RIDDLES IN THE DARK

黑暗中的谜语

When Bilbo opened his eyes, he wondered if he had; for it was just as dark as with them shut. No one was anywhere near him. Just imagine his fright! He could hear nothing, see nothing, and he could feel nothing except the stone of the floor.

睁开眼睛的时候，比尔博怀疑自己到底有没有睁开眼睛，因为眼前跟闭着眼睛一样漆黑。他的近旁没有任何人。啊!他心中的惶恐可想而知!他什么也听不见，什么也看不到，除了脚下的石头地之外，他什么也感觉不到。

Very slowly he got up and groped about on all fours, till he touched the wall of the tunnel; but neither up nor down it could he find anything: nothing at all, no sign of goblins, no sign of dwarves. His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction they had been going in when he had his fall. He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it. He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment. He did not go much further, but sat down on the cold floor and gave himself up to complete miserableness, for a long while. He thought of himself frying bacon and eggs in his own kitchen at home—for he could feel inside that it was high time for some meal or other; but that only made him miserabler.

他慢慢地坐起身来，四肢并用地四下摸索着，直到触摸到隧道的墙壁，但他在墙的上面和下面都找不到任何东西：什么也没有，既没有半兽人的迹象，也没有矮人的迹象。他的脑袋晕晕乎乎的，连自己摔倒之前在朝哪个方向走都根本无法确定。他勉强猜了一个方向，然后朝着那个方向爬了很长一段距离，直到他的手突然在地上摸到一个小小的、像是用冰冷金属做成的戒指。这是他生涯上的转折点，但他自己还不知道。他想也不想就把戒指放进口袋，当时这戒指看来似乎并没有什么特别的用场。他没有再往下走，而是坐在了冰冷的地面上，长时间地陷入了自哀自怜之中。他想起了自己在自家屋子的厨房里煎火腿蛋的情景，这其实是因为他的身体告诉他该吃点东西了，可是，这样的想像只能让他越发感到心中悲苦。

He could not think what to do; nor could he think what had happened; or why he had been left behind; or why, if he had been left behind, the goblins had not caught him; or even why his head was so sore. The truth was he had been lying quiet, out of sight and out of mind, in a very dark corner for a long while.

他想不出来该做些什么，也弄不明白到底发生了什么事情，或是自己为什么会被大家撇下，又或者，如果他真的被撇下了，半兽人为什么没有抓住他?为什么他的脑袋会这么痛?事实的真相是：他一直躺在一个非常黑暗的死角里，没有发出一点声音，所以既没被人看见，也没被人想起，就这样一躺就是好久。

After some time he felt for his pipe. It was not broken, and that was something. Then he felt for his pouch, and there was some tobacco in it, and that was something more. Then he felt for matches and he could not find any at all, and that shattered his hopes completely. Just as well for him, as he agreed when he came to his senses. Goodness knows what the striking of matches and the smell of tobacco would have brought on him out of dark holes in that horrible place. Still at the moment he felt very crushed. But in slapping all his pockets and feeling all round himself for matches his hand came on the hilt of his little sword—the little dagger that he got from the trolls, and that he had quite forgotten; nor fortunately had the goblins noticed it, as he wore it inside his breeches.

又过了一会儿之后，他从身上摸出了烟斗。烟斗居然没有折断，这可真是有点了不得。然后他又摸出烟草袋，里面居然还有一些烟草，这也是让他没想到的。然后，他又开始摸火柴——这回什么也没摸到，这下子把他刚升起的希望给整个击碎了。等他恢复理智之后，他又庆幸自己没找到火柴。天知道在这个可怕的地方，一旦他划燃了火柴，烟草散发出了味道，从那些黑咕隆冬的洞洞里，会有什么样的东西被招引来。即便如此，他在当时还是觉得十分沮丧。但就在他翻遍所有的口袋，浑身上下找火柴的过程中，他的手摸到了身上短剑的剑柄——也就是之前他从食人妖洞穴找来的那把小匕首，他简直都快把它给忘了。不过幸运的是半兽人们也没有注意到，因为他把它藏在了马裤里。

Now he drew it out. It shone pale and dim before his eyes. “So it is an elvish blade, too,” he thought; “and goblins are not very near, and yet not far enough.”

