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雙語·彼得兔的故事 絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾的故事

所屬教程:譯林版·彼得兔的故事

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2022年06月07日

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THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS

Once upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who was an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and whenever they were lost they were always in mischief!

On baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard. She caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom.

Mrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom Kitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched the best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She went right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find him anywhere.

It was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the walls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside them, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there were odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared at night—especially cheese and bacon.

Mrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully.

While their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got into mischief. The cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out. They went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before the fire. They patted it with their little soft paws—“Shall we make dear little muffins?” said Mittens to Moppet. But just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet jumped into the flour barrel in a fright. Mittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone shelf where the milk pans stand.

The visitor was a neighbor, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some yeast.

Mrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully—“Come in, Cousin Ribby, come in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,” said Tabitha, shedding tears. “I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the rats have got him.” She wiped her eyes with her apron.

“He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha; he made a cat's cradle of my best bonnet last time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?”

“All over the house! The rats are too many for me. What a thing it is to have an unruly family!” said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.

“I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too! What is all that soot in the fender?”

“The chimney wants sweeping—Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby—now Moppet and Mittens are gone!”

“They have both got out of the cupboard!”

Ribby and Tabitha set to work to search the house thoroughly again. They poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella, and they rummaged in cupboards. They even fetched a candle, and looked inside a clothes chest in one of the attics. They could not find anything, but once they heard a door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs.

“Yes, it is infested with rats,” said Tabitha tearfully, “I caught seven young ones out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we had them for dinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat—an enormous old rat, Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump upon him, when he showed his yellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.”

“The rats get upon my nerves, Cousin Ribby,” said Tabitha.

Ribby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a curious roly-poly noise under the attic floor. But there was nothing to be seen.

They returned to the kitchen. “Here's one of your kittens at least,” said Ribby, dragging Moppet out of the flour barrel.

They shook the flour off her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She seemed to be in a terrible fright.

“Oh! Mother, Mother,” said Moppet, “there's been an old woman rat in the kitchen, and she's stolen some of the dough!”

The two cats ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough there were marks of little scratching fingers, and a lump of dough was gone!

“Which way did she go, Moppet?”

But Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of the barrel again.

Ribby and Tabitha took her with them to keep her safely in sight, while they went on with their search.

They went into the dairy. The first thing they found was Mittens, hiding in an empty jar. They tipped up the jar, and she scrambled out.

“Oh, Mother, Mother!” said Mittens—“Oh! Mother, Mother, there has been an old man rat in the dairy—a dreadful 'normous big rat, Mother; and he's stolen a pat of butter and the rolling-pin.”

Ribby and Tabitha looked at one another.

“A rolling-pin and butter! Oh, my poor son Thomas!” exclaimed Tabitha, wringing her paws.

“A rolling-pin?” said Ribby. “Did we not hear a roly-poly noise in the attic when we were looking into that chest?”

Ribby and Tabitha rushed upstairs again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise was still going on quite distinctly under the attic floor.

“This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,” said Ribby. “We must send for John Joiner at once, with a saw.”

Now this is what had been happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very unwise it is to go up a chimney in a very old house, where a person does not know his way, and where there are enormous rats.

Tom Kitten did not want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he saw that his mother was going to bake, he determined to hide. He looked about for a nice convenient place, and he fixed upon the chimney.

The fire had only just been lighted, and it was not hot; but there was a white choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender and looked up. It was a big old-fashioned fireplace.

The chimney itself was wide enough inside for a man to stand up and walk about. So there was plenty of room for a little Tom Cat. He jumped right up into the fireplace, balancing himself upon the iron bar where the kettle hangs. Tom Kitten took another big jump off the bar, and landed on a ledge high up inside the chimney, knocking down some soot into the fender.

Tom Kitten coughed and choked with the smoke; and he could hear the sticks beginning to crackle and burn in the fireplace down below. He made up his mind to climb right to the top, and get out on the slates, and try to catch sparrows.

“I cannot go back. If I slipped I might fall in the fire and singe my beautiful tail and my little blue jacket.”

The chimney was a very big old-fashioned one. It was built in the days when people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth. The chimney stack stood up above the roof like a little stone tower, and the daylight shone down from the top, under the slanting slates that kept out the rain.

Tom Kitten was getting very frightened! He climbed up, and up, and up. Then he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like a little sweep himself.

