独来独往的猫

听好，留心听着；我最心爱的人啊，在驯服的动物还是野兽的时候，这件事就这样发生、出现、变成现实，并留在了过去。

Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild.

狗是野的，马是野的，牛是野的，羊是野的，猪也是野的——要多野就有多野——它们独自在潮湿的荒野树林里游荡。但在所有野兽中，最野的就是猫。

The Dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild—as wild as wild could be—and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat.

他总是独自走着，对他来说，所有地方都一样。

He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.

当然，男人也是野的。他野得吓人。直到遇见女人，他才开始慢慢变温顺，因为女人告诉他，自己不喜欢他那种野性的生活方式。

Of course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn’t even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways.

她挑了一个干燥舒服的洞穴躺下，没选那堆湿树叶；她在地上撒了干净的沙子；在洞穴深处生起了一堆暖和的柴火；她把一张晒干的野马皮尾巴朝下挂在洞口；她说：“亲爱的，进来的时候把脚擦干净，现在我们要开始过日子了。”

She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail-down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, ‘Wipe you feet, dear, when you come in, and now we’ll keep house.’

那天晚上，我最心爱的人啊，他们吃了在热石头上烤熟的野羊肉，里面加了野大蒜和野胡椒；还有塞满野米、野胡芦巴和野香菜的野鸭；还有野牛的骨髓骨；以及野樱桃和野西番莲。

That night, Best Beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones, and flavoured with wild garlic and wild pepper; and wild duck stuffed with wild rice and wild fenugreek and wild coriander; and marrow-bones of wild oxen; and wild cherries, and wild grenadillas.

然后男人在火堆前心满意足地睡着了；女人却坐着，梳理着自己的头发。

Then the Man went to sleep in front of the fire ever so happy; but the Woman sat up, combing her hair.

她拿起那块羊肩膀上的骨头——那块又大又宽的肩胛骨——看着上面奇妙的痕迹，往火里添了些木柴，开始施展魔法。她做出了世界上第一个会唱歌的魔法。

She took the bone of the shoulder of mutton—the big fat blade-bone—and she looked at the wonderful marks on it, and she threw more wood on the fire, and she made a Magic. She made the First Singing Magic in the world.

外面潮湿的荒野树林里，所有的野兽都聚集在一起，远远地看着火光，不知道那是什么意思。

Out in the Wet Wild Woods all the wild animals gathered together where they could see the light of the fire a long way off, and they wondered what it meant.

这时野马用他野性的蹄子跺了跺脚，说：“我的朋友们，还有我的敌人们，为什么那个男人和女人要在那个大洞穴里弄出那么大的亮光，这会对我们有什么坏处呢？”

Then Wild Horse stamped with his wild foot and said, ‘O my Friends and O my Enemies, why have the Man and the Woman made that great light in that great Cave, and what harm will it do us?’

野狗抬起他野性的鼻子，闻到了烤羊肉的香味，说：“我要去看看，瞧一瞧，然后告诉大家；因为我觉得那东西很好吃。猫，跟我一起去吧。”

Wild Dog lifted up his wild nose and smelled the smell of roast mutton, and said, ‘I will go up and see and look, and say; for I think it is good. Cat, come with me.’

“才不去呢！”猫说，“我是一只独来独往的猫，对我来说，所有地方都一样。我不会去的。”

‘Nenni!’ said the Cat. ‘I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. I will not come.’

“那我们再也不能做朋友了，”野狗说，然后一路小跑朝洞穴跑去。但他刚走开不远，猫就对自己说：“所有地方对我来说都一样。我为什么不也去看看，瞧一瞧，想走的时候就走呢。”

‘Then we can never be friends again,’ said Wild Dog, and he trotted off to the Cave. But when he had gone a little way the Cat said to himself, ‘All places are alike to me. Why should I not go too and see and look and come away at my own liking.’

于是他悄悄地、非常轻柔地跟在野狗身后，藏在一个能听清一切的地方。

So he slipped after Wild Dog softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything.