《丛林故事》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived. “Augrh!” said Father Wolf. “It is time to hunt again.” He was going to spring down hill when a little shadow with a bushy tail crossed the threshold and whined: “Good luck go with you, O Chief of the Wolves. And good luck and strong white teeth go with noble children that they may never forget the hungry in this world.”

西奥尼山区一个酷热的傍晚，七点钟了，狼爸爸睡了一天，醒来后搔搔身子，打个哈欠，又一只接一只地伸开爪子，抖掉爪尖上的睡意。狼妈妈躺在那儿，灰色的大鼻子垂在四只翻来滚去、尖声叫唤的狼崽身上，月光照进了他们全家居住的山洞口。「嗷呜！」狼爸爸说。「又该去打猎了。」他正要纵身往山下跳，这时一个尾巴蓬松的小影子跨过洞口，呜呜地说：「祝你好运，狼群的首领。祝你们高贵的孩子们好运，长一口坚利的白牙，让他们永远别忘了这世上的饿肚子。

“Good luck go with you, O chief of the wolves.”

「祝你好运，狼群的首领。」

It was the jackal—Tabaqui, the Dish-licker—and the wolves of India despise Tabaqui because he runs about making mischief, and telling tales, and eating rags and pieces of leather from the village rubbish-heaps. But they are afraid of him too, because Tabaqui, more than anyone else in the jungle, is apt to go mad, and then he forgets that he was ever afraid of anyone, and runs through the forest biting everything in his way. Even the tiger runs and hides when little Tabaqui goes mad, for madness is the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature. We call it hydrophobia, but they call it dewanee—the madness—and run.

来的是豺狗，舔食剩饭的塔巴奇。印度各地的狼都瞧不起塔巴奇，因为他到处乱跑，惹是生非，搬弄口舌，还从村子的垃圾堆里捡破布烂皮吃。可他们也怕他，因为丛林里谁也比不上塔巴奇容易发疯。一发疯，他就忘了自己也曾怕过谁，在森林里乱窜，见什么咬什么。小塔巴奇发起疯来，连老虎也要跑开躲起来，因为发疯是野兽能遭上的最丢脸的事。我们管这叫恐水病，他们却叫它德瓦尼，也就是疯病，一发作就四处乱跑。

“Enter, then, and look,” said Father Wolf stiffly, “but there is no food here.”

「那就进来看看吧，」狼爸爸硬邦邦地说，「可这儿没有吃的。」

“For a wolf, no,” said Tabaqui, “but for so mean a person as myself a dry bone is a good feast. Who are we, the Gidur-log [the jackal people], to pick and choose?” He scuttled to the back of the cave, where he found the bone of a buck with some meat on it, and sat cracking the end merrily.

「对狼来说是没有，」塔巴奇说，「可对我这么个下贱东西，一根干骨头就是一顿美餐。我们吉杜尔，也就是豺狗一族，哪有挑三拣四的份儿？」他溜到洞底，找到一根带点肉的鹿骨，坐下来高高兴兴地啃骨头那头。

“All thanks for this good meal,” he said, licking his lips. “How beautiful are the noble children! How large are their eyes! And so young too! Indeed, indeed, I might have remembered that the children of kings are men from the beginning.”

「多谢这顿好饭，」他舔着嘴唇说。「高贵的孩子们多漂亮啊！眼睛多大啊！还这么小！真的，真的，我早该记得，国王的孩子生下来就是男子汉。」

Now, Tabaqui knew as well as anyone else that there is nothing so unlucky as to compliment children to their faces. It pleased him to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable.

塔巴奇跟别人一样清楚，当面夸孩子是最不吉利的事。看见狼爸爸狼妈妈不自在，他心里挺得意。

Tabaqui sat still, rejoicing in the mischief that he had made, and then he said spitefully:

塔巴奇坐着不动，为自己惹出的麻烦暗暗高兴，随后又恶狠狠地说：

“Shere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his hunting grounds. He will hunt among these hills for the next moon, so he has told me.”

「大个子谢尔汗换了猎场。他告诉我，下一个月要在这一带山里打猎。」

Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty miles away.

谢尔汗是住在二十英里外韦恩贡加河附近的那只老虎。

“He has no right!” Father Wolf began angrily—“By the Law of the Jungle he has no right to change his quarters without due warning. He will frighten every head of game within ten miles, and I—I have to kill for two, these days.”

「他没有这个权利！」狼爸爸气冲冲地说，「按丛林法则，他不事先打招呼就换地盘，是没有这个权利的。他会把十英里内的猎物全吓跑，而我，我这阵子还得为两张嘴打猎呢。」

“His mother did not call him Lungri [the Lame One] for nothing,” said Mother Wolf quietly. “He has been lame in one foot from his birth. That is why he has only killed cattle. Now the villagers of the Waingunga are angry with him, and he has come here to make our villagers angry. They will scour the jungle for him when he is far away, and we and our children must run when the grass is set alight. Indeed, we are very grateful to Shere Khan!”

「他妈妈给他起名叫伦格里，也就是瘸子，不是没来由的，」狼妈妈平静地说。「他生下来就瘸一只脚。所以他只能杀牛。如今韦恩贡加的村民恨透了他，他就跑到这儿来，惹得我们的村民也发火。他们会在远处搜遍丛林找他，可草一点着，遭殃的却是我们和我们的孩子。真的，我们可真得感谢谢尔汗！」

“Shall I tell him of your gratitude?” said Tabaqui.

「要我把你们的感谢告诉他吗？」塔巴奇说。

“Out!” snapped Father Wolf. “Out and hunt with thy master. Thou hast done harm enough for one night.”

「滚！」狼爸爸厉声说。「滚出去，跟你主子打猎去。你今晚造的孽够多了。」

“I go,” said Tabaqui quietly. “Ye can hear Shere Khan below in the thickets. I might have saved myself the message.”

「我走，」塔巴奇平静地说。「你们听，谢尔汗就在下面的灌木丛里。我本来可以省了这趟报信的。」