[翻译大赛NO2]南瓜巨人

The Pumpkin Giant
南瓜巨人
Mary E. Wilkins玛丽·E·威金斯
A very long time ago, before our grandmother's time, or our great grandmother's or our grandmother's with a very long string of greats prefixed, there were no pumpkins; people had never eaten a pumpkin pie, or even stewed pumpkin; and that was the time when the Pumpkin Giant flourished.
很早很早以前，比我们老祖母在的时候还要早，比我们曾祖母、曾曾曾前面加上一长串曾的曾祖母在的那个时候还要早，这世界上，是没有南瓜的。人们从来都没有吃过南瓜饼，也没有吃过炖南瓜。那时候，是南瓜巨人的天下。

There have been a great many giants who have flourished since the world began, and although a select few of them have been good giants, the majority of them have been so bad that their crimes even more than their size have gone to make them notorious. But the Pumpkin Giant was an uncommonly bad one, and his general appearance and his behavior were such as to make one shudder to an extent that you would hardly believe possible. The convulsive shivering caused by the mere mention of his name, and, in some cases where the people were unusually sensitive, by the mere thought of him even, more resembled the blue ague than anything else; indeed, was known by the name of "the Giant's Shakes."
自打开天辟地以来，世上就有了形形色色的巨人，不过他们中能算得上好巨人的却寥寥无几，绝大多数巨人都坏得厉害，他们干下的坏事比他们的大块头还要给人印象深刻。不过要说到坏，南瓜巨人可是他们中拔尖的一个，他的一举手一投足，都能把人吓得浑身发抖，抖得那叫一个厉害，简直叫你难以相信。有些时候，哪怕是仅仅提起了他的名字，甚至是一闪念想到他，那些神经特别脆弱的人，都会抖到浑身抽搐，完完全全就跟得了打摆子病一样；于是，人们就管这个症状叫作“巨人摆子”。
The Pumpkin Giant was very tall; he probably would have overtopped most of the giants you have ever heard of. I don't suppose the Giant who lived on the beanstalk, whom Jack visited, was any- thing to compare with him; nor that it would have been a possible thing for the Pumpkin Giant, had he received an invitation to spend an afternoon with the Beanstalk Giant, to accept, on ac- count of his inability to enter the Beanstalk Giant's door, no matter how much he stooped.
南瓜巨人的个子非常高；他恐怕要比你听说过的大多数巨人都要高一个头。那个住在豌豆茎上、被小杰克拜访过的巨人，和他根本没法比；要是有一丁点可能，南瓜巨人早就接受豌豆茎巨人的邀请去喝下午茶了，可惜啊，就算南瓜巨人弯折了腰，他也钻不进豌豆茎巨人家的门。
The Pumpkin Giant had a very large yellow head, which was also smooth and shiny. His eyes were big and round, and glowed like coals of fire; and you would almost have thought that his head was lit up inside with candles. Indeed there was a rumor to that effect amongst the common people, but that was all nonsense, of course; no one of the more enlightened class credited it for an instant. His mouth, which stretched half around his head, was furnished with rows of pointed teeth, and he was never known to hold it any other way than wide open.
南瓜巨人有一个非常大的黄澄澄的脑瓜，看上去是锃光瓦亮。他的眼珠子又大又圆，就像着了火的煤球一样；你也许会想，那个大头里面是不是点了蜡烛才会这么亮。平头百姓间确实都有这么一种说法，不过呢，这全是胡说八道；稍有点文化的人都会对这种说法嗤之以鼻。南瓜巨人的嘴巴，差不多要在整个大头上占掉半张脸，嘴里是成排的尖牙，那嘴是成天血盆大口地张着，从来也不会闭上。
The Pumpkin Giant lived in a castle, as a matter of course; it is not fashionable for a giant to live in any other kind of a dwelling--why, nothing would be more tame and uninteresting than a giant in a two-story white house with green blinds and a picket fence, or even a brown-stone front, if he could get into either of them, which he could not.
南瓜巨人住在一个城堡里，当然，对一个巨人来说，随便换个别的地方住，那都不够拉风啊——你想啊，一个巨人住在个二层小白楼里，挂个绿色的窗帘，围个尖篱笆桩子，或者再来个褐石小前庭，还有比这更挫更戆的事了吗，但凡能找到别的地方住，哪个巨人会这么干啊。
The Giant's castle was situated on a mountain, as it ought to have been, and there was also the usual courtyard before it, and the customary moat, which was full of bones! All I have got to say about these bones is, they were not mutton bones. A great many details of this story must be left to the imagination of the reader; they are too harrowing to relate. A much tenderer regard for the feelings of the audience will be shown in this than in most giant stories; we will even go so far as to state in advance, that the story has a good end, thereby enabling readers to peruse it comfortably without unpleasant suspense.
巨人的城堡就建在一座山上，这也是理所当然的了，城堡前面有个常见的院子，还有一道城堡必备的护城壕沟，沟里都是皑皑白骨！在这里，我只能告诉你，这些不是什么羊骨头。这个故事里的很多细节只能留给读者去想象，因为要是一细说，就会眼泪哗哗流了。比起大多数的巨人故事来，我们对读者听众的感受做了无微不至的考虑；特别提前声明，本故事有个大圆满的结局，所以，请所有的读者都舒舒坦坦地读下去，别再提心吊胆了。
The Pumpkin Giant was fonder of little boys and girls than anything else in the world; but he was somewhat fonder of little boys, and more particularly of fat little boys.
南瓜巨人特别喜欢小男孩和小女孩，就好这一口；不过呢，他更喜欢小男孩，尤其是胖乎乎、肥嘟嘟的小男孩。
The fear and horror of this Giant extended over the whole country. Even the King on his throne was so severely afflicted with the Giant's Shakes that he had been obliged to have the throne propped, for fear it should topple over in some unusually violent fit. There was good reason why the King shook: his only daughter, the Princess Ariadne Diana, was probably the fattest princess in the whole world at that date. So fat was she that she had never walked a step in the dozen years of her life, being totally unable to progress over the earth by any method except rolling. And a really beautiful sight it was, too, to see the Princess Ariadne Diana, in her cloth-of-gold rolling-suit, faced with green velvet and edged with ermine, with her glittering crown on her head, trundling along the avenues of the royal gardens, which had been furnished with strips of rich carpeting for her express accommodation.
对巨人的担心和恐惧笼罩了全国。甚至国王坐在宝座上也被巨人摆子折腾得够呛，不得不让人在宝座后面装了个支撑，免得突然来了几下猛的摆子被掀个人仰椅翻。国王打摆子的理由很充分：他唯一的女儿，阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主，差不多是那时候世上最胖的公主。她实在是太胖了，所以从小到大这么十二年里都没有走过一步路，她根本就没办法迈上一步，只能在地上滚。那景象还真是美不胜收，阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主身披金色旋转服，戴着绿色天鹅绒和貂皮滚边的面罩，头顶一枚闪闪发亮的王冠，从皇家花园的林荫道上缓缓滚来，路上铺着一块块厚地毯方便她快速行进。
But gratifying as it would have been to the King, her sire, under other circumstances, to have had such an unusually interesting daughter, it now only served to fill his heart with the greatest anxiety on her account. The Princess was never allowed to leave the palace Without a bodyguard of fifty knights, the very flower of the King's troops, with lances in rest; but in spite of all this precaution, the King shook.
说起来，国王——公主的父王——也该心满意足了，换作别人，有这么个如此有趣的女儿早乐开花了，然而现在面对这么个女儿，国王的心中却是一腔最强烈的忧虑。他不允许公主离开王宫半步，除非有五十骑士团的护卫，这可是国王最精锐的部队，清一色的长矛骑兵；但就是这样严防谨守，国王也还是要打摆子。
Meanwhile amongst the ordinary people who could not procure an escort of fifty armed knights for the plump among their children, the ravages of the Pumpkin Giant were frightful. It was apprehended at one time that there would be very few fat little girls, and no fat little boys at all, left in the kingdom. And what made matters worse, at that time the Giant commenced taking a tonic to increase his appetite. Finally the King, in desperation, issued a proclamation that he would knight anyone, be he noble or common, who should cut off the head of the Pumpkin Giant. This was the King's usual method of rewarding any noble deed in his kingdom. It was a cheap method, and besides everybody liked to be a knight.
换作是平头百姓，那就没办法供养五十个全副武装的骑士组成卫队，来保护他们孩子中的小胖墩了，所以被南瓜巨人掠走的孩子数量是相当的惊人。这也就不难理解为何整个王国曾经一度基本上看不到小胖妞，也压根看不到小胖仔了。更糟糕的是，这时候巨人还吃上了开胃药。最后国王实在是没有办法了，下旨宣布，不管是贵族还是平民，只要谁能把南瓜巨人的脑袋给砍下来，就授予他爵士头衔。这在平常，那都是国王对他麾下的贵族才会用的奖赏办法。这可是屡试不爽的办法，因为人人都想当上爵爷。
When the King issued his proclamation, every man in the kingdom who was not already a knight, straightway tried to contrive ways and means to kill the Pumpkin Giant. But there was one obstacle which seemed insurmountable: they were afraid, and all of them had the Giant's Shakes so badly, that they could not possibly have held a knife steady enough to cut off the Giant's head, even if they had dared to go near enough for that purpose.
国王这一纸诏书发下，举国上下，只要是还没当上爵士的，都立马开始挖空心思想办法、出主意，考虑怎么干掉南瓜巨人。但是有一个障碍似乎没办法克服——他们都心里发毛，每一个都得了严重的巨人摆子，就算他们有胆子靠近了巨人，也没有办法把刀子拿稳了把巨人的大脑瓜砍下来。
There was one man who lived not far from the terrible Giant's castle: a poor man, his only worldly wealth consisting in a large potato field and a cottage in front of it. But he had a boy of twelve, an only son, who rivaled the Princess Ariadne Diana in point of fatness. He was unable to have a bodyguard for his son; so the amount of terror which the inhabitants of that humble cottage suffered day and night was heart-rending. The poor mother had been unable to leave her bed for two years, on account of the Giant's Shakes; her husband barely got a living from the potato field; half the time he and his wife had barely enough to eat, as it naturally took the larger part of the potatoes to satisfy the fat little boy, their son, and their situation was truly pitiable.
有一个人，住在离可怕的巨人城堡不远的地方——这是个穷汉，他在这个世上仅有的财产就是一大片土豆地和地头的小屋。他有一个独子，一个十二岁的小男孩，是个和阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主在吨位上有得一拼的小胖墩。穷汉没钱给他的儿子找保镖；所以在简陋的小屋中，一家人只能日日夜夜生活在极大的恐惧中，看着真叫人心碎。可怜的妈妈因为得了巨人摆子，已经两年没有下床了；她的丈夫靠种土豆来勉强支撑这个家；多半时候他和妻子两个人也只能勉强吃个半饱，很显然绝大部分土豆都要用来喂饱小胖仔，他们的宝贝儿子，他们的处境真的是相当凄惨。
The fat boy's name was AEneas, his father's name was Patroclus, and his mother's Daphne. It was all the fashion in those days to have classical names. And as that was a fashion as easily adopted by the poor as the rich, everybody had them. They were just like Jim and Tommy and May in these days. Why, the Princess's name, Ariadne Diana, was nothing more or less than Ann Eliza with us. One morning Patroclus and AEneas were out in the field digging potatoes, for new potatoes were just in the market. The Early Rose potato had not been discovered in those days; but there was another potato, perhaps equally good, which attained to a similar degree of celebrity. It was called the young Plantagenet, and reached a very large size indeed, much larger than the Early Rose does in our time.
小胖仔名叫爱涅阿斯，他的爸爸叫普特洛克勒斯，他的妈妈叫达芙妮。在那时候，取个古希腊名字是很时髦的。不管是穷人还是富人都很爱赶这种时髦，所以人人都有个这样的名字。就好像现在大家经常叫个几米、菜菜子、四大天王什么的。对了，公主的名字，阿里阿德涅•黛安娜，也就和我们现在经常见到的安妮宝贝、小甜甜一样时尚。一天早晨，普特洛克勒斯和爱涅阿斯一起去地里刨土豆，这时候正好该新土豆上市了。那时，早产玫瑰土豆还没有被发现；不过有其他品种的土豆，也许一样的好，拥有差不多程度的声誉。这种土豆被称作小金雀花，可以长得相当大，比我们现在的土豆要大得多。
Well, Patroclus and AEneas had just dug perhaps a bushel of young Plantagenet potatoes. It was slow work with them, for Patroclus had the Giant's Shakes badly that morning, and of course AEneas was not very swift. He rolled about among the potato-hills after the manner of the Princess Ariadne Diana; but he did not present as imposing an appearance as she, in his homespun farmer's frock.