此时，他将匕首拔了出来，匕首在他眼前闪着苍白微弱的光芒。“原来这也是精灵打造的武器，”他想道，“半兽人离得不会太近，可也不会太远。”

But somehow he was comforted. It was rather splendid to be wearing a blade made in Gondolin for the goblin-wars of which so many songs had sung; and also he had noticed that such weapons made a great impression on goblins that came upon them suddenly.

但不管怎样他得到了一些安慰。他此时佩戴的可是刚多林打造的武器，是为那场曾有那么多歌谣加以吟咏的对半兽人的战争而打造的，这让他觉得自己身价陡增。此外，他还注意到，当半兽人突然遭遇到这样的武器时，往往会感到分外惶恐。

“Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!” So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.

“往回走吗?”他想，“绝对不行!往旁边走?不可能!往前走?这是惟一该做的事情!继续前进!”想到这里，他站起身来，把短剑拿在身前，一只手扶着墙，快步往前走去，一颗心扑通扑通扑通扑通地跳得好响。

Now certainly Bilbo was in what is called a tight place. But you must remember it was not quite so tight for him as it would have been for me or for you. Hobbits are not quite like ordinary people; and after all if their holes are nice cheery places and properly aired, quite different from the tunnels of the goblins, still they are more used to tunnelling than we are, and they do not easily lose their sense of direction underground—not when their heads have recovered from being bumped. Also they can move very quietly, and hide easily, and recover wonderfully from falls and bruises, and they have a fund of wisdom and wise sayings that men have mostly never heard or have forgotten long ago.

现在，比尔博肯定正在紧要关头，不过，大家一定要记住，同样的情况对霍比特人总不会像对你我这样的普通人要命。霍比特人和我们这些普通人不同，尽管他们的洞府是可爱而又欢乐的好地方，通风状况良好，和半兽人的隧道很不一样，但他们还是比我们更能适应这些地底的隧道，也更不容易丧失在地下的方向感——当然，这得是在他们的脑袋挨撞恢复正常之后。此外，他们也能够悄无声息地移动，轻巧地掩藏行迹，磕磕碰碰之后复原的速度也很惊人。他们还拥有许许多多的古老谚语，人类要不是从来没听到过，就是很早便忘记了。

I should not have liked to have been in Mr. Baggins’ place, all the same. The tunnel seemed to have no end. All he knew was that it was still going down pretty steadily and keeping in the same direction in spite of a twist and a turn or two. There were passages leading off to the side every now and then, as he knew by the glimmer of his sword, or could feel with his hand on the wall. Of these he took no notice, except to hurry past for fear of goblins or half-imagined dark things coming out of them. On and on he went, and down and down; and still he heard no sound of anything except the occasional whirr of a bat by his ears, which startled him at first, till it became too frequent to bother about. I do not know how long he kept on like this, hating to go on, not daring to stop, on, on, until he was tireder than tired. It seemed like all the way to tomorrow and over it to the days beyond.

不过即使如此，恐怕也还是没人愿意身处巴金斯先生此时的处境中。隧道看上去似乎没有尽头，他惟一能够确定的就是，这条隧道依旧在持续向下，虽然其间会来上一个转弯或出现一两个拐角，但大方向一直没变过。时不时地，比尔博凭借手中宝剑的光芒，或是触摸洞壁的结果，可以确定会有通往两侧的岔路。对于这些岔路他基本没有放在心上，除了通过的时候加快些脚步，以防有半兽人或是一半出自他想像的恐怖东西从那里面蹿出来。他不停地走呀走呀，一直在往下。不过走了这许久，除了偶尔有一只蝙蝠从耳边啪啪飞过外，他什么声音也没有听到。一开始蝙蝠拍翅膀的声音还会让他吓一跳，后来听多了也就见怪不怪了。我不知道他这样坚持了多久，不想再走了，却又不敢停下来，只好走，走，走，从累坏了走到累惨了，又走到累翻了。他感觉自己已经从今天走到了明天，甚至已经走了有好几天了。

Suddenly without any warning he trotted splash into water! Ugh! it was icy cold. That pulled him up sharp and short. He did not know whether it was just a pool in the path, or the edge of an underground stream that crossed the passage, or the brink of a deep dark subterranean lake. The sword was hardly shining at all. He stopped, and he could hear, when he listened hard, drops drip-drip-dripping from an unseen roof into the water below; but there seemed no other sort of sound.