It was most confusing in the dark. One flue seemed to lead into another. There was less smoke, but Tom Kitten felt quite lost. He scrambled up and up; but before he reached the chimney top he came to a place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall. There were some mutton bones lying about—

“This seems funny,” said Tom Kitten. “Who has been gnawing bones up here in the chimney? I wish I had never come! And what a funny smell? It is something like mouse; only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze,” said Tom Kitten.

He squeezed through the hole in the wall, and dragged himself along a most uncomfortably tight passage where there was scarcely any light. He groped his way carefully for several yards; he was at the back of the skirting-board in the attic, where there is a little mark * in the picture.

All at once he fell head over heels in the dark, down a hole, and landed on a heap of very dirty rags. When Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked about him—he found himself in a place that he had never seen before, although he had lived all his life in the house.

It was a very small stuffy fusty room, with boards, and rafters, and cobwebs, and lath and plaster. Opposite to him—as far away as he could sit—was an enormous rat.

“What do you mean by tumbling into my bed all covered with smuts?” said the rat, chattering his teeth.

“Please, sir, the chimney wants sweeping,” said poor Tom Kitten.

“Anna Maria! Anna Maria!” squeaked the rat. There was a pattering noise and an old woman rat poked her head round a rafter.

All in a minute she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he knew what was happening—His coat was pulled off, and he was rolled up in a bundle, and tied with string in very hard knots.

Anna Maria did the tying. The old rat watched her and took snuff. When she had finished, they both sat staring at him with their mouths open.

“Anna Maria,” said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel Whiskers)—“Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for my dinner.”

“It requires dough and a pat of butter, and a rolling-pin,” said Anna Maria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side.

“No,” said Samuel Whiskers, “make it properly, Anna Maria, with breadcrumbs.”

“Nonsense! Butter and dough,” replied Anna Maria.

The two rats consulted together for a few minutes and then went away.

Samuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot, and went boldly down the front staircase to the dairy to get the butter. He did not meet anybody. He made a second journey for the rolling-pin. He pushed it in front of him with his paws, like a brewer's man trundling a barrel. He could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking, but they were busy lighting the candle to look into the chest. They did not see him.

Anna Maria went down by way of the skirting-board and a window shutter to the kitchen to steal the dough. She borrowed a small saucer, and scooped up the dough with her paws. She did not observe Moppet.

While Tom Kitten was left alone under the floor of the attic, he wriggled about and tried to mew for help. But his mouth was full of soot and cobwebs, and he was tied up in such very tight knots, he could not make anybody hear him.

Except a spider who came out of a crack in the ceiling and examined the knots critically, from a safe distance. It was a judge of knots because it had a habit of tying up unfortunate blue-bottles. It did not offer to assist him.

Tom Kitten wriggled and squirmed until he was quite exhausted. Presently the rats came back and set to work to make him into a dumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then they rolled him in the dough.

“Will not the string be very indigestible, Anna Maria?” inquired Samuel Whiskers.

Anna Maria said she thought that it was of no consequence; but she wished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still, as it disarranged the pastry. She laid hold of his ears.

Tom Kitten bit and spat, and mewed and wriggled; and the rolling-pin went roly-poly, roly; roly, poly, roly. The rats each held an end.

“His tail is sticking out! You did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria.”

“I fetched as much as I could carry,” replied Anna Maria.

“I do not think”—said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom Kitten—“I do not think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.”

Anna Maria was about to argue the point when all at once there began to be other sounds up above—the rasping noise of a saw; and the noise of a little dog, scratching and yelping!

The rats dropped the rolling-pin, and listened attentively.

“We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria; let us collect our property—and other people's—and depart at once. I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding. But I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible, whatever you may urge to the contrary.”

“Come away at once and help me to tie up some mutton bones in a counterpane,” said Anna Maria. “I have got half a smoked ham hidden in the chimney.”

So it happened that by the time John Joiner had got the plank up—there was nobody under the floor except the rolling-pin and Tom Kitten in a very dirty dumpling! But there was a strong smell of rats; and John Joiner spent the rest of the morning sniffing and whining, and wagging his tail, and going round and round with his head in the hole like a gimlet. Then he nailed the plank down again, and put his tools in his bag, and came downstairs.

The cat family had quite recovered. They invited him to stay to dinner. The dumpling had been peeled off Tom Kitten, and made separately into a bag pudding, with currants in it to hide the smuts. They had been obliged to put Tom Kitten into a hot bath to get the butter off.

John Joiner smelt the pudding; but he regretted that he had not time to stay to dinner, because he had just finished making a wheelbarrow for Miss Potter, and she had ordered two hen-coops.

