身世

Queequeg was a native of Rokovoko, an island far away to the West and South.

魁魁格是羅科沃科人——那是一座遠在西方、南方的島。

It is not down in any map; true places never are.

它沒標在任何一張地圖上；真正的地方從來都不在地圖上。

When a new-hatched savage running wild about his native woodlands in a grass clout, followed by the nibbling goats, as if he were a green sapling; even then, in Queequeg’s ambitious soul, lurked a strong desire to see something more of Christendom than a specimen whaler or two.

當他還是個剛出世的「小野人」、圍著一塊草織的腰布、在故鄉的林野間野跑，身後跟著一群啃草的山羊，彷彿他是一株青嫩的樹苗時——即便在那時，魁魁格那雄心勃勃的靈魂裡，便潛藏著一股強烈的渴望：想見識「基督教世界」更多的東西，而不只是一兩艘充作樣本的捕鯨船。

His father was a High Chief, a King; his uncle a High Priest; and on the maternal side he boasted aunts who were the wives of unconquerable warriors.

他父親是高酋長、是一位國王；叔伯是大祭司；母系那邊，他還誇耀有幾位姑姨是不可征服的勇士之妻。

There was excellent blood in his veins—royal stuff; though sadly vitiated, I fear, by the cannibal propensity he nourished in his untutored youth.

他血管裡流著極好的血——王室的血脈；只是我恐怕，這血被他未受教化的少年時期所滋養的食人習性，可惜地敗壞了幾分。

A Sag Harbor ship visited his father’s bay, and Queequeg sought a passage to Christian lands.

一艘薩格港的船造訪了他父親的海灣，魁魁格便想搭船去基督教的國度。

But the ship, having her full complement of seamen, spurned his suit; and not all the King his father’s influence could prevail.

但那船水手已滿員，回絕了他的請求；連他父王的全部影響力也無濟於事。

But Queequeg vowed a vow.

但魁魁格暗暗發了一個誓。

Alone in his canoe, he paddled off to a distant strait, which he knew the ship must pass through when she quitted the island.

他獨自坐進獨木舟，划向遠處一道海峽——他知道那船離島時必會穿過那兒。

On one side was a coral reef; on the other a low tongue of land, covered with mangrove thickets that grew out into the water.

海峽一側是珊瑚礁；另一側是一道低伸的陸舌，上頭長滿了一直延伸到水裡的紅樹林叢。

Hiding his canoe, still afloat, among these thickets, with its prow seaward, he sat down in the stern, paddle low in hand; and when the ship was gliding by, like a flash he darted out; gained her side; with one backward dash of his foot capsized and sank his canoe; climbed up the chains; and throwing himself at full length upon the deck, grappled a ring-bolt there, and swore not to let it go, though hacked in pieces.

他把獨木舟藏進這些樹叢裡、讓它仍浮在水上、舟首朝海，自己坐在船尾，槳低低握在手中；待那船滑過時，他像一道閃電般竄了出去；貼上船舷；一腳向後一蹬，把自己的獨木舟踹翻、踹沉；攀上鐵鏈；整個人撲倒在甲板上，一把抓住那兒的一個環栓，發誓死也不鬆手，哪怕被剁成碎片。

In vain the captain threatened to throw him overboard; suspended a cutlass over his naked wrists; Queequeg was the son of a King, and Queequeg budged not.

船長威脅要把他扔下海，把一把短彎刀懸在他赤裸的手腕上方——全是徒勞；魁魁格是國王的兒子，魁魁格紋絲不動。

Struck by his desperate dauntlessness, and his wild desire to visit Christendom, the captain at last relented, and told him he might make himself at home.

被他這股孤注一擲的無畏、以及他想見識基督教世界的狂熱所震動，船長終於心軟讓步，告訴他可以把這兒當自己家。

But this fine young savage—this sea Prince of Wales, never saw the Captain’s cabin.

但這位出色的年輕野人——這位「海上的威爾斯親王」——卻從沒進過船長的艙房。

They put him down among the sailors, and made a whaleman of him.

他們把他安置在水手中間，把他訓練成了一個捕鯨人。

But like Czar Peter content to toil in the shipyards of foreign cities, Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy, if thereby he might happily gain the power of enlightening his untutored countrymen.

但就像彼得沙皇甘願在外國城市的船廠裡當苦工，魁魁格只要能藉此欣然獲得開化他那些未受教育的同胞的本領，便不嫌棄任何表面上的屈辱。

For at bottom—so he told me—he was actuated by a profound desire to learn among the Christians, the arts whereby to make his people still happier than they were; and more than that, still better than they were.

