黔之驢 The Donkey and the Tiger

柳宗元

黔無驢，有好事者船載以入。至則無可用，放之山下。虎見之，龐然大物也，以為神。蔽林間窺之，稍出近之，愁愁然莫相知。他日，驢一鳴，虎大駭，遠循，以為且噬己也，甚恐。然往來視之，覺無異能者。益習其聲，又近出前后，終不敢搏。稍近，益狎，蕩倚沖冒，驢不勝怒，蹄之。虎因喜，計之曰：“技止此耳！”因跳踉大闞，斷其喉，盡其肉，乃去。噫，形之龐也類有德，聲之宏也類有能，向不出其技，虎雖猛，疑畏，卒不敢取，今若是焉，悲夫！

Once upon a time2， a busybody transported3 a donkey by boat into what is now Guizhou Province of China4 since there had been no donkeys there. Soon after the party attained the destination， however， the donkey began to be left alone at the foot of the mountain as the animal5 was found to be of little use. One day， a tiger passed by and was taken by fright at its huge size， thinking that it must be something from the heaven. Immediately， the tiger ran to hide himself among the woods， watching out. Gradually， it attempted to shorten the distance between them， still puzzled about what the beast really was. Another day came when the donkey gave out a bray， at which the tiger was greatly horrified. Then it fled， lost in the fright that it might be devoured. When stopping to look back after a while， however， the tiger found that the animal had done nothing else except a burst of bray. As time went by， the tiger became used to the braying and it plucked up the courage to move about nearer， yet failing to venture for the risk of a fight. Then the tiger allowed itself to be closer and provocative to the target， jumping about in a defiant manner. Finally， driven beyond its tolerance， the donkey raised its feet and kicked. At this the tiger concluded satisfactorily： “So this is its only trick！” At last， roaring， it crouched6 and bounced onto the donkey， severing its throat to smother it， and did not stride away with content until he had devoured all the flesh of the killed prey. Oh， you see， the donkey appears7 to own magic power owing to its huge size; and it seems to possess certain skills thanks to its good lungs/resonant voice. Should this animal have prevented its shortcomings from disclosure， then， the tiger， fierce as it is， may have not dared to launch an attack because of its fear from being puzzled. Now that the story has come to this end， we can’t help heaving a deep sigh！

（譯者單位：復旦大學）

1標題譯作The Donkey and the Tiger，系借用《伊索寓言》標題英譯的慣用句式，如The Farmer and the Snake（“農夫和蛇”），英語讀者一看便知是寓言。? 2開頭增加Once upon a time，亦遵照西方寓言的開頭方式，提示發生在很久以前，有歷史感。為敘事的需要，句子之間增加了顯示時間順序的提示詞：Soon after、One day、Gradually、Another day、When、As time went by、Then、Finally和At last等，使各部分的銜接較為流暢。這些時間詞一方面響應開頭的Once upon a time，同時有了先后的層次感，讀起來比較自然。? 3 transported比took更準確，因為山高路遠，運載牲口不容易。同理，attained表示吃力，如用arrived，顯得很輕松。? 4文內解釋，點明了“黔”的現在位置，不用另加注解（增加注解會妨礙閱讀的連續性）。? 5因為是文學作品，用詞要生動，所以用the animal、the target、the killed prey指稱the donkey，避免過多重復產生的單調。

6最后一段增加crouched，是科學常識的要求：沒有crouched這個動作便無法撲出去，參看Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon（《藏龍臥虎》，李安導演的影片）。? 7最后一段是作者的評論，英譯文使用一般現在時，以區別于故事正文（使用一般過去時）。這種用法在外國文學作品里時有出現。例如，英國小說《湯姆·瓊斯》每卷第一章作者闡述自己的看法（全知的敘述視角）、《德伯家的苔絲》第十章第一段，以及美國小說《嘉莉妹妹》等，均以一般現在時來表述作者說的話。《簡·愛》結尾的一章開頭是簡直接對讀者說話“Reader， I married him.”（為了與全篇的敘述時態一致，仍使用過去時）。世界名著《伊索寓言》每一則故事最后一句話是一般現在時，總結寓意（具有普遍意義的道理不受時間限制）。