哦，普特洛克勒斯和爱涅阿斯这天真挖出来不少土豆，可要把它们就装袋运回家可就慢了，因为普特洛克勒斯这天早上也发作了很严重的巨人摆子，另外，爱涅阿斯的手脚也不是很麻利，他只能在土豆堆成的小山里上下翻滚，就像阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主出行那样；不过他的表现没有她那么有派头，他只是穿了一身农家土布做的农夫装。
All at once the earth trembled violently. Patroclus and AEneas looked up and saw the Pumpkin Giant coming with his mouth wide open. "Get behind me quickly" O my darling son!" cried Patroclus. AEneas obeyed, but it was of no use; for you could see his cheeks each side his father's waistcoat.
突然大地猛烈地颤动起来。普特洛克勒斯和爱涅阿斯抬头一看，只见南瓜巨人张着大嘴过来了。“快躲到我身后去！唉，我的小祖宗！”普特洛克勒斯喊道。爱涅阿斯赶紧照做，不过这都是徒劳的；因为你完全可以从他老爹背心两侧看到他的胖脸蛋儿。
Patroclus was not ordinarily a brave man, but he was brave in an emergency; and as that is the only time when there is the slightest need of bravery, it was just as well.
普特洛克勒斯平常并不是个勇敢的人，不过面对这突然发生的一切，他表现得很勇敢；而这时正是需要一些些勇气的时候，不然也就没有后面的故事了。
The Pumpkin Giant strode along faster and faster, opening his mouth wider and wider, until they could fairly hear it crack at the corners.
南瓜巨人大步走来，越行越快，他张开大嘴，越张越大，张到最后父子俩都能听到那嘴角边发出崩裂的声音。
Then Patroclus picked up an enormous young Plantagenet and threw it plump into the Pumpkin Giant's mouth. The Giant choked and gasped, and choked and gasped, and finally tumbled down and died.
说时迟，那时快，普特洛克勒斯捡起一个巨大的小金雀花，把它径直丢进南瓜巨人的嘴里。巨人又呛又喘，又喘又呛，最后一跤跌下去，倒在地上死了。
Patroclus and AEneas, while the Giant was choking, had run to the house and locked themselves in; then they looked out of the kitchen window. when they saw the Giant tumble down and lie quite still, they knew he must be dead. Then Daphne was immediately cured of the Giant's Shakes, and got out of bed for the first time in two years. Patroclus sharpened the carving-knife on the kitchen stove, and they all went out into the potato field.
普特洛克勒斯和爱涅阿斯趁着巨人呛着的时候，赶紧跑进屋子，把门反锁上；然后他们透过厨房的窗户向外张望。当他们看到巨人一跤倒下去，躺在地上一动不动了，他们知道这家伙铁定是死翘翘了。这时，达芙妮的巨人摆子突然痊愈了，两年没着地的她，哧溜一下就下床了。普特洛克勒斯就着厨房的炉子把家里的切肉刀磨个锋利，然后一家人全都跑进土豆地里去了。
They cautiously approached the prostrate Giant, for fear he might be shamming, and might suddenly spring up at them and--AEneas. But no, he did not move at all; he was quite dead. And, all taking turns, they hacked off his head with the carving-knife. Then AEneas had it to play with, which was quite appropriate, and a good instance of the sarcasm of destiny.
他们小心翼翼地靠近倒在地上的巨人，生怕他是在装死，说不定一下子在他们面前跳起来，然后就对爱涅阿斯……不过，看起来不像，巨人一动不动；他这下是真的呜呼哀哉了。于是，风水轮流转，一家人用切肉刀把巨人的大脑瓜砍了下来。爱涅阿斯抱着巨人脑瓜玩了起来，这可真是所谓天意弄人的好例子。
The King was notified of the death of the Pumpkin Giant, and was greatly rejoiced thereby. His Giant's Shakes ceased, the props were removed from the throne, and the Princess Ariadne Diana was allowed to go out without her bodyguard of fifty knights, much to her delight, for she found them a great hindrance to the enjoyment of her daily outings.
