浅译：奇幻猫(十四 • 1)
Chapter Fourteen: LaOursville(1)
第十四章：LaOursville(1)
1
The first week was awful, the second week worse. Only Lillian's stubborn detemination kept her at her tasks instead of flinging a broom or mop into the bear woman's face.
第一周糟透了，第二周更严重。 Lillian只有靠她顽强的意志维持着，得以继续做她的苦差事，要不然她就朝熊女人的那张脸扔扫把或者直接扑过去了。
Mother Manan made Lillian clean the house from top to bottom, as she had no patience for even the smallest bit of dirt. Lillian worked from dawn to dusk, dusting every surface and sweeping under beds and behind dressers. Heavy cupboards had to be pulled away from the walls with no one to help. She scrubbed stone floors and walls on her knees with a bucket and brush, carrying the water back and forth from the well. She cleaned the chimney, hearth, and woodstove. She emptied and rinsed the chamber pot, a task that utterly disgusted her, but she did it without complaint.
Manan妈妈让Lillian从上到下打扫整个屋子，好像她看不得一点尘土。Lillian从早劳作到晚，掸每个东西表面的尘，打扫床下和碗柜背后。没人帮忙也把重重的柜橱从墙边挪开了。她跪着用桶和刷子，擦洗石头地板跟墙壁，还去水井边来来回回地拎水。她打扫了烟囱、灶台，还有柴炉。她倒了夜壶，还给冲洗了，这是一件让她恶心得透透彻彻的任务，但她还是毫不抱怨地做了。
(图片摄于镰仓的江之岛, 2016.11.5，正脸)
If Mother Manan found anything Lillian had missed, she would insist that Lillian begin all over again. It was an impossible task, not helped by the endless parade of visitors who came to pay their respects to Mother Manan, none of whom bothered to wipe their feet.
如果Manan妈妈发现Lillian遗漏了什么没有打扫，她就会坚持要Lillian重新来过一遍。这是一项不可能的任务，打扫根本没用，因为有无止境的成群的访客来致意Manan妈妈，这些人没人会麻烦地去擦脚。
Lillian also saw to Mother Manan's meals and hospitality. Paying homage to Mother Manan seemed to be the bear people's only pastime. They all had voracious appetites, so Lillian had to bake cakes and berry pies and pastries for the many visitors who came calling. She brewed tea or coffee and had to clean up everything after they were gone, only to have new guests arrive as soon as she'd finished.
Lillian 也负责Manan妈妈的餐食和招待客人。向Manan妈妈表达敬意看起来似乎是这些熊人们唯一的娱乐。他们全都胃口很大，所以Lillian不得不烘培蛋糕、浆果派和甜点给许多来拜访的客人。她还煮茶、咖啡，还要等客人走后收拾干净，而她一收拾完就来了新的客人。
When darkness fell she collapsed onto the pallet Mother Manan had provided in a small windowless room beside the pantry. She always knew when morning had come because at dawn Mother Manan would pound on the floor with her staff, summoning Lillian to another day's labor.
当夜幕降临，她瘫软在Manan妈妈提供的简陋小床上，这张床在一间没有窗户、靠近食品储藏室的屋子里。她总是能知道什么时候天亮了，因为黎明时分，Manan妈妈就会跟她那的人一起撞击地板，号召Lillian去干另一天的活。
But she had her small rebellions.
但她有自己的小反抗。
The bear people, she discovered, hoarded food and resented sharing beyond their own clan, so she took great pleasure in throwing extra seeds to the wild birds when she was feeding Mother Manan's chickens in the nearby communal barn. After she cleaned the coop and collected the eggs, she'd milk the cows and put out saucers for the cats that lived in the barn or came soft-stepping from the forest. These cats twined around her legs and butted up against her -- like the cats back on Aunt's farm once had.
她发现，熊人族们储存食物，而且很讨厌在族外分享，于是她在给Manan妈妈喂鸡时，就非常高兴地多扔了些种子给公共牲口棚附近的野鸟。 她打扫完鸡窝和捡了鸡蛋以后，她给奶牛挤牛奶，然后放几碟牛奶给生活在牲口棚里的猫咪们，还有从森林里爬缓坡而来的猫咪们。这些猫成对地围绕她腿边，对着她一个接一个地排着——就像回到了姑姑农场里的那些猫曾经的那样。
Every morning she brought a biscuit and left it under what appeared to be the most gnarled and ancient tree in the orchard. "That's for you, Mr. Apple Tree Man," she'd say before returning to her endless circle of chores.
每天早晨，她带一块饼干，放在果园里，看起来有最多树节和古老的树下。“那是给你的，苹果树人现实。”，在开始她无尽的循环的家务杂活前，她会先这么说。
The biscuits were always gone the next day. Lillian pretended that the Apple Tree Man stepped out of his tree to eat them until the day she spied a fox darting out of the orchard with a biscuit in its mouth. That made her smile.
