[翻译大赛No. 3] Connla and the Fairy Maiden/康拉与仙子

Connla[1] and the Fairy Maiden
康拉与仙子

CONNLA of the Fiery Hair was son of Conn of the Hundred Fights. One day as he stood by the side of his father on the height of Usna, he saw a maiden clad in strange attire coming towards him.
火红头发的康拉是百战勇士康恩之子。一天，康拉正与父亲并排站立在乌斯纳山的山巅，望见一位穿着奇异的少女向他走来。
 "Whence comest thou, maiden?" said Connla. “姑娘，敢问你从何处而来？”康拉说。

"I come from the Plains of the Ever Living," she said, "there where there is neither death nor sin. There we keep holiday alway, nor need we help from any in our joy. And in all our pleasure we have no strife. And because we have our homes in the round green hills, men call us the Hill Folk."
“我来自永生之原。”少女回答道，“彼处没有死亡，也没有罪恶。我们整天载歌载舞，欢声笑语，欢乐自生，无需外物。我们沉浸于欢乐之中，纷争与我们无缘。我们的家园在翠绿的环形山上，人们称我们为山林之民。”

The king and all with him wondered much to hear a voice when they saw no one. For save Connla alone, none saw the Fairy Maiden.
国王和身边所有的人张大了眼睛——这是怎么回事，明明有人在说话，却只闻声不见人？除了康拉，没有一个人能看到这位仙子。

"To whom art thou talking, my son?" said Conn the king.
“你在同谁交谈，我的孩子？”康恩国王问道。

Then the maiden answered, "Connla speaks to a young, fair maid, whom neither death nor old age awaits. I love Connla, and now I call him away to the Plain of Pleasure, Moy Mell, where Boadag is king for aye, nor has there been complaint or sorrow in that land since he has held the kingship. Oh, come with me, Connla of the Fiery Hair, ruddy as the dawn with thy tawny skin. A fairy crown awaits thee to grace thy comely face and royal form. Come, and never shall thy comeliness fade, nor thy youth, till the last awful day of judgment."
仙子代替康拉答道：“康拉在与一位年轻美丽的姑娘交谈。我的未来既无死亡，也无衰老。我爱康拉，我来此召唤他，与我一同前往欢乐之原莫伊玫尔[2]。博达各[3]是平原之王，永世统领。博达各统领平原，我们永无烦恼，永无悲伤。啊，请与我同行，火红头发的康拉，你褐色的肌肤透着黎明般的红润。精灵之冠将为你英俊的脸庞和雄健的身躯增添光辉。来吧，直至可怕的最后审判[4]，你的美丽永不凋零，你的青春永不褪色。

The king in fear at what the maiden said, which he heard though he could not see her, called aloud to his Druid, Coran by name.
仙子的声音传入国王耳中，但却依然未对他现身。惊恐的国王高声呼唤大祭司，科朗为其名。

"Oh, Coran of the many spells," he said, "and of the cunning magic, I call upon thy aid. A task is upon me too great for all my skill and wit, greater than any laid upon me since I seized the kingship. A maiden unseen has met us, and by her power would take from me my dear, my comely son. If thou help not, he will be taken from thy king by woman's wiles and witchery."
“啊，精通咒语的科朗，”他说，“您拥有神奇的魔法，请对我伸出援手。天大的困难降临在我头上，从我继承王位以来，从未遇见过如此大的困难，用我全部的智慧和技巧也无法战胜。一位看不见的姑娘来到我们身边，要用她的魔法带走我英俊的爱子。如果您不出手相助，您的王就会失去王子，让女人的诡计和巫术给诱拐而去。”

Then Coran the Druid stood forth and chanted his spells towards the spot where the maiden's voice had been heard. And none heard her voice again, nor could Connla see her longer. Only as she vanished before the Druid's mighty spell, she threw an apple to Connla.
于是，大祭司科朗走上前，向传来声音的地方发射咒语。人们再听不到仙子的声音，康拉也再看不到她的身影。但在她抵挡不住咒语、离去之前，她向康拉扔去了一只苹果。

For a whole month from that day Connla would take nothing, either to eat or to drink, save only from that apple. But as he ate it grew again and always kept whole. And all the while there grew within him a mighty yearning and longing after the maiden he had seen.
接下来整整一个月，除了这只苹果，康拉一直不吃不喝。他咬一口苹果，苹果就长回原样，总是完完整整的一个。随着苹果一口口吃下去，对仙子的渴望在康拉心内生根发芽，日渐茁壮。

But when the last day of the month of waiting came, Connla stood by the side of the king his father on the Plain of Arcomin, and again he saw the maiden come towards him, and again she spoke to him.
一个月的漫长等待之后，康拉与父王并肩站在阿尔科门平原之上，再一次看见仙子向他走来，发出召唤。

" 'Tis a glorious place, forsooth, that Connla holds among shortlived mortals awaiting the day of death. But now the folk of life, the ever-living ones, beg and bid thee come to Moy Mell, the Plain of Pleasure, for they have learnt to know thee, seeing thee in thy home among thy dear ones.
“康拉，您身为凡人的王子，地位的确尊贵，但凡人年寿有限，一生都在等待死亡之日。如今永生之国向您发出召唤，恳请您前往莫伊玫尔，欢乐之原。您与所爱之人在此地生活，我们的人民看在眼里，对您早已熟知。”

When Conn the king heard the maiden's voice he called to his men aloud and said:
 "Summon swift my Druid Coran, for I see she has again this day the power of speech."
国王康恩听到仙子的声音，向他的人民呼喊：“快去快去，召唤大祭司科朗。仙子依然巧舌如簧。”

Then the maiden said: "Oh, mighty Conn, fighter of a hundred fights, the Druid's power is little loved; it has little honour in the mighty land, peopled with so many of the upright. When the Law will come, it will do away with the Druid's magic spells that come from the lips of the false black demon."
仙子开口说道：“啊，强大的康恩，百战勇士，大祭司的力量并不为人所爱；欢乐之原上住着正直的人们，才是真正强大，祭司的力量在彼处遭人唾弃。黑魔王为自封之假王，从他的双唇滴落魔咒，为祭司所捡拾，然而，圣诫终将统临人世，彼时黑魔王之力将一扫而尽。”

Then Conn the king observed that since the maiden came Connla his son spoke to none that spake to him. So Conn of the hundred fights said to him, "Is it to thy mind what the woman says, my son?"
国王康恩注意到，自从仙子来临之后，他的爱子康拉再也不搭理任何与他说话之人，于是，百战勇士康恩问他：“我的孩子，你可是赞同这个女人的话语？”

" 'Tis hard upon me," then said Connla; "I love my own folk above all things; but yet, but yet a longing seizes me for the maiden."
“这太让人痛苦。”康拉答道，“人民是我的至爱，可是，我却对仙子满心渴慕，无法忘怀。”

When the maiden heard this, she answered and said: "The ocean is not so strong as the waves of thy longing. Come with me in my curragh, the gleaming, straight-gliding crystal canoe. Soon we can reach Boadag's realm. I see the bright sun sink, yet far as it is, we can reach it before dark. There is, too, another land worthy of thy journey, a land joyous to all that seek it. Only wives and maidens dwell there. If thou wilt, we can seek it and live there alone together in joy."
听到康拉之言，仙子回答道：“便是惊天巨浪，也难比你心中的渴望翻涌。来吧，与我同行，乘坐我的克勒克[5]，那闪耀疾行的水晶木舟，无需多久，便能抵达博达各之国度。看哪，红日西沉，看上去多么遥远，但黑夜笼罩大地之前，我们定能抵达太阳的故乡。太阳的国度也堪当您这千里之行，寻觅彼处之人皆能寻觅到欢乐。彼处只有温柔的妻子和美丽的少女。如您愿意，便与我一同找寻，在彼处独自居住，尽享快乐。”

When the maiden ceased to speak, Connla of the Fiery Hair rushed away from them and sprang into the curragh, the gleaming, straight-gliding crystal canoe. And then they all, king and court, saw it glide away over the bright sea towards the setting sun. Away and away, till eye could see it no longer, and Connla and the Fairy Maiden went their way on the sea, and were no more seen, nor did any know where they came.
仙子话音甫一落地，火红头发的康拉便从人们身边奔离，纵身跃入那闪耀疾行的水晶木舟。所有的人们，国王和廷臣，看到木舟滑过明亮的大海，向夕阳驶去，越来越远，直至消失在大海深处，再也无从得见。康拉和仙子航行于大海之上，再也无人见到他们的身影，也无人知道他们的故乡原在何处。

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[1] 由“conn”（首领）与“laoch”（英雄）组成，意为“最高统领”

[2] 盖尔语，意为“pasture of honey”（蜂蜜原），译者音译

[3] 该译名无法确定，不知是否应为“博厄达各”

[5] 原文为curragh（克勒克艇），比威尔士的coracle（科拉科尔）体积更大，系用野草、芦苇和嫩树枝等编织而成，外覆兽皮，现在爱尔兰沿海依然可见此种船只。