It was a great cross, not to say an embarrassment, when she was gleefully rolling in pursuit of a charming red and gold butterfly, to find herself suddenly stopped short by an armed knight with his lance in rest.
国王听说南瓜巨人一命呜呼了，真是欣喜若狂啊。他的巨人摆子也消停了，宝座后面的撑子也拿掉了，阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主也不用五十骑士团护卫就可以出门了，这可让她高兴坏了，因为她早就觉得平时出门带着这群家伙实在是很扫兴。这说起来也算不上是很大的问题，只是很闹心，比如，有时候，我们的公主正要开心地追着一只迷人的红黄相间的蝴蝶滚啊滚，就会突然发现自己被一个全副武装、手持长矛的骑士挡住了去路。
But the King, though his gratitude for the noble deed knew no bounds, omitted to give the promised reward and knight Patroclus. I hardly know how it happened--I don't think it was anything intentional. Patroclus felt rather hurt about it, and Daphne would have liked to be a Lady, but Aeneas did not care in the least. He had the Giant's head to play with and that was reward enough for him. There was not a boy in the neighborhood but envied him his possession of such a unique plaything; and when they would stand looking over the wall of the potato field with longing eyes, and he was flying over the ground with the head, his happiness knew no bounds; and Aeneas played so much with the Giant's head that finally late in the fall it got broken and scattered all over the field.
不过我们的国王，虽然他对这件英雄壮举感激涕零，却独独忘了兑现先前答应好的奖励——给普特洛克勒斯封个爵士头衔。我完全不明白怎么会这样——不过我想这肯定不是存心的。普特洛克勒斯对此感到相当的难过，达芙妮本来也满心欢喜地以为就此可以当上贵妇人的，只有爱涅阿斯是满不在乎。他可以玩那个巨人脑瓜，这个奖赏就让他够满意的了。周围邻居家的小孩子个顶个嫉妒他有这么个独一无二的好玩意；他们只能趴在土豆地的围墙上，踮着脚、眼巴巴地看过来，而他就在地里和这大脑瓜子一起四处乱滚，这可叫他的心里乐开了花；巨人脑瓜给爱涅阿斯这么成天地折腾下来，到了秋天，终于还是碎了，一片片散落在土豆地里。
Next spring all over Patroclus's potato field grew running vines, and in the fall Giants' heads. There they were all over the field, hundreds of them; then there was consternation indeed! The natural conclusion to be arrived at when the people saw the yellow Giants' heads making their appearance above the ground was, that the rest of the Giants were coming.
第二年春天，普特洛克勒斯的土豆地里长出来很多爬藤，到了秋天结出来很多巨人脑瓜。一地都是，有上百个巨人脑瓜；这下真的是一片慌乱！人们看到这么多巨人的黄脑瓜从地里钻出来以后，很自然就得出一个结论，其他巨人来了。
"There was one Pumpkin Giant before," said they, "Now there will be a whole army of them. If it was dreadful then what will it be in the future? If one Pumpkin Giant gave us the Shakes so badly, what will a whole army of them do?"
“以前是一个南瓜巨人，”人们说道，“这下来了他们的大部队。以前就够吓人的了，这以后的日子还怎么过啊？一个南瓜巨人就让我们打摆子打成那样，这么一大群巨人还不知怎么整呢？”
But when some time had elapsed and nothing more of the Giants appeared above the surface of the potato field, and as moreover the heads had not yet displayed any sign of opening their mouths, the people began to feel a little easier, and the general excitement subsided somewhat, although the King had ordered out Ariadne Diana's bodyguard again.
不过时间一点点流逝着，土豆地里压根没有什么巨人站起来，而且那些大头也没有任何张开大嘴的迹象，人们于是稍稍安心了一点，巨大的骚乱也渐渐平息下来，不过国王还是下令，又给阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主配上了护卫队。
Now AEneas had been born with a propensity for putting everything in his mouth and tasting it; there was scarcely anything in his vicinity which could by any possibility be tasted, which he had not eaten a bit of. This propensity was so alarming in his babyhood, that Daphne purchased a book of antidotes; and if it had not been for her admirable good judgment in doing so, this story would probably never have been told; for no human baby could possibly have survived the heterogeneous diet which AEneas had indulged in. There was scarcely one of the antidotes which had not been resorted to from time to time.
