7 The King’s Provider

The King's Provider Miss Turner was glad to see me. I told her I wanted some books on hawks and falcons, and she located a few, although there was not much to be had on the subject. We worked all afternoon and I learned enough. I departed when the library closed. Miss Turner whispered to me as I left, "Sam, you need a haircut." I hadn't seen myself for so long that this had not occurred to me. "Gee, I don't have any scissors." She thought a minute, got out her library scissors, and sat me down on the back steps. She did a fine job, and I looked like any other boy who had played hard all day, and who, with a little soap and water after supper, would be going off to bed in a regular house.

国王的供应商特纳小姐见到我很高兴。 我告诉她我想要一些关于鹰和猎隼的书，她帮我找到了几本，不过关于这个主题的藏书不多。 我们泡了整整一下午，我学到了足够多的知识。 图书馆关门的时候我离开了。 我走的时候特纳小姐小声对我说：“萨姆，你该理发了。” 我太久没看过自己的样子，完全没想到这件事。 “哎呀，我没有剪刀呀。” 她想了一会儿，拿出图书馆公用的剪刀，让我坐在后门台阶上。 她剪得特别好，剪完我看起来和其他玩了一整天的男孩一模一样，吃完晚饭用肥皂洗干净，就能回正常的家上床睡觉了。

I didn't get back to my tree that night. The May apples were ripe, and I stuffed on those as I went through the woods. They taste like a very sweet banana, are earthy and a little slippery. But I liked them. At the stream I caught a trout. Everybody thinks a trout is hard to catch because of all the fancy gear and flies and lines sold for trout fishing, but, honestly, they are easier to catch than any other fish. They have big mouths and snatch and swallow whole anything they see when they are hungry. With my wooden hook in its mouth, the trout was mine. The trouble is that trout are not hungry when most people have time to fish. I knew they were hungry that evening because the creek was swirling, and minnows and everything else were jumping out of the water. When you see that, go fish. You'll get them. I made a fire on a flat boulder in the stream, and cooked the trout I did this so I could

那天晚上我没回我住的那棵树。 五月苹果熟了，我穿过树林的时候吃了个饱。 它们吃起来像超甜的香蕉，带着泥土气息，口感滑溜溜的。 但我很喜欢吃。 我在小溪里捉到了一条鳟鱼。 大家都觉得鳟鱼难钓，因为市面上卖了好多花里胡哨的装备、假蝇和鱼线专门钓鳟鱼，但说实话，鳟鱼比别的鱼好钓多了。 它们嘴巴很大，饿的时候看见什么就扑过来整只吞下去。 我的木钩子被它咬住，这条鳟鱼就归我了。 问题在于，大多数人有空钓鱼的时候，鳟鱼都不饿。 我知道那天傍晚它们饿，因为溪水打着旋儿，小鱼还有其他活物都跳出水面了。 看到这种情况，就去钓鱼吧。 肯定能钓到。 我在溪里一块平坦的大石头上生了火，烤鳟鱼，我这么做是为了能

watch the sky. I wanted to see the falcon again. I also put the trout head on the hook and dropped it in the pool. A snapping turtle would view a trout head with relish. I waited for the falcon patiently. I didn't have to go anywhere. After an hour or so, I was rewarded. A slender speck came from the valley and glided up the stream. It was still far away when it folded its wings and swooped down. I watched. it arose, clumsy and big– carrying food– and winged back to the valley. I sprinted down the stream and made myself a lean-to near some cliffs where I thought the bird had disappeared. Having learned that day that duck hawks prefer to nest on cliffs, I settled for this site. Early the next morning, I got up and dug the tubers of the arrow-leaf that grew along the stream bank. I baked these and boiled

望着天空。 我想再见到那只猎隼。 我还把鳟鱼头挂在钩子上，丢进了水潭里。 鳄龟一定会喜欢这块鳟鱼头的。 我耐心等着猎隼出现。 我哪儿也不用去。 大概一个小时后，我如愿等到了。 一个细长的小斑点从山谷飞来，顺着溪流往上滑翔。 它还离得很远，就收起翅膀猛冲了下来。 我静静看着。 它飞起来了，笨拙又庞大——嘴里叼着食物——扇着翅膀飞回山谷去了。 我沿着溪流往下飞奔，在我觉得那只鸟消失的悬崖附近搭了个简易窝棚。 那天我知道了游隼喜欢在悬崖上筑巢，就在这儿安顿了下来。 第二天一大早，我起床挖了长在溪岸边的箭头叶块茎。 我把这些块茎烤熟，又煮了

mussels for breakfast then I curled up behind a willow and watched the cliff. The hawks came in from behind me and circled the stream. They had apparently been out hunting before I had got up, as they were returning with food. This was exciting news. They were feeding young, and I was somewhere near the nest. I watched one of them swing in to the cliff and disappear. A few minutes later it winged out empty-footed. I marked the spot mentally and said, "Ha!" After splashing across the stream in the shallows, I stood at the bottom of the cliff and wondered how on earth I was going to climb the sheer wall. I wanted a falcon so badly, however, that I dug in with my toes and hands and started up. The first part was easy; it was not too

