12 I Find a Real Live Man

In Which I Find a Real Live Man One of the gasping joys of summer was my daily bath in the spring. It was cold water, I never stayed in long, but it woke me up and started me into the day with a vengeance. I would tether Frightful to a hemlock bough above me and splash her from time to time. She would suck in her chest, look startled, and then shake. While I bathed and washed, she preened. Huddled down in the water between the ferns and moss, I scrubbed myself with the bark of the slippery elm. It gets soapy when you rub it. The frogs would hop out and let me in, and the woodthrush would come to the edge of the pool to see what was happening. We were a gay gathering– me shouting, Frightful

本章我遇到了一个活生生的人 夏天最畅快的乐事，就是我每天去山泉水里泡澡 泉水冰凉，我从来不会泡很久，但它能让我瞬间清醒，浑身是劲地开启新的一天 我会把惊侠拴在我头顶的铁杉树枝上，时不时溅她一身水 她总会绷紧胸膛，一副受惊的模样，接着抖抖身子 我洗澡搓身子的时候，她就梳理自己的羽毛 我缩在蕨类和苔藓之间的水洼里，用滑榆树皮搓澡 搓的时候它会变出泡沫 青蛙会跳开给我腾地方，夜鸫会飞到池边看发生了什么事 我们凑在一起快活极了——我大喊大叫，惊侠

preening, the woodthrush cocking its pretty head. Occasionally The Baron Weasel would pop up and glance furtively at us. He didn't care for water. How he stayed glossy and clean was a mystery to me, until he came to the boulder beside our bath pool one day, wet with, the dew from the ferns. He licked himself until he was polished. One morning there was a rustle in the leaves above. Instantly, Frightful had it located. I had learned to look where Frightful looked when there were disturbances in the forest. She always saw life before I could focus my eyes. She was peering into the hemlock above us.

梳理着羽毛，夜鸫歪着它漂亮的小脑袋 黄鼠狼男爵偶尔会冒出来，偷偷瞟我们几眼 他一点都不喜欢水 我一直纳闷他怎么能保持皮毛油亮干净，直到有一天他来到我们浴池旁的巨石上，身上沾着蕨叶上的露水，湿乎乎的 他把自己舔得油光水滑 一天早上，上方的树叶丛里传来一阵沙沙声 惊侠立刻就锁定了声源 我早就学会了，森林里有动静的时候，就往惊侠看的方向看 她总能在我对准视线之前，就发现活物 她正盯着我们头顶的铁杉丛看

Finally I too saw it. A young raccoon, It was cluttering and now that all eyes were upon it began coming down the tree. And so Frightful and I met Jessie Coon James, the bandit of the Gribley farm.

最后我也看到它了 是一只小浣熊，他在树上窸窸窣窣乱动，被我们盯上后就开始往树下走 就这样，我和惊侠遇见了吉西·库恩·詹姆斯，格里博利农场的小强盗

He came headfirst down to our private bath, a scrabbly, skinny young raccoon. He must have been from a late litter, for he was not very big, and certainly not well fed. Whatever had been Jessie C. James's past, it was awful. Perhaps he was an orphan, perhaps he had been thrown out of his home by his mother, as his eyes were somewhat crossed and looked a little peculiar. In any event he had come to us for help. I thought, and so Frightful and I led him home and fed him. In about a week he fattened up. His crumply hair smoothed out, and with a little ear scratching and back rubbing, Jessie C. James became a devoted friend. He also became useful. He slept somewhere in the dark tops of the hemlocks all day long, unless he saw us start for the stream. Then, tree by tree, limb by limb, Jessie followed us. At the stream he was the most useful mussel digger that any boy could have. Jessie could find mussels where three men could not. He would start to eat them, and if he ate them,