话说爱涅阿斯打娘胎出来就有一个毛病，喜欢见到什么都放到嘴里嚼嚼；只要有机会放到嘴里的东西就没有不成为牺牲品的，而且他吃得还特多。自打断奶，这毛病就一发不可收拾，吓得达芙妮赶紧买了一本关于解毒的书；如果不是她这么有先见之明地买了这么本好书，我们的故事也许就不会流传下来；
AEneas had become acquainted with the peculiar flavor of almost everything in his immediate vicinity, except the Giants' heads; and he naturally enough cast longing eyes at them. Night and day he wondered what a Giant's head could taste like, till finally one day when Patroclus was away he stole out into the potato field, cut a bit out of one of the Giants' heads and ate it. He was almost afraid to, but he reflected that his mother could give him an antidote; so he ventured. It tasted very sweet and nice; he liked it so much that he cut off another piece and ate that, then another and another, until he had eaten two thirds of a Giant's head. Then he thought it was about time for him to go in and tell his mother and take an antidote, though he did not feel ill at all yet.
爱涅阿斯凭着他这来者不拒的少有胃口，几乎把什么都尝了个遍，就差巨人脑瓜了；他自然是眼巴巴地盯着这些巨人脑瓜。他日思夜想，这些巨人脑瓜到底是个啥味道呢？终于，有一天趁普特洛克勒斯不在家的时候，他偷偷溜进土豆地里，找了一个巨人脑瓜，切下来一块放进嘴里。其实爱涅阿斯也是很怕中毒的，不过他想反正妈妈也会给他解药，所以还是决定冒个小险。巨人脑瓜吃到嘴里，只觉得清甜可口；爱涅阿斯觉得味道不错，于是又切下来一块放到嘴里，接着一发不可收，一块接一块，他吃掉了足足三分之二个巨人脑瓜。这下他寻思，是时候回去告诉妈妈给他拿点解药了，不过他觉得全身上下没啥不舒服的。
"Mother," said he, rolling slowly into the cottage, ''I have eaten two thirds of a Giant's head, and I guess you had better give me an antidote."
“妈妈，”他缓缓地滚进屋子说道，“我吃了三分之二个巨人脑瓜，我觉得你最好给我拿点解药。”
"O my precious son!" cried Daphne, "how could you?" She looked in her book of antidotes, but could not find one antidote for a Giant's head.
“唉，我的小祖宗啊！”达芙妮喊道，“你怎么能这么胡闹呢？”她赶紧打开解毒书，可是找啊找，就是找不到什么药可以解巨人脑瓜的毒。
"O AEneas, my dear, dear son!" groaned Daphne, "there is no antidote for Giant's head! What shall we do ?"
“唉，爱涅阿斯啊，我的宝贝，宝贝儿子啊！”达芙妮叹息道，“没有巨人脑瓜的解药！这下我们怎么办啊？”
Then she sat down and wept, and AEneas wept too as loud as he possibly could. And he apparently had excellent reason to; for it did not seem possible that a boy could eat two thirds of a Giant's head and survive it without an antidote. Patroclus came home, and they told him, and he sat down and lamented with them. All day they sat weeping and watching AEneas, expecting every moment to see him die. But he did not die; on the contrary he had never felt so well in his life.
然后她坐下来哭了起来，爱涅阿斯也扯开嗓子放声大哭起来。显然他有再好不过的理由这么做；因为在那时看来，一个小男孩吃掉三分之二的巨人脑瓜，不吃解药是没可能再活下去的。普特洛克勒斯回来了，他们把事情告诉他，他也坐下来和母子俩一同大哭。一整天他们都坐在那里，一边哭一边看着爱涅阿斯，担心着可能下一刻就要看到他死掉。可是爱涅阿斯没死，恰恰相反，他觉得从没这么壮实过。
Finally at sunset AEneas looked up and laughed. ''I am not going to die," said he; ''I never felt so well; you had better stop crying. And I am going out to get some more of that Giant's head! I am hungry."