因為說到底——他告訴我——他是被一股深切的渴望所驅使：要在基督徒中間，學會那些能讓他的族人比現在更幸福、甚而比現在更良善的本領。

But, alas! the practices of whalemen soon convinced him that even Christians could be both miserable and wicked; infinitely more so, than all his father’s heathens.

但是，唉！捕鯨人的所作所為，很快就讓他確信：就連基督徒也可以既悲慘又邪惡；而且比他父親治下所有的異教徒都邪惡無數倍。

Arrived at last in old Sag Harbor; and seeing what the sailors did there; and then going on to Nantucket, and seeing how they spent their wages in that place also, poor Queequeg gave it up for lost.

終於到了古老的薩格港；看見水手們在那兒的所作所為；接著又去了南塔克特，看見他們在那地方也是怎樣揮霍工錢的，可憐的魁魁格便徹底死了心。

Thought he, it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die a pagan.

他心想，這是個無論哪片經緯都一樣邪惡的世界；我要做個異教徒死去。

And thus an old idolator at heart, he yet lived among these Christians, wore their clothes, and tried to talk their gibberish.

就這樣，心裡是個老拜偶像者的他，卻仍活在這些基督徒中間，穿他們的衣裳，學說他們那套鳥語。

Hence the queer ways about him, though now some time from home.

他身上那些古怪的做派，便由此而來——儘管離家已有些時日了。

By hints, I asked him whether he did not propose going back, and having a coronation; since he might now consider his father dead and gone, he being very old and feeble at the last accounts.

我拐彎抹角地問他，是否打算回去舉行加冕；因為照最後的消息看，他父親又老又衰，這會兒大概可以當作已經過世了。

He answered no, not yet; and added that he was fearful Christianity, or rather Christians, had unfitted him for ascending the pure and undefiled throne of thirty pagan Kings before him.

他回答說，不，還不行；又補充說，他擔心基督教——或者該說是基督徒——已經把他玷污得不配登上他之前三十代異教國王那純潔無瑕的王座了。

But by and by, he said, he would return,—as soon as he felt himself baptized again.

但他說，遲早他會回去的——只要他覺得自己重新「受洗」乾淨了。

For the nonce, however, he proposed to sail about, and sow his wild oats in all four oceans.

不過眼下，他打算先四處航行，在四大洋裡「播他的野麥」（放浪一番）。

They had made a harpooneer of him, and that barbed iron was in lieu of a sceptre now.

他們既已把他練成了魚叉手，那支帶倒鉤的鐵叉，如今便代替了權杖。

I asked him what might be his immediate purpose, touching his future movements.

我問他，就接下來的行止而言，他眼前有什麼打算。

He answered, to go to sea again, in his old vocation.

他回答說，要重操舊業，再次出海。

Upon this, I told him that whaling was my own design, and informed him of my intention to sail out of Nantucket, as being the most promising port for an adventurous whaleman to embark from.

聽到這話，我便告訴他捕鯨也正是我的打算，並說明我有意從南塔克特出海——因為對一個想闖蕩的捕鯨人來說，那是最有前途的啟航港。

He at once resolved to accompany me to that island, ship aboard the same vessel, get into the same watch, the same boat, the same mess with me, in short to share my every hap; with both my hands in his, boldly dip into the Potluck of both worlds.

他當即決定陪我去那座島，上同一艘船，編進同一個值班班、同一艘小艇、同一桌伙食——總之，要分享我的每一樁際遇；他把我的雙手握在他手中，要與我一起，大膽地舀取這兩個世界（生與死／此岸與彼岸）「百家飯」般的命運。

To all this I joyously assented; for besides the affection I now felt for Queequeg, he was an experienced harpooneer, and as such, could not fail to be of great usefulness to one, who, like me, was wholly ignorant of the mysteries of whaling, though well acquainted with the sea, as known to merchant seamen.

對這一切我都欣然同意；因為除了我此刻對魁魁格的情誼，他還是個經驗老到的魚叉手，而這樣的人，對我這種雖熟悉商船水手所知的海、卻對捕鯨的種種奧祕一竅不通的人來說，必定大有用處。

His story being ended with his pipe’s last dying puff, Queequeg embraced me, pressed his forehead against mine, and blowing out the light, we rolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were sleeping.

他的故事隨著菸斗最後一口將熄的煙講完了，魁魁格抱住我，把額頭抵著我的額頭，吹熄了燈，我倆便各自翻過身、這邊那邊地轉了轉，很快就睡著了。