泰西50軼事(五十之一)美格瓏 江銘輝 五夢網
泰西50軼事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恆的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚歷史的著名英雄和他們的羅曼史，故事內容有勇氣、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破崙、羅賓漢，喬治華盛頓、成吉思汗等人。這些故事都是老少咸宜的故事，我將它逐篇翻譯，並配合圖畫，供大家欣賞。
泰西50軼事(五十)美格瓏
原文及翻譯如下：
Mignon
美格瓏
HERE is the story of Mignon as I remember having read it in a famous old book.
A young man named Wilhelm was staying at an inn in the city.
One day as he was going up stairs he met a little girl coming down. He would have taken her for a boy, if it had not been for the long curls of black hair wound about her head. As she ran by, he caught her in his arms and asked her to whom she belonged. He felt sure that she must be one of the ropedancers who had just come to the inn. She gave him a sharp, dark look, slipped out of his arms, and ran away without speaking.
這裡有一個美格瓏的故事，我記得曾經在一本有名的舊書讀到它。
一個叫威廉的年輕人住在城裡的一家小旅館裡。一天，他上樓時遇到一個小女孩走下來。如果不是因為她頭上盤繞著長長的黑色卷髮，他真會把她當成一個男孩。當她跳過去時，他把她抱住問她是誰家的孩子。他確定她一定是剛到這個旅館來的那些繩索特技表演(圖1)的團員之一。她機警而陰鬱地看了他一眼，掙脫了他的手臂，一句話也沒說就跑走了。
圖1：繩索特技表演：一個人在吊在高中的繩子上，跳舞、行走，或作雜技表演，叫繩索特技表演(ropedancers)，英文解釋如下：One who dances, walks, or performs acrobatic feats, on a rope extended through the air at some height.。
The next time he saw her, Wilhelm spoke to her again.
“Do not be afraid of me, little one,”he said kindly. “What is your name?”
“They call me Mignon,”said the child(圖2).
“How old are you?”he asked.
“No one has counted,”the child answered.
Wilhelm went on; but he could not help wondering about the child, and thinking of her dark eyes and strange ways.
當第二次看到她時，威廉又和她說話了。
“別怕我，小孩子，”他和藹地說，“你叫什麼名字？”
“他們叫我美格瓏，”那孩子說。(圖2)
“你多大了？”他又問。
“沒有人算過，”那孩子回答。
威廉走開了，但仍忍不住對這孩子感到好奇，想著她的黑眼睛和奇怪的動做。
One day not long after that, there was a great outcry among the crowd that was watching the ropedancers. Wilhelm went down to find out what was the matter. He saw that the master of the dancers was beating little Mignon with a stick. He ran and held the man by the collar.
“Let the child alone! ”he cried. “If you touch her again, one of us shall never leave this spot.”
不久之後的一天，那些正在看繩索特技表演的群眾中發出一聲極大的叫聲。威廉跑下去看發生了什麼事。他看到那繩索特技表演團的老板正在用一根棍子打小美格瓏，就跑過去抓住那個人的領子。
“放了這孩子！”他叫道，“如果你再碰她一下，我們二人的其中一人，就會死在這裡。”
The man tried to get loose; but Wilhelm held him fast. The child crept away, and hid herself in the crowd.
“Pay me what her clothes cost,”cried the ropedancer at last,“and you may take her.”
那人想掙脫，可是威廉抓得很緊。那孩子偷偷的走開了，躲到了人群中。
“把她的服裝費賠給我，”最後那繩索特技表演團的主人大聲說，“你就可以把她帶走。”
As soon as all was quiet, Wilhelm went to look for Mignon; for she now belonged to him. But he could not find her, and it was not until the ropedancers had left the town that she came to him.
“Where have you been?”asked Wilhelm in his kindest tones; but the child did not speak.
“You are to live with me now, and you must be a good child,”he said.
“I will try”, said Mignon gently.
From that time she tried to do all that she could for Wilhelm and his friends.
當一切都平靜下來後，威廉去找美格瓏，因為現在她是屬於他的了。但是找不到她，直到那繩索特技表演團離開這個城市之後，她才跑到他那兒去。
“你這些時候到哪兒去了？”威廉用和藹的口氣問，但那孩子還是不說話。
“你現在和我住在一起了，一定要做一個好孩子啊！”他說。
“我試試吧，”美格瓏溫柔地說。
從那以後，她總是盡力幫威廉和他的朋友們做力所能及的事。
She would let no one wait on him but herself. She was often seen going to a basin of water to wash from her face the paint with which the ropedancers had reddened her cheeks; indeed, she nearly rubbed off the skin in trying to wash away its fine brown tint, which she thought was some deep dye.
除了她自己之外，她不願讓任何人服侍他，人們經常看見她打著一盆水來洗刷臉上的油彩，這些油彩都是繩索特技表演的人把兩頰塗紅的。事實上，為了洗去這深褐色的油彩，她幾乎要把臉上的皮膚都擦掉了，因為她認為這些都是很深顏色的染料。
Mignon grew more lovely every day. She never walked up and down the stairs, but jumped. She would spring along by the railing, and before you knew it, would be sitting quietly above on the landing.