最后，太阳落山了，爱涅阿斯抬起眼看了看，笑了起来。“我死不了，”他说道，“我觉得身体倍儿棒；你们可以不要哭了。我要出去再吃些巨人脑瓜！我饿了。”
"Don't, don't!" cried his father and mother, but he went, for he generally took his own way, very like most only sons. He came back with a whole Giant's head in his arms.
“别去，别去啊！”夫妇俩齐声喊道，但是爱涅阿斯就和大多数独生子一样，自说自话就出去了。回来的时候，他怀里抱了个完整的巨人脑瓜。
"See here, Father and Mother " cried he, "we'll all have some of this, it evidently is not poison, and it is good--a great deal better than potatoes!"
“瞧啊，爸爸妈妈，”他喊道，“我们都可以吃点儿这个，这玩意明显没毒，而且味道不错——比土豆好一大截！”
Patroclus and Daphne hesitated, but they were hungry, too. Since the crop of Giants' heads had sprung up in their field instead of potatoes, thy had been hungry most of the time, so they tasted.
普特洛克勒斯和达芙妮犹豫了，不过他们也饿了。自打他们地里没长出土豆，倒来了个巨人脑瓜大丰收，一家人就经常挨饿，于是夫妻俩也尝了尝。
"It is good," said Daphne, "but I think it would be better cooked." So she put some in a kettle of water over the fire, and let it boil awhile, then she dished it up, and they all ate it. It was delicious. It tasted more like stewed pumpkin than anything else, in fact it was stewed pumpkin.
“味道不错，”达芙妮说道，“不过我觉得要是煮一下味道会更好。”于是她切了几块，加了壶水放在炉子上煮，等到水开了，她把巨人脑瓜盛了出来，一家人就吃了起来。脑瓜吃起来非常可口。那味道非常接近炖南瓜，实际上这就是炖南瓜。
Daphne was inventive, and something of a genius; and next day she concocted another dish out of the Giants' heads. She boiled them, and sifted them, and mixed them with eggs and sugar and milk and spice; then she lined some plate with puff paste, filled them with the mixture, and set them in the oven to bake.
达芙妮很会翻些新花样，而且很有天赋；第二天她就用巨人脑瓜烹制出另一道菜肴来。她把它们煮熟了，然后滤成泥，加上鸡蛋、糖、奶和香料一起搅匀；然后她用泡芙面团擀出来一些面皮，把搅好的泥馅包在里面，再放进炉子去烤。
The result was unparalleled; nothing half so exquisite had ever been tasted. They were all in ecstasies, Aeneas in particular. They gathered all the Giants' heads and stored them in the cellar. Daphne baked pies of them every day, and nothing could surpass the felicity of the whole family.
结果空前成功：以前大家吃过的最爽滑可口的东西都及不上它的一半。一家人欢天喜地，爱涅阿斯尤其开心。他们把所有的巨人脑瓜都采回家，藏在地窖里。达芙妮每天用他们烤制这种馅饼，一家人过得从未如此其乐融融。
One morning the King had been out hunting and happened to ride by the cottage of Patroclus with a train of his knights. Daphne was baking pies as usual, and the kitchen door and window were both open, for the room was so warm; so the delicious odor of the pies perfumed the whole air about the cottage.
一天上午，国王出宫狩猎，骑着马，带着一队骑士，碰巧经过普特洛克勒斯的小屋。达芙妮正好像平时一样在烤馅饼，因为有点热，厨房的门窗都打开了；于是馅饼美味的香气弥漫在整个小屋的四周。
What is it that smells so utterly lovely?" Cried the King, sniffing in a rapture.
“什么味道，闻起来这么香啊？”国王欣喜地用力吸了一口气，嚷嚷道。
He sent his page to see.
他派随从去查探一下。
"The housewife is baking Giants' head pies," said the page returning.
“有个家庭主妇在烤巨人脑瓜饼，”随从打探回来禀报。
"What?" thundered the King. "Bring out one to me!"
“啊？”国王大声喊道，“快给我拿一块过来！”
So the page brought out a pie to him, and after all his knights had tasted to be sure it was not poison, and the king had watched them sharply for a few moments to be sure they were not killed, he tasted, too.
