本篇節(jié)選自《馴龍高手》原著，由譯者：學(xué)有所長無償漢化，僅供參考，請酌情引用譯文。未經(jīng)譯者授權(quán)禁止轉(zhuǎn)載譯文。

作者信息

作者：克蕾西達(dá)·考威爾（原著）

譯者：學(xué)有所長

譯文：

在恐懼龍游到伯克島六周之后，小嗝嗝·恐怖黑線鱈三世（Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third）抬著頭，看著他的父親，大塊頭史圖伊克，毛霍里根（Hairy Hooligan）部落的首領(lǐng)。

“我覺得你錯了，父親。”小嗝嗝結(jié)巴地說。

伯克島的大廳里塞滿了維京戰(zhàn)士們。比起六周前，他們的肚子沒那么圓了，大腿也沒那么壯了，但是他們?nèi)匀幌褚郧澳菢泳薮螅K臭。這群肌肉結(jié)實，毛發(fā)旺盛的維京人驚恐地倒吸一口氣，然后把視線轉(zhuǎn)向小嗝嗝。小嗝嗝一只腿站著，臉紅到了耳尖。

小嗝嗝可能不是你認(rèn)為的典型的霍里根人。

他瘦小但是看起來機制，面孔毫無特色，一般很難脫穎而出。在吃得很少的六個月之后，他只剩皮包骨頭了，從衣服里伸出來的胳膊就像棍子一樣。

“錯了？”大塊頭史圖伊克大喊，“你認(rèn)為我錯了？？？？”

史圖伊克則和他完全不同，雖然他已經(jīng)不是像以前那樣的大塊頭了（因為恐懼龍他不得不節(jié)食導(dǎo)致如此），但是他的胸肌還是健壯到能讓一只一般大小的公牛流下嫉妒的眼淚。

而他大吼的時候，吼聲就像一只恐龍的戰(zhàn)吼一樣，所以甚至在旁邊的島上都還能清楚聽到這句微弱的溫柔的話。

小嗝嗝費力地咽了一下。

“是的，父親。”他大膽地說，“我認(rèn)為你錯了?！?/p>

史圖伊克此時正在大廳召開緊急會議宣布他的“解決恐懼龍的機智策略”。

史圖伊克不是那種在這種事情上最聰明的野蠻人（barbarian）。實際上，他的腦細(xì)胞只剛好夠控制他抬起一只腿落到另一只腿前面。

所以為了想出這個計劃，他幾個星期都夜不能寐，白天則忍著痛苦，得要打嗝戈伯（Gobber the Belch）扶著他的右臂，給他敷熱毛巾，讓他進(jìn)行耗費精力的思考過程。

因此史圖伊克聽到他的機智策略被批評的時候并不高興。

計劃是這樣的：

史圖伊克的機智策略

1.全部落早起以便偷襲這只生物。

2.出海，用斧頭敲打盾牌迷惑這只生物。

3.打這只怪物打到它死去或者游走。

4.開魚筵并設(shè)立年度盛宴慶祝這一時刻，并將這一天命名為“恐懼龍之日”

“如果你像這樣激怒了恐懼龍的話，它可能會自衛(wèi)反擊的?！毙∴绵谜f，“我認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)該試著和他聊聊，問問他想要什么……”

“和他聊聊？”史圖伊克大吼，“說龍語是被靜止的，你也知道。而且傳說里恐懼龍是群島中最可怕最超自然的生物，它的力量是很可怕的……”

“那好吧，”小嗝嗝固執(zhí)地說，“要是不能和它聊聊的話我認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)該再耐心點，等它離開?！?/p>

大塊頭史圖伊克氣得發(fā)紫了，都要氣炸了?！澳托?？”史圖伊克憤怒地咆哮，“我已經(jīng)吃了六個月的帽貝了！這還不算耐心的話那什么算耐心！”

“沒錯，但是父親——”小嗝嗝爭辯道。

“安靜！”史圖伊克喊道，“首領(lǐng)已經(jīng)決定了！全部男女老幼，包括龍，明天都要參與這個機制策略！恐懼龍必須死！”

“進(jìn)攻！”維京人們喊道，他們雖然餓著肚子，仍然舉起了他們疲憊的手臂，“恐懼龍明天必死！”

小嗝嗝最好的朋友魚腿（Fishlegs），是整個霍里根部落里各個方面都比小嗝嗝更差的人。魚腿有哮喘，氣疹，還不幸對爬行動物過敏。

此時，他嘆了口氣，對小嗝嗝說：“你是無法說服他們的，小嗝嗝。你知道他們是怎么樣的人。等了一段時間后他們就是得去打些什么東西，無論這么做有多蠢。你就像是想要讓一群過于激動的疣豬耐心一樣?！?/p>

小嗝嗝也嘆了口氣?！拔抑溃俏揖褪菍@個恐懼龍的事情有一種很不祥的感覺。”小嗝嗝咽了一下口水。他想起他在傳說中讀到的一下關(guān)于恐懼龍的事情，肚子惡心地翻騰了一下，“我聽說有一艘維京船只不幸遭遇了一只恐懼龍……等他們回到港口的時候——”小嗝嗝的聲音變得很小，“——他們每一個都沒了頭。他們就坐在那里，還握著他們的槳……但是每一個人都沒有頭。難怪別的龍都這么怕他們?！?/p>

