，爪子朝上，眼睛亮闪闪的。 它身子绷紧，又垂了下去。 我一直轻轻摸着它。 它就这样被我催眠了。 我停手一小会，它还是静静躺着，之后才一下子蹦起来。 我肯定鹰妈妈才不会用这招让宝宝安静，但这招真的管用。 灌木丛咔吱响，树叶沙沙晃，一个扛着猎枪的男人走进了草地。 我只能看到他的头和肩膀。 他四处看了看，咚咚朝着铁杉林走过来。 我爬回我的树床，继续摸着饿肚子的惧惧。 我在树床上看不到那个男人，但能听到他的动静。

I heard him come to the tree. I could see his boots. He stopped by the ashes of the fire; and then went on. I could see my heart lift my sweater. I was terrified. I stayed on the bed all morning telling the fierce little bundle of feathers in my hand that there was deer meat in store for her if she would just wait with me. Way down the other side of the mountain, I heard another shot. I sure hoped that deer dropped on the poacher's toes and that he would now go home. At noon I went to my prize. Frightful sat beside me as I skinned and quartered it. She ate deer until she was misshapen. I didn't make any notes as to how long it took me to do all the work that was required to get the deer ready for smoking and the hide scraped and ready for tanning, but it was many, many days.

我听到他走到我这棵树边了。 我能看到他的靴子。 他在火堆灰烬边停了停，接着继续往前走。 我紧张得能感觉到心脏把毛衣都顶起来了。 我害怕极了。 我一整个上午都待在树床上，不停对我手里这团小小的凶巴巴的羽毛说，只要它陪我乖乖等着，之后就有鹿肉吃。 在山那边很远的地方，我又听到一声枪响。 我真希望那头鹿正好砸在偷猎者的脚上，这样他就会乖乖回家了。 中午的时候，我去看我的战利品。 我给鹿剥皮、切分肉块的时候，惧惧就坐在我旁边。 它吃鹿肉吃到肚子圆滚滚的，都变样子啦。 我没记把鹿处理好熏制、把鹿皮刮好鞣制一共花了多少天，只知道前前后后花了好多好多天。

However, when I sat down to a venison steak, that was a meal! All it was, was venison. I wrote this on a piece of birch bark. "I think I grew an inch on venison!" Frightful and I went to the meadow when it was done, and I flopped in the grass. The stars came up, the ground smelled sweet, and I closed my eyes. I heard, "Pip, pop, pop, pop." "Who's making that noise?" I said sleepily to Frightful. She ruffled her feathers. I listened. "Pop, pip." I rolled over and stuck my face in the grass. Something gleamed beneath me, and in the fading light I could see an earthworm coming out of its hole. Near by another one arose and there was a pop. Little bubbles of air snapped as these voiceless animals of the earth came to the surface. That got me to smiling. I was glad to know this about earthworms. I don't know why, but this seemed like one of the nicest things I had learned in the woods– that

不过，等我坐下吃鹿肉排的时候，那可真是太美味的一餐啦！ 其实就是简简单单的鹿肉呀。 我把这句话写在了一块桦树皮上。 “吃鹿肉让我长高了一英寸！” 所有活都干完后，我和惧惧去了草地，我一头栽倒在草地上。 星星升了起来，泥土带着甜甜的香气，我闭上了眼睛。 我听到一阵声音：“噼，啵，啵，啵。” “谁发出的声音呀？” 我困困地对惧惧说。 它抖了抖羽毛。 我仔细听着。 “啵，噼。” 我翻了个身，把脸埋进草里。 我身子底下有什么东西闪了一下，在渐暗的天光里，我看到一条蚯蚓正从洞里爬出来。 旁边另一条蚯蚓爬了出来，发出啵的一声。 这些住在地下不会发声的小动物爬到地面时，小小的气泡裂开，就发出了这种声音。 这可把我逗笑了。 知道蚯蚓的这个小秘密我真开心。 我不知道为什么，但这好像是我在森林里学到最有意思的事之一——那就是