美格瓏一天比一天更可愛了。她下樓梯從來不走，都是跳的。她會沿著欄杆一躍，在你覺察到時，她已經安靜地坐在樓梯口上了。
To each one she would speak in a different way. To Wilhelm it was with her arms crossed upon her breast. Often for a whole day she would not say one word, and yet in waiting upon Wilhelm she never tired.
One night he came home very weary and sad. Mignon was waiting for him. She carried the light before him upstairs. She set the light down upon the table, and in a little while she asked him if she might dance.
對每一個人，她都有不同的說話姿勢。對威廉說話時，她會把手臂交叉放在胸前。她常一整天都不說一句話，但在伺候威廉時卻從不知疲倦。
一天晚上，威廉疲倦而又悲傷地回到家時。美格瓏在等著他，提著燈在前面帶他上樓，然後把燈放在桌子的上面。過了一會兒，她提出，可否跳個舞？
“It might ease your heart a little,”she said.
Wilhelm, to please her, told her that she might.
Then she brought a little carpet, and spread it upon the floor. At each corner she placed a candle, and on the carpet she put a number of eggs. She arranged the eggs in the form of certain figures. When this was done, she called to a man who was waiting with a violin. She tied a band about her eyes, and then the dancing began.
“那樣也許能使你的心情放輕鬆一些。”她說。
威廉為了使她高興，就說：“可以。”
於是，她拿來一張小地毯，把它鋪到地上。在地毯的每一個角上放上一根蠟燭，在地毯上放了一些雞蛋，並把雞蛋排成某些圖形。當把這一切佈置好之後，又叫了一個人在旁邊拉小提琴。
她用一塊布把眼睛蒙上，然後開始跳舞。
How lightly, quickly, nimbly, wonderfully, she moved! She skipped so fast among the eggs, she trod so closely beside them, that you would have thought she must crush them all. But not one of them did she touch. With all kinds of steps she passed among them. Not one of them was moved from its place.
她移動得多麼輕盈敏捷、活潑美妙啊！她在雞蛋中間跳得那麼快，離雞蛋那麼近，你會覺得她一定會把它們全踩碎。但是，她一個也沒碰到。所有各種舞步，都避開了雞蛋，沒有一顆雞蛋移開它原來的位置(圖3)。
圖3：美格瓏用一塊布把眼睛蒙上，然後開始跳舞，地毯布滿蛋，但跳完舞，她一顆雞蛋也沒有碰到。
Whilelm forgot all his cares. He watched every motion of the child.
He almost forgot who and where he was.
When the dance was ended, Mignon rolled the eggs together with her foot into a little heap. Not one was left behind, not one was harmed.
Then she took the band from her eyes, and made a little bow.
威廉忘記了所有的心事，注視著這孩子的每一個動作。
他幾乎忘了自己是誰，在何處。
當舞蹈結束之後，美格瓏用腳把雞蛋滾成一堆。一顆也沒剩下，一顆也沒碰壞。然後她把蒙在眼睛的布條取下，微微鞠地一個躬。
Wilhelm thanked her for showing him a dance that was so wonderful and pretty. He praised her, petted her, and hoped that she had not tired herself too much.
威廉感謝她為他跳了一個如此奇妙優美的舞蹈。他讚揚她、愛撫她，並希望她沒有過度疲勞。
When she had gone from the room, the man with the violin told Wilhelm of the care she had taken to teach him the music of the dance.
He told how she had sung it to him over and over again. He told how she had even wished to pay him with her own money for learning to play it for her.There was yet another way in which Mignon tried to please Wilhelm, and make him forget his cares. She sang to him.
當她離開這房間後，那個拉小提琴的人告訴威爾漢姆，她教他拉這首舞曲的事，說她是怎樣一遍又一遍地唱給他聽，還說她甚至想要自己付錢，讓他學這首曲子。
美格瓏還用另一種方式使威廉高興，讓他忘記煩惱，那就是唱歌。
The song which he liked best was one whose words he had never heard before. Its music, too, was strange to him, and yet it pleased him very much. He asked her to speak the words over and over again. He wrote the words; but the sweetness of the tune was more delightful than the words. The song began in this way:
“Do you know the land where citrons, lemons, grow, And oranges under the green leaves glow?”
Once, when she had ended the song, she said again,“do you know the land?”
“It must be Italy,”said Wilhelm.“Have you ever been there?”
The child did not answer.
有一首歌是他最喜歡的，那歌詞威廉以前從沒聽過。那樂曲對他來說也很陌生，然而他卻非常喜歡。他要她把歌詞反復地說給他聽，然後把它寫下來。
但是那曲調的甜美比歌詞更加動人。那首歌的開頭是這樣的：
你可知道那生長著香櫞和檸檬的地方，還有橘子在綠葉中發亮嗎？
有一次，當她唱完這首歌後，接著問：“你知道這個地方嗎？”
“一定是義大利，”威廉說，“你到過那兒嗎？”
這孩子沒有回答。