魚腿嘆了口氣，揉了揉他的脖子?！拔乙詾樗麄冎皇悄茏屇惆l(fā)瘋。但是他們是能把整個頭都弄掉，是吧？你知道，我還是很喜歡我的頭的?！濒~腿說，“我和我的頭關(guān)系可好了。愛說我老頑固就說吧，但是我還是堅決要讓我的頭留在他該在的地方的。”

房梁上停著打獵龍們，他們就像鱷魚一樣巨大，瘦薄的皮膚下肋骨清晰可見，他們的眼睛關(guān)注著下面歡呼的維京人們。這些龍有滑牙龍（Slitherfangs），葛倫科龍（Gronckles），兇魘龍（Monstrous Nightmares）——眾多不同的龍。明天誰將獲勝？龍群想著。無論是誰獲勝，我們都能有吃的了。

你看，龍對他們的人類主人的忠誠是有限的。而且這些龍也非常饑餓了。

原文：

Six weeks after the Dreader first swam to the Isle of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third looked up at his father, Stoick the Vast, the Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe.

'I think you’re wrong. Father,’ stammered Hiccup.

The Great Hall on Berk was full to bursting with Hooligan Warriors, slightly less large of belly and chunky of thigh than they had been six weeks before, but still an impressively gigantic and unwashed lot.

This mass of muscled, hairy Vikings gave a gasp of horror and turned to gaze at Hiccup, who stood on one leg and turned red to the tips of his ears.

Hiccup was not what you might call a typical Hooligan.

He was thin and clever-looking, with the kind of entirely unmemorable face that does not normally stick out in a crowd. After six weeks of eating very little, he was just skin and bone, and his elbows stuck out of his shirt like sticks.

‘Wrong?’ bellowed Stoick the Vast.'You think I’m WRONG????’

Stoick, on the other hand, although Not-as-Vast-as-He-Normally-Was (owing to the forced diet as a result of the Dreader’s presence), still had muscles on his chest that would have made a decent-sized bull weep tears of jealousy.

And when he bellowed, he BELLOWED like a dinosaur declaring war, so these gentle words could have been heard faintly but clearly on the neighbouring island.

Hiccup swallowed hard.

‘Yes, Father,’ he repeated defiantly. ‘I think you’re wrong.’

Stoick had called an emergency meeting in the Great Hall to present his ‘Clever and Intelligent Plan for Getting Rid of the Dreader’.

Stoick was not the brightest barbarian in the business. In fact, he had just about enough brain-cells to keep one gigantic leg moving in front of the other.

So this Plan had taken him weeks of sleepless nights, and painful days, with Gobber the Belch holding his sword-arm and applying hot towels while he went through the exhausting process of thinking.

And as a result Stoick wasn’t too happy about the Clever and Intelligent Plan being criticised.

The Plan was this:

‘If you provoke the Dreader like this,it might attack out of self-defence,’ said Hiccup, ‘I think we should try and talk to it, and ask it what it wants...'

‘TALK TO IT?’ yelled Stoick. ‘The speaking of Dragonese is forbidden, as well you know. And Legend tells us that the Dreader is one of the most fearsome and supernatural creatures in the Archipelago. Its power is horrific...’

‘Well then,’ said Hiccup stubbornly, ‘if we can’t talk to it I think we should be patient a little longer, and wait for it to go away’

Stoick the Vast swelled and turned purple with temper. ‘BE PATIENT?’ stormed Stoick the Vast furiously. ‘I’ve been eating limpets for the last six weeks! If that’s not patience, I don’t know what is.’

‘Yes, but Father—’ argued Hiccup.

‘SILENCEI’ roared Stoick. ‘The Chief has spoken! Every man, woman, child and dragon will joiu in the Clever and Intelligent Plan tomorrow! The Dreader must die!’

‘ATTACK!' bellowed the Vikings, raising weary arms despite their empty tummies. ‘The Dreader dies tomorrow!’

Fishlegs, Hiccup’s best friend, was the only person in the Hooligan Tribe who was worse at everything Vikingy?than Hiccup. Fishlegs had asthma, eczema, and an inconvenient allergy to reptiles.

Now he sighed, and said to Hiccup, ‘You’re not going to persuade them. Hiccup. You know what they’re like. After a while they just have to go and BASH something, however stupid an idea that is. It’s like asking a whole load of over-excited warthogs to be patient.’

Hiccup sighed too. ‘I know, I just have a really bad feeling about this Dreader business.’ Hiccup swallowed. His stomach did a couple of nauseating flip-flops as he thought about some of the things he had found out about the Dreader in the sagas he had read. ‘I heard about one Viking ship that had a nasty encounter with a Dreader... and when they came

back to Harbour -’ Hiccup’s voice dropped to a whisper every one of them had lost their heads. They were all sitting there, still holding their oars... but not a head on any of them. No wonder all the other dragons are frightened of them.’

Fishlegs sighed and rubbed his neck. 'I thought they were just supposed to send you mad. But they remove your whole head, do they? %u see. I’m very fond of my head,’ said Fishlegs. ‘Me and my head go way back. Call me old-fashioned but I’m definitely keen on keeping it right where it is.’

Up in the rafters perched the hunting-dragons, large as crocodiles, their ribs showing through their thin skin, their eyes watching the cheering Vikings down below. There were Slitherfangs, Gronckles, Monstrous Nightmares - a multitude of dragon species. Who will win the day tomorrow? thought the dragons. Whoever it is, we shall get fed at last.

Dragons, you see, are only faithful to their human masters up to a certain point. And the dragons were hungry too.