突然间，毫无征兆地，他扑通一声踏进了水中。呃!这水冰冷刺骨，让他猛地一个激灵。他不知道这究竟是道路上的一小潭积水，还是横贯隧道的一条地底河流，又或是某个深邃黑暗的地下湖的边缘。到了这里，宝剑已经几乎没有什么闪光了。他停下脚步，凝神倾听，可以听见从看不见的洞顶“嗒——嗒——嗒”落到下面水潭里的水滴声，除此之外似乎就没有别的声音了。

“So it is a pool or a lake, and not an underground river,” he thought. Still he did not dare to wade out into the darkness. He could not swim; and he thought, too, of nasty slimy things, with big bulging blind eyes, wriggling in the water. There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the hearts of mountains: fish whose fathers swam in, goodness only knows how many years ago, and never swam out again, while their eyes grew bigger and bigger and bigger from trying to see in the blackness; also there are other things more slimy than fish. Even in the tunnels and caves the goblins have made for themselves there are other things living unbeknown to them that have sneaked in from outside to lie up in the dark. Some of these caves, too, go back in their beginnings to ages before the goblins, who only widened them and joined them up with passages, and the original owners are still there in odd corners, slinking and nosing about.

“看来，这应该是个水潭或者湖泊，而不是一条地下河。”他想道。但他还是不敢往那一片黑暗中涉水而去。他不会游泳，而且，在他脑中开始浮现出了水中那些恶心的滑腻腻的东西，它们长着突出的盲眼，在水中蠕动着。在山脉底下的水潭里或是湖泊中的确有奇怪的东西：那是一些鱼，它们的祖先不知多少年代以前游来了此地，之后就再也没游出去过，它们的眼睛因为竭力要在黑暗中看清东西，变得越来越大、越来越大、越来越大。除此之外，这里还有比这种鱼更加滑腻腻的东西。即使是在半兽人为他们自己开凿的隧道与洞穴中，也有一些不为他们所知的生物从外面悄悄溜进来，生活在这一片黑暗之中。这些洞穴中有些是比半兽人更早的存在，他们只是将其拓宽，然后以通道相连而已，而这些洞穴原先的主人则依旧躲在一些零星的角落里悄悄行走着，用鼻子嗅着四周的气息。

Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum—as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep and deadly cold. He paddled it with large feet dangling over the side, but never a ripple did he make. Not he. He was looking out of his pale lamp-like eyes for blind fish, which he grabbed with his long fingers as quick as thinking. He liked meat too. Goblin he thought good, when he could get it; but he took care they never found him out. He just throttled them from behind, if they ever came down alone anywhere near the edge of the water, while he was prowling about. They very seldom did, for they had a feeling that something unpleasant was lurking down there, down at the very roots of the mountain. They had come on the lake, when they were tunnelling down long ago, and they found they could go no further; so there their road ended in that direction, and there was no reason to go that way—unless the Great Goblin sent them. Sometimes he took a fancy for fish from the lake, and sometimes neither goblin nor fish came back.

在这地底深处的一池黑水边，住着一个矮小的、滑腻腻的老家伙名叫咕噜。我不知道他来自何方，也不知道他究竟是谁，或是什么生物。他就是咕噜，黑得就像周遭的黑暗，除了瘦脸上那双大而苍白的圆眼。他有一艘小船，他在湖上寂静地划行，这个湖又广又深，死一般地冰冷。他的两只大脚伸出船舷外拍水前进，却连一点水声都不弄出来，绝对是一点也没有。他用那双像油灯一样的苍白大眼搜寻湖中的盲鱼，再用快捷如闪念的细长手指将它们抓起来。他也喜欢吃肉。如果能抓到半兽人的话，他会觉得半兽人吃起来也不错，但他行事小心，从不会让半兽人发现他的行迹。在他四处游走寻找猎物的时候，若是有半兽人孤身来到水边，他就会从背后一下勒住他的脖子。但半兽人很少会孤身到水边来，因为他们也感觉到在这山底的深处，潜伏着某种不祥之物。很久以前，在挖掘隧道的时候，他们曾经到湖上来过，当时他们发现隧道挖不下去了，所以，通往这个方向的路就断在了这里，因此半兽人是没有理由到这里来的——除非他们的大王派他们来。有时候，大王会心血来潮想要吃湖中的鱼，但好多次，不仅鱼没有送来，就连捕鱼的半兽人也一去不回了。

Actually Gollum lived on a slimy island of rock in the middle of the lake. He was watching Bilbo now from the distance with his pale eyes like telescopes. Bilbo could not see him, but he was wondering a lot about Bilbo, for he could see that he was no goblin at all.