And when I was going to the post late in the afternoon—I looked up the lane from the corner, and I saw Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife on the run, with big bundles on a little wheelbarrow, which looked very like mine. They were just turning in at the gate to the barn of Farmer Potatoes.

Samuel Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was still arguing in shrill tones. She seemed to know her way, and she seemed to have a quantity of luggage.

I am sure I never gave her leave to borrow my wheelbarrow!

They went into the barn, and hauled their parcels with a bit of string to the top of the hay mow. After that, there were no more rats for a long time at Tabitha Twitchit's.

As for Farmer Potatoes, he has been driven nearly distracted. There are rats, and rats, and rats in his barn! They eat up the chicken food, and steal the oats and bran, and make holes in the meal bags. And they are all descended from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers—children and grand-children and great great grand-children. There is no end to them!

Moppet and Mittens have grown up into very good rat-catchers. They go out rat-catching in the village, and they find plenty of employment. They charge so much a dozen, and earn their living very comfortably. They hang up the rats' tails in a row on the barn door, to show how many they have caught—dozens and dozens of them. But Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat; he never durst face anything that is bigger than—A Mouse.

THE END

絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾的故事

從前,有一只老貓,名叫塔比莎·特遲特太太,她是個很焦慮的母親。她經(jīng)常找不到自己的小貓,而且只要他們跑丟了,就總會遇到危險。

在烘焙日那天,她決定把小貓們關(guān)進(jìn)一個櫥柜中。她抓住了娃娃和咪咪,卻沒有找到湯姆。

塔比莎太太將房子上上下下找了一個遍,喵喵地叫著湯姆的名字。她查看了樓梯下面的餐具室,又找了那間一直閑置的臥室,里面的東西全都蓋著防塵罩。她上了樓梯,檢查了閣樓,但就是怎么也找不到湯姆。

這是一棟很老、很老的房子,里面到處都是壁櫥和走廊。有些墻壁有四英尺厚,里面經(jīng)常會傳出奇怪的聲音,好像里面有一道小小的秘密樓梯。當(dāng)然,在護(hù)墻板上的確有一些小小的、鋸齒狀的門洞,而且夜里經(jīng)常會有東西失蹤——特別是奶酪和培根。

塔比莎太太越來越焦慮,一直擔(dān)心地叫著。

就在貓媽媽搜索房子的時候,娃娃和咪咪又遇到危險了。櫥柜的門沒有鎖,所以她們推開了門,從里面出來了。她們直接走向放置在爐火前的一個發(fā)酵著的面團(tuán),那塊面團(tuán)被放在一個平底鍋里。她們用小小的柔軟的爪子拍著面團(tuán)——“我們要不要做點(diǎn)可愛的小松餅?”咪咪對娃娃說。但就在這時,有人敲門,娃娃一驚之下跳到了面粉桶里。咪咪則跑進(jìn)了奶制品室里,躲進(jìn)了一個放奶鍋的石頭架子上的空罐子里。

來訪者是他們的鄰居,瑞比太太。她是過來借酵母的。

塔比莎太太從樓上下來,還在擔(dān)心地喵喵叫著——“進(jìn)來,瑞比表妹,進(jìn)來,坐下。我遇到大麻煩了,瑞比表妹?!彼壬f著流出了淚水,“我把我親愛的兒子湯馬斯[1]給弄丟了。我擔(dān)心老鼠們把他抓走了?!彼脟鼓ㄖ蹨I說。

“他是只淘氣的小貓,塔比莎表姐,上次我過來喝茶的時候他用我最好的帽子翻繩兒玩。你到什么地方找過他了?”

“整個房子都找了!老鼠們實(shí)在太多了!家里有這些不聽話的家伙真是麻煩??!”塔比莎·特遲特太太說。

“我倒是不怕老鼠,我來幫你找找他,然后再揍他一頓!火爐圍欄里面怎么那么多煤灰?”

