鈴鐺草甸的葳恩

第 1 頁

Wren of Bell Meadow

The road ran out where the larches began. Aunt Marta set down the tin case, pointed up the last switchback, and said the mountain would do the rest. Then she turned and went down, and her footsteps got smaller until the wind had them all.

Wren pulled her blue scarf over her chin and climbed.

Above her the cloud sat on the path like a lid.

鈴鐺草甸的葳恩

道路在落葉松林開始的地方斷了。瑪塔姨媽放下鐵皮箱，指向最後一段之字形山路，說山會完成剩下的事。接著她轉身下山，腳步聲越來越小，直到全被風帶走。

葳恩把藍色圍巾拉到下巴上，開始往上爬。

她頭頂上，雲像一個蓋子似的坐在山路上。

第 2 頁

She walked into it, and out of it, and all at once the ridge was there — bare rock going gold at the top, larches falling away below, and somewhere under her feet the sound of small wooden bells.

她走進雲裡，又走出雲外，忽然之間，山脊就在眼前——頂端的裸岩漸漸染成金色，下面是一路向下延展的落葉松，而她腳下某個地方，傳來小木鈴鐺的聲音。

第 3 頁

The cabin had a slate roof and one crooked chimney. A tall old man was splitting wood by the door with a coil of rope over his shoulder. He looked at her for a long moment, the way you look at weather coming.

"Marta's girl," he said. It was not a question.

"Wren," said Wren.

He carried her case inside without another word.

小木屋有一頂石板屋頂和一根歪斜的煙囪。一位高大的老人站在門邊劈柴，肩上搭著一圈繩子。他長久地看著她，像看著即將到來的天氣一樣。

「瑪塔的女孩。」他說。這不是個問題。

「葳恩。」葳恩說。

他沒再說一句話，就把她的箱子提進屋裡。

第 4 頁

Supper was barley soup and hard bread and no talking at all.

On the windowsill sat a row of little bells carved out of pale wood, each one different.

When she had eaten, the old man pointed his knife at the ladder in the corner, and that was how Wren learned where she would sleep.

晚餐是大麥湯、硬麵包，還有完全的沉默。

窗臺上放著一排用淺色木頭雕成的小鈴鐺，每一個都不一樣。

她吃完後，老人用刀指向角落裡的梯子；葳恩便是這樣知道自己要睡在哪裡。