其实咕噜就居住在湖中央一块潮湿的岩石上。此刻，他正用他那双像望远镜一般的大白眼远远地观察着比尔博。比尔博看不见他，但他却在好奇地琢磨着比尔博，因为，他可以看得出来，眼前的生物不是半兽人。

Gollum got into his boat and shot off from the island, while Bilbo was sitting on the brink altogether flummoxed and at the end of his way and his wits. Suddenly up came Gollum and whispered and hissed:

咕噜跳进船中，箭一般地离开了湖心岛，此时比尔博正坐在水边，脑子里一团乱麻，既不知道该往何处去，也想不出下一步该怎么办。突然间，咕噜就从他眼前冒了出来，用带着嘶嘶的声音对他低语道：

“Bless us and splash us, my precioussss! I guess it’s a choice feast; at least a tasty morsel it’d make us, gollum!” And when he said gollum he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat. That is how he got his name, though he always called himself ‘my precious’.

“我的宝贝，祝福我们，为我们洒上圣水吧!我想这是顿精美的大餐，至少可以给我们当一块美味的小点心，咕噜!”当他说“咕噜”的时候，他会从喉咙中发出一种恐怖的吞咽之声。这也是他获得这个名字的原因，尽管他总是称呼自己为“我的宝贝”。

The hobbit jumped nearly out of his skin when the hiss came in his ears, and he suddenly saw the pale eyes sticking out at him.

当这种带着嘶嘶的声音传到耳中时，霍比特人差点被吓得魂飞魄散，接着那双苍白的大眼也突兀地出现在他眼前。

“Who are you?” he said, thrusting his dagger in front of him.

“你是谁?”他将匕首伸到身前问道。

“What iss he, my preciouss?” whispered Gollum (who always spoke to himself through never having anyone else to speak to). This is what he had come to find out, for he was not really very hungry at the moment, only curious; otherwise he would have grabbed first and whispered afterwards.

“他嘶嘶谁，我的宝贝?”咕噜低语道(由于从来没有其他人可以对话，他总是喜欢自言自语)。这是他跑到比尔博跟前来的真正原因，因为他这会儿肚子其实并不是很饿，只是感到很好奇，否则他会先出手把他抓了再跟他说话的。

“I am Mr. Bilbo Baggins. I have lost the dwarves and I have lost the wizard, and I don’t know where I am; and I don’t want to know, if only I can get away.”

“我是比尔博·巴金斯先生，我跟矮人走散了，跟巫师也走散了，我也不知道自己这是在哪儿，可我并不想知道这是哪儿，只要我能离开这儿就行了。”

“What’s he got in his handses?” said Gollum, looking at the sword, which he did not quite like.

“他的嘶嘶手上嘶嘶什么?”咕噜盯着比尔博手中的短剑问道，他不是很喜欢这玩意儿。

“A sword, a blade which came out of Gondolin!”

“一把剑，出自刚多林的宝剑!”

“Sssss” said Gollum, and became quite polite. “Praps ye sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my preciousss. It likes riddles, praps it does, does it?” He was anxious to appear friendly, at any rate for the moment, and until he found out more about the sword and the hobbit, whether he was quite alone really, whether he was good to eat, and whether Gollum was really hungry. Riddles were all he could think of. Asking them, and sometimes guessing them, had been the only game he had ever played with other funny creatures sitting in their holes in the long, long ago, before he lost all his friends and was driven away, alone, and crept down, down, into the dark under the mountains.

“嘶嘶，”咕噜变得颇有礼貌起来，“或许你可以坐在这里，和他嘶嘶说说话，我的宝贝。他喜欢猜谜，也许喜欢，嘶不嘶?”他急着要摆出一副友好的样子，至少暂时如此，以了解更多有关这把宝剑和这个霍比特人的事情：他是不是真的只有孤身一人?他吃起来味道好不好?咕噜自己的肚子是不是真的饿了等等。猜谜是他当时惟一能想到的。出谜语给人猜，有时候也猜别人出的谜语，这是他和那些居住在自己洞穴里的其他有趣生物之间惟一玩过的游戏，但那是很久很久以前的事了，后来他失去了所有的朋友，被人赶走，孤身一人，往下钻，往下钻，一直来到这黑暗的大山最深处。

“Very well,” said Bilbo, who was anxious to agree, until he found out more about the creature, whether he was quite alone, whether he was fierce or hungry, and whether he was a friend of the goblins.

