8 The Fist Man Who Was After Me

A Brief Account of What I Did About the First Man Who Was After Me At the edge of the meadow, I sensed all was not well at camp. How I knew there was a human being there was not clear to me then. I can only say that after living so long with the birds and animals, the movement of a human is like the difference between the explosion of a cap pistol and a cannon. I wormed towards camp. When I could see the man I felt to he there, I stopped and looked. He was wearing a forester's uniform. Immediately I thought they had sent someone out to bring me in, and I began to shake. Then I realized that I didn't have to go back to meet the man at all, I was perfectly

第一个追踪我的人，我的经历简述：我在草甸边缘就察觉到营地出问题了 那时候我也说不清自己是怎么察觉到那里有人的 我只能说，和飞禽走兽住久了，人类的动静就像纸炮枪响和大炮轰鸣，差别太过明显 我弓着身子偷偷爬向营地 当我看清那个男人确实在那儿后，我停住了脚步悄悄观察 他穿着护林员的制服 我立刻想到他们是派人来抓我回去的，吓得浑身发起抖来 接着我反应过来，我根本不用回去见那个人，我完全可以

free and capable of settling down anywhere. My tree was just a pleasant habit. I circled the meadow and went over to the gorge. On the way I checked a trap. I had made it with sticks in the shape of a figure four under a big rock. The rock was down. The food was rabbit. I picked a comfortable place just below the rim of the gorge where I could pop up every now and then and watch my tree. Here I dressed down the rabbit and fed Frightful some of the more savoury bites from a young falcon's point of view: the liver, the heart, the brain. She ate in gulps. As I Watched her swallow I sensed a great pleasure. It is hard to explain my feelings at that moment. It seemed marvellous to see life pump through that strange little body of feathers, wordless noises, milk eyes– much as life pumped through me.

自由自在，想去哪儿安家都可以 我的树不过是让我习惯了的舒服落脚处罢了 我绕着草甸走，往峡谷那边去了 路上我检查了自己设的陷阱 这陷阱是我用木棍摆成十字形，架在一块大石头下面做成的 大石头已经落下来了 陷阱里逮到了一只兔子 我在峡谷边缘下方找了个舒服的地方，在这儿我时不时就能探出头观察我的树 我在这里处理好兔子，挑了幼隼眼里最鲜美的部位喂给怕怕：肝脏、心脏和脑子 她狼吞虎咽地吃着 我看着她吞咽，心里涌起阵阵欢喜 我很难形容那一刻的心情 看着生命在这长着羽毛、有着清亮眼睛、轻轻哼着声的奇妙小身体里搏动，就像生命在我身上搏动一样，实在太奇妙了

The food put the bird to sleep. I watched her eyelids close from the bottom up, and her head quiver. The fuzzy body rocked, the tail spread to steady it, and the little duck hawk almost sighed as it sank into the leaves, sleeping. I had lots of time. I was going to wait for the man to leave. So I stared at my bird, the beautiful details of the new feathers, the fernlike lashes along the lids, the saucy bristles at the base of the beak. Pleasant hours passed. Frightful would awaken, I would feed her, she would fall back to sleep, and I would watch the breath rock her body ever so slightly. I was breathing the same way only not so fast. Her heart beat much faster than mine. She was designed to her bones for a swifter life. It finally occurred to me that I was very hungry. I stood up to see if the man were gone. He was yawning and pacing.

吃完东西，小隼就睡着了 我看着她的眼皮从下往上慢慢合上，小脑袋轻轻颤抖 毛茸茸的身子晃了晃，她张开尾巴稳住身体，这只小游隼几乎叹口气似的，钻进落叶里睡着了 我有的是时间 我打算等那个男人离开再回去 所以我盯着我的小隼看：新长的羽毛处处精致，眼睑边缘长着蕨叶般的睫毛，喙根长着俏皮的短硬羽 惬意的时光慢慢溜走 怕怕醒了，我就喂她，她再睡过去，我就看着呼吸让她的小身子轻轻起伏 我也一样呼吸，只是速度没这么快 她的心跳比我快得多 她从骨头到骨子里都天生适配更迅疾的生活 我终于想起自己已经很饿了 我站起来看看那个男人走了没有 他正一边打哈欠一边踱步

The sun was slanting on him now, and I could see him quite well. He was a fire warden. Of course, it has not rained, I told myself, for almost three weeks, and the fire planes have been circling the mountains and valleys, patrolling the mountains. Apparently the smoke from my fire was spotted, and a man was sent to check it. I recalled the bare trampled ground around the tree, the fireplace of rocks filled with ashes, the wood chips from the making of my bed, and resolved hereafter to keep my yard clean. So I made rabbit soup in a tin can I found at the bottom of the gorge. I seasoned it with wild garlic and jack-in-the-pulpit roots. Jack-in-the-pulpits have three big leaves on a stalk and are easily recognized by the curly striped awning above a stiff. serious preacher named Jack. The jack-in-the-pulpits were acrid; they needed to be pounded to flour and allowed to stand, to be really good. I had to eat them bitter.

太阳斜斜照在他身上，我把他看得一清二楚 他原来是个森林防火员 我暗自想，对啊，都快三周没下雨了，消防飞机一直在山谷和群山上来回巡逻 显然我生的火冒出的烟被发现了，所以派他过来查看 我想起我那棵树周围被踩平的空地、堆满灰烬的石灶、做床剩下的木屑，下定决心以后一定要把营地收拾干净 于是我用在峡谷底部捡到的锡锅煮了兔子汤 我用野蒜和天南星根给汤调味 天南星一根茎上长着三片大叶，硬挺花轴上方长着带条纹的卷曲花苞，像遮阳棚一样，很好认 就像一个叫杰克的严肃牧师站在讲坛里 天南星原本味道辛辣，得捣成粉放一段时间才会好吃 我只能带着苦味吃下了它们

The fire I made was only of the driest wood, and I made it right at the water's edge. I didn't want a smoky fire on this particular evening.

我只用最干的木头生火，还把火生在了水边 在这个特别的夜晚，我可不想要一堆冒浓烟的火

After supper I made a bough bed and stretched out with Frightful beside me. Apparently, the more you stroke and handle a falcon, the easier they are to train. I had all sorts of plans for hoods and jesses, as the straps on a falcon are called, and I soon forgot about the man. Stretched on the boughs, I listened to the wood peewees calling their haunting good nights until I fell sound asleep.

晚饭后我铺了一张树枝床，躺下来，怕怕就在我身边 据说，你越是多抚摸接触猎鹰，训练起来就越容易 我脑子里全是给她做头罩和脚绊的计划——猎鹰用的系带就叫脚绊，很快我就把那个男人忘了 我躺在树枝床上，听着东木鹟唱着幽幽的晚安歌，直到沉沉睡去