贻贝当早餐，之后我蜷在柳树后面，盯着悬崖看。 两只隼从我身后飞出来，在溪流上空盘旋。 它们显然在我起床前就出去打猎了，这会儿正带着食物往回飞。 这可太让人兴奋了。 它们在喂幼隼，我离巢穴肯定不远了。 我看着其中一只飞进悬崖，不见了踪影。 几分钟后，它空着爪子飞了出来。 我在心里记下了位置，说道：“哈！” 我趟过溪流的浅滩，站在悬崖底下，琢磨着该怎么爬这面陡直的崖壁。 可我太想要一只猎隼了，所以我踮脚伸手，开始往上爬。 开头那段很轻松，崖壁还没那么

steep. When I thought I was stuck, I found a little ledge and shinnied up to it. I was high, and when I looked down, the stream spun. I decided not to look down any more. I edged up to another ledge and lay down on it to catch my breath. I was shaking from exertion and I was tired. I looked up to see how much higher I had to go when my hand touched something moist I pulled it back and saw that it was white– bird droppings. Then I saw them. Almost where my hand had been sat three fuzzy whitish-grey birds. Their wide-open mouths gave them a startled look. "Oh, hello, hello," I said. "You are cute." When I spoke, all three blinked at once. All three heads turned and followed my hand as I swung it up and towards them. All three watched my hand with opened mouths. They

陡峭。 我觉得自己卡住的时候，找到了一小块岩架，顺着爬了上去。 我已经爬得很高了，低头一看，小溪都转得我晕乎乎的。 我决定再也不往下看了。 我慢慢挪到另一块岩架上，躺在上面喘气。 我累得浑身发抖，精疲力尽。 我抬头看还要爬多高，这时手碰到一块湿乎乎的东西，我缩手一看，那东西是白色的——是鸟粪。 然后我就看到它们了。 就在我手刚才碰到的位置附近，蹲着三只毛茸茸的浅灰白色小幼隼。 它们张着大大的嘴巴，看起来好像受了惊。 “哦，你好呀，你们好，”我说。 “你们真可爱。” 我说话的时候，三个小家伙一起眨了眨眼睛。 我的手往上朝着它们挥过去的时候，三个小家伙一起转过头，目光跟着我的手动。 三个小家伙都张着嘴盯着我的手。 它们

were marvellous. I chuckled, But I couldn't reach them. I wormed forward, and wham! –something hit my shoulder. It hurt. I turned my head to see the big female. She had bitten me. She winged out, banked, and started back for another strike. Now I was scared, for I was sure she would cut me wide open. With sudden nerve, I stood up, stepped forward, and picked up the biggest of the nestlings. The females are bigger than the males. They are the "falcons". They are the pride of kings. I tucked her in my sweater and leaned against the cliff, facing the bulletlike dive of the falcon. I threw out my foot as she struck, and the sole of my tennis shoe took the blow. The female was now gathering speed for another attack, and when I say speed, I mean 50 to 60 miles an hour. I could see myself battered and torn, lying in the valley

太奇妙了。 我笑出了声，但我够不到它们。 我往前挪了挪，砰！ ——有东西撞到了我的肩膀。 好疼。 我转过头，看见了体型硕大的雌隼。 她咬了我一口。 她飞出去，斜转了个弯，又冲回来准备再撞我一下。 我这下吓坏了，我确定她会把我划得大口流血。 我突然鼓起勇气，站起身往前一步，抓住了最大的那只幼隼。 雌隼比雄隼体型更大。 她们才是真正的“猎隼”。 她们是国王的骄傲。 我把她塞进毛衣里，靠在悬崖上，迎着猎隼子弹一样的俯冲。 她撞过来的时候我伸出脚，网球鞋底接住了这一击。 雌隼现在正在加速准备下一次攻击，我说的速度，可是每小时五六十英里哦。 我都能想到自己被撞得遍体鳞伤，躺在山谷