于是随从拿来一块饼呈给他，然后所有的骑士都尝了一小块，确保饼里没有下毒，国王盯着他们观察一小会儿，觉得他们都没事，这才也尝了尝。
Then he beamed. It was a new sensation, and a new sensation is a great boon to a king.
不一会儿，国王的脸上绽开了笑容。这是一种新鲜的口感，对国王来说，新口感就和新大陆一样了不得。
"I never tasted anything so altogether superfine, so utterly magnificent in my life," cried the king; "stewed peacocks' tongues from the Baltic are not to be compared with it! Call out the housewife immediately!"
“我这辈子从未吃过这么无与伦比、美妙绝伦的好东西，”国王大声说道;“波罗地海的炖孔雀舌也没法和它比啊！速速把这位妇人传来！”
So Daphne came out trembling, and Patroclus and Aeneas came also.
于是达芙妮颤颤微微地被带到国王面前，普特洛克勒斯和爱涅阿斯也一并被带了过来。
"What a charming lad!" exclaimed the King, as his glance fell upon Aeneas. "Now tell me about these wonderful pies, and I will reward you as becomes a monarch!"
“多么可爱的小伙子啊！”国王一眼瞥到爱涅阿斯，称赞道，“给我介绍一下这些美味的脑瓜饼，我会赏给你们一块封地。”
Then Patroclus fell on his knees and related the whole history of the Giants' head pies from the beginning.
普特洛克勒斯赶紧跪下，一五一十地把巨人脑瓜饼的来龙去脉说给国王听。
The King actually blushed. "And I forgot to knight you, a noble and brave man, and to make a lady of your admirable wife!"
国王竟然脸红了。“英勇无畏的好汉啊，是我忘了给你封爵，没让你这位贤内助当上贵妇人。”
Then the King leaned gracefully down from his saddle, and struck Patroclus with his jeweled sword and knighted him on the spot.
于是国王从马鞍上优雅地倾下身子，用镶着宝石的剑轻触普特洛克勒斯，当场给他封了爵士。
The whole family went to live at the royal palace. The roses in the royal gardens were uprooted, and Giants' heads (or pumpkins, as they came to be called) were sown in their stead; all the royal parks also were turned into pumpkin fields.
一家人住进了王宫。御花园的玫瑰都被连根拔起，全都种上了巨人脑瓜（或者叫南瓜，打那以后人们就开始这么叫了）；所有的皇家园林也都统统变成了南瓜地。
Patroclus was in constant attendance on the King and used to stand all day in his antechamber. Daphne had a position of great responsibility, for she superintended the baking of the pumpkin pies, and Aeneas finally married the Princess Ariadne Diana.
普特洛克勒斯从此留在国王身边侍驾，经常整天站在大殿前听候差遣。达芙妮有了一个举足轻重的职位，她负责监督所有南瓜饼的烘焙，而爱涅阿斯最后娶了阿里阿德涅•黛安娜公主。
They were wedded in great state by fifty archbishops; and all the newspapers united in stating that they were the most charming and well-matched young couple that had ever been united in the kingdom.
他们的婚礼空前盛大，由50个大主教来主持；所有的报纸进行了联合报道，报上都说他们是这个王国有史以来最迷人、最登对的小两口。
The stone entrance of the Pumpkin Giants' castle was securely fastened, and upon it was engraved an inscription composed by the first poet in the kingdom, for which the King made him laureate, and gave him the liberal pension of fifty pumpkin pies per year.
南瓜巨人城堡的石门被万无一失地封闭起来，门上刻着全国第一大诗人写的一篇碑文，这可是国王亲自封的桂冠诗人，每年享有五十个南瓜饼的丰厚俸禄。
The following is the inscription in full:
碑文全文如下：
"Here dwelt the Pumpkin Giant once;南瓜巨人曾居于此；
He's dead, the nation doth rejoice,呜呼哀哉，举国乐哉，
For, while he was alive, he lived
By e----g dear, fat, little boys."活时要#乞（注：这里碑文有些模糊）可爱胖崽，死后反被胖崽当菜。
The inscription is said to remain to this day, if you were to go there you would probably see it.
据说这段碑文一直留到了现在，你要是有机会去的话，肯定还可以看到的。