他头朝下朝我们专属的浴池爬来，是一只瘦巴巴、毛糙糙的小浣熊 他肯定是晚生的那一窝幼崽，因为他个头不大，一看就没怎么吃饱 不管吉西·库恩·詹姆斯过去遭遇了什么，日子肯定过得很惨 也许他是个孤儿，也许被妈妈赶出了家门，他的眼睛有点斗鸡，看着怪怪的 不管怎么说，他是来找我们求助的 我是这么想的，于是我和惊侠带他回了家，给他喂了吃的 大概过了一周，他就长壮实了 他蓬乱的毛发变得顺滑，我常给他挠耳朵揉后背，吉西·库恩·詹姆斯成了我们忠实的好朋友 他还帮上了不少忙 他白天一整天都睡在铁杉黑黢黢的树冠上，除非看见我们动身往小溪走 接着吉西就会一棵树接一棵树、一根枝接一根枝地跟着我们 到了小溪边，他就是任何男孩都求之不得的最能干的贻贝挖掘工 吉西能找到三个男人都找不到的贻贝 他一开始会自己吃，要是吃饱了

he got full and wouldn't dig any more, so I took them away from him until he found me all I wanted. Then I let him have some. Mussels are good. Here are a few notes on how to fix them. "Scrub mussels in spring water. Dump them into boiling water with salt. Boil five minutes. Remove and cool in the juice. Take out meat Eat by dipping in acorn paste flavoured with a smudge of garlic, and green apples." Frightful took care of the small game supply, and now that she was an expert hunter, we had rabbit stew, pheasant potpie, and an occasional sparrow, which I generously gave to Frightful. As fast as we removed the rabbits and pheasants new ones replaced them. Beverages during the hot summer became my chore, largely because no one else wanted them. I found some sassafras trees at

他吃饱就不肯再挖了，所以我会把他挖到的都收走，直到找够我需要的量 之后我会留一些给他吃 贻贝非常好吃 这里记几个煮贻贝的小方法 “把贻贝放在山泉里刷干净 扔进加了盐的沸水里 煮五分钟 捞出来放在原汤里放凉 取出肉，蘸着混了一点大蒜的橡子酱，就着青苹果吃。” 惊侠负责我们的小猎物供给，她现在已经是捕猎能手，我们能吃到炖兔肉、野鸡派，偶尔打到麻雀，我都大方地分给惊侠吃 我们抓走兔子和野鸡后，很快就有新的来补上 炎热夏天的饮品准备是我的活儿，主要是因为其他人都不想做这事 有一天我找到了几棵檫木，在

the edge of the road one day, dug up a good supply of roots, peeled and dried them. Sassafras tea is about as good as anything you want to drink. Pennyroyal makes another good drink. I dried great bunches of this, and hung them from the roof of the tree room together with the leaves of winterberry. All these fragrant plants I also used in cooking to give a new taste to some not-so-good foods. The room in the tree smelled of smoke and mint. It was the best-smelling tree in the Catskill Mountains. Life was leisurely. I was warm, well fed. One day while I was down the mountain, I returned home by way of the old farmhouse site to check the apple crop. They were summer apples, and were about ready to be picked. I had gathered a pouchful and had sat down under the tree to eat a few and think about how I would dry them for use in the winter when Frightful dug her talons into my shoulder so hard I winced.

路边，那天我挖了好多树根，削去外皮晾干了 檫木茶差不多是你能喝到的最棒的饮品了 唇萼薄荷也能做成很好喝的饮品 我晒了一大把，把它们和冬冬青的叶子一起挂在树屋的房顶上 这些芳香的植物我还会用来做饭，给那些不太好吃的食物添点新风味 树屋里满是烟火和薄荷的香气 这是卡茨基尔山脉里最好闻的一棵树 日子过得悠闲又自在 我住得暖和，吃得饱足 有一天我下山，回家时绕到老农场遗址，看看苹果的长势 这些是夏苹果，差不多快可以采摘了 我摘了满满一袋子，坐在树下吃了几个，正想着冬天该怎么晒苹果干，惊侠突然把爪子扎进我的肩膀，扎得我疼得缩了一下