“是的，猜吧。”比尔博迫不及待地同意了对方的提议，因为他想更多地了解这个生物：他是不是只有孤单一人，他是否很凶猛，这会儿肚子饿不饿，以及他究竟是不是半兽人的朋友。

“You ask first,” he said, because he had not had time to think of a riddle.

“你，先出谜语。”他说，因为他一时之间想不出什么谜语来。

So Gollum hissed:

于是咕噜就嘶嘶地开始说了：

What has roots as nobody sees,

什么有根却谁也见不到，

Is taller than trees,

个子比最高的大树还要高，

Up, up it goes,

它直直地插入天际，

And yet never grows?

却从来不长一分一毫?

“Easy!” said Bilbo. “Mountain, I suppose.”

“简单!”比尔博说，“应该是大山吧。”

“Does it guess easy? It must have a competition with us, my preciouss! If precious asks, and it doesn’t answer, we eats it, my preciousss. If it asks us, and we doesn’t answer, then we does what it wants, eh? We shows it the way out, yes!”

它那么容易就猜出来了吗?我的宝贝，它跟我们较上劲儿了!如果宝贝出的谜语，它猜不出来，我们就把它吃掉;如果它出的谜语我们猜不出来，我们就满足它的要求，指给它出去的路，就这么着!”

“All right!” said Bilbo, not daring to disagree, and nearly bursting his brain to think of riddles that could save him from being eaten.

“好吧!”比尔博不敢不同意，为了不让自己被吃掉，他开始绞尽脑汁思考能难倒对方的谜题。

Thirty white horses on a red hill,

三十匹白马在红色山丘上，

First they champ,

它们先是大声嚼啊嚼，

Then they stamp,

然后用力跺啊跺跺脚，

Then they stand still.

然后它们站定不动了。

That was all he could think of to ask—the idea of eating was rather on his mind. It was rather an old one, too, and Gollum knew the answer as well as you do.

这是他当时惟一想得出来的谜题——因为他满脑子都在想着吃东西。这其实是个相当古老的谜语，咕噜就和各位读者一样熟知答案。

“Chestnuts, chestnuts,” he hissed. “Teeth! teeth! my preciousss; but we has only six!” Then he asked his second:

“老掉牙了，老掉牙了。”他嘶嘶地说道，“是牙齿!牙齿!我的宝贝，可我们只剩下六颗了!”然后他又出了第二个谜语：

Voiceless it cries,

无嗓却会叫，

Wingless flutters,

无翼能飞高，

Toothless bites,

无牙却会咬，

Mouthless mutters.

无嘴爱叨叨。

“Half a moment!” cried Bilbo, who was still thinking uncomfortably about eating. Fortunately he had once heard something rather like this before, and getting his wits back he thought of the answer. “Wind, wind of course,” he said, and he was so pleased that he made up one on the spot. “This’ll puzzle the nasty little underground creature,” he thought:

“让我想一会儿!”比尔博喊道，他脑中还在满带懊恼地想着吃东西的事儿呢。所幸的是，他以前曾经听到过类似的谜语，因此心思稍一收回来之后就想出了答案。“是风，当然是风!”他刚一喊出答案，心中就一阵欣喜，因为他顺势想出了自己的第二个谜语。“这下管保叫那个恶心的地底小生物想破头!”他心中暗忖道：

An eye in a blue face

蓝色脸上一只眼，

Saw an eye in a green face.

看见绿色脸上一只眼。

“That eye is like to this eye”

“那只眼就像我这只眼，”

Said the first eye,

第一只眼说，

“But in low place, Not in high place.”

“可是它在地来我在天。”

“Ss, ss, ss,” said Gollum. He had been underground a long long time, and was forgetting this sort of thing. But just as Bilbo was beginning to hope that the wretch would not be able to answer, Gollum brought up memories of ages and ages and ages before, when he lived with his grandmother in a hole in a bank by a river, “Sss, sss, my preciouss,” he said. “Sun on the daisies it means, it does.”

