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：

故事并不總都是遵照事實(shí)的……

除了這個(gè)。

關(guān)于在恐懼龍(Dreader)之日發(fā)生了什么，有很多的故事。吟游詩人們在火堆旁邊講述著關(guān)于那一天的各種傳奇。但是我必須警告你，親愛的讀者或者聽眾，故事并不總是遵照事實(shí)的。吟游詩人很容易講得太過激動(dòng)。故事里面很容易加上各種傳說，被各種夸張，就是這樣，一步步地，一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)地……事實(shí)就迷失在了這些過程里。

因此，我要第一次告訴你們真實(shí)的故事，關(guān)于在那可怕的一天到底發(fā)生了什么的事實(shí)……

這是真的，我保證。

在一個(gè)可怕的冬天里，一只萬分恐怖的海龍從大海深處游了上來，就像是索爾的壞脾氣一樣。他游到了小伯克島（little Isle of Berk，字面意思是小傻瓜島）周圍的水域里，然后就留在那里黑暗的海泥之中。你看不到他；唯一能看到的只有長長的黑影，水中一片巨大的黑洞，大小甚至有島那么大。

這只海龍的名字是‘恐懼龍’。

恐懼龍不是普通的海龍。

海洋里每一只龍都害怕恐懼龍。

鯊蟲龍（Sharkworms），暗息龍(Darkbreather)和厄牙龍（Doomfangs）看到它都作鳥獸散。甚至大得多的龍，比如強(qiáng)大的海龍巨無霸(Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus)，這種就像水下大山一樣的龍，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)看到天邊的恐懼龍，都會(huì)發(fā)出恐懼的驚叫，然后一擺它強(qiáng)力的尾巴，消失在海洋深處。

因?yàn)閾?jù)說恐懼龍擁有一種真正恐怖的力量。

傳說中它能吸干獵物身體里每一滴體液，讓獵物變得像一張干薄的紙一樣。還有說法是它單純是清除獵物的神志，或者大腦，或者心臟，讓獵物陷入瘋狂，或者變成一攤死肉。

霍里根人（Hooligans，字面意思為小流氓）因?yàn)楹ε卤P踞在他們的港灣的恐懼龍，而不敢派出任何船或者打獵龍去離島捕魚。他們在等待恐懼龍離開。

他們等啊，等啊，等啊。

他們一邊等，一邊吃干凈他們能在伯克島上找到的所有東西。

他們吃完了吸附在巖石上的大黑貽貝，然后吃完了他們在沙灘上能找到的全部扇貝，牡蠣，還有大大的多汁的蛤蜊。

但是恐懼龍還是沒有走。

最終，住在小伯克島上的霍里根人和他們的龍不可避免地開始感到饑餓……

原文：

Stories do not always tell the truth...

Except for this one.

Many stories have been told about what happened on THE DAY OF THE DREADER. Many sagas have been sung by the bards at the fireside. But I have to warn you, dear reader or listener, stories do not always tell the truth. The bard gets carried away. Legends get added to and exaggerated, and so gradually, gradually... the truth gets lost along the way.

Here, for the very first time, I shall tell you the real story, the truth about what really happened on that dreadful day...

It is the truth, I promise.

One terrible winter, a truly dreadful Seadragon rose up from the depths of the ocean like a bad mood from Thor and swam to the waters surrounding the little Isle of Berk and took root in the dark mud there. You could not see him; all that was visible was a long dark shadow, a deep depression in the water that was so big it was almost as long as the island itself.

The name of that Seadragon was a ‘Dreader’.

The Dreader was no ordinary Seadragon.

Every single dragon in the ocean was frightened of a Dreader.

Sharkworms and Darkbreathers and Doomfangs all scattered like flies at the sight of it. Even a much larger dragon like the mighty Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, a dragon the size of an underwater mountain, would give a snort of terror when it spotted a Dreader on the horizon, and with one flap of its mighty tail, it would disappear into the depths of the ocean.

For it was said that a Dreader had a power that was truly dreadful indeed.

Legend had it that it sucked out every drop of moisture from its victim’s?body, leaving it as thin and desiccated as a ’piece of paper. Or it merely removed its senses, or its brain or its heart, leaving it mad as a box of frogs, or a lifeless lump of flesh.

The Hooligans were so frightened of the Dreader lurking by their shore, that no boats or hunting-dragons could leave the island to hunt fish. They were waiting for the Dreader to go away.

They waited, and waited, and waited.

And as they waited, they ate everything they could find on the little Isle of Berk.

They ate all the fat black mussels that clung to the rocks. They ate all the scallops and oysters and big juicy clams they could find on the beaches.

But the Dreader would not go away.

And slowly but surely, the Hooligans and the dragons on the little Isle of Berk began to starve...