“煙囪需要清掃了——噢,天啊,瑞比表妹——現(xiàn)在娃娃和咪咪也都不見了!她們從櫥柜里跑出去了。”

瑞比和塔比莎又開始把房子徹底找了個遍。她們用瑞比的傘捅到床下面一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)地探查,翻箱倒柜地又徹底檢查了一遍。她們甚至點(diǎn)了一根蠟燭,檢查了一個閣樓中的衣箱里有什么。但是她們什么都沒有找到,而就在這時,她們聽到了門“砰”的一聲響,像是有人跑到了樓下。

“是啊,這里的老鼠太多了?!彼壬蹨I說,“我從后廚房的一個洞里抓到過七只小老鼠,上個星期六當(dāng)晚飯吃掉了。還有一次,我看到了那只老鼠爸爸——那可真是一只體型巨大的老鼠啊,瑞比表妹。我剛要跳起來撲向他,他居然向我露出他的大黃牙,然后立刻縮回洞里不見了?!?/p>

“那些老鼠真是讓我神經(jīng)緊張啊,瑞比表妹。”塔比莎說。

瑞比和塔比莎四處找啊找啊,她們都聽到了從閣樓地板下傳來骨碌碌、骨碌碌的奇怪聲音,但什么都找不到。

她們回到廚房。“至少找到了你的一只小貓!”瑞比說著,從面粉桶中將娃娃拽了出來。

她們使勁搖晃她,把她身上的面粉抖掉,然后將她放在廚房的地板上。她看上去像是被嚇壞了。

“噢!媽媽!媽媽!”娃娃說,“廚房里面有一只很老的母老鼠!她偷了一些面團(tuán)!”

瑞比和塔比莎趕緊跑去察看面團(tuán),果然,上面有小小的爪子抓過的痕跡,一大塊面團(tuán)不見了。

“她往哪個方向跑了,娃娃?”

但是娃娃當(dāng)時太害怕了,沒敢從面粉桶里向外看。

瑞比和塔比莎將她帶在身邊,確保在繼續(xù)尋找的時候,她安全地在她們的視線之內(nèi)。

她們走進(jìn)了奶品室。最先找到的便是藏在空奶罐里的咪咪。她們把奶罐推倒,讓她爬了出來。

“噢!媽媽!媽媽!”咪咪說,“噢!媽媽!媽媽!有一只很老的公老鼠在奶品室里——一只超級巨大的大老鼠,媽媽!他偷了一塊黃油,還有搟面杖!”

瑞比和塔比莎面面相覷。

“黃油和搟面杖!唉,我可憐的兒子湯馬斯?。 彼壬贿吙尢栆贿吔g著自己的爪子。

“搟面杖?”瑞比說,“我們在閣樓里面檢查那個箱子的時候,不是聽到了骨碌碌、骨碌碌的聲音了嗎?”

瑞比和塔比莎急匆匆跑回樓上去,能很清楚地聽到那骨碌碌的聲音在閣樓的地板下面響動。

“這件事情可嚴(yán)重了,塔比莎表姐,”瑞比說,“我們得立刻找木匠約翰過來,讓他帶著鋸子來?!?/p>

接下來,我們來說說小貓湯姆到底遭遇了什么??雌饋砼肋M(jìn)一座老房子的煙囪里面真的很不明智,在里面很容易迷路,而且那里面有很多體型碩大的老鼠。

小貓湯姆不愿意被關(guān)在櫥柜里面,所以,看到媽媽準(zhǔn)備烘焙,他就決定躲起來。他想找一個方便又舒服的地方藏起來,最后他選定了煙囪作為他的藏身處。

火剛剛生起來,煙囪里面還不熱,不過從青色的木柴上冒出了一團(tuán)嗆人的白煙。小貓湯姆爬過圍欄,查看了一下。這是一個老式的大壁爐。

煙囪里面很寬,足夠一個人站直了身子行走。所以,對于小小貓湯姆來說,空間非常充足。他直接跳進(jìn)了壁爐里,在掛水壺的鐵架子上穩(wěn)住身子。然后湯姆又用力一跳,跳離鐵架,落到煙囪里面高處的一個壁架上。他碰落了一些煤灰,正掉在火爐圍欄里。

小貓湯姆被煙嗆到了,咳嗽了起來,他聽到木柴在下面的壁爐里噼啪作響地?zé)K麤Q定一直向上爬,從上面的石板那兒出去,然后試著抓些麻雀。

“我不能回去了。如果我打滑,可能會掉到火里面,我漂亮的尾巴和我的藍(lán)色小夾克都會被燒焦的!”