“嘶嘶，嘶撕，嘶嘶。”咕噜只有“嘶撕”却说不上话来。他已在地底住了很长很长的时间了，都已经开始忘记这种事情了。但就在比尔博开始觉得这个坏家伙会猜不出答案时，咕噜却唤醒了很久很久很久以前的记忆，那时，他还和祖母一起住在河边的地洞里，“嘶嘶，撕嘶，我的宝贝，”他说，“这是太陽照在雏菊上啊，肯定是的。”

But these ordinary above ground everyday sort of riddles were tiring for him. Also they reminded him of days when he had been less lonely and sneaky and nasty, and that put him out of temper. What is more they made him hungry; so this time he tried something a bit more difficult and more unpleasant:

可是，这些简简单单的、在地面上实在是家常便饭式的谜语，对他来说却很是头疼，而且这些谜语也让他想起当年他没有这么孤独、这么鬼鬼祟祟、这么条件恶劣时的生活，这让他不由得光火起来。于是这次他想出了一个更难、更让人听了不舒服的谜语来：

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

看不见，也摸不到，

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

听不见，也闻不着。

It lies behind stars and under hills,

躲在星辰后，藏在山丘下，

And empty holes it fills.

把空洞填满。

It comes first and follows after,

它先来一点，再全部赶到，

Ends life, kills laughter.

它终止生命，扼杀欢笑。

Unfortunately for Gollum Bilbo had heard that sort of thing before; and the answer was all round him any way. “Dark!” he said without even scratching his head or putting on his thinking cap.

也该着咕噜倒楣，比尔博之前听到过这类的谜语，所以答案早就已经喷薄欲出了。“是黑夜!”他连头都没搔，脑筋也没怎么开动，就喊出了答案。

A box without hinges, key, or lid,

一只盒子没有铰链、没有销子也没有盖，

Yet golden treasure inside is hid,

但金色宝藏却能安安心心在里面藏起来。

he asked to gain time, until he could think of a really hard one. This he thought a dreadfully easy chestnut, though he had not asked it in the usual words. But it proved a nasty poser for Gollum. He hissed to himself, and still he did not answer; he whispered and spluttered.

他出这个谜语只是为了争取时间，好想出一个真正难的来。他认为这个谜既老掉了牙，又简单得要命，尽管他对常见的表述稍稍作了些改动。可没想到这竟然把咕噜给难住了。他口中不停发出撕撕声，憋了半天也没有说出答案。接着他又低声细语，嘴巴里发出各种声音。

After some while Bilbo became impatient. “Well, what is it?” he said. “The answer’s not a kettle boiling over, as you seem to think from the noise you are making.”

又过了好一阵子，比尔博开始有点不耐烦了：“好啦，答案到底是什么?从你嘴巴里发出的声音来看，你也许在考虑答案是不是煮开了的水壶，那我告诉你吧，不是。”

“Give us a chance; let it give us a chance, my preciouss—ss—ss.”

“给我们一个机会吧，让它给我们一个机会吧，我的宝贝，嘶嘶——嘶撕。”

“Well,” said Bilbo after giving him a long chance, “what about your guess?”

“我说，”比尔博在给了他很长的一个机会之后开口道，“你猜这是什么啊?”

But suddenly Gollum remembered thieving from nests long ago, and sitting under the river bank teaching his grandmother, teaching his grandmother to suck—“Eggses!” he hissed. “Eggses it is!” Then he asked:

可就在这时，咕噜突然想起了很久以前他从鸟巢里面偷东西的经历，那时他坐在河堤上教自己的祖母，教她如何吸——“蛋!”他嘶撕地喊道：“是蛋!”然后他出了一道谜：

Alive without breath,

活着却没有呼吸，

As cold as death;

冰冷有如死气;

Never thirsty, ever drinking,

永不口渴，饮水不停;

All in mail never clinking.

身披鳞甲，却无声息。

He also in his turn thought this was a dreadfully easy one, because he was always thinking of the answer. But he could not remember anything better at the moment, he was so flustered by the egg-question. All the same it was a poser for poor Bilbo, who never had anything to do with the water if he could help it. I imagine you know the answer, of course, or can guess it as easy as winking, since you are sitting comfortably at home and have not the danger of being eaten to disturb your thinking. Bilbo sat and cleared his throat once or twice, but no answer came.

这回轮到他觉得这是个简单得要命的谜语了，因为他平日里满脑子都是这个东西。不过，他因为被那个蛋的谜语弄得乱了阵脚，因此一时间想不出更好的谜语来。但是，对于这辈子尽量避免和水打交道的可怜的比尔博来说，这个谜语倒成了个大难题。我想你们应该是知道答案的，要不然也能像眨一下眼那样很容易就猜出来，因为你们此时正舒舒服服地坐在家里，没有猜错就被吃掉的危险来打扰你们思考。比尔博坐直身子，清了一两声嗓子，还没有说出来答案。

After a while Gollum began to hiss with pleasure to himself: “Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?” He began to peer at Bilbo out of the darkness.