饼干总是在第二天就消失了。Lillian假装认为是苹果树人从树里走出来吃了它们，直到那天，她发现一只狐狸嘴里含着一块饼干，从果园里飞奔而出。那让她会心一笑。
"You enjoy that, Mr. Fox!" she called after the thief, but the next day she put another biscuit all the same.
“你喜欢吃那个哈，狐狸先生！” 她在小贼身后大喊道，不过第二天她仍然会放一块饼干在那。
(图片摄于镰仓的江之岛, 2016.11.5，侧脸)
2
The only chore that she herself truly enjoying came late in the afternoon, when she was sent out to the berry patches to fill a bucket. Whenever she was outside, she dawdled, taking time to talk to the birds and appreciate the beauties of the valley and LaOursville, all of which seemed so at odds with how the townsfolk lived their lives, mostly indoors with all the windows shuttered against . . .well, Lillian didn't know what. And when she went berry-picking, she went so slow that snails could have raced her to the patch and won.
唯一一件杂活，她自己真心喜欢的，是下午晚些时候，她被送去浆果地拿桶采摘的时候。无论何时她在外面，她都慢悠悠的，花时间跟鸟儿说话，欣赏峡谷和LaOursville的美丽。而那些城里人怎么生活的，一切看起来很奇怪，大部分时间都呆在室内，所有的窗户都用百叶窗，隔绝着 . . .好吧，Lillian不知道是要隔绝什么。当她又开始摘浆果时，她走得如此之慢，蜗牛跟她比赛谁先到地那边，都能赢。
At the beginning of her third week in LaOursville, Lillian started her day as always, making her way to Mother Manan's bedroom with a tray of biscuits smothered in honey and a steaming-hot mug of tea. She set it down on the night table and opened the heavy curtains. She stood there for a moment, still able to appreciate the beautiful view, before turning back to the foot of the bed to await Mother Manan's orders for the day.
在LaOursville的第三周开始了，她像平常一样开始了她的一天，端着一盘涂着蜂蜜的饼干和一杯冒着热气的茶，去Manan妈妈的卧室。她放到床头柜上，拉开了重重的窗帘。她在那站了一会儿，在转身回床尾等侯Manan妈妈当天的吩咐前，她仍享受着，那一会儿没有命令的美好时刻。
The bear woman sat up and leaned back against the headboard. Her gaze held Lillian's, measuring and dark.
这个熊妇人坐起来，斜靠在床头板上，她忖度着的，而且深邃的凝视，控制住了Lillian的目光。
"You're doing better than I expected," she finally said. "You work well, and without a word of complaint."
“你做的比我预想的好，” 她终于开口说话。“你做得很好，而且没有一句抱怨之言。”
Lillian shrugged. "We made an agreement. I expect you'll soon be wanting to hear about my dream."
Lillian 耸耸肩。“我们有协议的。我期望你能很快想听我的梦。”
"Not yet. Joen tells me the barn needs cleaning. When you've finished dusting in the parlor, see to it."
"还没到那时候。Joen告诉我牲口棚那需要清理。你打扫完客厅后，去处理下吧。"
What about your side of our bargain? Lillian wanted to demand, but she knew that part of the bargain was for her to work without complaint.
关于我们的交易你那边是什么？Lillian想知道，但她清楚交易的内容里她这边是要不能抱怨地劳作。
(图片摄于镰仓的江之岛, 2016.11.5，背影)
She left the bedroom, closing the door quietyly behind her. It was all she could do to not slam it in frustration.
她离开了卧室，轻轻地关上身后的门。这是所有她能做的，不去沮丧地砰地关上门。
She'd begun to suspect that the bear people were taking out on her the bitterness they felt toward Aunt Nancy. Maybe Aunt Nancy really had eaten some of their kind when she was a little girl. Not like in John's story, but the way folks in the hills would shoot game for their dinner.
他开始怀疑，熊人族在把Nancy姑姑带给他们的痛苦发泄到她身上。也许Nancy姑姑小时候真的吃了他们的族人。不像John讲的故事那样，而是像山里的人们为了晚餐进行的射击游戏那样的方式。
Because stars were stars--not holes left in some magic blanket of the night from when a bunch of spider spirits came dropping down on their silky threads to rescue a little girl. Though the bear people did appear to have a powerful fear of spiders and their webs. She'd often seen one of them shriek and jump out of the way a spider spied on a step, or hanging from the roof of a porch.
因为星星就是星星——而不是什么，成群的蜘蛛精为了救一个小女孩，沿着他们丝滑的蜘蛛丝从天而降时，遗留在魔力夜幕毯上的小洞。尽管熊人看起来非常怕蜘蛛和蜘蛛网，她经常看到，他们中有人发现蜘蛛在台阶上、或者挂在走廊顶上，就尖叫着跳开那条路。
(翻译者：右米TXY)
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