這煙囪是一個非常大的老式煙囪。建這個煙囪的時候,人們在爐膛里面燒的還是整塊的木頭呢。屋頂上煙囪露出來的部分,就如同一座小小的石塔,日光從上面照射下來,照到了防雨的傾斜石板下面。

小貓湯姆越來越害怕!他向上爬啊爬,爬啊爬。他側(cè)著身子穿過好幾寸厚的煙灰。他就像個掃煙囪的小人兒。

在黑暗里根本就分不清方向。煙道一個連著一個?,F(xiàn)在煙少了很多,不過湯姆感覺自己迷路了。他向上爬啊爬啊,但是他沒有到達(dá)煙囪的頂部,而是來到了一個地方,那里煙囪壁上的一塊石頭被抽掉了,里面放著一些羊骨頭。

“這倒真是奇怪,”湯姆說,“誰會在煙囪里面啃骨頭呢?我真希望自己從來沒來過這里。這到底是什么味兒啊!好像是老鼠,只不過氣味格外強(qiáng)烈!嗆得我想打噴嚏。”

他擠進(jìn)墻里的一個洞中,硬是穿過了一段非常不舒服的狹窄的通道,那里幾乎沒有光。他小心翼翼地向前摸索著走了幾碼遠(yuǎn),來到了閣樓的護(hù)墻板后面。

黑暗中,他突然頭朝下栽進(jìn)了一個洞里,落到了一堆非常臟的碎布上面。湯姆重新站起來的時候,環(huán)顧四周,他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己是在一個從來都沒有見過的地方,盡管他從出生就住在這所房子里。

這是一個非常狹小的、散發(fā)著陣陣霉味的悶熱房間,里面到處都是木板、椽子、蜘蛛網(wǎng)、板條和墻上的灰泥。正對著他——在離他遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)的地方——坐著一只碩大的老鼠。

“你渾身臟兮兮地在我的床上滾,到底打算做什么?”老鼠說,他的牙咯咯作響。

“抱歉,先生,這煙囪需要清理了?!笨蓱z的小貓湯姆說。

“安娜·瑪麗亞!安娜·瑪麗亞!”老鼠喊道。隨著一陣“啪嗒”“啪嗒”的聲音,一只母老鼠從椽子后面探出頭來。

她立刻就沖向了小貓湯姆,湯姆完全還沒有反應(yīng)過來是怎么回事,他的衣服就被扒下來了,他被捆成了一團(tuán),捆他的繩子被打了個很結(jié)實(shí)的死結(jié)。

捆他的就是安娜·瑪麗亞。另外那只老鼠一邊看著,還一邊嗅著鼻煙。她將湯姆捆好后,兩只老鼠就都坐在一邊,張著嘴巴盯著湯姆。

“安娜·瑪麗亞,”公老鼠絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾說,“安娜·瑪麗亞,給我做一個小貓餡卷布丁作晚餐吧?!?/p>

“那需要面團(tuán)和黃油,還得用搟面杖?!卑材取が旣悂喺f,她側(cè)著腦袋想著該如何料理小貓湯姆。

“不,”絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾說,“有什么材料就用什么做,用面包屑裹上就行,安娜·瑪麗亞?!?/p>

“胡扯!必須用黃油和面團(tuán)!”安娜·瑪麗亞回答。

兩只老鼠為此討論了一會兒,然后便分頭走了。

絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾穿過護(hù)墻板上的一個洞,壯著膽子直接順著前面的樓梯下去,到奶品室去拿黃油。他一路什么人都沒有碰上。然后他又跑了第二趟,去拿搟面杖。他用爪子推著搟面杖,就像是一個釀酒人推著啤酒桶那樣。他能聽到瑞比和塔比莎說話,但是她們在忙著點(diǎn)蠟燭檢查箱子里面,誰都沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)他。

安娜·瑪麗亞順著踢腳板下樓,從一扇百葉窗進(jìn)了廚房,偷了面團(tuán)。她拿了一個小碟子,用爪子摳出面團(tuán)來放到碟子里。她沒有看到娃娃。

湯姆被單獨(dú)留在閣樓地板下,他不斷掙扎,想要喵喵叫著求救。但是他的嘴里滿是煤灰和蜘蛛網(wǎng),被捆得非常結(jié)實(shí),他沒有辦法讓別人聽到他求救的聲音。

只有一只蜘蛛從屋頂?shù)牧芽p中爬出來,站在安全的距離外,以評判的目光審視了一下繩結(jié)。這只蜘蛛是繩結(jié)方面的權(quán)威,因?yàn)樗?jīng)常把不幸的麗蠅捆起來。他并沒有給湯姆提供幫助。

小貓湯姆扭動著身子掙來掙去,到最后一點(diǎn)兒力氣都沒有了。不一會兒,老鼠們回來了,開始動手把他包成布丁。他們先用黃油涂抹小貓湯姆的身體,然后將他卷進(jìn)了面團(tuán)里面。