过了一会儿，咕噜开始高兴地撕嘶着对自己说起话来：“它好吃吗，我的宝贝?有很多汁水吗?还是生脆可口?”他开始在黑暗中打量起比尔博来。

“Half a moment,” said the hobbit shivering. “I gave you a good long chance just now.”

“再等一小会儿。”霍比特人颤抖着说，“我刚才可是给了你很长的一个机会哦。”

“It must make haste, haste!” said Gollum, beginning to climb out of his boat on to the shore to get at Bilbo. But when he put his long webby foot in the water, a fish jumped out in a fright and fell on Bilbo’s toes.

“快点，快点!”咕噜说着就开始爬出小船，准备上岸来捉比尔博了。可就在他把有蹼的长脚放进水中时，一条鱼受惊之下从水里跳了出来，落在比尔博的脚趾头上。

“Ugh!” he said, “it is cold and clammy!”—and so he guessed. “Fish! fish!” he cried. “It is fish!”

“呃!”他说，“真是又冷又黏啊!”——突然他就猜到了。“鱼!是鱼!”他叫了起来，“答案是鱼!”

Gollum was dreadfully disappointed; but Bilbo asked another riddle as quick as ever he could, so that Gollum had to get back into his boat and think.

咕噜失望极了，但比尔博以最快的速度出了下一个谜语，咕噜只能悻悻地爬回船上去思考。

No-legs lay on one-leg, two-legs sat near on three-legs, four-legs got some.

没有腿的放在一条腿上，旁边是两条腿的坐在三条腿上，四条腿的也分到一点。

It was not really the right time for this riddle, but Bilbo was in a hurry. Gollum might have had some trouble guessing it, if he had asked it at another time. As it was, talking of fish, “no-legs” was not so very difficult, and after that the rest was easy. “Fish on a little table, man at table sitting on a stool, the cat has the bones” that of course is the answer, and Gollum soon gave it. Then he thought the time had come to ask something hard and horrible. This is what he said:

这个谜语出得可谓时机不对，但比尔博匆忙间也顾不得了。如果他在别的时候出这个谜语，咕噜可能要动上一番脑筋才猜得出来，可因为他们刚刚才说过鱼，所以“没有腿的”就不是很难猜了，而确定了这部分之后，其余的就简单了。“鱼放在小圆桌上，人坐在圆桌边的凳子上，猫儿在啃鱼骨头”，这当然就是答案，咕噜很快就猜了出来。然后，他觉得是时候来点恐怖的、超难的谜语了。于是他说：

This thing all things devours:

能把一切都吞下：

Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;

飞鸟、走兽、树与花;

Gnaws iron, bites steel;

啃生铁，咬精钢;

Grinds hard stones to meal;

嚼碎硬石当食粮;

Slays king, ruins town,

杀国王，毁城镇，

And beats high mountain down.

打倒高山成齑粉。

Poor Bilbo sat in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all the giants and ogres he had ever heard told of in tales, but not one of them had done all these things. He had a feeling that the answer was quite different and that he ought to know it, but he could not think of it. He began to get frightened, and that is bad for thinking. Gollum began to get out of his boat. He flapped into the water and paddled to the bank; Bilbo could see his eyes coming towards him. His tongue seemed to stick in his mouth; he wanted to shout out: “Give me more time! Give me time!” But all that came out with a sudden squeal was:

可怜的比尔博坐在黑暗中，把他听过的故事中所有巨人和食人魔的可怕名字都想了一遍，但没有哪个家伙能做下所有这些事来。他有种预感，答案一定和他想的不太一样，他应该知道，但就是想不出来。他开始害怕了，这对于思考是很不利的。咕噜又开始爬出船来，扑通扑通跳进水里，啪嗒啪嗒朝岸上走来。比尔博可以看见他那双眼睛在朝自己靠近，他觉得自己的舌头好像粘在了嘴里。他想要开口大喊：“再给我一点时间，再给我一点时间!”可从他嘴里迸出来的相连的两个词却是：

“Time! Time!”

“时间!时间!”

Bilbo was saved by pure luck. For that of course was the answer.

比尔博纯粹是被他的狗屎运给救了，因为这刚好就是答案。

Gollum was disappointed once more; and now he was getting angry, and also tired of the game. It had made him very hungry indeed. This time he did not go back to the boat. He sat down in the dark by Bilbo. That made the hobbit most dreadfully uncomfortable and scattered his wits.

咕哨再次大感失望，现在，他已经越来越生气了，也厌倦了这个游戏。猜来猜去的，肚子倒真的饿了。这次他没有走回船上，而是在比尔博身边的黑暗中坐了下来，这让霍比特人怕得浑身不自在，脑子一点思考能力也没有了。

“It’s got to ask uss a quesstion, my preciouss, yes, yess, yesss. Jusst one more question to guess, yes, yess,” said Gollum.

“它还要再问我们一个问题，我的宝贝，嘶的，嘶的，嘶嘶的。只要再猜一个谜语了，是的，嘶嘶的……”咕噜说。

But Bilbo simply could not think of any question with that nasty wet cold thing sitting next to him, and pawing and poking him. He scratched himself, he pinched himself; still he could not think of anything.

可是，身边坐着这样一个冷冰冰湿漉漉的讨厌家伙，对他又抓又戳的，比尔博哪还能想得出什么问题来。他对自己又抓又掐，可还是想不出个谜语来。

“Ask us! ask us!” said Gollum.

“快出啊!快出啊!”咕噜催道。

Bilbo pinched himself and slapped himself; he gripped on his little sword; he even felt in his pocket with his other hand. There he found the ring he had picked up in the passage and forgotten about.

比尔博掐了自己几下，又扇了自己几个巴掌;他抓起小剑，甚至用另一只手伸进口袋里一通乱摸，结果摸到了一枚戒指，就是之前在隧道里捡到的那枚，它早就给忘了。

“What have I got in my pocket?” he said aloud. He was talking to himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully upset.

“我的口袋里面有什么?”他大声说了出来，这在他只是自言自语，但咕噜听了以为这是个谜题，一下子有点慌了神。

“Not fair! not fair!” he hissed. “It isn’t fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it’s got in its nassty little pocketses?”

“不公平!这不公平!”他嘶嘶地说道，“这不公平，我的宝贝，是吧，怎么可以问我们它的脏口袋里面有嘶嘶什么呢?”

Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask stuck to his question, “What have I got in my pocket?” he said louder.

比尔博这才明白究竟是怎么回事，但因为他也想不出什么更好的谜语来，只能硬着头皮就把这个当谜语了。“我的口袋里面有什么?”他更大声地问道。

“S-s-s-s-s,” hissed Gollum. “It must give us three guesseses, my preciouss, three guesseses.”

“嘶——嘶——嘶，它得让我们猜三次，我的宝贝，三次!”

“Very well! Guess away!” said Bilbo.

“好啊!那就开始猜吧!”比尔博说。

“Handses!” said Gollum.

“你的手!”咕噜说。

“Wrong,” said Bilbo, who had luckily just taken his hand out again. “Guess again!”

“错，”幸好比尔博刚刚把手拿了出来，“再猜!”

“S-s-s-s-s,” said Gollum more upset than ever. He thought of all the things he kept in his own pockets: fish-bones, goblins’ teeth, wet shells, a bit of bat-wing, a sharp stone to sharpen his fangs on, and other nasty things. He tried to think what other people kept in their pockets.

“嘶嘶——嘶嘶——嘶——”咕噜这次前所未有地烦躁起来。他想遍了所有他自己会放在口袋里的东西：鱼骨头、半兽人的牙齿、湿贝壳、一截蝙蝠翅膀、一块用来磨牙的石头，以及其他恶心的东西。他又拼命想别人会在口袋里放些什么。

“Knife!” he said at last.

“小刀!”他最后猜道。

“Wrong!” said Bilbo, who had lost his some time ago. “Last guess!”

“错!”比尔博不久前把自己的小刀给弄丢了，“最后一次机会!”

Now Gollum was in a much worse state than when Bilbo had asked him the egg-question. He hissed and spluttered and rocked himself backwards and forwards, and slapped his feet on the floor, and wriggled and squirmed; but still he did not dare to waste his last guess.

现在，咕噜的状态比之前猜那个蛋的谜语时更糟糕，他嘴巴里一会儿“嘶嘶”，一会儿“啪啪”，身体时而前后摇晃，时而扭来扭去，双脚跺着地面，但即便如此，他还是不敢浪费掉最后一次机会。