“那繩子是不是很難消化啊,安娜·瑪麗亞?”絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾問。

安娜·瑪麗亞說她覺得那沒有什么,但是她希望小貓湯姆的腦袋能夠保持靜止不動,因?yàn)閯拥脑捄苋菀着獕拿嫫?。她抓住了湯姆的耳朵?/p>

小貓湯姆又是張嘴亂咬,又是吐口水,喵喵叫著扭來扭去,搟面杖骨碌碌地滾來滾去。兩只老鼠分別握著搟面杖的兩端。

“他的尾巴還露在外面!你拿來的面團(tuán)不夠用,安娜·瑪麗亞。”

“我實(shí)在拿不了太多了?!卑材取が旣悂喕卮稹?/p>

“我不這么覺得?!苯j(luò)腮胡塞繆爾說。他暫停下來看了看小貓湯姆,“我不覺得這會是一個好吃的布丁,聞起來有一股煤灰味兒。”

安娜·瑪麗亞正要和他爭論,但就在這時,他們頭上傳來了別的聲音——那是鋸子拉來拉去的聲音,還有小狗又抓又撓和興奮地吠叫的聲音。

兩只老鼠丟下?lián){面杖,緊張地聽著。

“我們被發(fā)現(xiàn)了,沒法再做我們要做的事了,安娜·瑪麗亞。咱們收拾一下咱們的財物——當(dāng)然還有別人的,趕緊離開??峙略蹅儾坏貌涣粝逻@個布丁了。但是我相信那些繩結(jié)會很難消化,不管你怎么反對。”

“立刻過來,幫我把這些羊骨頭用床單包起來,”安娜·瑪麗亞說,“我還在煙囪里面放了半塊熏火腿?!?/p>

因此,等到木匠約翰把板子鋸開時,地板下面就只剩下?lián){面杖和一個被包在很臟的面皮里的小貓湯姆了。但是,那里有很強(qiáng)烈的老鼠的氣息,接下來一整個上午,木匠約翰都在嗅來嗅去,叫個不停,他搖著尾巴,跑來跑去,不停地把頭探進(jìn)那個洞里面,就像個木鉆一樣。然后他又把板子釘好,把工具收進(jìn)自己的包里,下了樓。

小貓一家已經(jīng)恢復(fù)如常了。他們邀請約翰留下來吃飯。面皮已經(jīng)從小貓湯姆身上剝了下來,被做成了一個大布丁,里面還塞了葡萄干,以掩蓋它里面的煤煙味。他們不得不給湯姆洗了個熱水澡,好把他身上的黃油洗掉。

木匠約翰聞了聞布丁的味道,很遺憾自己沒有時間留下來吃飯了,他剛給波特小姐[2]做了一個獨(dú)輪車,但她又預(yù)定了兩個雞窩。

傍晚,我去郵局的時候,在拐角處向那條巷子看了看,看到了逃亡中的絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾先生和他的太太,他們用一個小獨(dú)輪車推著幾個大包袱,那獨(dú)輪車看起來很像是我的。他們正拐進(jìn)農(nóng)場主馬鈴薯家的谷倉門里。

絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾氣喘吁吁的。安娜·瑪麗亞依然在用尖銳的聲調(diào)和他爭執(zhí)著。她似乎認(rèn)識路,似乎有很多行李。

但我可以肯定,我從來都沒有允許她借用我的獨(dú)輪車。

他們進(jìn)了谷倉,然后用一段繩子把包袱拖到了干草堆頂上。那之后很長一段時間,塔比莎·特遲特太太家中都沒有再出現(xiàn)過老鼠。

而至于農(nóng)場主馬鈴薯,他幾乎被逼瘋了,他的谷倉里四處都是老鼠,老鼠,老鼠!他們還吃光了雞食,偷走了燕麥和谷糠,在面粉袋上咬出了很多洞。他們都是絡(luò)腮胡塞繆爾夫婦的后代,是他們的兒子、孫子和曾孫玄孫。真是沒個完了。

娃娃和咪咪長大后成了非常好的捕鼠能手。她們?nèi)ゴ遄永镒ダ鲜螅泻芏嗳苏宜齻児ぷ?。她們收費(fèi)很高,賺了很多錢,生活富足。她們把老鼠的尾巴在谷倉門口掛成一排,以展示她們抓了多少只老鼠——有好幾十只呢!但是小貓湯姆卻一直害怕大老鼠,他至多只敢面對小老鼠。

* * *

[1]湯姆的大名。

[2]本文的作者畢翠克絲·波特。

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